Friday, 15 April 2022
M is for Mapping
A quick hit for a late entry.
Mapping in TTRPGs has been around in D&D since the beginning. Early editions often called out mapping as central to play, especially when exploring the eponymous dungeon in Dungeons & Dragons.
The rules often called on players to pick a "Mapper." This person would be charged with putting to graph paper the Dungeon Master's descriptions of the character's movement.
GM: The party, in single file, moves 30 feet north. The hall ends at a staircase going down. You can see a landing and the stairs switchback continuing into darkness."
The mapper would of course draw this; and yes, the player could get it wrong. No compass rose on the map, maybe the mapper draws it south. The mapper might ask questions.
Mapper: How far to the landing?
GM: 20 feet.
Mapper: And it switches back to the south?
GM: Yes, then into darkness.
D&D has common mapping notations for stairs, natural or otherwise, cliffs, doors, fountains, statues, columns, tapestries, secret doors, trap doors, pits, stalactites, stalagmites, and much more.
I loved being the Mapper.
