terrain mappins!

[Arc Vembris]

I've only played 4e in a live in-person game once or twice in one-shots, so I'm not entirely clear on what people typically do. How do you map out dungeon rooms and stuff in person. I've been relying on the poster maps included in my published adventures, but what do I use to map out dungeon rooms of varying dimensions? Do "Dungeon Tiles" help in that regard?  

[Lord of the Vine]

I don't utilize dungeon tiles when I have crawls. For the most part, I save the tiles for a vital room (ie: Enounter or a Skill Challenge).

Here's what I do:

1) In a notebook, draw up a map of the dungeon.
2) On separate pages, draw the room, and any significant details (dimensions, lighting, features, etc.).
3) If need be, write a note at the bottom saying "Board," to indicate that you draw it out on a mat
3a) If you don't have one already, purchase a dry-erase mat. There are machine-washable ones that work really well, but the dry-erase is much quicker for getting stuff off the mat.
4) ???
5) PROFIT!

Then you're golden.  

[5Crispy]

In our group we have prepared laminated poster paper with pre-drawn grids alongside homemade token holders. Advantage of having a laminated grid is you can quickly draw in the rough layout of rooms and erase it whenever needed.  

[Rain Yupa]

The DM who's started running in my Monday night group uses Post-It Easel Pads and has the maps pre-drawn. I've bought such a pad myself, and plan on using it when I get the opportunity to run.

The DM leaves his maps in the pad, and flips it to a new page when necessary. However, I would tear them out personally, for the ease of transition.

In our 3.5 days though, we did have a dry-erase battle mat (one side was squares, the other side was hexes). That wore out after time, as the lines never fully erased 100% (more like 95%) and wear and tear left it more messy looking over time. Personally, I would prefer the large grid paper and pre-drawn maps for the sake of clarity and saving time in-game (since you won't need to draw it out on the spot), but its something you really need prep time before game to make work.

As for the multiple dimensions issue, having one half of the paper/map/mat be one level, and another half be another level, would be your best bet, IMHO. Like in City of Towers with the Mourning Haunt battle.  

[Yurro]

For IRL games what I use is the mat I got with my Dungeon Master Guide book for 3.5, encased in a 'movie poster frame' complete with cork back, & plastic/glass cover. For mundane details such as a hallway I typically use dry erase markers to draw out the length if there is going to be combat or some such thing. For the majority of my rooms I've taken to using pre-made maps on paper I've made to scale with the grid to place on the mat.

For certain things like a 3d battle that incorporates swimming/flying/etc I like to try and use a second mat/board propped up against a wall (our meeting area involves me in a corner typically) for us to jot down notes on depth/height since I don't have enough money to buy these nifty things that are like pedestals but have a marker to show how high/low they are. Currently working on either purchasing some soon, or just making boot-legged versions for my up coming game.

I also allow players to 'draw' a map in-game/out-game if their characters carry paper and a writing tool so that they can remember certain things if they need to revisit a dungeon (which has happened for looting reasons).