I think many RPG experiences would be improved if the GM simply showed the players the dungeon map. I realize this runs against the fairly well-established tradition of withholding the map and making players reconstruct it through exploration. As a player, I admit there’s a certain old-school satisfaction in drawing a map from verbal descriptions. But as a GM, I think I’d rather give the players the whole thing up front, or let them discover an actual map in the game early on. I’m less interested in having players reconstruct the dungeon’s layout than in giving them enough information to make dramatic decisions about where to go, what to investigate, and what to avoid.
I don't think this necessarily spoils anything. The map itself isn't the mystery; what's in the rooms, what the characters discover, and what they choose to do with that information are the mystery. Giving players the overall layout doesn't mean their characters know what's behind every door, where the traps are, or which rooms matter. It just gives the players a framework for understanding the place they're exploring.
I know the objection: discovering the dungeon is supposed to be part of the fun, and having the whole map in front of you can feel like giving away the answers. But I think there's an important distinction between discovering the shape of a dungeon and discovering what's in it. Knowing that there are twelve rooms down a particular corridor doesn't tell you which one contains the treasure, which one contains the monster, which one is trapped, or whether the seemingly insignificant room is actually the most important one in the dungeon. In fact, knowing the overall layout can make those decisions more interesting. It lets players think about where they want to go and why, rather than making them spend their attention reconstructing the GM's map through trial and error.
If someone really enjoys the cartography game, that's perfectly legitimate; I just don't think it needs to be mandatory. I've also played for years in games where the GM simply describes each room verbally and nobody bothers to map anything, and that works perfectly well too. But I think something gets lost in that approach: part of the appeal of a dungeon is that it is a place--a strange, interconnected physical environment with a shape, a scale, and an internal logic (or illogic) of its own. If we're never going to see or use that spatial structure, we might as well be working from a numbered list of rooms: Room 1 contains a monster, Room 2 contains a pit, Room 3 contains treasure. The map doesn't have to be a puzzle for the players, but I think it should have some aesthetic value beyond being a diagram the GM keeps behind the screen. So let's see it!
I'm perfectly happy for the map the players see to be approximate rather than exact, but I want them to understand, from the beginning, roughly how big the place is, about how many rooms there are, and how those spaces relate to one another. Ideally, of course, a dungeon map can be revealed gradually as the characters explore it, with unexplored areas genuinely concealed from the players. But if that's not how the adventure is designed, I'd rather show them the whole map than play the awkward middle ground of revealing one corridor at a time. I'd rather spend our game time encountering the dungeon's events--traps, monsters, treasures, inhabitants, secrets, and choices--than repeatedly asking, "Do you go left or right?" a dozen times while everyone tries to remember which direction they came from.
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