Reddit reviews Gaming Paper Roll - 1" Square Beige RPG Mat - 30"x12"

I use a Chessex Play Mat for the bulk of my encounters. It works well for quickly drawing out a smaller dungeon or combat encounter. It's about 20x25 squares.

If I need additional space or need to be creative with my level design, I use Gaming Paper. The grid dimensions are 1 inch squares, so it works perfectly with the play mat. Also the gaming paper is durable enough to use repeatedly if you have a few encounters in the same kind of area, like homes/taverns. You could also glue the gaming paper to something like foam board, and create your own dungeon tiles for cheap.

You can get the mat, a roll of gaming paper, and a set of wet erase markers for around $30 USD.

Hopefully that helps!

Thats nice, but a chessex battlemap is durable and amazing. Not even that expensive. They last years and are well worth the investment. Mine is 10 years old and I'm pretty sure I'll get another decade out of it at least.

If you want to premap out rooms ahead of time instead of drawing on the spot? Get something like this. It's 50 sheets of 24x37, that's a lot of rooms/hallways/buildings to map out. If you do a lot of DMing then they even come in a 4 pack.

Think that is overpriced? Get a roll. The grid isn't exactly an inch, but it's close enough. We're gaming, not trying to land on the moon. It's 34" by 200 feet. That's enough for entire campaigns.

Is 200 feet too much investment for you? 8 bucks gets you 12 feet, that's twice the length of typical wrapping paper (I seem to find 6 feet the norm). Hell, they threw the word "gaming" into the name and seem to have forgotten the 200% price mark up that normally accompanies the term.

Wrapping paper has to be the single most ridiculous way to do D&D. They don't all have grids, and the price is not great. Maybe if it goes on some sort of supersale and you can ensure that it has grids on the other side, go for it, but there's just better sources of grids available out there.

Solutions I've used in the past:

• Vinyl battlemats with wet-erase markers (I've had more success with these over dry-erase).
  
• Grid paper easel pads or grid paper rolls with your drawing utensil(s) of choice.
  
• I used to have a simple tile-based dungeon maker app (I'll see if I can find it once I get home) that would export to an image that I'd then take to Office Depot and have them print on their large format engineering printer. It would usually be <$10 for all the maps needed for a one-shot adventure (B&W only).
  
• Similar to above, I had another DM print gridless maps on large-format paper and just said that 1" = 5ft and let us move in any direction.
  
• I've even played games simply on 8.5 x 11" graph paper. The DM would draw the map, and lightly draw where we were in pencil, erasing and redrawing when we moved.
  
• At PAX, I saw DMs using full-color printouts on regular printer paper, and players and the DM would simply point out and explain on the map where they were and what they were doing, using theater-of-the-mind for everything else.
  
  There are tons of options, and you can do whatever works for you.

Gaming Paper Roll - 1" Square Beige RPG Mat - 30"x12" https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003G4DLLC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_wDHSCbXBXZ0HP

Oh! I see, I misinterpreted what you were looking for.

Since this is more battle-mats than dungeon maps, the generic solution that everyone does is a Chessex wet-erase Mat, but you could also try Paizo dry/wet erase flip mats. If you're not pleased with the $20 range and want even cheaper, Gaming Paper for $4, or Graph Paper Notebook for $6.

So here's a little list for you.

1. download the basic rules. They're free and you'll be able to see if this is something you want to get into (although I highly recommend you do since it's a lot of fun).
   
2. After you read through basic rules and decided you want to DM get the starter set. It is definitely worth the money since you get a well written introductory adventure (for example all the formatting of dnd adventure books is explained) and a set of dice in a neat box that you can use to store your notes.
   
   

• If you're not into being a dm get the player's guide and later xanathar's guide.
  
• If you want to dm, get the player's handbook and monster manual. Dungeon master's guide is less mandatory since nowadays you can find a billion videos on how to run the game and homebrew your world but it is by no means a bad purchase since it has a ton of stuff inside like ~70 pages of magic items or a lot tables for generating encounters, npcs and a ton of variant rules.
  
• Some other non book things you'll find useful as a dm are the dm screen with a cheat sheet (something like this), either buy the official one or go diy route , a 1 inch (~2,4cm) combat grid (the gaming paper works great since you don't have to take care of it) and if you don't have one yet, a printer (for printing out enemy tokens for the encounters, handouts for players and so on) and a few notebooks for notes.

Minis end up being very costly, but a few tips to add to the already good info here:

1. I love my Chessex Wet Erase game mat. I use it along with some Expo Vis-A-Vis wet erase markers. (Seems to be a common combo, since Amazon even mentions it as "often bought together"). The next step down is a roll of reuseable gaming paper. This is pretty cheap, though while it is reuseable, it is very easily damage, as it is essentially a roll of wrapping paper. The other option which was already mentioned is plexiglass with a grid drawn on the back. Depending on how large you go, this can be more or less expensive than the gaming paper, but definitely more durable.
   
2. Since each mini is around $5-10 and may or may not come pre-painted, I strongly suggest you keep your eye on Ebay. You can often find "lots" of minis of different sizes that you can get very discounted, assuming you are okay with used minis.
   
3. If buying actual minis becomes too expensive, the next best thing is tokens. Sometimes you can find token sets from back in the 4e days on ebay (some used, some new), but it's probably even cheaper just to make your own. This allows you to custom tailor your minis to your campaign. I.e. add a mini specific to one of your BBEGs.
   
4. If the above mini ideas are both too expensive, a trick I sometimes use is to take a set of d6s (I use mini d6s, but I'm a rogue so I have tons of these on hand anyway :P) and use a separate die for each enemy--each one with a different number face-up. If you have more than 6 enemies, use multiple, different color dice sets and color code different "types" of enemies. Rarely do I have more than 6 of a single type of enemy.

I agree with /u/isaacpriestley. Plus here is a roll of grided paper

Make numbered tokens for baddies out of cardboard. However you prefer, but a disc with a silly goblin drawing you do yourself is enough to fight against. (Like a DIY version of this: https://dirt-cheap-dungeons.myshopify.com/products/horde-tokens-10 .)

I also like using (peanut butter) M&Ms for enemies, especially if there’ll be a bunch. The PC that gets the final blow gets to eat it!

As for a grid, invest in some of the grid wrapping paper roll stuff. Cheap and takes a sharpie for a planned map, or is just a good-sized grid for an impromptu fight. (I got this stuff a year or so ago, and it’s served me fantastically; your mileage may vary: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003G4DLLC?ref=yo_pop_ma_swf .)

I’ve also seen some dope LEGO stuff. Not cheap to acquire, but if you’ve got a bunch lying around, it can add a lot. I’ve been meaning to put together minifig minis for some of the more special NPCs, actually.

You can also pull tokens out of Monopoly or Clue for the PCs or special baddies.

I’ve used coins as well.

Alternative to play mat: https://www.amazon.com/Gaming-Paper-Roll-Square-Beige/dp/B003G4DLLC. Could use just as a base grid for fights or whatever if you don't like the disposable nature. If you want though this also allows you to map out a whole dungeon ahead of time.
All credit for this goes to Matt Colville.

I usually draw simple maps on grid paper that I bought off of Amazon and draw on them with dry erase markers. I got 2 rolls for I think about $8.

https://www.amazon.com/Gaming-Paper-Roll-Square-Beige/dp/B003G4DLLC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1496759839&sr=8-1&keywords=rpg+grid+paper

I usually will google image search something I'm looking for, for example "rpg mansion" the "rpg" usually ensures I find something in grid format and I just find what I like best and copy it over loosely. If you have maps in the module you'd like to copy this works too. I also do what you say in "BD's battlemaps" such as a random forest scene that can be reused and players plopped down in different spots for random encounters.

Some people saying do theater of the mind style which is of course an acceptable way of doing it. My advice though, especially for a new DM, would be not to do it this way. My reasoning is while it would cut down on prep time I think it's too much mental work to keep track of during a fight (okay this guy is flying, this enemy is hiding behind a tree twenty feet away, what was that PC doing?) especially as you're still learning the game.

Is it thicker paper or like notebook?

Edit: where do you store something that big?

Double edit: something like this

Do you mean these? https://www.amazon.ca/Gamewright-Gaming-Paper-1-Inch-Squares/dp/B003G4DLLC

If so, some hobby shops should have them. I know a local Boardgame shop where I live has them.