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D&D Ideas — Maps

Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is maps, which we discussed in our weekly live chat. We hangout every Monday evening at 8 p.m. EST at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel talk about D&D, RPGs, gaming, life and whatever nerdy stuff comes up. Speaking of maps each of our 55 Out of the Box encounters includes AT LEAST one map illustrating the surroundings for where the action takes place. You can get Nerdarchy the Newsletter delivered to your inbox each week, along with updates and info on how to game with Nerdarchy plus snag a FREE GIFT by signing up here.

Nerdy News

Hail to the King of the week that was! Strike a bargain with the King of Monsters, master the funny shaped dice of the game we’re creating and ponder why your DM hates fun plus our weekly hangout, a live chat with an industry pro and a new live play of Zoo Mafia RPG round out this week’s Nerdy News. Check it out here.

Delving Dave’s Dungeon

I had a blast discussing maps with Nerdarchist Ted during the live chat. Maps have always been a crucial part of my D&D game even though how I use them over the years changes. Early on I’d draw maps on graph paper. Since then I’ve experimented with all kinds of software. When I was part of Save or Dice we used Dungeon Painter Studio. For the longest time DungeonFog was a sponsor and I’d make maps there. We recently backed Dungeon Alchemist which is an AI enhanced piece of mapping software. For home games I pull maps off of the internet to use.

During the pandemic when we played all our games online I’d screen share a map and then write on it using Zoom as a dumbed down VTT. There are so many ways to incorporate maps into your D&D games. There is a person on my social media who shows images of their Marvel Super Heroes RPG terrain. What is terrain but a 3D map?

These are all at the D&D table and out of game stuff but what about maps in the game? Maps have come up several times in my Under the Dome campaign where we most recently played our sixth session. During session two the characters were given a map to a score of chaos crystals to scavenge. In our last session the party sought out a cartographer and map dealer who had black market maps and blueprints. The group was planning a prison break and needed more intel. They were able to use the blueprints they procured for their planning.

I’ve also been in several campaigns where maps were found as part of a treasure trove.

5 ways to use maps in your D&D games

1. Characters find a journal on the remains of an adventurer listing the names of three other adventurers, where they are from, their last known location and that they each possess another piece of a map. Folded up in the journal is one quarter of a map.
2. Tried and true — a treasure map found along with other treasure.
3. An enemy surrenders and begs for their life. In return for mercy they will take the party to a treasure map.
4. At the beginning of a campaign all the characters are children of adventurers who died in their last adventure. Each had piece of a map they were able to leave to their children, the adventuring party. They come together to find where the map leads and to solve the mystery of their parents’ final, fatal adventure.
5. The characters are hired to either map an unknown area or protect an expedition doing so.

From Ted’s Head

Maps are a key staple for games of Dungeons & Dragons. In the early days of gaming characters would often find a map and this led them to the adventure where they’d battle through a dungeon and occasionally fight a dragon.

Characters (and players!) love finding loot and treasure and this is where maps come in. Finding a map to a treasure is a surefire way to get adventurers heading down the next road seeking that sweet treasure.

In my current home campaign I created a ridiculous map named Pam — a sentient map designed to detect trouble and problems. The only issue is she is young and still learning. In our We All Live on a Boat campaign the characters rescued a marid and received a wish. As they discussed ideas of what to wish for one player suggested a map. My evil brain immediately went to Dora the Explorer. (I have kids, don’t judge me.) I wanted to infect this serious game with the childlike innocence of The Map. I grit my teeth, not wanting to push them in any direction. It was their wish after all. But low and behold it was indeed the thing for which they wished.

Pam the Map is learning but will eventually allow adventurers to cast detection and other divination spells — depending on what the party does with it. As a magic item it can bend and twist to be whatever is needed or fun. On top of this the events of our campaign will influence Pam’s personality. With several murders taking place around Pam in our last session who knows how this will affect the sentient magic item’s behavior and demeanor in the long run?

The next time you give out treasure or the players roll high on an Investigation check in a book why not add a new map to the scene? Perhaps a foe they just defeated had a map stowed away on their person. What if the cloak someone is wearing has a map on the inside folds and when you lay it flat you can see it fully displayed. There are so many ways you can choose to add maps into your games even through secrets. Players will leap at the chance I assure you.

From the Nerditor’s Desk

A cartographer I am not. Creating maps for a D&D dungeon, castle, village, city or region holds no appeal and when I’m playing on the other side of the DM screen the task of mapping never falls to me (thankfully). And yet in either scenario I find maps intriguing, fun and most of all extremely useful.

Several years ago I even submitted a GM 911 question to Nerdarchy about using maps and a whole video resulted from my question. Maps often play a big part of game prep for me but I kept experiencing a disconnect between preparation and actual game play. Since I play RPGs pretty much exclusively theater of the mind would maps ever transition from DM aids to game session assets? And if none of the players are mapping during the game does anyone need any maps in the first place?

I’m a very visual person so the way I use maps as a DM is basically as a visual cue. I like illustrated full color maps for this purpose because all the details an artist includes translates into a more vivid description. One of the most important parts of playing D&D for me is imagining the space and my character within it so as a DM I aim to foster this same experience for other players. I can’t tell you how many times an adventure took an unexpected turn because players react to an innocuous visual detail. This is the juice for me.

Fortunately there’s countless artists and cartographers out there who do love creating maps. One of my favorites is Elven Tower. I haven’t utilized any of those maps in a while so I don’t know if this is still the case but these used to be shared for free through their website. Many times I’d get my initial adventure idea formed and then search for an appropriate map. Rather than plan out the specifics for each part of the map I’d use it as a reference for encounters wherever they took place. Protip: whatever your adventure if you do an internet search for <Your Idea> Map I bet you’ll find something to fit just right.

Recently Nerdarchist Dave welcomed Professor Dungeon Master from Dungeon Craft to Live Chat Revivified and they spent a bit of time discussing maps as they relate to traditional dungeon crawling. This is a style of play I haven’t experienced in decades but I’d love to engage in some classic dungeon delving. (Although I’d choose a different RPG than 5E D&D for such a campaign.) In this style of game adventurers move carefully through a dungeon making sure to manage their resources, avoid unnecessary dangers and of course create a map as they progress — they’ve got to find their way back out after all!

*Featured image — We packaged up all the maps from Out of the Box and put ’em in a bundle over at Nerdarchy the Store. All the high resolution maps can be used with virtual tabletops, for digital display and printable in full color. Check it out and get inspired by all the dynamic environments you’ll discover right here!

New videos all the time at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel here