Do you print them from online? If so how do you make sure that they are scaled correctly? Do you hand draw them on tiled paper? Where do you buy you paper?
Do you have any suggestions for a new DM in an even newer group about creating/using maps?
Big question haha! :D I know a lot of people buy 1 inch grid paper. Personally I use a vinyl "battle mat" with wet erase markers. Otherwise, a lot of people will use photoshop, divide the map into 8x11 sheets, and then tape them together for a larger play space. The vinyl mat and markers has been really versatile for me! Your local game store should support this. Otherwise, people use a whole host of different programs and things to create their own maps :) PM me if you have any more questions or want more details!
Life before death. Strength before weakness. Journey before destination. I will protect those who cannot protect themselves, I will protect even those I hate so long as it is right.
You can sketch up a map in a digital drawing program or just find one you like. Take the file to your local copy shot (Office Depot, Kinkos, Print Store, etc) and request a blueprint proof. You can get sizes upwards of 24" x 36" for two or three dollars. The paper is pretty thing and tearable but it's decent print quality for a campaign map.
I use the chessex battle map with bees tracing paper under a piece of cut plexiglass. Helps to keep paper down and see through for the grid and allows for dynamic terrain changes with dry erase on the plexiglass. Working on printing 3d terrain pieces but will still use battle map, and plexiglass for changes and specific open battles.
I use basically everything; I've got dungeon tiles from Wizards of the Coast, flip maps and map cards from Paizo, a big vinyl mat from Chessex, plus I'll use Photoshop to draw my own or scale those I find online (to 300 dpi for printing, or 100 or 150 if I'm using a monitor to display them at the table), and I've even got a 20" x 30' pad of paper I picked up at an art supply store to hand draw.
Plus, I'm not opposed to working up my own poster maps in Photoshop or Campaign Cartographer to get printed at a local office supply store (though I've not yet actually taken any down to be printed because I don't need them printed until I sort out where I'm going to hang them).
Oh, and I use a normal pad of graph paper to doodle out map plans so I can then draw them out on the vinyl battlemat during a session.
As for where I buy, it's usually Staples (office supplies) or Michael's (art supplies) since I have those locally and can get hands/eyes on before committing to any purchase.
The best habit I ever got into was using Paizo Flip-Mats (cheap, very effective, sufficiently durable, great for wet and dry erase and permanent marker, etc.) and quality markers.
We're doing our own book on Kickstarter! It's going to be amazing--300 pages, art, and so much high quality content you'll be drownin' in it... Click here to check it out and sign-up!
I bought a nice vinyl battle map- but found that if an adventure had too many locations that I couldn't pre-draw, I would have to re-sketch stuff constantly.
This became more problematic as the players started to make their own adventure/ go their own way.
I bought a bunch of transparency paper (like for an overhead projector)- and can even keep it neatly in a folder- so I can roll out the mat and place the transparencies on top, it's been a big help, and helps with the surprise if there's a secret room that I can drop on top of the current map, unlike having paper cover the pre-drawn area. (I'm also not re-drawing the same place over and over).
At some point- I would like to try making a small stand or shelf for transparency paper for aerial combat/multi level combat.
We've been using 3d Virtual Tabletop cast from my DM station to a smart TV. My players seem to like having a 60" representation at the end of the table and it's nice because you can change the view angles and how tokens are displayed. https://web3dvtt.appspot.com/. There are free and paid options as well as support for mobile devices.
I've also just started playing with roll20. We'll be running our first roll20 game in coming weeks.
I have been using theater of the mind mostly and a white board for simple set up for battle placement. I am lucky the library at my college has rooms to rent that have that ability, plus I can also put it on the tv if i draw one on the computer. It works alright. My fiancee just got some tiles that are like plexiglass and can be drawn on. We are still collecting figures to be able to use them. Hope some of this helps. I especially like the white board since I can put initiative up there as well and they all can see it. 9-12 players is a pain to keep up with. Lol
I've tried all of the above mentioned techniques, each to varying degrees of success.
Gridded Battlemat with wet erase markers fun....but takes time to draw out and my skill of drawing is questionable at best.
Printed out battlemaps from photoshop and others....takes so much time cutting and taping them together. Then when the maps are so huge that you're using 10 or more sheets then the table has to be equally massive...that or moving the map around is a pain.
Flipmaps are fun but small and I've gotten the comment....oh that's the map where we killed <insert creature>. So it's fun to be able to give them a new map for a new situation.
I enjoy Theater of the mind but sometimes in large groups its hard to keep track of everybody and maps help solidify what the environment is like and how to use it.
So we've settled upon using a cheap flatscreen tv that we place on the table and hook it up to a laptop running MapTool. Each map is imported into MapTool and with that free software we can do anything we need. Place tokens (digital or physical), draw digitally on the map and place the PCs miniatures. I'm sure it can do other stuff. There's way more in there than I use but it serves our purposes.
Plus I can use it to display pictures of places, items, monsters, npcs etc.
It can even pipe music from the laptop to give atmosphere.
Anyway, that's just what we use and we've tried a lot of things. This has been good for us for some time now.
If I'm looking to sketch out a map on paper, there are online sites to generate grids of any size that you'd like. They can be saved to PDF and printed, or downloaded as jpg, etc.
Usually I create my maps in Illustrator with a 1"x1" grid. I can either print it without or without the grid. If I print it without the grid, I have transparencies that I ran through my printed with a 1" grid on them that I can place on top of the printed map. Then I can draw on the transparencies with appropriate markers as-needed.
If I just need to throw together a quick map or a dungeon I'll use something like the dungeon painter at http://pyromancers.com
If I'm doing an online session, or using a laptop and projecting my maps, I use roll20.net and create or upload my maps there.
set image to 300 dpi and canvas size to the number of inches you need (figure based tend to be in scale with inches, so even if you use centimeters, I suggest you still use inches.
This particular one was made at 18 by 24 inches at 300 dpi
Enable grid in properties and snap-to in view and use the line tool to create walls with a 40 pixel brush and select stroke. Disable snap-to for free-hand.
I then populate the map with doodads I've pre-made. Like door and window symbols, furniture and stairs.
Roll20 has a lot of really cool features and the subscription has definitely been worth it. I've used a few different services and I've found this one to be the best.
I've printed stuff off before, Usually making sure the size of the file matches for scale. But these days i just draw them ahead of time on gaming paper.
we have a battle mat, and sometimes we use dungeon tiles from Descent journeys in the dark, at times we also use models from Decent as we have them around anyway as it is our backup game in case to few people are able to attend.
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Do you print them from online? If so how do you make sure that they are scaled correctly?
Do you hand draw them on tiled paper? Where do you buy you paper?
Do you have any suggestions for a new DM in an even newer group about creating/using maps?
I use dungeon tiles to build up a map on a Chessex Map or write geography details with a marker.
Big question haha! :D I know a lot of people buy 1 inch grid paper. Personally I use a vinyl "battle mat" with wet erase markers. Otherwise, a lot of people will use photoshop, divide the map into 8x11 sheets, and then tape them together for a larger play space. The vinyl mat and markers has been really versatile for me! Your local game store should support this. Otherwise, people use a whole host of different programs and things to create their own maps :) PM me if you have any more questions or want more details!
Plus 1 when it comes to the square/hex mat.
Some other tools for maps online:
Life before death. Strength before weakness. Journey before destination. I will protect those who cannot protect themselves, I will protect even those I hate so long as it is right.
You can sketch up a map in a digital drawing program or just find one you like. Take the file to your local copy shot (Office Depot, Kinkos, Print Store, etc) and request a blueprint proof. You can get sizes upwards of 24" x 36" for two or three dollars. The paper is pretty thing and tearable but it's decent print quality for a campaign map.
I use the chessex battle map with bees tracing paper under a piece of cut plexiglass. Helps to keep paper down and see through for the grid and allows for dynamic terrain changes with dry erase on the plexiglass. Working on printing 3d terrain pieces but will still use battle map, and plexiglass for changes and specific open battles.
I use basically everything; I've got dungeon tiles from Wizards of the Coast, flip maps and map cards from Paizo, a big vinyl mat from Chessex, plus I'll use Photoshop to draw my own or scale those I find online (to 300 dpi for printing, or 100 or 150 if I'm using a monitor to display them at the table), and I've even got a 20" x 30' pad of paper I picked up at an art supply store to hand draw.
Plus, I'm not opposed to working up my own poster maps in Photoshop or Campaign Cartographer to get printed at a local office supply store (though I've not yet actually taken any down to be printed because I don't need them printed until I sort out where I'm going to hang them).
Oh, and I use a normal pad of graph paper to doodle out map plans so I can then draw them out on the vinyl battlemat during a session.
As for where I buy, it's usually Staples (office supplies) or Michael's (art supplies) since I have those locally and can get hands/eyes on before committing to any purchase.
The best habit I ever got into was using Paizo Flip-Mats (cheap, very effective, sufficiently durable, great for wet and dry erase and permanent marker, etc.) and quality markers.
manysideddice.com
+ A Table of Contents That's Better Than Nothing (hundreds of creative, storied items that are "better than nothing")
+ A Table of Contents To Worry Your Players With (dozens of weird, storied traps to make your players nervous)
We're doing our own book on Kickstarter! It's going to be amazing--300 pages, art, and so much high quality content you'll be drownin' in it... Click here to check it out and sign-up!
I bought a nice vinyl battle map- but found that if an adventure had too many locations that I couldn't pre-draw, I would have to re-sketch stuff constantly.
This became more problematic as the players started to make their own adventure/ go their own way.
I bought a bunch of transparency paper (like for an overhead projector)- and can even keep it neatly in a folder- so I can roll out the mat and place the transparencies on top, it's been a big help, and helps with the surprise if there's a secret room that I can drop on top of the current map, unlike having paper cover the pre-drawn area. (I'm also not re-drawing the same place over and over).
At some point- I would like to try making a small stand or shelf for transparency paper for aerial combat/multi level combat.
We've been using 3d Virtual Tabletop cast from my DM station to a smart TV. My players seem to like having a 60" representation at the end of the table and it's nice because you can change the view angles and how tokens are displayed. https://web3dvtt.appspot.com/. There are free and paid options as well as support for mobile devices.
I've also just started playing with roll20. We'll be running our first roll20 game in coming weeks.
Hope this helps!
I have been using theater of the mind mostly and a white board for simple set up for battle placement. I am lucky the library at my college has rooms to rent that have that ability, plus I can also put it on the tv if i draw one on the computer. It works alright. My fiancee just got some tiles that are like plexiglass and can be drawn on. We are still collecting figures to be able to use them. Hope some of this helps. I especially like the white board since I can put initiative up there as well and they all can see it. 9-12 players is a pain to keep up with. Lol
I've tried all of the above mentioned techniques, each to varying degrees of success.
Gridded Battlemat with wet erase markers fun....but takes time to draw out and my skill of drawing is questionable at best.
Printed out battlemaps from photoshop and others....takes so much time cutting and taping them together. Then when the maps are so huge that you're using 10 or more sheets then the table has to be equally massive...that or moving the map around is a pain.
Flipmaps are fun but small and I've gotten the comment....oh that's the map where we killed <insert creature>. So it's fun to be able to give them a new map for a new situation.
I enjoy Theater of the mind but sometimes in large groups its hard to keep track of everybody and maps help solidify what the environment is like and how to use it.
So we've settled upon using a cheap flatscreen tv that we place on the table and hook it up to a laptop running MapTool. Each map is imported into MapTool and with that free software we can do anything we need. Place tokens (digital or physical), draw digitally on the map and place the PCs miniatures. I'm sure it can do other stuff. There's way more in there than I use but it serves our purposes.
Plus I can use it to display pictures of places, items, monsters, npcs etc.
It can even pipe music from the laptop to give atmosphere.
Anyway, that's just what we use and we've tried a lot of things. This has been good for us for some time now.
Good luck!
If I'm looking to sketch out a map on paper, there are online sites to generate grids of any size that you'd like. They can be saved to PDF and printed, or downloaded as jpg, etc.
Usually I create my maps in Illustrator with a 1"x1" grid. I can either print it without or without the grid. If I print it without the grid, I have transparencies that I ran through my printed with a 1" grid on them that I can place on top of the printed map. Then I can draw on the transparencies with appropriate markers as-needed.
If I just need to throw together a quick map or a dungeon I'll use something like the dungeon painter at http://pyromancers.com
If I'm doing an online session, or using a laptop and projecting my maps, I use roll20.net and create or upload my maps there.
I use adobe photoshop with these settings:
Canvas Size: 18 by 24 inches wide @300dpi
Enable Grid in preferences with 1 line every 300 pixels, subdivided by 4.
Solid Brush Size for walls 40 pixels.
To draw lines I use the path tool to anchor a point on the vertice I want it to start, plot the points then stroke the line.
Sometimes I switch to free-hand on my surface with a stylus for hand drawn lines.
I then populate the map with pre-made assets I've drawn and save before. Doors, furniture, stairs, objects, etc...
I then use a pattern I made of a light grey box that's 300 by 300 pixels wide to generate a grid below the assets if I need a grid.
http://imgur.com/9nEdwMQ
Photoshop using the line tool.
set image to 300 dpi and canvas size to the number of inches you need (figure based tend to be in scale with inches, so even if you use centimeters, I suggest you still use inches.
This particular one was made at 18 by 24 inches at 300 dpi
Enable grid in properties and snap-to in view and use the line tool to create walls with a 40 pixel brush and select stroke. Disable snap-to for free-hand.
I then populate the map with doodads I've pre-made. Like door and window symbols, furniture and stairs.
Roll20 has a lot of really cool features and the subscription has definitely been worth it. I've used a few different services and I've found this one to be the best.
Photoshop for my town and dungeon maps, but for actual battle maps, I use a Chessex vinyl mat and dry erase markers for impromptu combat.
I've thought about getting some A3 grid paper too, but I'm not sure yet.
Jack of All Trades
Graph paper to plan the map out. A Slate board we gridded for play:
I've printed stuff off before, Usually making sure the size of the file matches for scale. But these days i just draw them ahead of time on gaming paper.
we have a battle mat, and sometimes we use dungeon tiles from Descent journeys in the dark, at times we also use models from Decent as we have them around anyway as it is our backup game in case to few people are able to attend.