I’m all over the place with maps, if I feel the social interaction is more important, then I don’t use any form of area map. But as I have a tactical game ply style group, it’s almost required for combat so they can really get their bearings. Now when it comes to the climatic battles, I go all out. Full on 3D setup with scaled terrain for their miniatures. I really enjoy this aspect, but the time involved in setting it up detracts from game time, so its saved just for those special times. Looking forward to the fight with Strahd.
As for overland maps, I like to find a player map and print it out on parchment paper, weather it a little, tie it up, or toss it in a scroll case and give my players a physical prop. It helps convey the world so they have a clear understanding of the area they are in. Makes travel decisions clearer and travel time straight forward.
But then again, should we show our dungeon layout to the players? Or should we just say it out to them where is located where. I think it might be useful to have the dungeon layout on the table, but we cover it with some paper until the players walk through the lane, then we reveal it, but it's too complicated. So please, if anyone has a quick solution, reply quick.
But then again, should we show our dungeon layout to the players?
Why shouldn't we? If the art style is nice it lets the players appreciate the look of it, and the communication clarity and brevity provided by it far outweighs the downside of... well... pretty much nothing, since the only thing lost by showing the players the map is the choice of "Do I repeat what I've already told them about the dungeon or remind them of how many other paths they haven't taken yet, or do I let the players be completely clueless because they can't remember all the details that even I as DM only remember because I can see the map?" which isn't really a loss in the first place.
You can show the players the map and still have surprises in store for their characters - just don't make art or labels that communicate those surprises (example: number/letter all the rooms and major hallways - but since you've written something like "A" or "12" rather than "bunch of goblins" or "pit trap in front of the statue" it won't actually mean anything to the players when they see it).
However, if you really insist on trying to keep the players from knowing things that make playing the game more efficient but don't provide their character any form of advantage, pretty much any virtual table-top software can run a line-of-sight engine so that the player view of the map only reveals what areas the selected character token can see (according to which parts of the map have been set to block vision/lighting, and what range of senses the character token has been assigned).
I’m all over the place with maps, if I feel the social interaction is more important, then I don’t use any form of area map. But as I have a tactical game ply style group, it’s almost required for combat so they can really get their bearings. Now when it comes to the climatic battles, I go all out. Full on 3D setup with scaled terrain for their miniatures. I really enjoy this aspect, but the time involved in setting it up detracts from game time, so its saved just for those special times. Looking forward to the fight with Strahd.
As for overland maps, I like to find a player map and print it out on parchment paper, weather it a little, tie it up, or toss it in a scroll case and give my players a physical prop. It helps convey the world so they have a clear understanding of the area they are in. Makes travel decisions clearer and travel time straight forward.
But then again, should we show our dungeon layout to the players? Or should we just say it out to them where is located where. I think it might be useful to have the dungeon layout on the table, but we cover it with some paper until the players walk through the lane, then we reveal it, but it's too complicated. So please, if anyone has a quick solution, reply quick.
Understood. Thanks for your feedback, it has helped me a lot! :)