The Pros and Cons of Mapping

Maps and D&D are inseparable, and long before I was a proficient reader, the evocative maps of B2 drew me in (and helped me become a more proficient reader in the process).

Back when there were five channels on the TV, having a party mapper who drew the dungeons as described by the DM on graph paper was a cool feature of the game.  You could even compare maps after the adventure was over to see how proficient a mapper you were!

But now-a-days, there are more options and the charms of detailed mapping are often lost on players.

So here are the choices as I see them:

I've underlined the pros and cons that carry the most weight with me.



1. I describe, you draw
pros:

• player agency--if players make mistakes or get sloppy they can get lost, but if they don't it's because of their own expertise.  They can go any direction / I don't have to predict their route.
• players can deduce the location of hidden rooms or secret doors based on features they've mapped, giving them a tactical advantage 
• player engagement for the mapper(s)
• this method preserves the "lost art" of mapping and can have some genuine educational benefits for younger gamers

cons:

• this method slows things down at the table, creating conversations about that space that wouldn't happen if the players could simply see from the characters' point of view
• it creates survey-centric conversations ("You said thirty feet east to west?" "Is the door on the east side or the west side of the south wall?") that don't really fit the tone of many of my adventures
• players who aren't mapping can get bored pretty fast

2. I draw on large paper, you watch
pros:

• player engagement ... not bragging, but from vets to newbies, when I sketch I notice that my players all lean in to watch what unfolds 
• I'm also very fast at it.  I can draw a section of the Caves of Chaos much faster and more accurately then I can describe it to a player-mapper 
• I can add visual clues, red herrings, artifacts, monster sketches, and notes as I go, inviting players to do the same
• the map becomes an interesting and visually pleasing artifact of play [sometimes my middle school players have argued over who gets to keep the map after the adventure!]
• player agency: I don't have to try and predict their route and prepare ahead of time; their drawings reflect their choices, not my plans

cons:

• with the dungeon laid out before them, there's practically zero chance of characters getting lost or turned around
• if scaled to minis, these maps get so large as to be unweildy at the table

3. I draw in dry erase
pros:

• realism ... I draw only what characters can see at that moment
• players can go any direction or leave the dungeon and explore a different ruin without causing me to miss a beat

cons:

• when characters backtrack, I may have to draw the same areas again and again ... trying to maintain accuracy, 
• if characters are moving quickly, then my drawing may slow play
• these maps are fragile, easily smeared and erased by accident

4. I lay tiles
pros:

• eye-popping visual appeal
• invites use of minis

cons:

• cool little artistic details on the tile may not match what's actually there, likewise there may be details I want players to be aware of that are missing
• most tiles have very clean and regular lines and few organic shapes, making the dungeon feel a bit sterile 
• I waste time looking for the tile that fits the next room, I don't have a tile for a seven sided room when I need one, the pool of water has to substitute for a pool of lava because I either don't have one or can't find it without slowing the game down
• table space
• do I remove what they can't see (wasting time) or leave it (eliminating the possibilty that they get lost)?
• Tim bumped the table

5. I pre-draw the dungeon, cover it, and reveal select portions when appropriate

pros:

• fast
• I can draw it to minis scale
• theoretically I could cover it back up when they move out of an area, but would I ever actually do this?

cons:

• players can imply the shape and dimensions of the dungeon even while still covered.  No need to look for secret doors over there, it's at the very edge of the map and at the table edge.
• if scaled to minis, I've still run into limits of table space
• while theoretically a party could get lost back-tracking, practically speaking it isn't going to happen
• it limits the exploration to areas that I think the players will decide to explore vs maintaining full player agency

-----------------------------------------------------------------

So how do you handle mapping at your table?

Do you use more than one method?

How do your pros and cons compare to mine?

All Elves (a BECMI memory)

I was looking back at some photos and found this picture of an old adventuring party.  My then-ten-year-old was running us through the starter dungeon in BECMI and we decided it would be fun if we all made elves.  

Alvin was the leader.  Breet was the crazy one. Darin didn't say much ... I remember that each elf knew a different spell.  I think we rolled randomly and just re-rolled any duplicates.  I recall getting Light and Floating Disc, but don't know if anyone got Sleep or Charm.

My favorite memory was of loading the (now dead) carrion crawler from the pit onto the Floating Disc, shooting it full of arrows, dousing it with oil and setting it alight before running right at the kobold sentries screaming, "Run for your lives! The beast won't die!"

The Adventure Begins (again)

With the start of the school year, my weekly Strategy Games Club has started back up. and among the two dozen attendees, five of last year's players have returned to continue playing D&D at my table.

Last year we started with 5e D&D, but when the players kept getting bogged down we shifted to B/X to keep things fast and simple.

This year, we are going to try 5e again in hopes that the students will be able to make the leap to managing more complex characters with more bells and whistles.

Ultimately, I want the girls to be able to join a pick-up game, an A.L. game in a shop, or understand easily what they are reading should they decide to grab a starter set or Player's Handbook in a local bookstore with as little confusion as possible.

In my mind that means using:

•  +5 to -5 array of stat modifiers, 
• ascending AC, 
• advantage/disadvantage, 
• skills, 
• bonus actions, 
• reactions,
• stat-based saving throws.

Seeing all the extra bits that kick in at level three with each character class, they've actualy asked me if they can stay at level two until they feel ready to handle (i.e. remember to use) additional super powers. 

I'm eager to try out the new content and 5e re-writes from Into the Borderlands, but for now we are continuing through The Adventure Begins, also by Goodman Games.

This gem, now hard to find in print but still around in pdf, packs twenty 3rd edition adventures for low level characters between its covers.  

Some of these are magic--Lair of the White Salamander is as good as anything Goodman Games has put out over the years--others are railroads or fall a bit flat, and a few are just drek.  On the whole, however, it's like have five issues of the old Dungeon magazine compiled and ready to go.  Conversion to 5e on the fly is a snap for any seasoned DM.

The trickier and more rewarding part is threading these unrelated plots together into a coherent, episodic campaign.  This takes me right back to my high school Greyhawk campaign where, with the Overking and Iuz the Old as archvillians, I was always looking for ways to tie together adventure modules. 

I'm hoping that we can stick with 5e and that turns don't devolve into players blinking at their sheet each turn and saying, "Wait.  What can I do again?"  What's Mask of the Wild?"

Have you eased newer or younger players into 5e before?

What tricks did you use to help them manage all the bells and whistles?

One-Liners: Character Motivations

Over in my biweekly Olde School Wizardry RPG, the cadre of young wizards is exploring the antechambers of a megadungeon which, owing its metal panneling in places, they've dubbed "The Cannery."

For a quarrel of neophyte wizards to undertake such an exploration unaided would mean quick and messy death, so they've brought along mooks to help them out and spread the risk around a bit.

Folks who've gamed with me know that I think index cards and RPGs go together like a bulette and a holiday in The Shire (messy, amusing, an ultimately more satisfying then you would have guessed) and I use them for cities, maps, tables, character sheets, spells, books, and whatever else I can think of, so of course I knocked together a quick NPC card for each of the mercenaries tasked to accompany the spellcasters.


But how to keep them from being generic?


First, pick some faces that come with a bit of recognition ("Oh, that's the quiet guy ... and he's the goofy one.").  Photos of music bands fit that bill.




Then a quick one-line motivation on the back of each card was just the trick!

• To become the one in charge
• To finally forget her
• To feel like that again
• To see if the dream was true
• To die a rich man
• To prove them all wrong
• To kill the man who killed her
• To show them I was right all along
• To earn a hero's welcome
• To seek my fortune
• To find a way back
• To earn her admiration

Boom! Quick-build memorable and distinctive NPC mooks.

What tricks have you used to create those rank-and-file NPCs without them just being flat and generic?