Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 jfwcali Jul 29, 2008 13:35:20	So it's been over 20yrs since any of us have played D&D. We jumped in at the release of 4e and we've been playing pretty regularly since then. One consistent issue that I am having as the DM is mapping. I tried the grease pencil while walking through keep (H1), but that takes forever. I tried the drawing on graph paper thing, and that sorta worked, but we lose the strategy portion of the fighting. What are you guys doing? - john
#2 morgonraug Jul 29, 2008 14:59:45	Unless you have miniatures, rule-based tactics are always going to be tough-- especially in this edition of the game since movement is much more common. I use miniatures, but for quick-fights I'll typically set up a whiteboard on the table with different colors for PCs/enemies/terrain. The downside of this is that you don't have squares, but for small scale stuff this is a quick and easy. You could put a piece of graph paper inside a plastic sleeve, then mark on it with the dry-erase. - Jeff
#3 cruel Jul 29, 2008 16:46:30	well, have used many things over the last few years, my favorite being doing the maps up on computer and projecting them onto the table.. currently we are playing at friends house and with no projector setup available we have backtracked to my fanatstic locations maps and dungeon tiles... However.. when we first started playing again after a similar hiatus, the simplest and most cost effective map solution is a big pad of graph paper from an office supply store... you know the one your grade 4 teacher used to do graphs with on an easel. its about 10 us bucks and has like 50 sheets pregridded with one inch squares, you can use anything for minis, just draw up a few maps ahead of time and bang, your playing...
#4 angel_blade Jul 29, 2008 16:57:01	I've used a few different approaches. One was to print out a 1-inch graph on 5 or 6 sheets of 8.5 x 11 sheets, then laminate them and then use a dry erase. that way you can draw as you go, and just erase the ones you don't need anymore. My group also pitched in and bought the table-sized vinyl mat in 1 inch squares. that worked ok, but we had to keep erasing it or moving stuff around the table to see what was on the map. My last idea that came in handy was to make 8.5 x 11 sheet, laminated but with squares that are more like a centimeter. That way when you have a large scale encounter, or a room that's larger than 8 x 11 squares you can draw it onto that. So, short version - print your own graph on a couple regular sheets and laminate them and use dry-erase. : ) Angel Blade
#5 chapien Jul 29, 2008 17:35:34	I've used a few different approaches. One was to print out a 1-inch graph on 5 or 6 sheets of 8.5 x 11 sheets, then laminate them and then use a dry erase. that way you can draw as you go, and just erase the ones you don't need anymore. My group does something similar to this. We take a D&D blank battle grid, and we put a large sheet of plastic on top. We use dry erase markers, works perfectly. Although I am getting into using dungeon tiles.
#6 ramses_iii Jul 30, 2008 1:54:39	I ordered a big blank dry-erase battle mat through Paizo. It's gridded in 1 inch squares on one side and 1 inch hexes on the other. We don't fold it up between sessions because then it wants to stay folded up, but other than that it's been the best tool we've used for tactical mapping.
#7 mircoles Jul 30, 2008 7:41:59	I basically scanned the keep maps & then made them the size I needed. After that I just printed them & cut them out. I haven't figured out if yet I'm gonna just tape them together or glue them to foamboard, then arrage as needed.