Player Maps vs DM Maps

[bking83485]

I'm prepping to DM my first FG session soon. I am using Classic, not Unity.

Are the Player and DM maps synced such that if I share the Player map that I can still view and run the encounter from the DM map on my side?

Meaning, if I set up the encounter on my DM map ahead of time, when I share the Player map, will they still see the monsters I placed on my DM map or do I have to do the same encounter prep on both?

Hope that made sense.

Thanks in advance.

[LordEntrails]

No. Place the encounters on the Players map. The only thing you really need a DM map for is secret doors, and even then you can get around those by placing pins on the player map to tell you there is a secret door there.

In other words, the player map is the most useful. You can place pins on the player map and the players will never see them (unless you share pins, which you generally don't do).

[damned]

I never use a DM map - I put everything on the Player map - Secret doors and traps are marked by Pins rather than in the graphical map.

[Neovirtus]

Yeah, I really only use the DM maps while I am prepping to run the adventure. It's nice to be able to clearly see which room is referred to by a specific number in the story entry, especially in a complex dungeon with lots of ways to move between different levels. But during play you definitely want the encounters and tokens to be on the player version of the map.

[Zacchaeus]

DM Maps don't have a grid and aren't scaled to take encounters; so don't place encounters on the DM map. As others have said the DM map is just there for reference.

[bking83485]

Thank you all for the responses. Those were exactly the types of things I was hoping to learn and understand.