Cheap graphing paper for RPGs

[Jay R]

Reminder: wrapping paper often has 1 inch by 1 inch grids printed on the back. That means that wide, very long rolls of good 1 inch by 1 inch graphing paper go on sale today.

[KorvinStarmast]

Reminder: wrapping paper often has 1 inch by 1 inch grids printed on the back. That means that wide, very long rolls of good 1 inch by 1 inch graphing paper go on sale today.

Glad I am not the only person who does this. :smallsmile:

[Telok]

If you still have a newspaper in your area you might swing by the presses. Not inside, but check out by the industrial recycle bin or ask someone working the dock if there are any spare leftover roll ends. The paper rolls are big, like almost 4 foot diameter big. When they end a print run but only have an inch or two left they'll commonly discard to recycle that leftover roll end. Because it'll run out while they're still getting the press started if they try to use it, and that's just asking for a jam & downtime. They're often happy to just give you the stuff they were going to chuck in the recycle anyways and you get yards upon yards of free paper.

[No brains]

I've seen an improvement upon this life hack: if you can get your wrapping paper laminated somewhere, you now have a reusable battlemat.
https://youtu.be/HdRrvn6G4Bs?t=458

What I think could be the ideal is if you could draw on wrapping paper and then have a clear re-usable sheet to put over your maps. That seems like the best way to have the most unique maps that can be customized with marker AoEs.

[KorvinStarmast]

I've seen an improvement upon this life hack: if you can get your wrapping paper laminated somewhere, you now have a reusable battlemat.
https://youtu.be/HdRrvn6G4Bs?t=458

What I think could be the ideal is if you could draw on wrapping paper and then have a clear re-usable sheet to put over your maps. That seems like the best way to have the most unique maps that can be customized with marker AoEs.Use clear shelf paper to cover the grid. I started doing that around 1980 when a friend suggested it to me. I also used it on my DM maps so that I could annotate them, and then wipe off the annotations. Water soluble markers or pencils work.

[animorte]

Glad I am not the only person who does this. :smallsmile:
My wife came up with this brilliant idea several years ago. Glad to see it being shared! :smallbiggrin:

But if you’re going to a cheaper store, apparently a lot of those don’t have this graph paper on the back?

Just for the record I absolutely love graph paper, and much like spreadsheets, I will find any reason to use it.

[gbaji]

When you wrote graph paper, I thought you meant the actual small squares on paper used for graphing stuff (or drawing maps).

I guess if you're really on a budget, this works as a battle mat, but IME those things tear really easily, and you can't draw on them more than once (I suppose you can just toss them away when done). If you're going to put some other mat over it for dry erase, why not just buy a battle mat? They run from ~20-40 bucks, have square on one side and hex on the other, are dry erase friendly, and will last pretty much forever (and the larger ones pretty much cover the entire table, so plenty large enough for just about any gaming). It's basically a one-time expense that costs less than most games (and some source books).

Not a bad idea to use the backside of wrapping paper for a battle mat in a pinch though!

[Jay R]

guess if you're really on a budget, this works as a battle mat, but IME those things tear really easily, and you can't draw on them more than once (I suppose you can just toss them away when done). If you're going to put some other mat over it for dry erase, why not just buy a battle mat?

I have more than one battlemat. This is for drawing a one-use map -- a dungeon they will never return to, or some such.

[animorte]

When you wrote graph paper, I thought you meant the actual small squares on paper used for graphing stuff (or drawing maps).
That was my first though as well, but we do both. I do a LOT of planning and sketching on graph paper, plenty of which isn’t even D&D related.

[ngilop]

For people worried about the paper tearing


I have always put packing tape over the map, POW. now not only is it waterproof and durable, but now you have a dry erase board!


SO much cheaper than going to get stuff professionally laminate. (not ever tried wet erase, so IDK how good that works)
I've been doing this for years. buy .25 wrapping tubes (24 inches by 33 feet is pretty standard) and packing tape for a buck.

Best part. i also do it to license and what not that come in paper form.
Your pocket fishing license that is flimsy paper? PACKING TAPE to the rescue!

[KorvinStarmast]

I have more than one battlemat. This is for drawing a one-use map -- a dungeon they will never return to, or some such. Or treasure maps. (with various bits burned or left blank, of course...

That was my first though as well, but we do both. I do a LOT of planning and sketching on graph paper, plenty of which isn’t even D&D related. Yep. Got into that habit during engineering degree, never really lost it.

[Jophiel]

I knew someone who used wrapping paper for her battle mats. She only DM'd to run a four mission Adventurers League arc then rotate out for six months or so. She'd get the entire arc's maps on a single $1 roll of dollar store wrapping paper. A $30 dry erase mat is probably better if you're running games all the time but a cheap disposable solution has its place as well.

[gbaji]

I have always put packing tape over the map, POW. now not only is it waterproof and durable, but now you have a dry erase board!


SO much cheaper than going to get stuff professionally laminate. (not ever tried wet erase, so IDK how good that works)
I've been doing this for years. buy .25 wrapping tubes (24 inches by 33 feet is pretty standard) and packing tape for a buck.

I'm a total fumble fingers though. Seriously. I'd end up with like a foot high pile of tangled and torn wrapping paper and packing tape. I have enough trouble sticking the tape to the correct spot on wrapping paper without tearing/twisting/bunching-up when actually just wrapping stuff. I'm fairly certain that, after generating the aforementioned pile of scraps from failed attempts, the best result would still have odd twists and bends and tape bubbles in it and basically look like some crazed 5 year old did the work.

And I'd probably have bandages on most of my fingers by the time I was done too. The cutters on packing tape rolls can be sharp! Ok. I may be exaggerating a bit here, but still. Arts and crafts are not my thing. I use packing tape to tape up nice strong firm boxes that don't bend too much. Oh. And to adhere labels on home brew beer submissions.


Or treasure maps. (with various bits burned or left blank, of course...


Oh. Yeah. That works. Physical stuff is always fun.