I like the thought of maps, but its so time consuming and my fiancee thinks its not really necessary for the players to see a map. Right now I'm mostly creating maps for me to have behind my screen so that I can know where they are and what could be coming up. When creating a continent I didnt bother to try to make my own full continent, I used a generator and just refreshed until I got one that caught my eye. With that I'm just marking towns as I go along in the adventure instead of planning out every town name and such. 

My maps are pretty plain and simple, I've seen some really elaborate ones and I'm jealous. I've also considered using a program to make individual houses and stuff, but I'm not sure that its needed and again its time consuming. I have 2-4 kids to care for (depending on the day), and work.. along with normal house cleaning and such. The programs seem fun, but I usually get one minute into it until I say 'I don't need it that much, I dont have time and I still have the story to create'.

Usually I do not show the map unless is a challenging or complex combat.

From the Dragon+ digital magazine, there are quite a few you can download and adapt to your adventures.

In my open world campaign, giving maps is a good way to steer my characters without actually railroading them. However, there are many ways to draw a map. The prime direction could be north, or east, or some other direction. Is the map to scale, or is it trying to represent something else? Is the centre important enough to be the centre of the universe? Is it trying to be realistic, or is it abstract?

I got these questions and ideas after reading a history of maps. You might not have enough time to make some, but it can convey a lot of information you don't have to provide verbally. And the map you give doesn't have to be the one you have behind the screen.

If by maps you mean campaign world ones, I'd agree they are largely unimportant, however you do need a general idea as to the locations and where they are in comparison to each other.

If by maps you mean battle maps, Your fiancée has probably never played a wizard/sorcerer or any class where distance or proximity matters. The classic, I cast fireball in a spot where I will hit the max. bad guys and not hit my party quickly makes a map important. I would say any game where melee combat is the norm makes maps beneficial.

I think that maps can add a lot of great detail and mystery to the plot. just like in real life, if I didn't know what the grand canyon was and saw a giant hole in the ground on a map I'd want to check it out for sure. It can add a level of interest to many places. 

Also it will add a scale. saying it takes 4 days to get somewhere is one thing, but showing on a map that maybe they look right next to each other adds a whole new scale to showing how big a continent really is.

I really like having an "over-world" map; it's usually something I try to get into JPG format and email to my players before session #1 so they can take a look at all the dots (points of interest; towns/cities/villages, mapped ancient ruins, etc., to salivate over), and update it themselves as they discover enemy camps, BBEG hideouts, etc.

Usually, for the purposes of dungeon-delving, I rely on my players to elect a "map-maker" to form rough sketches in real time as they go through the dungeon and I explain what the rooms' dimensions are, exit locations, ledges, hidden doors/traps, etc. I elected to go with this because a) it's more realistic and it usually keeps everyone paying attention to where they have already been, and b) it saves me the trouble. Typically prior to a given session I try to pre-draw maps involved in encounters (I have 2 very large double-sided laminated grid mats) so that when they enter a room in which I know there's a bunch of drow lying in wait in the rafters, or an umber hulk or two are about to burst out of the wall, I have that map ready to go and combat can start as soon as I describe who gets surprised based on people's passive Perception.

I've found this works well for me and my group, but it does push some of the responsibility to the players... so it depends on what your group is willing to do.

Also, think about your game's theme. If it's more horror-driven, it might be more fun not to give the players a lot of the above information, to make them nervous about what's coming up. I've found the above things work well for a more "open world-y" experience, like SKT.

I print my maps (the ones they provide in adventures) 1 to 1 scale by using photoshop and excel. In photoshop I make one grid square equal one inch, it resizes it. I save that and import it into excel which tiles it out into a bunch of printable pages you can tape together. If your using minis it adds a whole other dimension of "wow this is cool!" to everyone's game. 

If you don't have PS or Excel you can probably find them already done online.

Mike

I'm a map girl myself. I map out  most places usually 'dungeons' and big cities. Smaller towns I typically don't map out but everything gets marked on the continent map or the world map. I hand draw all my maps or I did most of them I recently used the Donjon 5e dungeon mapper and I might never map a dungeon myself again. My players seem to enjoy the maps especially the world map. I'm also running CoS and the main map for that has been a big hit. 

I LOVE MAPS!!! I fit as many maps into my campaign as possible, and I think they do help in a number of situations, from exploration, to plans made by the PCs to estimating and calculating travel times. I have maps for large cities, common areas, the vale in which my campaign is taking place, and many maps of my campaign world, which I have compiled into an atlas of sorts. There are many good internet guides out there that can help you refine your drawing skills and design creative worlds. Step by step cartography by Jared Blando really helped me learn to draw good maps. For combat I usually don't use maps, but I sometimes use dungeon tiles, which are usually pretty fast. Overall I think maps work best in RP situations, and it is always fun to give the players a real map to represent a map that their characters receive.

Maps are essential for every DM. I use a lot of online tools when I play, so I scan maps from the book I'm using or download them as a PDF. In open world scenarios, in which I play all the time, I rarely give the players a map, but sometimes I like to have them buy one, or find one, then give them it in real life. In most battle encounters, maps are used, (I just look at mine and do a rough sketch.). And it's also fun to have the players make their own map in dungeon s! 

I recently started using a flatscreen TV (donated by one of my players) connected to my Apple TV box so I can mirror from my iPad. Download maps to the ipad, import them into Notability so I can draw on them to create the "fog of war" effect which can be erased with a touch. Taped some plexiglass onto the top of the TV so I can put the minis directly on the screen without scratching it. And I can also draw on the plexiglass with markers or draw on the ipad screen and it'll mirror onto the tv. It's pretty awesome and both of my groups really enjoy it.

I probably go a bit overboard with maps, but my players find it very helpful, especially in combat situations. I have three types of maps - digital ones that get displayed on a large screen all the players can see. These have the most detail. The second type is a rough layout of a dungeon that matches the dungeon map on the big screen - these are rough drawn on 1" square marked large easel pads. They're easy to get on amazon and are quick to unfurl, lay some paper over, and go. For combat in dungeons I try to have these. It's easy to put half-bead style markers on them, they're just about the right size. For these maps, 1" is equal to 5'. I also have one of the "square on one side, hex on the other" mats that are also 1" square. These are great for off-the-cuff battles, or roadway engagements - things that you can't really draw out ahead of time. 

That's probably quite a lot for "theater of the mind" style players, but I found my players were always losing track of who was where, what the distances were, who was in melee range of what, etc during combat. The maps made a huge difference in player frustration level, and my own as well. 

A lot of adventure modules come with really cool maps and it's a shame not to share them with Players as they add another layer of immersion.
I have been working with showing my Players the overworld map as they are discussing they lay of the land with people who would know it. 

With homebrew campaigns I always found that drawing up a map helped me get ideas for where I wanted the story to go. I used Campaign Cartographer which takes a bit of the work out of it and makes it possible for some who can't draw (like me) to make visually appealing maps. 

I like to have a continent wide map for group reference, at least so we all know relatively how long a trip might take, is it a major route, mountainous, etc. Just so that everyone can be in the right mood on the road. Should a location be frequented more, I find a map naturally arises as you travel the small village for the 10th time. For combat though, we use a four dry erase mats. My group is largely hack and slashy, so I try to put together a dungeon map that they'll like. More tactically challenging and the like. I do try use maps from any given module, as they're very nice looking and it's a shame to deny PCs that detail.

Quote from RaistlinRox >>

I recently started using a flatscreen TV (donated by one of my players) connected to my Apple TV box so I can mirror from my iPad. Download maps to the ipad, import them into Notability so I can draw on them to create the "fog of war" effect which can be erased with a touch. Taped some plexiglass onto the top of the TV so I can put the minis directly on the screen without scratching it. And I can also draw on the plexiglass with markers or draw on the ipad screen and it'll mirror onto the tv. It's pretty awesome and both of my groups really enjoy it.

I have an old flat(ish) screen tv that I lay down on the table to use to bring up battle maps and and the like. it takes a little bit of doing to set up multiple versions of fantasy ground between it and my computer but my players seem to really appreciate it and allows me to reveal only what I want my players to see (ie fog of war).

Quote from Snugug420 >>

I like to have a continent wide map for group reference, at least so we all know relatively how long a trip might take, is it a major route, mountainous, etc. Just so that everyone can be in the right mood on the road. Should a location be frequented more, I find a map naturally arises as you travel the small village for the 10th time. For combat though, we use a four dry erase mats. My group is largely hack and slashy, so I try to put together a dungeon map that they'll like. More tactically challenging and the like. I do try use maps from any given module, as they're very nice looking and it's a shame to deny PCs that detail.

I typically use a map for large/complex encounters that I have planned out. I do not use any map for random encounters or encounters used to pressure the players into not long resting after every encounter. This is a lot of work because I hand draw out these maps and plan out to have lots of interesting features for players to interact with. I'm a big fan of using hazardous terrain, or large magical artifacts that effect the flow of combat. Mostly the players enjoy it, but I can't emphasize enough how much work I put into it.

I like to offer multiple routes through a combat encounter, including high ground cover positions that might be treacherous to reach. Acid poolson the floor, visible spike pits if it fits the narrative things like that. Using a properly designed encounter map will allow even a mid level group to feel pressured by low tier enemies which is a huge tool for variety in the game.

Seeing what 6 goblins can do to a level 6 fighter who's opted to push through a choke point as the goblins ready-action against him with pots of slippery goo and so on..

I personally could not hold such levels of detail in my mind without handwaving the entire affair.