Crayons at the Ready!

                     An article by Sue

It was while playing Might and Magic VI during last year that 
it dawned on me how easy we RPGers have it nowadays. Gone are
the days of copious map making and note taking. Now we have
automaps, and even annotated maps and built in notes in the more
advanced programs.

Might and Magic VI has a very competent mapping system, showing
all the buildings in each town on wilderness areas with several
degrees of zoom. However, you can't make notes *on* the map, so
you'll still need to make some sketches yourself so that you can,
for instance, find a particular building a second time. The notes
system keeps details on your quests, what effect different colour
potions have, obelisk markings and so forth. But again the system
isn't perfect - it won't tell you where all the NPCs are to be
found, for example, or which spells can be bought in which towns.

So ideally you still need to make some notes and maps and I don't
know about you but I have got incredibly lazy! Years ago I thrived
on map making and writing up solutions as I played a game. I drew
out linked boxes for text games, filled in location details,
checked all the exits, added creatures, objects, noted puzzles
which blocked routes until they were solved, and so forth. RPGs
were even more fun, with graph paper, coloured pencils and loads
of patience as I counted steps and turns, making sure everything
was just right - all the time, fighting beasties who were after my
computerized blood.

Now, when there is on-screen mapping and autonotes, I write very
little down, tending to think that if the program doesn't note
something on the map or in the notes, it isn't important. Wrong!
Sometimes you really *do* need to still make your own notes and
maps if you're going to play a game successfully and without
frustration.

And what if I play an older game which doesn't even have automaps?
The answer is - I STILL try to keep stuff in my head. Now, I'm not
James Judge who can (we know) remember Captive maps years after
playing it. Dump him in Dungeon Master, and I'm sure that even now
he'd find his way out without problems. JJ has that sort of mind -
I don't. But I've been fooled into thinking that I have.

I miss the days of mapping and I must admit that, given a choice,
I'd ban annotated automaps and autonotes from my part of the
gaming universe. I am sure that not many of you would agree with
me because, from talking to people about this subject, I've learnt
that most of you like to get on with the game without being
bothered by the "tedium" of mapping. But to me, that was half the
fun and I think it actually made me a better gamer because I had
to concentrate more on the messages that were given during the
game. I'll be interested to know if anyone agrees with me.





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