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To Map, or Not to Map

Setting the scene: You’re prepping your next big adventure for your players, getting everything ready to go. You’ve got the story down pat, bad guys ready to challenge the players to use their abilities to the fullest. And then, you realize, there’s one thing missing; the perfect visual representation of the location where all of this is going to go down. As you scour the internet, looking for that one perfect map, it leads to that age old question: do you need a map for your players to see/interact with, or can you just go with theater of the mind, describing everything in detail so as to stimulate the players imagination.

As we’ve moved more and more into the digital realm of virtual tabletops, it’s almost a given that visual aids have become almost a requirement for it. There are A LOT of talented artists out there making maps for all sorts of games, doing their best to create verdant vistas and epic sites for battles to be waged upon. So much so that it can be a daunting task to find the one that best fits the story line you’ve put together. And if you can’t find one, are you forced to settle for the drawing tools of the VTT you’re using to try to convey the scene to your players? I would say no, though putting digital pen to digital canvas can at least lay down the boundaries you want for that fight. Theater of the mind, describing the scene in as much detail so the players can imagine they are viewing it is still a viable option, and one you may just have to fall back on when you can’t find just the right map. So, let’s talk pros and cons of maps!

Pros

  1. They’re eye-catching! – The right map is going to draw your players eye right to it, and show them all the stuff you’ll describe. It gives you the freedom to leave things a little vague, or go into more detail when the players ask about certain things on it. And having this eye catching visual could potentially give your players ideas for interesting ways to handle things (chandeliers to hang from, bannisters to slide down, etc etc).
  2. It’s gridded! – Or, at the very least, the VTT is, which makes dealing with movement so much easier (unless you’re dealing in super-speed, then, it’s all hand-wavey anyway). Your players and you can also track how far the enemies are, making things like ranged combat much more manageable.
  3. It helps with your descriptions! – Having the map that closely aligns with your scene will even help you better set the stage for the combat. A narrow corridor? Oh we can trap that! Where can we fight where we aren’t too exposed? All of these questions and more can be raised by you for the foes you control against the players, which will make the scenario more epic.

Cons

  1. Time consuming (or can be) – If you’re looking for something super specific, it can take you a lot of scouring on the internet to find exactly what you are looking for. Or, if you are artistically inclined, to put one together yourself.
  2. You might not find exactly what you want – For certain types of games, you might not be able to find something that is exactly what you want. Scifi and fantasy settings are fairly abundant, and cyberpunk is up there as well. Modern settings have, for me at least, been a bit more challenging to find, for both exterior like city streets and interior like labs (that aren’t diabolical super-villainy) or offices.

I’m sure there’s more pro’s and cons out there, and I’d love to hear your opinions about this topic. The last thing I want to cover before I sign off on this blog post is this; while maps and visual aids are a great add-on to the story, that’s what they are; additional pieces that help tie everthing together. If you can’t find the right map, it’s ok, you can always go the theater of the mind route, and (I feel) you should do that if it’s taking you so much time to find a usable map. Hopefully, the story is why your players keep coming back, and having the story ready for the players should be the top priority. It’s ok to not have a map, so long as you have a story and the ability to improvise descriptions if needed.