Practical Mapping

jmabbott

I stumbled across this article while goofing off at work https://theangrygm.com/practical-cartography/and it got me thinking that perhaps the only style of map I need for the majority of my home games is the old-school monochrome in whatever colour suits the mood.

Most of the detail on more aesthetically pleasing maps serves no real purpose...

[Deleted User]

Needs "I don't know"; "I don't care" and "it depends" buttons. I'm an "it depends" person.

jmabbott

https://forum.profantasy.com/discussion/comment/99633#Comment_99633

Edited just for you?

Loopysue

That's interesting. I didn't know you could edit a poll!

And I would say it depends. Although I don't play myself I've heard plenty of people come down on either side of that argument for different reasons, ranging from "It's much easier to prepare", to "It gives the game an atmosphere from the start".

Monsen

I disagree here. Those artistic maps do serve a real purpose in my games. I'm not that good of a descriptive storyteller, and an artistic map helps cover that up quite a bit. It lets me and the players agree on the look of the location, instead of they forming a very different image in their heads based on my limited description that they have. An artistic map can much more easily contain locations that may or may not be interesting which I love when showing it to the players, it's not as clear-cut as those traditional monochrome maps.

That said, if I am not showing it to the players, I am usually not mapping it at all. Most of the cities my players have visited don't have a map at all, because I don't need one. A simple list of locations is more than enough. Heck, even a lot of the dungeons don't have maps. I don't waste time mapping locations I don't need a map for. But if you feel you need a map for a location just for yourself, then yea, keeping it as simple as possible is good.

JimP

I dont like 2 color maps. They seem flat and boring to me. I'm working on all my early maps converting them to cc3plus with effects.

Theschabi

I'm an "It depends" person. I don't need a beautiful map to gm. Ad hoc lines with a pencil on a sheet of paper or even no map at all, just using descriptions work perfectly well.

But having maps, espescially good looking ones is nice. Even if I dont use them as Battlemaps for miniatures oder tokens, they still enhance the description of a locale by somethin visible, making it easier to envision, where exactly the enemy may be, or just how big a building, or monster are.

It may be important to know, that pen&paper in person for me does not mean sitting at a table, but evenryone lounging on a couch or armchair with maybe a small table or a computer screen/TV to show things to the players.

jmabbott

@Loopysue You can’t edit a poll as such, you have to re do it from scratch.

Interesting comments. Hmmm, more food for thought.

DoubleDouble

I would argue that all the physical/visual flair is part of what has made D&D larger than ever. I do agree that it is still flair, and not necessary to run a game. That being said, I think there are individuals who do need the concrete "things" in front of them to immerse in the game, and a more visual map helps engage them. So, while I think it is not necessary for the game, I do think it can be necessary for some players to have a good time, and having a good time is what it's all about.

thehawk

I'm a pedantic, so the answer is nearly always 'it depends'.

My it depends is around what is the map actually for and where it gets to be used. In real life, the artistic maps are exactly that - works of art. Until recently, they were uncommon and only in places where they were admired, but not necessarily used. The 'working maps' have exactly the information that was needed, but weren't pretty - because all that pretty could foul up what you were trying to use it for.

My walls are covered with beautiful maps in frames, with fold lines as non-existent as I can get them. I spend hours admiring and looking at every detail, sometimes even after all this time finding new ones. But when I go hiking I use the abused ones that have been folded every which way, drowned and dried, sometimes crumpled, folded, or maybe even spindled.

In the far off way old days of my gaming, we were only allowed to look at the nice 'store bought' maps when we were somewhere that made sense to have something that nice. Otherwise, we had something the GM (or one of us Player Cartographers - you know, Otto Map, esq) scrawled and illicitly-made photocopies at school after most of the staff went home.

mike robel

Since I tend to transform real-world maps, I definitely need multi-color maps that include the five basic map colors: black, red, blue, green, and brown. White is usually in the background. And I need the other colors to distinguish types of road, permanent rivers/streams vs intermittent ones, and different colors of green/brown to illustrate height differences.

Medio

It depends...

As a veteran Dungeon Master, when i DMing i want everything to look fine. Ambient music has been chosen carefully, i even prepare the music for certain parts of the game, like one maiu character appearing or a specially appealing scene.

Same happens with the maps. If those maps are just for me, then i´d agree, but i´m going to show them, man, they must look fantastic. It helps feel the players more inmersed on the game. I also make "handmade" maps which are the maps that try to imitate what the characters would carry with them, and then there are some maps that are the players can see. The better maps, the better quality of my jo as a DM, the more satisfied my players are.

So, in the end, if i´m showing them, they must look good. If they´re just for me, well, sometimes i just draw them in paper and take a pic, as they´re just sources of information.

I know some players feel nostalgic and want to have maps like in the 70s, well, that´s not our case. One of my players draws profesionally (colouring on comics) and has got quite international reputation (works for many countries authors), other is a master on digitally enhanced photograhy, who has won several national prizes. They would look a bad drawn map with a frown on their faces, for sure.

In anyways, there is also a matter of map quality. I´m sure what some people consider art, or a good looking map, it´s just mediocre for other people.