Dark-Colored Battlemats?

[Dausuul]

So, this is kind of a weird question... but does anyone know where I could find a battlemat with dark-colored squares (not hexes)? Black or charcoal grey?

Why would I want such a thing, you ask? Two reasons. One, I think it would help to evoke a dungeon atmosphere. And two, DDM figs have black bases, which is visually distracting on a light-colored battlemat. This is especially noticeable with swarms; I want them to look like, well, swarms, and instead they just look like little dark circles. The contrast with the battlemat completely overwhelms the details of the mini.

Dry erase preferred but wet erase works too. Not looking for anything with a pre-drawn map on it; I want to be able to draw my own (however, pre-drawn map on one side and blank grid on the other is acceptable). I'm willing to spring for special markers if they aren't super-expensive. Any suggestions?

 

[the Jester]

Huh, I've never heard of such a thing- and would imagine one of the issues would be getting your dry-erase/wet-erase to show up well on the mat.

That said, I think a stony-looking mat is a great idea, assuming that the makers could get around the marking issue.

 

[samursus]

Check out the Paizo Flip-Mats... foldable dry/wet erase mats at a very reasonable cost. The one I have has a grey side. Whether its dark enough for your purposes, I don't know.

http://paizo.com/store/gameAids/gamingMats/steelSqwire/v5748btpy83yx

 

[Morrus]

Yeah, as noted, I imagine the problem with that would be seeing anything you drew on it.

 

[Dausuul]

Check out the Paizo Flip-Mats... foldable dry/wet erase mats at a very reasonable cost. The one I have has a grey side. Whether its dark enough for your purposes, I don't know.

http://paizo.com/store/gameAids/gamingMats/steelSqwire/v5748btpy83yx

I saw that one; it's a bit light for what I'm after, but I might go with it if I can't find anything else. I do love my Flip-Mat. Thanks for the suggestion!

As for getting the markings to show up, there are fluorescent markers designed to be used on black surfaces; seems like those ought to work.

 

[Cor_Malek]

Huh, I've never heard of such a thing- and would imagine one of the issues would be getting your dry-erase/wet-erase to show up well on the mat.

That said, I think a stony-looking mat is a great idea, assuming that the makers could get around the marking issue.

Not if he uses chalk markers. Hell, they even make fluorescent ones!
DRY ERASE BOARDS Factory Direct from THE MARKERBOARD PEOPLE

But other colours are easily noticeable as well
This Neon Marker, also known as a wet erase bright stick, is best used for illuminated menu boards! - Displays2go
Kuretake Dry Erase Liquid Post Chalk Marker - White

I can't find white ones sold online separately right now, but I'm positive they exist - my favourite local art supplies shop carries them, so it's not unheard of. Chalk markers are wet-erasable though, so you might prefer those sets I mentioned above.

Pretty much only classic black ones (and maybe dark blue) are out (though only if the mat is much darker than the one offered by Paizo).


EDIT:
My Google-fu is strong today:
http://www.hotzmats.com/
Black, white, star sprinkled, asphalt, stone...
This is a one-man operation, and order might take some time to arrive - "but it gets there". You can choose size for your mat, type of fields and their size, as well as custom background (not only colour). Fully customizable.

Hope this helps.

 

[Dausuul]

<lots of useful links>

Awesome stuff. I will definitely be looking into these. Thanks!

 

[Rel]

Not precisely what you're looking for but I thought it would be worth mentioning one of my very favorite things that I use for almost every RPG: The Descent boardgame.

It includes (among tons of other stuff including 80 miniatures) a set of snap-together dungeon corridors that are infinitely configurable into almost any dungeon setup you'd like. Lots and lots of rooms, 10' corridors and intersections. They are darkly colored with white lines separating the spaces on them and even have little embellishments on them like mushrooms mold or small pools of water on the floors. Descent is a pretty fun boardgame in its own right but I use the stuff from it for literally every session of every RPG I run. It's great stuff.

Alternatively you could simply go to the local craft store and purchase a piece of posterboard in the shade you desire, draw lines on it with whatever color pen will show up and have it laminated. I did this recently because I wanted a blank white battlemat with no grid on it and it was the cheapest option I could find. Works fine with wet-erase markers.

 

[falcarrion]

You might want to check out Dark Platypus they have a battle map you might like. Zuzzy Miniature also has some intresting maps. As does Great Victory Widgets, but I'm not sure they are still in business.

 

[brainstorm]

So, this is kind of a weird question... but does anyone know where I could find a battlemat with dark-colored squares (not hexes)? Black or charcoal grey?

Why would I want such a thing, you ask? Two reasons. One, I think it would help to evoke a dungeon atmosphere. And two, DDM figs have black bases, which is visually distracting on a light-colored battlemat. This is especially noticeable with swarms; I want them to look like, well, swarms, and instead they just look like little dark circles. The contrast with the battlemat completely overwhelms the details of the mini.

Dry erase preferred but wet erase works too. Not looking for anything with a pre-drawn map on it; I want to be able to draw my own (however, pre-drawn map on one side and blank grid on the other is acceptable). I'm willing to spring for special markers if they aren't super-expensive. Any suggestions?

I wanted a black mat too, but couldn't find one. So I took a sheet of black poster board and drew a grid on it with silver metallic marker. I can't draw on it but it looks better when I put dungeon tiles or Dwarven forge pieces on it.