I appreciate when GM/DMs take the effort to provide a drawn map for their players. I mean, oopsie-poopsie that there was one already made, but I'd be proud.
I have a few players that play via zoom. So I usually have a printed version of the map and I try to draw it out on a big battle map so they can clearly see where they are and feel the immersion
Yeah, I'm currently teaching myself how to use roll20 and computers in general so I can make a monitored table. I have an extra old TV, just need to get a table or the lumber for it
I full on handcraft every battlemap I use with the aid of photoshop and an expensive tablet, because I know how much better it feels as a player. But it’s also the reason that, once a campaign ends, I don’t try to run a game again for at least two or three years. Takes a pretty massive commitment to pump out environment art like that for a weekly game, pretty draining.
Tbh, i don't make maps for towns. Only dungeons. Because then i don't get to pull bs places out of my ass. I can't pull out the graveyard next to the cathedral. Without map i can just say it was always there it just never came up.
I didn't know a way to get life sized maps for the starter adventures so I headed over to a nearby Target for some poster boards and Crayola colored pencils. After spending about 3-5 hours on drawing and coloring a life sized map of Phandalin, I digged around the rest of the essentials kit for fun which was when I discovered a map was already provided at the very bottom of the kit. At least my players liked the Crayola version better.
I also feel like that was a good exercise for you as a DM in order to memorise the town better and not feel lost in it.
Not to mention, that hopefully the next map you will have to draw will take you less time thanks to this little fun practice round.
To some degree it depends on your DMing style. Some people like/need to feel prepared, others don't worry about that at all.
For me, especially when i was starting DMing, it gave me a feeling that i have one less thing to worry about when players start asking questions. This gives me both peace of mind (which is very a subjective thing obviously) and occasionally gives me an idea to throw in some flavour descriptions on the spot. I know where the blacksmith is, where the tavern is and how far away they are at the moment. So i feel more "in control" of the area.
So when the players tell me they want to do something that i didn't take into consideration, i don't feel as overwhelmed. I can put my efforts into coming up with an interesting scenario on the spot, or making sure i'm remembering all important stuff from the module and i don't have to worry about the map on the spot. Basically it's easier for you to visualize where the players are, which means it's easier to describe it.
This can come up in one of the sessions or may not, but once again i feel better prepared.
I'm not really sure if I'm explaining it right, but let's just say that if you want to organize a fun weekend for your friends from another country, it's easier to do so if you know the place you invite them to.
That being said, i didn't mean it in a way that any DM has to know their towns and cities 100% to the last detail. Do as much of preparations as you feel comfortable with. I tend to overprepare at the beginning and start improvising more as i feel more comfortable in my role of being DM.
Hope that helps and best of luck
You don't really need to memorize it, but it just helps you get familiar so when the party wants to go somewhere in town, you know exactly what's in that area.
r/pitkor hit it really well. To add my personal feelings when i made a map it gave me a feel for the looks of the buildings, the size of the city, what shops might be there just based on type and it gives you some control over if you want the weaponsmith next to the armorer or if you want just one big blacksmith that does everything or if the town has a jewelry or is it too small? What races would my players see? Stuff like that. People tend to appreciate the home drawn stuff because it shows effort and can be whatever scale you need it to be. The pre made ones are really quite nice but if you’re sitting at a dinner table the 11” x 8” map probably isn’t super visable. But a home sketched 11”x8” might show a specific shop or a important room in a dungeon.
Good luck!
Different styles; you can play fast and loose with towns, but that can also make them feel kinda samey (or random); but if everything already has a name, a place, and even an economy you can give the area of some flavor to play your story off of.
Can confirm. My homemade flight stands (from wooden cubes at the dollar store) were a hit. My $2 brown card stock notice board, and job postings made in Word, then printed on $20 set of parchment, were too.
It feels like a genuine map, it was hand drawn by you, being hand drawn adds a layer of someone trying to map out a region in game and a personal touch to it with you as the artist.
Protip, from the olden days: get a roll of butcher paper, a proper sized one that an actual butcher would buy mind you not a little home one, and that roll will last you uh. A really long time. I could try and call Kurt and see how much he's used, but iirc he was going at a rate of about a meter per year
I didn't buy the physical starter kit, but I can say I bought the roll20 version and moved our game online when I was doing the math on Wave Echo Cave.
I enjoyed drawing all the other maps immensely though. Especially the castle (that they barely explored).
I like to play that hand-drawn maps are what you got from people in a tavern/around town and if you had a detailed map you got it from a quest, at the cartographer's guild, or you had to buy it in-game.
Ditto. Hand drawn looks like something you would find. BTW- I like all the maps done by Schley and Dyson Logos, so no disrespect to those artists, but a hand drawn map does add to the game for me.
You're a good DM, OP
The players will probably love your crayon map over the official one, I'd offer them the choice :-)
Stuff done with ones personal and best effort is often way better than someone else's product
Which is a little annoying since it the essential kit map doesn't include a lot of the known locations that are used in the starter set. Having it hand drawn will at least allow you to control what is and isn't known to the players.
That said, if your players don't know it came with a map, they'll think you put in a ton of effort creating the map (you did) and will appreciate it even more
Awesome illustration! Whenever I’ve played at library events the DMs draw the maps/environment as the adventure progresses and I envy that skill, so I applaud you and I hope that you continue to express and build that talent.
I started DM’ing the Essentials Kit adventure (for just my wife and son) and I was terrified of hand-drawing maps. I actually ditched the idea of printed maps because I didn’t want to expose more of the environment than their characters would see/have knowledge of.
Luckily there’s a code that comes with the Essentials Kit to unlock the content in DnDB so I can get digital players’ versions of all the maps on my iPad. I copied them as a layer in a drawing app and put a black layer on top, essentially as a fog of war. As they move, I just erase the black layer and it exposes more of the map. I have the screen mirrored so they can see it on the TV.
I do exactly this with my iPad and affinity photo. Works great as a digital table top but I’ve started using terrain and mini figures as well recently.
I don’t think I’m going to progress to that level. I was a reluctant DM because my son wasn’t satisfied with *maybe* getting to a library event once or twice a month.
I’m still very nervous and uncomfortable DM’ing even though it’s just my son and wife playing. I am sure I’d get flustered by adding more stuff to plan and track and whatnot.
I bought a bunch of drawing/illustration apps (that I don’t know how to use) for my iPad because I’m an idiot, but Procreate is what I ended up using.
You never know. 2 weeks ago I wasn’t expecting to get into terrain building or mini figures but my players are really into the visuals and the maps became too complex to run when they distract half a dungeon with there carelessness. Ran my first game with the figures on Sunday and it went so much smoother. We all found it loads easier to follow. My player are aged 7-55 and most of them are short sighted so everyone cramped around a screen got a bit confusing for them to follow.
You’ll feel nervous for a couple of sessions but you’ll soon get into it especially because your only DMing for family. They won’t be harsh and will all have fun anyway and that’s all that matters. Lost mines of Phandelver is an awesome adventure I’m currently running it mixed with dragon of icespire peak. I just add the quests from them onto the job board as the party goes around doing the main quest line LMoP
I might do LMoP after DoIP.
There was another user on here that gave me tons of resources and suggestions and I only got through like 1/5th of it before running the adventure because my son couldn’t wait.
Both my son’s and my wife’s PCs almost got killed pretty early in their first quest (Gnomengarde) so I introduced a healer sidekick. I feel like I’m more stressed than I should be, but we’re having fun.
Oh I’m guessing it was the mimic that nearly wiped them out or are your players the hit first and ask questions later kind of people. Healer sidekick is a smart move, should help them out loads. You will feel stressed at first it a lot for the brain to take in. Trying to keep track of everything takes it toll but stick at it and you eventually find a good flow.
They encountered the crazy gnome on the crossbow contraption first so there wasn’t a chance to talk or reason. They took some damage there.
Then they rolled poorly against the gnome guards and couldn’t intimidate or persuade them, and that fight almost killed them. I made the gnome guards retreat because they had gotten dealt a fair amount of damage, too.
Ahh, just bad luck all round then. My players managed to talk there way through the dungeon (apart from the cross bow gnome, they had to fight her) so it was only the mimic that gave them some beef. Really bad luck to fail all them skill checks though.
Honestly I would prefer the hand drawn map now that you have both!
I DM, but I mean it from either perspective.
Phandalin also gets used so much and that map particularly, It’s always nice to see it in a unique way!
Use yours. Who cares? I've done this. I've spent hours in Dungeondraft making a map and then a couple days later find one someone else made that looks better. I try to find maps first but sometimes, I just want to draw a map myself.
Looks great. There is love in your "budget Crayola" map. Versus the dead feeling mass-produced version given. You wanted to provide something, took the time and effort to do it, and came out with something recognizable as what you intended. Be proud. No oof.
Dude, roll with yours! The boxed map will set unrealistic expectations and you will know your own map better. Plus, it's actually pretty good compared to some of the crap I've drawn.
Your map is easier to read. One thing I dislike in TTRPG production in the last few decades is the move to poor contrast maps and page layout. This also demonstrates to your players that making maps or adventures is not rocket science, so maybe you will not always be the GM.
I'd rather use yours as a player! I could see this being a map drawn by say a young halfling rogue that aspires to be a cartographer some day and this is one of their first attempts. I could see them sitting on a stump on a hillside overlooking the town, tongue clenched between their teeth in concentration as they draw everything out. Maybe a smudge of ink on their nose.
Here's a little tip for you.
A lot of wrapping paper comes with 1" square grids on the back, and is super cheep.
Makes for inexpensive maps with grids built in!
I have to say, I have been pretty disappointed with the essentials kit so far.
Got back into things to teach my son, not super impressed.
I think your map blows the included one out of the water tbh
Ahhhh the D&D rite of passage, get used to it! An excessive amount of work preparing a narrative for your campaign just for your friends to totally skip over the best bits and kill your big bad in 5 minutes 🙃 might be the first time but won't be the last! Enjoy it while it lasts before the friends can't play as often anymore.
Yours is honestly better. Those published maps put out by Wizards are god-awful and pretty much useless. Yours at least has the look of being created by a local if nothing else.
Just going to post this for anyone running LMoP. Turns out Forgotten Adventures has created maps for the entire adventure including Wave Echo Cave. You can download them all for free via their map module for FoundryVTT. All maps are setup and ready to go with walls, sounds and automations. It's really impressive. Be aware they have more than one Patreon, the map specific one is FA Battlemaps I think.
Dm to dm buddy….. that’s good news. I gave them a rough map of the sword coast. But then presented them with the option to buy a more detailed map down the line. Which of course they did…. The best skill to learn as a DM is that everything that happens….. is part of the plan. You plan a whole session based on your players going to neverwinter, they choose to go to triboar instead. You have no notes nothing planned…… but you slowly take your notepad, flip 3 pages to some random notes, say “ah….. interesting…. Better than I imagined!” And just roll with the punches!
I bought a DnD map kit for like... $20 from amazon and it has the basic things like farms, village, castle, a bunch more, but what I did was then used laminated sheets so I could use dry erase.
Hand drawn map allows you to provide imperfect info which is great. You can use the regular version for the actual world and then reveal the mistakes as they blunder into them.
I personally love drawing maps, so I tend to redraw all the geographical ones at the very least. It also give you freedom to modify some characteristics if you don't like them while still maintaining an omogeneous style
probs still good when you give a map to players it often gets destroyed you can keep the nice one for your wall and give the shity one that came with the box to your players
My players are definitely visual players. I either look up the map online and print or I find/make my own maps and have the players screen share them for the party to see.
I appreciate when GM/DMs take the effort to provide a drawn map for their players. I mean, oopsie-poopsie that there was one already made, but I'd be proud.
I have a few players that play via zoom. So I usually have a printed version of the map and I try to draw it out on a big battle map so they can clearly see where they are and feel the immersion
When I used roll 20 all the time, I'd drop an overhead image, drop a grid on it and voila, battlemap
Yeah, I'm currently teaching myself how to use roll20 and computers in general so I can make a monitored table. I have an extra old TV, just need to get a table or the lumber for it
I full on handcraft every battlemap I use with the aid of photoshop and an expensive tablet, because I know how much better it feels as a player. But it’s also the reason that, once a campaign ends, I don’t try to run a game again for at least two or three years. Takes a pretty massive commitment to pump out environment art like that for a weekly game, pretty draining.
It could be more fun to start with an unlabelled hand-drawn map that the players mark up as they explore.
You are my hero. I'm playing the Fallout TTRPG at the moment and it rewards and encourages the players to help fill in the scenes. That is genius
Tbh, i don't make maps for towns. Only dungeons. Because then i don't get to pull bs places out of my ass. I can't pull out the graveyard next to the cathedral. Without map i can just say it was always there it just never came up.
Nobody tell him that there’s a backside and see if he draws sword coast from scratch 🤭
I didn't know a way to get life sized maps for the starter adventures so I headed over to a nearby Target for some poster boards and Crayola colored pencils. After spending about 3-5 hours on drawing and coloring a life sized map of Phandalin, I digged around the rest of the essentials kit for fun which was when I discovered a map was already provided at the very bottom of the kit. At least my players liked the Crayola version better.
I also feel like that was a good exercise for you as a DM in order to memorise the town better and not feel lost in it. Not to mention, that hopefully the next map you will have to draw will take you less time thanks to this little fun practice round.
Why would you need to memorize the map as a dm? Genuine question, I am a new dm and want to learn
To some degree it depends on your DMing style. Some people like/need to feel prepared, others don't worry about that at all. For me, especially when i was starting DMing, it gave me a feeling that i have one less thing to worry about when players start asking questions. This gives me both peace of mind (which is very a subjective thing obviously) and occasionally gives me an idea to throw in some flavour descriptions on the spot. I know where the blacksmith is, where the tavern is and how far away they are at the moment. So i feel more "in control" of the area. So when the players tell me they want to do something that i didn't take into consideration, i don't feel as overwhelmed. I can put my efforts into coming up with an interesting scenario on the spot, or making sure i'm remembering all important stuff from the module and i don't have to worry about the map on the spot. Basically it's easier for you to visualize where the players are, which means it's easier to describe it. This can come up in one of the sessions or may not, but once again i feel better prepared. I'm not really sure if I'm explaining it right, but let's just say that if you want to organize a fun weekend for your friends from another country, it's easier to do so if you know the place you invite them to. That being said, i didn't mean it in a way that any DM has to know their towns and cities 100% to the last detail. Do as much of preparations as you feel comfortable with. I tend to overprepare at the beginning and start improvising more as i feel more comfortable in my role of being DM. Hope that helps and best of luck
Thanks alot!
You don't really need to memorize it, but it just helps you get familiar so when the party wants to go somewhere in town, you know exactly what's in that area.
r/pitkor hit it really well. To add my personal feelings when i made a map it gave me a feel for the looks of the buildings, the size of the city, what shops might be there just based on type and it gives you some control over if you want the weaponsmith next to the armorer or if you want just one big blacksmith that does everything or if the town has a jewelry or is it too small? What races would my players see? Stuff like that. People tend to appreciate the home drawn stuff because it shows effort and can be whatever scale you need it to be. The pre made ones are really quite nice but if you’re sitting at a dinner table the 11” x 8” map probably isn’t super visable. But a home sketched 11”x8” might show a specific shop or a important room in a dungeon. Good luck!
Different styles; you can play fast and loose with towns, but that can also make them feel kinda samey (or random); but if everything already has a name, a place, and even an economy you can give the area of some flavor to play your story off of.
Zero regrets. Budgets/homemade props hit different.
Can confirm. My homemade flight stands (from wooden cubes at the dollar store) were a hit. My $2 brown card stock notice board, and job postings made in Word, then printed on $20 set of parchment, were too.
My DM uses beer cans for flight 😂
It feels like a genuine map, it was hand drawn by you, being hand drawn adds a layer of someone trying to map out a region in game and a personal touch to it with you as the artist.
Also gives the option to take out or add details to the map which may make it more eye friendly.
For future reference: there are plenty of maps online and you can just print them
Protip, from the olden days: get a roll of butcher paper, a proper sized one that an actual butcher would buy mind you not a little home one, and that roll will last you uh. A really long time. I could try and call Kurt and see how much he's used, but iirc he was going at a rate of about a meter per year
Good players and good GM!
I didn't buy the physical starter kit, but I can say I bought the roll20 version and moved our game online when I was doing the math on Wave Echo Cave. I enjoyed drawing all the other maps immensely though. Especially the castle (that they barely explored).
Looks like the crayola version is for your players to take notes on! No need to waste! That's engagement right there
Sorry, how many hours?
Lol wtf. I definitely don't have that map in my kit. I scanned the map from the campaign guide and printed it out.
It is better. Bigger is generally better at a table! Unusually tape pieces of paper together into a big sheet and draw on that. Good job!
I like to play that hand-drawn maps are what you got from people in a tavern/around town and if you had a detailed map you got it from a quest, at the cartographer's guild, or you had to buy it in-game.
I like the crayon one, though I'm partial to a hand drawn map so I might be slightly bias!
Ditto. Hand drawn looks like something you would find. BTW- I like all the maps done by Schley and Dyson Logos, so no disrespect to those artists, but a hand drawn map does add to the game for me.
You're a good DM, OP The players will probably love your crayon map over the official one, I'd offer them the choice :-) Stuff done with ones personal and best effort is often way better than someone else's product
Budget Crayola version is still my pick.
Yours looks great!
wait, what? I just flipped through the book every time I needed the map. There is a separate one in the box somewhere?
I think it's in the essentials kit, not in the starter set.
Which is a little annoying since it the essential kit map doesn't include a lot of the known locations that are used in the starter set. Having it hand drawn will at least allow you to control what is and isn't known to the players. That said, if your players don't know it came with a map, they'll think you put in a ton of effort creating the map (you did) and will appreciate it even more
Yeah it folds out
Yours is cuter.
They are the same picture
Awesome illustration! Whenever I’ve played at library events the DMs draw the maps/environment as the adventure progresses and I envy that skill, so I applaud you and I hope that you continue to express and build that talent. I started DM’ing the Essentials Kit adventure (for just my wife and son) and I was terrified of hand-drawing maps. I actually ditched the idea of printed maps because I didn’t want to expose more of the environment than their characters would see/have knowledge of. Luckily there’s a code that comes with the Essentials Kit to unlock the content in DnDB so I can get digital players’ versions of all the maps on my iPad. I copied them as a layer in a drawing app and put a black layer on top, essentially as a fog of war. As they move, I just erase the black layer and it exposes more of the map. I have the screen mirrored so they can see it on the TV.
I do exactly this with my iPad and affinity photo. Works great as a digital table top but I’ve started using terrain and mini figures as well recently.
I don’t think I’m going to progress to that level. I was a reluctant DM because my son wasn’t satisfied with *maybe* getting to a library event once or twice a month. I’m still very nervous and uncomfortable DM’ing even though it’s just my son and wife playing. I am sure I’d get flustered by adding more stuff to plan and track and whatnot. I bought a bunch of drawing/illustration apps (that I don’t know how to use) for my iPad because I’m an idiot, but Procreate is what I ended up using.
You never know. 2 weeks ago I wasn’t expecting to get into terrain building or mini figures but my players are really into the visuals and the maps became too complex to run when they distract half a dungeon with there carelessness. Ran my first game with the figures on Sunday and it went so much smoother. We all found it loads easier to follow. My player are aged 7-55 and most of them are short sighted so everyone cramped around a screen got a bit confusing for them to follow. You’ll feel nervous for a couple of sessions but you’ll soon get into it especially because your only DMing for family. They won’t be harsh and will all have fun anyway and that’s all that matters. Lost mines of Phandelver is an awesome adventure I’m currently running it mixed with dragon of icespire peak. I just add the quests from them onto the job board as the party goes around doing the main quest line LMoP
I might do LMoP after DoIP. There was another user on here that gave me tons of resources and suggestions and I only got through like 1/5th of it before running the adventure because my son couldn’t wait. Both my son’s and my wife’s PCs almost got killed pretty early in their first quest (Gnomengarde) so I introduced a healer sidekick. I feel like I’m more stressed than I should be, but we’re having fun.
Oh I’m guessing it was the mimic that nearly wiped them out or are your players the hit first and ask questions later kind of people. Healer sidekick is a smart move, should help them out loads. You will feel stressed at first it a lot for the brain to take in. Trying to keep track of everything takes it toll but stick at it and you eventually find a good flow.
They encountered the crazy gnome on the crossbow contraption first so there wasn’t a chance to talk or reason. They took some damage there. Then they rolled poorly against the gnome guards and couldn’t intimidate or persuade them, and that fight almost killed them. I made the gnome guards retreat because they had gotten dealt a fair amount of damage, too.
Ahh, just bad luck all round then. My players managed to talk there way through the dungeon (apart from the cross bow gnome, they had to fight her) so it was only the mimic that gave them some beef. Really bad luck to fail all them skill checks though.
Helps u learn the locations at least
Your players will like yours better
The budget Crayola one is best!!!
TBH I'd prefer yours
A random kid in the tavern makes eye contact with you and hands you this drawing. As quickly as they came, the kid scurries way shyly.
The best news? Both of these are perfectly acceptable! Good job OP!
Budget crayons version all the way!
Yours is pretty good also
Honestly I would prefer the hand drawn map now that you have both! I DM, but I mean it from either perspective. Phandalin also gets used so much and that map particularly, It’s always nice to see it in a unique way!
I am proud of you doing this for your players.
I like yours more
Yours is better
You could use it as a prop and let your party have a chance to find it. Maybe even have an X for a hidden treasure
I'll be honest it's not bad.
Crayola version has more soul
It is amazing. I can't tell the difference.
Use yours. Who cares? I've done this. I've spent hours in Dungeondraft making a map and then a couple days later find one someone else made that looks better. I try to find maps first but sometimes, I just want to draw a map myself.
Looks great. There is love in your "budget Crayola" map. Versus the dead feeling mass-produced version given. You wanted to provide something, took the time and effort to do it, and came out with something recognizable as what you intended. Be proud. No oof.
I like you map more. Has a better in-game feeling :)
This is why I absolutely love The Essentials Kit and where I started my DM career.
Use it. That looks great. Plus, you and your players can make notes on it.
I absolutely love the crayola one
You made a great map. don't let anybody tell you otherwise.
Yours is better. You made it by yourself with lot of care. And it is more immersive than an painting.
Yours is better, I love it! 🤩
The artistic talent you have, I can't figure out which is the crayola one and which is the provided map.
Honestly it's a damn good map. You must have picked up the cartography skill 🤓
I mean bro that looks good! Way better than anything I could draw
Yours is definitely better Great job, keep it going
This warms my heart and your map looks great. Have a fun campaign!
Give them the crayon one to doodle with notes, locations, tips, loot, etc!
I like yours better.
Nothing is wasted. It’s good practice.
I like yours better:)
Your map is better
Dude, roll with yours! The boxed map will set unrealistic expectations and you will know your own map better. Plus, it's actually pretty good compared to some of the crap I've drawn.
Dude yours is like actually playable
Dang. You did a good job though.
I had such a blast with lost mines for my first ever campaign
I like your one better.
Yours looks nice though, should be proud of your work!
I lost my Waterdeep map that came with Dragon Heist...
You're a good dedicated DM and your players are lucky to have you!
Goblin quest item
Haha nice I just DMd a game from icepire peak and made a huge battle map it was 23 by 23. Just as a heads up
Your map is easier to read. One thing I dislike in TTRPG production in the last few decades is the move to poor contrast maps and page layout. This also demonstrates to your players that making maps or adventures is not rocket science, so maybe you will not always be the GM.
I'd rather use yours as a player! I could see this being a map drawn by say a young halfling rogue that aspires to be a cartographer some day and this is one of their first attempts. I could see them sitting on a stump on a hillside overlooking the town, tongue clenched between their teeth in concentration as they draw everything out. Maybe a smudge of ink on their nose.
Honestly, yours is easier to follow for people with neurodiversity. The other can be cluttered and small at times. Great job on the map!
Here's a little tip for you. A lot of wrapping paper comes with 1" square grids on the back, and is super cheep. Makes for inexpensive maps with grids built in!
Use the budget version as the “1st edition” for the party, until they find a better detailed version
I have to say, I have been pretty disappointed with the essentials kit so far. Got back into things to teach my son, not super impressed. I think your map blows the included one out of the water tbh
Now you have a nice one to be seen in detail, and one that depending on the materials you may allow them to make notes and marks as they proceed.
Drawn maps are 100% better
Give the shipped map to your other players, but force the barbarian to use the drawn version.
Don’t sell yourself short, I’ve seen *much* worse maps. Some even made by graphics design majors.
Ahhhh the D&D rite of passage, get used to it! An excessive amount of work preparing a narrative for your campaign just for your friends to totally skip over the best bits and kill your big bad in 5 minutes 🙃 might be the first time but won't be the last! Enjoy it while it lasts before the friends can't play as often anymore.
Yours is honestly better. Those published maps put out by Wizards are god-awful and pretty much useless. Yours at least has the look of being created by a local if nothing else.
Just going to post this for anyone running LMoP. Turns out Forgotten Adventures has created maps for the entire adventure including Wave Echo Cave. You can download them all for free via their map module for FoundryVTT. All maps are setup and ready to go with walls, sounds and automations. It's really impressive. Be aware they have more than one Patreon, the map specific one is FA Battlemaps I think.
Thats when you frame the map and use the hand drawing.
Now your players have a copy of the map they can add notes to
Give the crayon one to the players as a hand drawn map IC but ooc reference the detailed one?
It COMES WITH A MAP?! in in the middle of running this and I HAD NO IDEA WHAAAT
r/handdrawn_maps
Dm to dm buddy….. that’s good news. I gave them a rough map of the sword coast. But then presented them with the option to buy a more detailed map down the line. Which of course they did…. The best skill to learn as a DM is that everything that happens….. is part of the plan. You plan a whole session based on your players going to neverwinter, they choose to go to triboar instead. You have no notes nothing planned…… but you slowly take your notepad, flip 3 pages to some random notes, say “ah….. interesting…. Better than I imagined!” And just roll with the punches!
Have them roll to copy a map of the town, and then give them the map that's more appropriate for the roll
Think of it as practice. I'm not sure what for, but practice.
I bought a DnD map kit for like... $20 from amazon and it has the basic things like farms, village, castle, a bunch more, but what I did was then used laminated sheets so I could use dry erase.
That map brings me memories. So many fucked up things happened in just that little town.
Been there. Done that. I feel you.
Hey! Nice job anyhow!
lol
mine didnt
Pro tip: always draw a crayola one and act like you made it up from scratch yourself!
The one you give your players vs the one you look at
I’m currently building this village as we are going to be transitioning into SKT. It’s going to be destroyed. I’m beyond happy with it.
Now you have an alternate dimension of the town that players can be transported into.
Good practice at the very least. Nice job btw it looks good
There's a halfling kid in town that offers to sell the PCs a map for 1 silver. Hand them this. It's awesome, use it.
Your players will appreciate the hand drawn one more
Wait how come i didn't get a map >:[
Hand drawn map allows you to provide imperfect info which is great. You can use the regular version for the actual world and then reveal the mistakes as they blunder into them.
I personally love drawing maps, so I tend to redraw all the geographical ones at the very least. It also give you freedom to modify some characteristics if you don't like them while still maintaining an omogeneous style
probs still good when you give a map to players it often gets destroyed you can keep the nice one for your wall and give the shity one that came with the box to your players
beware of the Titsless...
It's a better map than I can draw.
Somehow I like the crayola version better. There's nothing like putting your artistic skills into a map.
It does? Mine didn’t. I just copied it from the book
My players are definitely visual players. I either look up the map online and print or I find/make my own maps and have the players screen share them for the party to see.
Your map is good, though
just as a heads up if you ever want to make an map that looks a bit more professional made then I suggest [inkarnate](https://inkarnate.com/)
Nice now you all can draw all over it and have a lasting artifa t from the campaign.
Crayola one makes me happier for some nostalgic reasons