Information exactly where all pits lead to

[scifo76]

Are there any DM maps with the exact destinations where all the pits of all levels lead to?

[ChristopheF]

The maps at http://dmweb.free.fr/ have coordinates. The destination of a pit at X,Y coordinates on level Z lead to the same coordinates X,Y on level Z+1.
For example, the pit at 20,13 on map 2 (see http://dmweb.free.fr/?q=node/136) lead to 20,13 on map 3 (see http://dmweb.free.fr/?q=node/137).

[scifo76]

Thanks! I didn't know that all the levels are "lined up" correctly with X & Y. Makes sense.

Enjoying playing through this game for 163th time or so

[slickrcbd]

That was actually pretty standard for "old school" RPGs at the time. Bard's Tale, Might and Magic, and numerous others all used a grid and all the dungeons would line up.
Common advice at the time was to make a map with graph paper.

Hint books would use grid maps when I'd flip through them in stores (if they weren't sealed in shrink-wrap plastic, which was also common practice so you couldn't get that one answer you needed if that was all you needed because you were stuck. *cough* Sierra On-Line *cough*).

Back then, we couldn't just surf the internet and browse to www.GameFAQS.com, as it wouldn't exist for many years. Heck, when I got DM in 1989 the World Wide Web would not exist for four more years.

[Saumun]

Oh god, yes. As well as DM, I remember mapping the whole of The Bard’s Tale and The Bards Tale 2 (which was even bigger).
It didn’t seem a big deal at the time, but now I think about how much time went into creating those maps.
Phew!

[Ameena]

We never made maps, though we didn't need to for DM as we had a hint book (scanned images available in the Encyclopaedia, mine is the Adventurer's Handbook with all the maps gone over in blue highlighter ). But we did manage to play through the whole of CSB with no hints or maps or anything. Somehow :O.

[slickrcbd]

I didn't bother making a whole map with Bard's Tale (any), but I did make notes on the dungeons with important coordinates for Airport Arcane. Such as the best way to get to the room with the 396 bezerkers to grind XP, also a couple of fixed encounters with undead in the tombs for grinding once you got your first wizard (repel dead was overpowered, probably why they dropped it in the sequels to my disappointment. Made it so if you had a wizard in the party large groups of powerful undead were pushovers). Also the coordinates to the way to Mangar's Tower in the sewers.
Oh, speaking of Bard's Tale, was the Soul Sucker in the tombs the first super bonus boss? I found him harder to fight than Mangar and it was only the second dungeon. Immune to stone touch and death strike with a mass instant death attack.

I generally didn't bother making a real map with games that had automaps, just notes on important locations. Also the Gold Box games available for the Apple II gave you maps for at least half the dungeons in the Adventurer's Journals, and the rest weren't that bad or had no locations you wanted to revisit so I'd just explore everywhere each time.

[Saumun]

In TBT 1 I didn’t make any maps until I got lost in the darkness in Kylearan’s Tower. I decided to map it, and then thought... I’ll map everything.
Some of it was pointless (like level 2 of the castle because you could aport arcane between 1 and 3 - though the Mandar Guards gave decent xp if you were weak), but I was a completionist so decided to do it all.
I did the same though with AA locations. Had the 396 Berserkers, Mad God statue, Mangar’s Tower teleport from the sewers, and all the stair locations memorised (could you teleport straight to the Spectre in the catacombs? I can’t remember).
I totally missed the Soul Sucker in the catacombs the first time around (before I mapped it). When I eventually did get to it, I didn’t find it too bad... but my party was incredibly strong at the time.
Mangar himself was a letdown. It was all over in one turn.
Also, finding the best weapon (IMO) - the Spectre Snare - after killing Mangar was weird (though you could transfer it with a character into Destiny Knight).

Phew! It was one of my absolute favourite games.

[slickrcbd]

What version were you playing? There was an automap in the Apple IIGS version accessible by hitting the question mark key. It didn't have any annotations on what was important, but it would show you the basic layout (although it did not show you teleporters or stairs).
I was able to get through Kylearn's Tower with just the automap. As I indicated earlier I just made a few notes on important locations on a small notepad, where I'd also jot down most of the messages I got for clues on puzzles (which was even more important in tBT2).

[Saumun]

When I mapped it, I was playing the Atari ST version.
I didn’t know any versions had auto map. That’s a pretty cool feature given it’s age.