Hey guys, I could use a little insight on maps.
Do you use them?

I have a couple locations I wanted to use and I'm iffy on presentation.
I usually have a GM map, so I know where things are, but I'm always leery of giving my players the complete layout of a building they're staking out.

How much do you let your hackers get?
Do you reveal sections of the map as they explore them?

My last session, I had them break into a small building and the hacker had the full blueprint beforehand.
It was over in like 20 minutes because they knew to ignore 90% of the rooms.

What do you think?

I am lazy like that, so I often let the players make up the map according to my description but giving them huge freedom in setting up details like cover and stuff like that. It helps that teh one who usually does them agrees to receive my GM arbitrary grant of one karma for each maps he does, and he draws really nice ones. Makes for great memories afterwards.

Also, feeding information according to the success amount teh hacker geenrates and what he is looking for. So its kind of subjective, but goes from: nothing at all, to "Yup, Charlie the night shift guard seems to have a digestive problem, and you estimate, in average, he goes to the bathroom every 20 minutes for 3 minutes and 45 seconds. Yes... Oh, and you know, that teh architect f*cked up the second corridor to the right after you enter through the lobby. The wall is not exactly perpendicular as the blueprints show. It deviates one fifth of a degree..."

1.) Yes. Maps and other visuals are a great way to build immersion

2.) Very little. Perhaps if the runners did some SERIOUS legwork and tracked down the construction company who built the place, did a pre-shadowrun there to get the actual plans. It is too powerful of an advantage for the PCs. That said, I don't really like Dungeoun-Delve type adventures where the PCs need to explore the whole damned building in order to find what Mr. Johnson is after. Usually the plotline provides clues as to where things might be, for example, Mr. Johnson tells them the prototype is on the 3rd sub-floor in the R&D Cyber-labs. That prevents you from needing to draw-out the whole damned map for an entire corporate HQ.


3.) Yes. The Fog-of-War is important to maintain.
I've either covered the map in another full sheet of paper and cut-out sections with a scissor, or printed-out 3 different maps: 1 exterior, one interior with the walls shown but no interiors listed (good for when the mage astrally projects into the building), and one with all the details in-place. I use MS Visio to draw things so I can easily create different versions of the same building.

I actually use maps a lot as a GM.
But, I also put a great deal of time and energy into the maps before using them in a session. Maps can be a double-edged sword for characters – if a hacker finds the building blueprints and heads directly to the room of interest, it could be trap! Security systems can display many false-flags and bogus data as genuine records of a building. Also, and just as much of a concern, is that maps can be outdated. The blueprints of the original layout of the building may be discovered by the hacker, but there could have been dozens of alterations, add-ons, and reconstruction (walls put up or removed, facilities upgraded or relocated, new guard station, updated surveillance system installed, etc.). It keeps the characters on their toes and forces them to have back-up plans because they can never truly trust anything.

I'm a big fan of maps, though lately I've been hard pressed to find the time. I've got a couple things cooking tho. Might get around to posting them soonish.