Map Quality

I've been playing Tabletop (in real life) and have been wondering what to do here. The dm I've been with has been Running AD&D all his life, and just started 3.5, and using tile mats, crudely draws on them. is this somehow unacceptable here? I'd like to run a game here, but I'm too stupid to figure out how to create a map. Does map quality matter for games like AD&D, 3.5, and Palladium?

That would be up to the flavor of the GM and players in the particular game. But overall its more than acceptable in my eyes. So far I haven't run into many that care how good the map looks compared to if they are enjoying the game and what they imagine the surroundings look like. I try to use detailed maps most the time, but I have resorted to plain white page with draw tool on occasion for things I need to throw together real quick, and my players haven't complained one bit. Heck sometimes my players start doing that "john madden scribble" all over a page themselves to talk about plans with each other and layouts of things I describe. We play both D&D and Palladium(Rifts) and have done it on both from time to time over the last year+ on here. So I'd say its PERFECTLY acceptable, and vast majority of players wouldnt have a problem with it at all if thats your extent of ability. as when it comes down to it, a good GM isn't about how good you are at photoshop :) If the particular games GM/DM and players are fine with it, scibble out all the maps your heart desires! Some of my impromptu maps on here ends up looking like a cat having a seizure with a marker taped to its paws wandered over the play area.

Roll20 caters beautifully to any style of DMing, whether they want to carefully map out every aspect of the scenery for that 7 rounds encounter between the players and those goblins or just have a white background with crudely drawn obstacles/features is entirely up to the DM. Usually it will be determined as a group to ensure that the players are comfortable and happy in the campaign and is entirely a time issue for the most part. Less time on maps means more time on story/planning (generally). Also, no one is too stupid to make maps for Roll20 (check out the wiki for some great tips on how to use external programs or the in-site tools to best effect) after all you managed to sign up to the site and write a forum post, you are over qualified in my experience ;) Here are some of the more useful wiki links for you: Crash Course Getting Started: GMs Aligning Maps Manipulating Graphics Image Best Practices Mapping with GIMP

There are literately tons of maps for free out there already made up. I re-purpose almost all of my maps. Google search and you can find something that is close. Check out <a href="http://www.dundjinni.com" rel="nofollow">www.dundjinni.com</a> and rpgmapshare.com