Generating Attributes (And There Was Much Weeping and Gnashing of Teeth)

[Moritz]

Love spiral notebooks, and the yellow legal pads too. Some of my best game notes are on those yellow sheets. Oh, and graph paper. I remember in days gone past walking through the school supply areas of stores looking for the perfect rule of graph paper. I always dug on the 10 lines per inch scale.

[Inquisitor Tremayne]

So I am curious.

If no one is drawing their maps on graph paper any more, what are you using to create maps?

[Moritz]

Check campaign resources in fantasy (here).
There's a huge list of what some of us use.

[InfoStorm]

So I am curious.

If no one is drawing their maps on graph paper any more, what are you using to create maps?

Maps? I just use any scratch paper I can find and rough it in, with notations on distances. I haven't drawn a single location with more than 4-6 rooms in ages. I do much more above ground adventuring and urban settings.

[TheYeti1775]

I have loads of Graph Paper at my house.

O and Staples and Office Depot both sell an Easel size pad of 1" square grided paper. Great for drawing out before hand.

[Moritz]

Oh, and also if I'm really feeling frisky, I just make up the map as I go on the Miniatures Grid.

[TheYeti1775]

Oh, and also if I'm really feeling frisky, I just make up the map as I go on the Miniatures Grid.

I do that when the group is within 'unmapped' areas of the Underdark.

Only describing the area they can see with their torches. Telling them left or right for forks in the tunnel. So far they have been good about keeping track on their own.

[Inquisitor Tremayne]

Wow! Really? I feel like a control freak.

Maybe its the artist in me but my maps, I HAVE to draw out before hand and they are ALWAYS highly detailed. My players complain that I take too long drawing them out on the battle map. But I like to have everything figured out for when they ask all those questions about the little details.

I'll even sometimes map out the security patrol routes of the guards so I know when a guard comes by or not.

As detailed as they are and as much crap as my players give me they always compliment me on them in the end.

I have to know where security cameras are and the area they cover, where the guard barracks are, where the captains quarters are, where the power station is located, how many technicians they have on hand, how they get their supplies, etc...

Maybe I am over thinking things...

[Moritz]

We once had a player in our group that was 'mapping' as they went along.

I'd never seen such a horrible rendition of a map, ever.

It was like mapping Zork.

[TheYeti1775]

Wow! Really? I feel like a control freak.

Maybe its the artist in me but my maps, I HAVE to draw out before hand and they are ALWAYS highly detailed. My players complain that I take too long drawing them out on the battle map. But I like to have everything figured out for when they ask all those questions about the little details.

I'll even sometimes map out the security patrol routes of the guards so I know when a guard comes by or not.

As detailed as they are and as much crap as my players give me they always compliment me on them in the end.

I have to know where security cameras are and the area they cover, where the guard barracks are, where the captains quarters are, where the power station is located, how many technicians they have on hand, how they get their supplies, etc...

Maybe I am over thinking things...

No that control of the map is needed for what you are talking about. For general overland travel, very rarely do you need a complete map. So sometimes it is just whim of where the marker falls.

For my underdark area, I simple keep track of the turns they take out of how many choices. As the passages all wind back and forth up and down, I can send them anywhere I like.

[Argent]

I should probably break down and pick up some mapping software at some point. But I just love sitting down for a few hours with a pencil and then pencil crayons, and making a map by hand. It was one of the first things I did when I was a young gamer, and I never stopped loving it!

And yes, the 1" square paoster size grid sheets from Staples are brilliant! I draw the map on in coloured marker, and then it allows us to draw on the map in light pencil as we go. For locations that will get used over and over again, I take the sheet and laminate it. Awesome!

[Moritz]

Back in the day, I had a notebook of hex paper. I was feeling industrious and decided to draw some of the planes. I did excerpts from the 9 levels of hell, several areas of the abyss, and other outdoor regions.

Since then, I've lost the notebook.... not like it was any good or anything, but they were maps that would be cool to have now.

With it on the computer, maps are a little better saved/backed up/printed. But for the most part, I still have all my old gaming stuff in a few rubbermaid boxes.

[InfoStorm]

My favorite maps were the ones from the (original) D&D maps that came with the Gazetteers. You could cover a wall with them if you wanted to. They had more then enough detail. I wouldn't mind having a program that could make a map like those.

[Ed Zachary]

I liked the 1/2 inch hex grids.

[MortonStromgal]

I like point buy when you know what you want to play. I like 3d6 or 4d6 drop the low down the line when I want to get a "random" character.