Mapping Survey (3): Mapping - More trouble than it's worth!!
                     By James Jillians

This is a small article in response to "The Mongoose on Mapping",
printed last issue.

To be honest, I hardly ever map an adventure or R.P.G. now
although I know I really should.

I used to map games like Bloodwych and Dungeon Master using the
methods that Mongoose outlined last Issue by marking each "step"
as a box on 5mm squared paper. I marked all sorts of symbols for
doors, traps, monsters, pieces of equipment, keys, pressure plates
etc. with references on other sheets of paper to help me remember
what they all meant. This was more trouble than it was worth!

I remember frantically trying to find a place to put my pen and
paper while my poor characters in the game were being hacked into
little bits by evil monsters. I remember shuffling through my
numerous sheets of notes trying to find a reference only to
discover, after 15 or so minutes, that it had sneakily slipped
under the desk. I remember searching the house for hours trying to
find sellotape to extend my map and then, when I finally found it,
discovering that the level ended only one square onto the new
sheet. When I decided to stop playing the game for a while the
maps and notes would more often than not be put down somewhere in
the depths of my hopelessly cluttered room not to be be found
again until six months later when they were glimpsed in an
irretrievable position behind a bookcase.

Mapping text-adventures was no good either. The only method that I
could think of to do this was to draw interconnected lines going
of in the eight compass directions. I was faced with two choices
of how to mark on the locations: a) I could write the name of the
location straight onto the map which generally covered up a part
of the page where another section of the map had to go, or b)
write reference numbers with notes on other pages which became
lost, or too scruffy or complex to comprehend! If you are a very
curious person like me you simply can't wait to see what is in the
next room long enough to mark a location anyway!

I always got confused in adventures when the rooms weren't
logically connected, as in Elven Crystals I (see my review),
especially in mazes or deep dark forests. When I went north and
then returned south I expected to arrive back at the starting
position. But no, in some adventures this just wasn't the case...
really annoying if you've just spent the last 15 minutes drawing a
map that doesn't make any sense!

Now, I generally try to keep a map in mind rather than write it
down.  I usually keep moving around the locations until I have a
clear mental picture of where everything is in relation to
everything else. And do you know what? It works!

Now I've had a bit of practice I can quite easily keep my bearings
in almost any R.P.G. or text adventure without any sort of visual
aid.  Why don't you try not using a map for once - the game
becomes more challenging and it improves your sense of direction
no end!