When GMing a dungeon crawl, what's the best way to convey the map to the players?

When GMing a dungeon crawl, what's the best way to convey the map to the players?

Should the GM describe rooms to the players and let them take notes?

How about having a big printed map and uncovering parts of it as the PCs explore?

>make the dungeon node-based
>let them draw

Have them map it out on their own. Its fun to compare after and less hassle to try and manoeuvre scrap paper to sort of cover your map.

>> The room is 10x12 square, with exits to the N, E, and SW, plus the one you entered to the W.

This always kinda bugged me. How are the PCs supposed to know the exact dimensions of the room they're in. Like, maybe the dwarf can because of his eye for stonecraft, but everyone else probably can't eyeball distances that accurately.

As a player, I'll dumb down my own interpretation of descriptions to what my character would understand. The GM may give the exact size, but my character would only understand that the room is a bit bigger than the one they came from before.

For small rooms, the PCs could walk from one end to the other and count their paces. If the GM assumes they're doing that whenever they aren't running for their lives from a bunch of monsters, it would save a lot of time.

For large rooms, assume the sizes are approximate unless the PCs bring surveying equipment.

I would think that it represents an approximation, based on the basic game statistics. For instance, if a character takes up a 5 foot square, they'd be able to eyeball that a group of five would fit arm to arm across a 25 foot room. Plus, giving a more specific idea of the room's size is important for certain gameplay considerations that a player ought to know, like how many turns it would take to cross the room, etc.

This. The players map if they want a map.

Caller and mapper. Do we not have those party roles anymore?

>Caller
No, because groups aren't 20 players large, so it's not needed.

One way is to couch it in likely terminology of the realm. Like, a room four lengths long where 'length' refers to the length of a horse.
Also usable is paces, rods, hogsheads, etc, or things of your own invention. All fine, so long as the players come to know what they mean.

I really like the idea of dwarfs getting ultra-specific measurements though.

Where is this dungeon from user?

Google Image Search for "Dungeon Map".

>having a big printed map and uncovering parts of it as the PCs explore

1"x1" sticky notes work well for this. write the room number on the sticky that will cover it, then circle the number to prevent misreadings. Peel off each sticky as the party enters that room.

I'm not even an adventurer and I have a pretty good grasp of dimension and distance granted I've never put my skills to the test in a dungeon without natural light. I imagine any party with a ranger who is nearly required to know how far away a target is would have at least a semblance of on the fly estimations. If I a basement dwelling neckbeard can do it, a group of people who roam the wilderness and stare at a map and compass to get bearings can do it.

I hate scrap paper covering the map. I tried to make modular templates for rooms that got removed as the party exited the room but I didn't complete them as we didn't have a situation where a chase was going to happen and I toned down the aspect of secret doors.

Still, I think that drawing and cutting out an individual map per room is a better way to go than covering parts of a whole-area map.

I describe the rooms and let them make their own map, and I split the big map into unkeyed fragments, with several rooms each (fragments can overlap, and do not cover all of the big map). Then I give out the fragments as loot.

"You search the kobold body and find this parchment"

That way, players can compare the layout with what they have, make corrections, and such.

The "fragments" are my hand drawings, based on the full printed map, and I aim for them to make sense (kobolds are unaware of the hidden rooms, etc.)

>kobolds needing maps of their own home
>kobolds being unaware of hidden rooms in their own home
lolwut

that said map fragments are cool, just that they should be OOC, or if IC lead to buried treasure

>that map
>100 rooms

Am I the only one who prefers using simple maps of actual mining complexes and caverns as the basis of their dungeons?

>make full sized map of area
>devise encounters for area
>divide area into smaller partitions
>designate areas according to encounters
>draw applicable areas as sub maps according to encounter specific knowledge

Jesus Christ. Maybe once, sure. But as a formula, that's horrendously tedious for both the party and essentially a waste of time for yourself.

Nope, you aren't the only one. I use mines/cave systems as "skeleton" of sorts which I then "seed" with smaller complexes. Finding a door or archway always increased the excitement.

Getting back to mapping, as the DM I kept the actual map while the players sketched their own. Measurements were almost always estimates like and wrote about. There have been occasions where the players used ropes and the like to get a better idea of a room's size, a shaft's depth, etc.

It's always fun to compare the players' sketch with the "official" map later on.

That sounds pretty cool. Have any good examples that worked well?

Sure, usually you can start with something like this, and edit it so you have as many entrances as you actually want and all the passages are at least accessible by the smallest person in the party if not the biggest.

I think the key is that the passages shouldn't be straight, flat, or of even distribution. There should be slopes, drops and rises in verticality, places where water collects, and places that are big and spacious. Places that have air flow and connect to the surface, and tight places that are hard to get through, and places with very stagnant air that's hard to breathe, etc.

If you've done any traveling and been in caves yourself, describing them becomes easier but the point is that it's not just a hole or tunnel underground. It's a completely different environment with it's own atmosphere and feel and conveying that properly to the players really helps bring the session to life.

Do it the old fashioned way. Have them map it out from your descriptions. If they are good at mapping they can find hidden rooms and the like.

I've seen both and they each have merit.
Beautiful maps are cool, but it's also helps get people into character when they don't know everything about the area and need to pay attention to the description.

First time DM'ing this friday.
The campaign is an escape from a mega dungeon.
I'm planning on printing the map and having parts of it be sold by a shopkeeper.

It almost looked like a low resolution picture of a disco ball in the thumbnail.