It takes a test, so players can do it more often (ob 2- few rooms plus personally surveyed) and suffer more conditions, or put it off until its convenient. (whole dungeon level! ob4), right?
Let’s say there’s a hazard on the map, like Gaping Chasm, ob4 Dungeoneer to cross, or zombie horde we had to Run away from to get past. Do the players have to have a ‘safe’ route to where they want to go on the map, or does having the map allow them to safely circumvent that hazard?
I assume I could, if desired, use a twist to establish a break in the safety of the map up above (the player’s don’t know it know, but on their way out of the dungeon, something bad will happen! mwah ha ha!)
Hi Willow,
You’re correct in your assessment of Cartography.
As for fast travel, it’s got to make sense. If you have mapped a river route, but you return to your point of disembarkation and find your boat gone, your map is useless. If you crossed a chasm via a bridge, but you later find that bridge thrown down by an earthquake, your map is of dubious value.
And yes, twists are good ways to establish the validity of breaks in the map. But sometimes dungeon life doesn’t stay still and it moves to block a carefully marked path or two.