Now ive been trying to get into D&D for about a year now, but i didn't really know anyone into it. Id always wanted to be a dungeon master, and now i've finally got a small group together i've struck a problem.
We played the really short dungeon from the 4e starter set ,and i was about to embark onto the chaos scar campaign(www.wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd/d...) , when i realised you cant really make those maps out of the card pop outs you get.
Am i supposed to be drawing all these maps from the quest descriptions onto paper myself , or are there poster maps for it ?
also in the campaign, where is rest-well and do characters simply teleport between locations and adventures ?
I'm in the same boat, and also broke, so I havnt been buying the map/tile sets. I went to walmart and picked up large pad of sketch paper, it measures like 15" X 18" or some thing and was really cheep. With that, a long ruler and some colored pencils I have been able to duplicate the maps fairly well.
I draw out a grid of 1" x 1" squares then draw out the dungeon and do some crappy coloring (i'm not an artist by any means). If your map area is bigger just tape some sheets together.
Read the Q&A thread I have going below this one too. In the first few posts I ask about maps and other members had some links and suggestions that were very helpful!!
I love the cardboard Dungeon Tiles, I buy some any time I have a little money to spend, but they aren't needed for the game. I enjoy the paper poster maps that come with some boxed sets, too.
However, the graphing paper is excellent: it's what we were doing back in the 1990's and 1980's before the tiles were created.
As an alternative, several companies make large dry-erase mats that you can draw maps on in marker, and just erase and re-use again and again. And, keep in mind that imagination can work out just fine as well.
Welcome to D&D and to being a DM - I hope you have as much fun as a DM as I do :D
Trying to solve out-of-game problems (like cheating, bad attitudes, or poor sportsmanship) with in-game solutions will almost always result in failure, and will probably make matters worse.
Gun Safety Rule #5: Never point the gun at anything you don't intend to destroy. (Never introduce a character, PC, NPC, Villain, or fate of the world into even the possibility of a deadly combat or other dangerous situation, unless you are prepared to destroy it instantly and completely forever.)
Know your group's character sheets, and check them over carefully. You don't want surprises, but, more importantly, they are a gold mine of ideas!
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it." It's a problem if the players aren't having fun and it interferes with a DM's ability to run the game effectively; if it's not a problem, 'fixing' at best does little to help, and at worst causes problems that didn't exist before.
"Hulk Smash" characters are a bad match for open-ended exploration in crowds of civilians; get them out of civilization where they can break things and kill monsters in peace.
Success is not necessarily the same thing as killing an opponent. Failure is not necessarily the same thing as dying.
Failure is always an option. And it's a fine option, too, as long as failure is interesting, entertaining, and fun!
"Broken or not, unbalanced or not, if something seems to be preventing the game from being enjoyable, something has to give: either that thing, or other aspects of the game, or your idea of what's enjoyable." - Centauri
Gamingpaper.com has graph paper that is in 1" grid marks, the link is in the wiki along with info on other resources. Drawing out maps on anything is absolutely fine, you can go to wal-mart and get a roll of craft paper or use the back of a paper bag, imagination and description are the games biggest assest and those are free. As for travel, describe that, if you need to decribe harsh travel conditions describe that and add a skill challenge, or let them teleport, (but I wouldn't recommend it), totally up to you DM.
For those (especially in the UK) who are having trouble getting stocks of Gaming Paper for your maps, I recently came across an alternative.
We were visiting the in-laws (shudders with the memory) and I noticed a large roll of paper in the carner of the back room. Apparently the mother-in -law (level 30 solo elite) used to do a lot of dressmaking in the past and the roll was for use with patterns etc.
On closer inspection I realised that it was marked in inches by a dot/cross system rather than gridded (marking the adjoining corners of 1 inch suares) and so I tried my luck and asked if I could take some to try out.
My personal cartographer (youngest daughter lol) is in the process of drawing out more maps for my next couple of adventures for me now and the paper works great.
"Well that encounter was easy....er, guys, why is the DM grinning?" (party members last words)
That sounds great - even better, since it's something you got for free, and it would otherwise be gathering dust somewhere. Can't beat that!
The thought occurs to me that creative DMs could probably loot old board games for materials as well - for example, the game boards from the classic boardgames Dungeon! and HeroQuest could probably be used with little or no changes for Dungeons & Dragons. The HeroQuest game board is already marked out in 1"x1" squares, and the Dungeon! game board is a bit more free-form, but has spaces that are roughly 1" squares, and rooms and chambers that I believe are roughly 2"x3", so it probably wouldn't take much to wing it as a modern D&D map. So, if you already have some old board game boards of mazes, dungeons, or wilderness design that you can use, then there's another free source of nice terrain at your disposal.
Trying to solve out-of-game problems (like cheating, bad attitudes, or poor sportsmanship) with in-game solutions will almost always result in failure, and will probably make matters worse.
Gun Safety Rule #5: Never point the gun at anything you don't intend to destroy. (Never introduce a character, PC, NPC, Villain, or fate of the world into even the possibility of a deadly combat or other dangerous situation, unless you are prepared to destroy it instantly and completely forever.)
Know your group's character sheets, and check them over carefully. You don't want surprises, but, more importantly, they are a gold mine of ideas!
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it." It's a problem if the players aren't having fun and it interferes with a DM's ability to run the game effectively; if it's not a problem, 'fixing' at best does little to help, and at worst causes problems that didn't exist before.
"Hulk Smash" characters are a bad match for open-ended exploration in crowds of civilians; get them out of civilization where they can break things and kill monsters in peace.
Success is not necessarily the same thing as killing an opponent. Failure is not necessarily the same thing as dying.
Failure is always an option. And it's a fine option, too, as long as failure is interesting, entertaining, and fun!
"Broken or not, unbalanced or not, if something seems to be preventing the game from being enjoyable, something has to give: either that thing, or other aspects of the game, or your idea of what's enjoyable." - Centauri
The thought occurs to me that creative DMs could probably loot old board games for materials as well - for example, the game boards from the classic boardgames Dungeon! and HeroQuest could probably be used with little or no changes for Dungeons & Dragons. The HeroQuest game board is already marked out in 1"x1" squares, and the Dungeon! game board is a bit more free-form, but has spaces that are roughly 1" squares, and rooms and chambers that I believe are roughly 2"x3", so it probably wouldn't take much to wing it as a modern D&D map. So, if you already have some old board game boards of mazes, dungeons, or wilderness design that you can use, then there's another free source of nice terrain at your disposal.
I have indeed "looted" my Heroquest and Advanced Heroquest sets, and a couple of my players have "donated" the miniatures from a couple of the older starter kits too. Lots of ratmen (skaven), goblins, orcs, men at arms (townsfolk/guards), and a couple of fimir (cyclopian lizard folk), along with numerous pieces of 3d scenery.
In the campaign I'm currently a player in I use an old Ral Partha metal Sivak as my Dragonborn Cavalier (Kadish).
I recently bought the new Monster Vault:Threats to the Nentir Vale set and like the additional pogs/counters (especially as they name the monster on the bloodied side) and the generic maps will be useful too. Even though I'm not running a Nentir campaign, the Iron Circle have already made an appearance in my Forgotten Realms game and I quite like the look of several of the other groups too.
While not strictly a "toy", I encourage you all to try the Heroes of Neverwinter Facebook app/game. Free to play (if you can nab a beta slot at the moment, but they are opening more each day), its quite a fun interpretation of 4e based in Neverwinter and its environs and ties in with the new Encounters season and Campaign setting.
"Well that encounter was easy....er, guys, why is the DM grinning?" (party members last words)
The HeroQuest miniatures and scenery are fantastic additions to any game that uses that scale of miniatures I can easily imagine using them for D&D, D&D Miniatures, and the Castle Ravenloft and Wrath of Ashardalon boardgames, for examples. (Really, it's about time Games Workshop and/or Milton Bradley update and republish HeroQuest!) If you happen to have one of these games in your basement or closet, it's hard to resist putting it to use.
wondertoaster: by "card popouts", it sounds like you are referring to the Dungeon Tiles that were included in the "Blue Box" 4E starter set. Those tiles were provided as a sort of sample of WotC's stand-alone Dungeon Tile sets: just enough to get started with, and to get the gaming group hooked on buying additional sets. It's not really necessary to actually buy the Dungeon Tiles sets, as mentioned in the posts above - graph paper, pens and pencils, and a little imagination go a long way in this hobby.
However, the Dungeon Tiles are a nice-looking and fun addition to the game. If you really liked the tiles, then I recommend the Dungeon Tiles "Dungeon" Master Set - the tiles that came with the starter set are almost indistinguishable from this great boxed set, which comes with 10 sheets of tiles just like the ones that came with your starter set, and a sturdy box with large grids printed on the top and bottom which act like even more tiles. It should provide plenty of great tiles so that you can build most, if not all, of the maps in your campaign. (The "Wilderness" and "City" themed sets probably wouldn't see as much use in my group as the "Dungeon" set, but your mileage may vary.)
Keep in mind that you don't have to map everything with the tiles - you really only have to map areas where fights take place.
Trying to solve out-of-game problems (like cheating, bad attitudes, or poor sportsmanship) with in-game solutions will almost always result in failure, and will probably make matters worse.
Gun Safety Rule #5: Never point the gun at anything you don't intend to destroy. (Never introduce a character, PC, NPC, Villain, or fate of the world into even the possibility of a deadly combat or other dangerous situation, unless you are prepared to destroy it instantly and completely forever.)
Know your group's character sheets, and check them over carefully. You don't want surprises, but, more importantly, they are a gold mine of ideas!
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it." It's a problem if the players aren't having fun and it interferes with a DM's ability to run the game effectively; if it's not a problem, 'fixing' at best does little to help, and at worst causes problems that didn't exist before.
"Hulk Smash" characters are a bad match for open-ended exploration in crowds of civilians; get them out of civilization where they can break things and kill monsters in peace.
Success is not necessarily the same thing as killing an opponent. Failure is not necessarily the same thing as dying.
Failure is always an option. And it's a fine option, too, as long as failure is interesting, entertaining, and fun!
"Broken or not, unbalanced or not, if something seems to be preventing the game from being enjoyable, something has to give: either that thing, or other aspects of the game, or your idea of what's enjoyable." - Centauri
Hate to dig up and old thread, but I noticed the other day that most Wrapping Paper has 1x1 inch grids on the inner side of the paper now for 'easy wrapping by eye' I suppose.
While somewhat delicate a set of markers (maybe even wet erase?) may prove worth testing. I'll have to look into that myself as dispossable and cheap grid maps would be awesome.
I have gone the route of abusing the ye olde work printer and printing maps from the D&D:I and laying grids over them in Photoshop, then using Posterazor to chop it down into 8.5x11 sheets. I think put it on cheap hobby shop matte for framing or thick poster board and cut it out with a xacto.
While labor intensive it makes some really sharp looking maps that don't slide around. Although storage could be an issue for some.
