Mapping Games on the PC

                   An article by Mongoose

When I first started to play adventures and RPGs, mapping was my
biggest problem using a blank sheet of paper, and drawing boxes to
represent rooms worked perfectly well, you could use arrows to
show a change in level, and different colours to represent traps,
locked doors or different objects ... but with bigger and more
complex playing areas, I've found that you soon run out of room,
and your sheet of blank paper soon begins to be covered in
meaningless lines marks and colours; these become even more
unreadable if you are playing one or more games at the same time,
(which is perfectly possible with hard disc drives).

Another problem to overcome is that, unless your boxes showing
your rooms are exactly in proportion with the size of the rooms
and length of the corridors in the game, you will find that secret
passages and hidden rooms are hard to show correctly.

Now that I've explained why using sheets of blank paper doesn't
work with larger games, let me explain my solution to this problem
- use graph paper, the kind with squares measuring half a
centimetre, then using each square as one step, quite a large area
can be mapped on each sheet, and your scale map should then show
everything in its correct position.

Level changes can be shown with arrows or coded with letters, then
a new sheet can be used for the next floor. If the new level is
just a small area then your final map can show this part of the
map in a unused area on the main floor map.  As an example, in The
Tower of Dane (Crusaders of the Dark Savant) it is easily possible
to show four levels of the Tower on one sheet of paper.

Notes on passwords, keys and other secrets on the map can be noted
on the back of the graph paper which is usually plain.

To OLD game players (like the Grue, who probably has another
solution to mapping) this article will be very boring, but if you
have just started playing adventures (why has it taken so long?)
it might help get you started.

Good luck and avoid dark places.

MONGOOSE

@~I enjoy mapping, for me it's half the fun of playing an
@~RPG and I always map text adventures otherwise I get lost or
@~miss exits. I know others hate mapping or don't bother because
@~they can find their way around games without making maps.
@~Perhaps we could do a SynTax survey - write in and let me know
@~your views on mapping and I'll print them next issue ... Sue