When Players Go Off The Map

[Ignatius]

How do you handle this? Are they out of the encounter? Can they come back? Do the monsters give chase? Do you turn the encounter into a skill challenge?

In my last session I rode my horse and cart (which was carrying two other party members) off the map and one of the remaining two party members subsequently got killed because we were off the map and could no longer interact with the encounter, and the bandits were disinclined to give chase.

I prefer the option of turning the encounter into a skill challenge to outrun/hide from/or re-ambush the monsters...

[Katana_Geldar]

Make the map bigger! The map is only as big as it needs to be.

[Jack Zander]

Go off the- wha- I don't even-

This mindset makes me shed a thousand tears.

[Katana_Geldar]

The battlemap is usually based of either the DM's best guess of how much space they will need or it's an actual standalone room that cnnot be changed.

I see no reason not to add an additional tile to the map unless I have a very good reason not to.

[Surrealistik]

They forever disappear into an event horizon beyond which there is no hope or return.

[mobdrazhar]

they fall off the edge of the world and die a horrible, horrible death.

honestly though if there is enough space the GM should just draw more area if it is plauseable to the area the the PC's are in (i.e. they can actually leave the area)

[Sarco_Phage]

They forever disappear into an event horizon beyond which there is no hope or return.

This.

You realize that as DM, you hold the reality of the PCs in your mind. When that reality is broached, in come the Hounds of Tindalos.

Better get rid of all those right-angles in your house.

[Suedars]

If a couple people are skirmishing off the map I just expand it to fit them. If an entire group is moving off the map fleeing, then it becomes a skill challenge.

[Doc Roc]

This.

You realize that as DM, you hold the reality of the PCs in your mind. When that reality is broached, in come the Hounds of Tindalos.

Better get rid of all those right-angles in your house.

They're classically a bit more picky than that, but yes.

[Oracle_Hunter]

In my last session I rode my horse and cart (which was carrying two other party members) off the map and one of the remaining two party members subsequently got killed because we were off the map and could no longer interact with the encounter, and the bandits were disinclined to give chase.

This is less "being off the map" than "leaving your fallen behind while running away." Of course bandits are going to be happier butchering the survivors than chasing down fleeing warriors - unless they were supposed to be interested in something on the cart.

* * * *

From a DM's perspective, it helps to "center" the combat on the battlemat - if for no other reason than it means you don't have to keep shifting the mat around if the combat moves off the edges. Of course, if combat ends up shifting somewhere else, you have to re-make the map.

In situations where a static combat becomes a car chase, it does help to transition into a Skill Challenge for questions of pursuit (with failure having the fleeing party getting boxed in somehow) or you can create a "static" chase where the two parties are fighting from platforms that are effectively moving at the same speed.

* * * *

In the OP's example instance, I (as the DM) would first ask "Are you running away from the battle?" or "What do you plan to do once you leave the battlefield?"

If the PCs said "we're running away" I would say "the bandits don't seem to give chase and you quickly lose them." If the PCs then did not turn around right-quick they would find their fallen allies butchered and robbed within a matter of rounds.

If the PCs responded that they were returning immediately (having seen that their attempt to draw off the bandits failed) then I'd allow them to re-enter the battlefield with the bandits making preparations for killing & looting - a fine way to catch the baddies somewhat off-balance, at least.

[Kurald Galain]

How do you handle this?

They reappear on the other side of the map, of course. The world is a torus.

[Erom]

Yeah, just tape on more graph paper or use a dice to represent how many squares "off map" they are (Useful if it's only one character backing up a bit to get to a safe ranged attack position, saves you breaking out more paper.)

If the combat has clearly shifted to a chase scene, transition to a skill challenge, but that's unusual - usually you just need another sheet of paper.

[DontEatRawHagis]

This is not Stargate, the sides of the map are just how ever many squares away you ran, not a million miles away.

[Cartigan]

All people exiting the map after entering it fall off the edge of the world.

[Sipex]

They get a loading screen?

Really though, it depends. If they're running away and nobody is giving chase then you don't expand the map but it's known that the PC is off in "that direction". The PC in question can still make decisions and take turns if they're more than "keep running".

If the PC has 'hella range' and the map doesn't cover it I'll let the PC move to whatever range they want and will tell them about imposing terrain not shown if needed.

If they're being chased, chasing someone or the battle is at the edge of the map the map expands.

[Gillric]

Yea, this has never really been an issue in my group as we tend to just work within the map we are given.

I would agree with most that you would either expand the map or transition to a skill challenge if needed.

[Kerrin]

They reappear on the other side of the map, of course. The world is a torus.

Even the mighty adventurer Pac-Man did it! *wokka*wokka*wokka*

[Tengu_temp]

A disembodied voice suddenly announces "you must gather your party before venturing forth".

[evirus]

In the most recent 3 games I've been in, all 3 GMs handled it the same way.

On the edge of the map where the PCs left he would write the number of "rounds" away they had run. The action would continue on the board and if the PCs decided to come back they would have to cover the same distance (in rounds) to return to the board.

However this didn't quite work as planned for a specific party member who shall remain nameless who left the board when it represented a boat in motion.

[LordShotGun]

They appear on the other side of the map. Just like frogger!

[Gillric]

Lol, a boat in motion..... I hope he knew how to swim really well.

[Jaidu]

Adding more space on an outdoor map should always be an option, and "off the map" just means the map needs to adjust to the situation.

This reminds me of a game where our main target started running and two of our group broke off the fight to chase him. After a couple rounds of a split fight/chase, the ranger, who had not chased, tried to fire at the runner.

"I'm sure I can hit him, I have a long range of 50. How far away is he?"

After some time counting...

"75 squares."

After all his buddies were mopped up, it turned into a skill challenge. We got our man.

The DM kept track of the distance by drawing a narrow track on the edge of the map, and adding more length next to it if necessary. Sometimes fights go bigger than anticipated, and having the ability to adjust a map to suit an encounter is very nice.

[Morph Bark]

This.

You realize that as DM, you hold the reality of the PCs in your mind. When that reality is broached, in come the Hounds of Tindalos.

Better get rid of all those right-angles in your house.

In-World solution: make DnD encounters like Pokemon matches. When they start, a barrier of reality twists itself into being, disallowing you to move beyond certain points in space until the encounter has ended.

[Apophis775]

Go off the- wha- I don't even-

This mindset makes me shed a thousand tears.

Same. In fact, one of my players is trying to design a system so that we have many smaller "Extensions" to our main map so that the world can extend, but usually I just move their tokens off the map and keep track of how far they haev gone on paper in case they decide to run back to combat. No need to draw if some people are just "cheesing it" as our group says. Let them run like 60 feet off the map, stop and heal or what-not while the group fights then run back.

[Jarawara]

A disembodied voice suddenly announces "you must gather your party before venturing forth".

Best response of the thread!

[MeeposFire]

A disembodied voice suddenly announces "you must gather your party before venturing forth".

Unfortunately my Fiance used a mod to remove that. She was annoyed, I thought it was classic.