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From: Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com>
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action
Subject: Re: What difficultly level do you play one?
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 2024 06:24:11 -0700
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On 7/24/2024 6:35 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
> On Wed, 24 Jul 2024 08:30:25 -0700, Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com>
> wrote:
> 
> 
>>
>> Or you just look up the maps on the internet for those games.
> 
> Not much of an option back in the early 80s. Even BBS wouldn't be much
> help. Not that it wasn't possible, but the image files would probably
> be too much to download for all but the most dedicated on a 2400baud
> modem.
> 
>> Yes I mapped out by hand PoR, Bard's Tale etc. but I can't be assed to
>> do that ever again.  Tedious.
> 
> It was an assumed part of the game, as much as keeping track of
> hitpoints and knowing the damage value of your long-sword. It was just
> an accepted part of the genre, as much as the idea the arcade
> mentality that would try to kill you right from the start rather than
> help you progress to the end. Fortunately, both ideas eventually were
> tempered by the desire to create games that were FUN rather than
> mean-spirited grind.
> 
>> I can't say anyone ever maps playing D&D anymore either, for quite a
>> long time.  I did have one very confusing module I ran where the players
>> did finally bother to do it in 3.5, but it was still tedious and they
>> didn't like it, and neither really did I.
> 
> I've almost never had players create their own maps as we played. As
> you suggested, it does happen on occassion --usually when sticking the
> players in a labyrinthine dungeon-- but mostly they don't bother.
> 
> But I think that's more because
>     a) I tend to provide them with a visual representation using
>        an erasable hex-mat and dry-wipe markers, providing an
>        overview of their immediate area, and
>     b) I tend not to rely on large, labyrinthine dungeons. Most
>        of my dungeons tend to be fairly small (at least compared
>        to traditional D&D dungeons), with maybe only a dozen
>        rooms and connecting corridors. They're usually fairly
>        logically laid out (since they're almost always places
>        that creatures use -or used- to live and work) so it
>        is fairly easy for the players to imagine the entirity
>        of the place in their heads.
> 

I do find I far prefer smaller adventures these days.  The '5 room 
dungeons' work but feel a bit on the exceedingly small size.  I also 
usually used a rather large battle-mat.  Online with mapping it's a lot 
easier as they can see everywhere they explored (though making maps and 
using them for battle in online play is far more pre-work) and just go 
back to where they want by moving their figures.  I've also found a lot 
of people are familiar with the 'keep right' dungeon method and that 
works in most (not all) modules.

I've even just used graph paper instead of a battle mat with letters to 
represent the characters and monsters like 'rogue' which works 
surprisingly well when space isn't available for the mat.

-- 
-Justisaur

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