One realization I've just had is that when a scene is described in just a handful of words, players can imagine so much more to it than is initially revealed about it. Objects that the GM didn't think of, but are plausible to be there, can just suddenly exist at any moment and help make the story richer.

In contrast as soon as you introduce any kind of map, it feels like you are "collapsing" the scene to one very strictly defined state that feels difficult to escape from. Instead of imagining what COULD be there you only look at the very narrow slice of what IS in front of your eyes.

Other than just being too lazy to make maps every session, I genuinely wonder if they might be just inherently an obstacle to the imaginary nature of the game.

#TTRPG