Hello everyone.

I really need help with some basic concepts of RPGs . Me and my group ahve been trying to adapt to playing pen and paper games and so far it has gone pretty well. (with allot of help from this community) I just have a few questions about the basics of RPGs . I understand they might be obvious so I apologize for that.

1. When your PC's go to a new town do you have a map drawn up for them ? I.E the players go to Ubersreik do I need to make a map and put a mark on it for every NPC that the pcs can talk to ?

2. Do you make maps for the buildings that your PCs enter along with markers of the npcs that they can talk to? if not how woudl a pc know who is in that building ?

Thank you for any help that you can give me.

You could do it the way you are suggesting, but we don't. I rarely have maps (except for say of the Reikland/Empire) and just describe the town to the players. Many people do use maps, but you may find yourself getting annoyed with how much time you have to spend preparing the game if you map everything out.

It's important to realize, though, that you can't really do it wrong. There is no right way and everything is cool as long as you're having fun.

No, you don't have to draw a map, but it helps. A rough map of the town is good to have, but you don't need to map out every street and certainly you don't have to plan where every NPC is located. But you should have some idea of what kind of town it is. It will help you describe the town if you know where the rich people live and where the slums are, where the main markets are, where the craftsmen's shops are located. There are far too many people living a town like Ubersreik for you to plan everything beforehand. Your job is to be flexible and creative, and if your players want to explore the town and talk to people, it's up to you to decide what's reasonable. A town that size would certainly have some sword-makers and armor-crafters, but also several inns, and watchmen to patrol the streets. Let your players roam, and improvise any encounters that make sense to you.

Roleplaying is really about "make believe," and it shouldn't feel scripted. Keep in mind that your players can talk to anyone. If it's reasonable for a certain kind of person to be found in that town, the PCs should be able to seek them out and interact with them. Not everything needs to lead to an adventure. Some encounters will go nowhere, or even provide useless or irrelevant information. Think about every NPC as a person who really exists, and who has a life, a family, worries and hopes, and motivations of their own. Most people just want to go about their daily routines without much interruption, but shopkeepers will be interested in talking to anyone browsing in their shops. Watchmen may stop the PCs if they look like they're making trouble. The Empire's towns have thieves and gangs who might try to harrass the PCs. Try to think of the town as a real place that exists because people need a place to live and work. It's not just there to serve as a location for your PCs to have adventures.

When it comes to individual buildings, you don't need to map everything out unless it's important to the story. Sometimes the PCs just want to stop at a tavern for a drink, or maybe buy a few items from a shop. These can be done quickly, and you don't have to make much of it. You only need a map when it's important to track people's positions. If you expect a fight to break out, or if you're going to spend a lot of time in a certain location, then a map will help you describe the area to your players and give them a sense of what's around them. It isn't always important.

If the PCs go into a tavern, you can just explain that it's crowded or mostly empty, or whatever sounds right to you. If the PCs want more details, you can provide those details if you think it's important. The PCs shouldn't expect a fight or an important encounter to take place everywhere they go. Sometimes, they should be allowed to have a quiet evening, just like anybody else would. When you go to a restaurant, do you always have a fight or learn some deep secret about the town you live in? Of course not. Certainly, life would be more interesting if you did, but it's not very realistic to expect that sort of thing. Let your players feel that they are just one of many thousands of people who live in the town.

As charlest said, everyone has their own methods. As you get more experience you'll begin to figure out what you really like to do and what works best for your gaming group. I personally fall on the side of not using maps very much either. Especially city maps. I generally just go with descriptions of areas, even towns and cities. Then you can keep a list of all the NPCs that you think are vital to the adventure/plot and where they are generally located within the area. You can then introduce them as needed or have them discovered as your players explore a bit. Peripheral NPCs of little or no plot value can just be narrated on the fly.

Either method has its perks and disadvantages, especially when you're just getting the hang of it all. No maps and a list of NPCs is very flexible and easy to utilize on the fly without having to reference your notes very much, but it requires some creative effort to go with the flow and wing it like that. However, map making and having everything written out in detail can make it feel more organized as you're playing but that's because all the creative effort is heavily frontloaded....you spend a LOT of time prepping like that. Especially when it comes to map making. You can burn out quick having to invest that much time in prep work. At least I do. Just the thought of sitting down and making out a town or city map is a bit nauseating to me these days.

I like player handouts, so I'm more inclined to give the players a map or sketch of a town. I don't note locations on it for them, although they are free to make whatever notes they like on it themselves. In the latest version, maps of individual buildings isn't really necessary. Even when an encounter takes place in a building, you don't really need a floor plan and can get by with description. I would certainly never hand the players a map with NPC encounter locations noted on it. This isn't a video game. The location of NPCs at any given time depends on the plot. If they are looking for someone specific because they are following a lead, the NPC may or may not be where they have been pointed. The NPC isn't just standing around at a single location waiting for the PCs to come by. They have their own agenda and move around the town accomplishing it. The PCs might arrive too late at a location only to learn that they just missed him. Someone may have overheard the NPC mention another location he was heading to, or maybe not. OTOH, if it is necessary for the PCs to run into an NPC in a tavern that they visit in order to advance the plot, then when they go there, he'll be there. If the PCs don't think to go to the tavern they've been told about, but the plot needs them to encounter this NPC, then he'll cross paths with them somewhere else, whether it's a shop they are in to buy supplies or a temple of Shallya they are visiting to seek healing.

The following is stated as opinion, not fact:

A DM's job isn't to impress the players by 'outsmarting' them constantly.

Yes, a DM should be presenting challenging conflicts for the player characters to resolve, but the main goal should be to entertain, not defeat them.

Pen and Paper role playing games aren't necessarily Doom or Descent.

One thing i always live by is the following

A picture paints a thousand words

so i always use maps and props and i always feel that it helps players get into the setting.

Many good books are available use them as much as you can.

Plus pictures and maps can be re- used saves a lot of work.

I do a bit of both; you'll figure it out as you get to know your players and as you train your players to accept the cues you wish to give them. For instance, I often give my players a map of a new town, but since most groups I've played with can waste scads of time deciding where to go if not given direction, I mark off the main things they would notice about the town on the map. That way, they can get a sense that they have several options without discussing their options endlessly. If your group likes more freeform play, though, I can see doing what others suggested above and not marking out info on the map ahead of time.

I also sometimes give visual aids. If an NPC has left behind a particular dramatic note or an item, I might find a picture or make a copy of the note to hand my players. It's fun as a player to have something to hold and look at during the game. Sometimes it can even be fun to find props (a fake gem, a carved stone, etc.) and hand those out, too, especially if the item is something the PCs have sought for a long time. If you have a netbook or small laptop handy, you could use that to show slideshows of areas.

All that's entirely optional, though. One of the best GMs I ever had used no visual aids at all; he was just very, very articulate and described each room with eloquent care. Use what you and your players need and enjoy and leave the rest behind.

Never waste time on irrelevant detail unless they are relevant for setting the mood or luring the players into something.

Don't draw maps unless it's something the players need as a handout to progress through the story. Use your words to describe the setting, mood etc. so the players create the images in their head. One thing you should remember is not to use simple descriptive terms like "It's a big city", but instead tell them that "You enter the city through the gate and see houndreds of houses along the main streets etc." Describe the city so they get a picture in their mind. The description should be vivid but not with minor details. Use the human senses when making descriptions. Ask yourself: What can the characters see, hear, smell and feel?

If for instance its a city where they have come mostly to recuperate you can ask the player's what they want to do upon entering the city. one might want to go to an armoury shop, anothermight want to learn some gossip in the nearest tavern and a third might want to but healing potions or magical paraphenalia. Itsup to you to decide which of these exist the that particular city.

and if you want to advance you plot, any of the above places could hold an NPC which the PC's need to meet, as mentioned by others.

good luck

Thank you everyone for the great suggestions they are really helping me get the grasp of rpgs . Im very happy that i wont have to plan out very npc encounter and map every town/ place the pcs visit now .

drallcome said:

I think many people have already posted great answers to this question. My method is to map the town. Pretty detailed unless its a super huge town then its more vague. I have this old ass D&D suppliment that has this great chart about how many of certain NPCs would be in a town of that size. I generate that up and give a few of the NPC's background or personality quirks and names (but not all). I figure it like this the bigger the place is (population wise) the more nameless people are. It works that way in real life too.

I look at it all like this the closer my group starts to zoom into an area the more detail I put into it. You will know quickly through experience when and where to bring out the detail.

I map no buildings unless i have planned battle stuff in them. I usually have a bunch of templates I have DL from somewhere and use them for random buildings if i need to.

My biggest and most well recieved DM trick to date has been the POWER POINT PRESENTATION. It was very fast to find pictures, maps assorted goodies online. I lace in some music from my collection thats appropriate and BAM instant super coolness! It took me longer to research and write the adventure than to make the powerpoint. But I have been doing this RPG thing for 18+ years so....

The best advice is in the Tome of Adventure. Try to say yes as much as possible. That will encourage your players to think more and roll dice less.

i personally dislike maps and would never ever mark NPCs on them.

i dont like maps because they are binding. once a map is drawn its hard to improve or on the fly add something to the town that wasnt there, even if that something would be great for the story. i would give a rough description of the town and tell them of some obvious points of interest, but if they want to know more about the town or city, they can go find it out for themselves. this ambiguity also leaves a lot of room for player authorship, which i think is one of the greatest things ever, to shape the story in a fashion that is more personal to their characters.

as far as NPCs go, this aint WoW boy! people dont have big ol question marks over their heads! realistically, the players can talk to anyone in town, and anyone might know something that could interest them, or not, it depends on the GM. one really fun thing that charlest did for us in our game was a rumor montage. we all went out and talked to people around the city we were in trying to gather information and charlest had prepared about 10 or so note cards with rumors on them. he passed them out and we all took turns reading them as the NPCs who were telling them, it was fun/funny/story advancing.

Sometimes a word can paint a thousand pictures. Instead of showing them a map, tell them what the town feels like. Is it bustling or deserted? Are the people well-dressed? Do a lot of them wear grubby clothes? Do they look happy or afraid? A single word can give an impression of the town that sets it apart from all others, and the players will make up the rest for you.

Maps can be cool, but they're not always necessary. Maybe once they got their bearings and know their way around town, giving them a map can make that more tangible. But only mark the houses and other buildings that they already know about, if at all.

The NPCs that the players can talk to, like others have said, can run in the thousands. There's no sense in preparing every single citizen of the town, but you should be prepared to roleplay any of them. Do prepare the important NPCs of course, but don't tell the players who they are! Let them figure that out for themselves. That's half the adventure, after all. This isn't a computer game where people stand about with question marks over their head. These people have lives, and may not even want to talk to the PCs at all. At least not until they've had a shower.

If you don't want to spend a lot of time mapping everything, just look around the internet, find some maps you like, and print them.

What you could also do is use illustrations to set an atmosphere.

For example, when the PCs enter a dark and forbidding forest, you could print out some atmospheric pictures and give them to the players to get their imaginations going, without revealing anything of story value in the pictures, just setting a mood. That works for me.

By the way, if you want a good thinktank about all RPG's subjects, try Placetogoplacetobe

It helped me a lot as an experienced GM and but there's also a lot of good stuffs for beginners.

drallcome said:

How do they know who is inside a building? They approach someone and ask them.

Of course, the person could have reason to lie.