How to Run a Game (Part 13) - Maps

I did a massive series on how to draw maps back in the day. It's the most popular part of the blog based on page views, though that's probably because it was picked up by Pinterest, and a whole heap of shares just keep coming through. Here's the link to the page if you're interested (but you can also find a link at the top of the page).

Most of the things I think about maps haven't really changed in the time since I wrote (and drew) that sequence, but I have been planning to do a revision of it a number of times over the years. 

Maps work really well as a guide to the story, helping to immerse players in the world that their characters are exploring. They also help in establishing some of the boundaries of play, as well as providing hooks for characters to latch onto. The map becomes a part of the rules that govern the story, but I'll clarify the previous points. 

Some people are verbal, they use words to establish an imaginary scene (I had this idea reinforced when I wrote my post on anaphantasia). Some people are visual, they use images to establish the scene, and here's where I try to use a combination of maps and words to make sure everyone is trying to visualise the same things happening. 

Words can be made up on the fly, but maps take a little longer, so I'll usually try to ensure a few useful maps have been prepared ahead of time, and then have a portable whiteboard available...one side with a grid, one side plain. You can buy dry erase mapping sheets from a lot of different gaming stores or online (something like this), it would serve the same general purpose.

Players will generally get the impression that the prepared maps are significant to the story, while the dry erase sketched maps tend to be less important. Players will automatically metagame in this way, it's instinctive. However, if you're going to be cunning, you can have a few prepared maps that are randomly thrown into scenes (a petrol station, a tavern, a temple, a beach, a garden area, a cave), and could have the important places in the story quickly sketched out, so that you can copy them during the course of play. The players will think that the important area is a red herring, while the sidequest locations are key to the story. 

It all depends if you want to mess with your players that way. 

1. Regardless of what sorts of maps you use, there's a few key things that need to be present on them.
2. You need to know where solid walls are... these are things that the players can't easily move through.
3. You need to know where doors and windows are. These are the ways in to (and out of) areas, and immediately have strategic importance. They also help to determine where eye-lines might be when people are looking into a room.
4. Other obstacles, whether water, furniture, rubble, or anything else that might impede movement.
5. Key objectives in the room. Obvious valuables, things that might be dangerous... anything that might change the outcome of the scene where the location is being used.

That's a good start.

Then work out where everyone is, and place them in the scene.