Re: What difficultly level do you play one?

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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