Hello guys,
I'm new to DMing in general, but somehow I've been coaxed into doing a D&D session with my friends after my university exams which are 3 months away. I have a rough idea of what my campaign will be, and I have sketches of my maps, but the bit I am struggling with is whats the best method of displaying these maps to my friends, while we play. My current sketches are drawn to scale of 0.5cm square paper, and I drew them so 1 square = 5 feet, but that seems way too small to have any tokens etc, and my paper is only A4 size.
I have contemplated sticking many sheets together, but that will take a lot of time that I don't have. Can anyone suggest a better method of making my maps?
I have also thought of photoshoping them, but I can't find any textures for floors, or walls that look decent enough to work. Is there a place where maybe I can find some?
Kind Regards,
John
Hmmm, do you have enough money to be able to afford a battlemap? Paizo sells some really nice battlemats, they are scaled for 1" equals 5 feet, which is perfect for miniatures (or tokens, etc). The ones you want are the generic blanks that can be written on with dry-erase markers. You write in your boundaries, walls, doors, terrain, etc. They are called Flip-Mats. Be cautioned that there are dozens of these Flip-Mats sold everywhere, many of the expensive ones have fancy terrain. But for you, I'd recommend the Basic flip-mats. The links below are typical Flip-Mat products on Amazon. The last link is an example of a terrain-specific battle-map.
http://www.amazon.com/GameMastery-Flip-Mat-Basic-Paizo-Staff/dp/1601251556
moonbeast wrote:
I have both the Chessex Battlemat and the Pathfinder flip mats. I tend to use the flipmats almost exclusively because I can use dry erase markers on them. Being limited to the wet erase markers on the chessex mat means I almost never use it anymore.
I echo the above. I've got a Chessex battlemat, and while it was cheap, it tended to hold ink, especially red, so I couldn't reliably draw out maps ahead of time. I haven't gotten a flipmat yet, but I did switch to consumables.
Gaming paper comes on a roll, can draw out as much dungeon as you like as it's 12' long (2.5' wide), and can keep particular maps you're frequenting often (characters' favorite tavern, generic path by the wood, generic cave system, etc). If you're a super dork like me, can cut out and hang up (temporarily) the spot where the players finally finished off the Big Bad Evil Guy, or just jokingly shame a player with the spot that their character died. Shipping over to the UK would probably be a lot though.
There's also gridded presentation paper, sold in office supply stores. It's just like really big graph paper for displaying charts in meetings, but here it has a convenient 1" square.
I haven't had any quality issues with my Chessex mat. It is actually nicer material, and I prefer it. However, I just really prefer to use dry erase over wet erase markers.
Hey guys,
Thanks so much for the help, I've gone ahead to buy a Chessex Battlemat and the Pathfinder battlemats, and I'm waiting for both to arrive.
I've also looked into making some on photoshop for use with roll20, and I think I've managed decent results. Any chance of some feedback?
DM_HEEGZ wrote:
I've always actually preferred the wet erase as it meant things didn't get rubbed off by sleeves when leaning over the mat. Although, this may be due to the fact that I play with a rather large mat.
It looks like you've already gotten some great answers on this, but I thought I'd give my perspective for any other new DMs. My background is all 1e, played for many years and likewise haven't played for many years before coming back to it with 5e. Which means that I'm much more of the "theater of the mind" style.
My answer to showing the PCs maps, is that as a rule, I don't. If they walk into a dungeon, I describe it to them as best as they can, and they map it out themselves. If they draw something that looks completely wrong that I think will affect gameplay, I'll explain what their characters are seeing better but not redraw it for them. If what they draw is "wrong", but won't make a difference, I leave it alone. Of course, this means that I don't play with battlemaps or minatures. If they were really adventuring, they wouldn't have time to survey a correct map while adventuring. They'd have the ability to take rough notes that would let them get out to rest and back in when necessary. My goal isn't to have a slower, paper version of a video game, it's to create an immersive story. I don't want to hand them maps that would turn their battle tactics into a 2D side scroller, and I also feel that making them reproduce the "real" dungeon that I've got in my mind isn't fruitful.
Now there are maps that I give the players as handouts to increase their fun and interest level. And of course, this gives me an opportunity to inject new storylines or adventures:
- Starting map. Either they purchase one, or one player has it as part of the background. This of course doesn't include DM-only features, but lets them rationally discuss their travel plans and correspond with NPCs about regional activities.
- Found maps: maps drawn by NPCs/creatures (of another creature's lair, of a dungeon that NPCs been exploring, etc). Not always accurate, notes on them not always making sense to the players until they figure it out.
- Historical maps. Maps the players can research in a library, or "tour guide" maps for a once-popular region that has fallen into decay. Needless to say, the "tour guide" shows what an area looked like in its heydey, and isn't representative of what's happened after 100's of years of monster customizations...
- Remembered maps. If a player's background has them coming from a particular area, or having visited a site, I will either let them draw a quick (time limited) copy of a player version of the area. I give them a non-DM limited map, give them a couple minutes to copy what they can, and then the result is what they're able to sketch as what they "remember". The time limit serves to represent their foggy recall of exact details. If it's easier for the player or playability reasons, I'll do something similar for them in advance.
You could always use a virtual tabletop like maptool. Then you can make your map digitally, and you can also limit player vision to what their characters can see at any moment. You just need two computers, one for the PCs and one for you. I've got a pretty comprehensive 5e framework in my signature line and some examples with all the monsters and vision-blocking and everything set up as well. Lots of people use them for remote games but they are fantastic aids for face-to-face games in my opinion.