Using battlemaps

[johnsemlak]

Excuse me if these questions seem stupid, but I've never seen battlemats before. Played D&D and never used them.

However, I'm realizing the benifits of using miniatures more (also rarely used those before).

Question, how exactly are battlemats used? What exactly are they? Can they be used for different sorts of encounters? My question comes from my not understanding what use there would be in buying generic mats that do not show rooms/places where your encounters take place.

Other than basic aethetics, is there a practical advantage to battlemats over a simple handdrawn grid?

 

[johnsemlak]

thanks for the responses

Wow, two people who couldn't post on the enworld message boards actually took the trouble to send me an email personally in response to my post. Thanks!

I'll post both responses below. Very useful advice:

Hi John,

I can't post to the ENBoards at the moment (it always times out) but I
wanted to reply to
your post...

Battlemats are rollable vinyl sheets with a grid printed on them (I
think square and hex
are both available) that is the right size for miniatures. You can
write on them with
overhead markers and erase using a wet paper towel.

I personally draw my maps (ahead of time) on ordinary graph paper but
neither the
sheets nor the grid is large enough for miniature.

Chris

--
Chris Camfield

Let's sing out on the wire / Let's shiver in the trees
Right across the open spaces / Where the music sets you free
Help spread the message baby / That's inside of you and me
We come from a long line / Part of a song line... - Tim Finn

Hi johnselmak,


You'll get a few different answers, but at it's most basic level, you
can use them to hand-draw dungeons (or any encounter, really). I'd
have
posted on the boards, but for the last couple days I can't post
anything
at all - just cycles over and over and over

It is possible to use graph paper as you well know. Jjust as it is
possible to print out stuff like Crooked Staff's high quality dungeon
bits and make a dungeon. The latter is not as effective for caverns,
of
course, but hey it looks great.

Ultimately, it is better than graph paper imho because of the
aesthetics
of using miniatures, and it is much easier from a DM perspective to
really visualize everything going on with the bigger pieces and larger
spaces you use with a battlemat, than the graph paper. Players also
tend to get "into" it more. I prefer it to options such as Crooked
Staff because it handles transportation more easily. The battlemat is
easy to just roll up and go.

I use colored water-washable crayola markers for doing stone, earth,
trees, water etc. Works great.

-Emiricol

 

[Bob5th]

Since my group has started 3E we've been using a mat. Basicly you can use a marker of some sort to draw out whatever type of terrain you need. Very little artistic skill is needed and as long as you can draw a semi strait line you'll do okay. Using a mat makes keeping track of who is where so much easier. Many mats are in 1" squares and many people use these squares as 5'. If you get a mat make sure the markers you will use on it erase easily and completly. If they don't you can always stick a sheet of glass on top of it. Make sure it's glass and not plexiglass or plastic because the marker doesn't like to erase from them.

 

[Brisk-sg]

Battlemats are large, normally vinyl, mats that have a grid of 1 inch squares or hexes. All you need to use them are some non-permanent markers. You simply draw the map on the mat as you go through the dungeon, or simply for the encounter. Clean off the marker when you are done. They are simple to use and can be rolled up and stored away. The advantage over a hand drawn grid is reusability and weight (if you are using paper).

 

[Omegium]

We had some problems with our rpg lately with positioning, and I thought it would be nice to give it a go.
But I have never seen a battlemap here in The Netherlands, and I guess they are quite heavy, and ordering them in UK or US will probably cost a fortune on shipping.
So we thought it couldn't be that hard to make it ourselves, it is just vinyl with lines.
Anyone got any experience with selfmade maps? Tips? or a place to get them in the netherlands?

 

[ninthcouncil]

I've made my own- print 1 inch (2.5cm) squares onto A4 card, guillotine off the borders so they can be laid flush with each other, cover in sticky backed clear film (you can get it in most stationers). Works a treat (as long as you take care what you write with) and dead cheap.

 

[Drawmack]

I use the chessex large battlemat with squares (http://www.chessex.com/mats/Battlemats_&_Megamats.htm). I choose squares over hexes because classic mat usage is that moving diagnoly in doors costs 10' but outside it only costs 5' and I ind it easier to convert from squares to hexes then vice-versa. I use chessex over the cheaper ones available because you can leave maps drawn on them and they will still completely erase.

I write on the battlemat with chessex markers (http://www.chessex.com/Accessories/Accessories2.htm). Because they are garenteed not to stain my battlemat.

Here is what I do, I design my castles, dungeons, street scenes, etc. so that they will fit on my battle mat. Then I can draw right on the battle mat at the PCs move their minatures through the dungeon. I like this way because it really gives the players the feeling of being there, especially if they are in a maze.

 

[arwink]

Ours is selfmade. One of the players grabbed a plastic wall-calander of fairly good siae (2 and a half feet by four feet or so) from work, ruled the lines on the opposite side and covered it with contact.

The best part is we refresh the mat every twelve months or so.

 

[Tyrant]

It seems we have a pretty good overview of what battlemats are used for. I'll just chime in with two things.

People looking for a good cavern solution might consider the paper caverns from SkeletonKeyGames. I know that Ed (the owner) was selling them at Gencon for $6. Its basically just paper printed with a cavern image. You either Draw out the layout or do as they did at the con, cutting the map out and securing it to a larger sheet of black paper (looked really sweet). I just looked on his website, and they arent there, so you may have to pester him about it. His website is http://www.skeletonkeygames.com

The second thing I wanted to post was about one of my own products. Dragon Scale Counters makes these plastic sheets with the 1" squares on them. You can read more about them here.

The relatively light weight makes for nice shipping over seas (well, as nice as it CAN be from the states). I know we had an order from Belfast the other day for 12 of them.

Just a caveat about all of this. My name is Eric Price. I do own Dragon Scale Counters, so my information here may be slightly biased. I hope you all still consider it useful.

 

[thalmin]

Just a warning about using Battlemaps (which I agree are great and have used for 20 years.) Do not use Dry Erase markers on them. For some reason, Dry Erase is more permanent than "Permanent Magic Marker" when used on these mats.