GameMastery Review: Pirate Ship Flip-Mat and Map Pack: Mines

I have been buying both Dungeon Tiles and Map Packs at about the same rate. They are quality product for those of us who suck at drawing immersive battle maps.

The flip mats are decent for the price, but I always preferred Tact-Tiles® myself. As they break down and lay flat easier than a Flip Mat does (you have to play with the fold lines a bit on Flip Mats). Sadly, the guy who made Tact-Tiles is out of business now, and I've not found an exact substitute.

That writer is right. I guard my Tact-Tiles with my life. And a sword.

That said, if you can't get Tact-Tiles, and the idea of the slightly-endangered-by-water Battle-Graphs don't fit your group, the Basic Flip Maps are a bargain. And if you like poster maps, the ones with images are good too.

 

[Steel_Wind]

When it comes to FRPG adventures, just about every professional designer will tell you that it all comes down to the map.

That doesn’t mean that a great map necessarily results in a great adventure. There are plenty of great maps in adventure products which still end up as merely fair to good adventures when assessing the adventure for its overall impact and quality. By the same token, there are plenty of otherwise great adventures that can’t grab the gold and achieve excellence because the quality of the map, either in its design or artistic cartography (and often both) just isn’t good enough to permit the adventure to advance to the top of the podium. The map matters; it matters a lot.

A great map won’t make a poor adventure great; but a poor map can certainly render an otherwise great adventure to be merely average. If nothing else, a good map in an otherwise undistinguished adventure is something that a GM can always repurpose and reuse for some other adventure or purpose. After all, most RPG maps are highly convertible game components.

The one aspect which isn’t so easily transportable, however, is getting a map from the page to the tabletop itself. When it comes to that last jump -- from paper to a tangible battlemap on the tabletop -- the last leg of that journey is usually the hardest. A variety of methods have emerged over time in order to allow the GM to make the jump from the page to the tabletop itself. Paizo's principle contributions to that effort, the Flip-Mat and Map-Pack are the subject of this week's Paizo product review.

Paizo’s Flip-Mat line

The original flip-mat was created by a small independent company, SteelSqwire. Originally conceived as a product that would compete with the ubiquitous Battlemat from Chessex, the flip-mat offered a few advantages when first released in 2005.

Firstly, the flip-map was superior to any paper fold out map because it’s surface was coated. While repeated use over a year or two could wear out the coating on the seams, the original flip-mat was a remarkably sturdy product. Moreover, the coating provided some key advantages over a vinyl mat. In addition to standard wet-erase pens, you can use a dry erase pen on a flip-mat, which is something you cannot do with a Chessex Battlemat.

Indeed, you can even use a permanent marker like a Sharpie on a flip-mat. I wouldn’t recommend doing this very often, as the coating on the crease areas of the mat can become cracked and eventually the Sharpie can stain the seam area on a well broken-in mat. Still, it can be done. Not having to care about what marker is being used on a game mat has its own rewards and peace of mind. (If you’ve ever carelessly used a dry-erase marker on a Battlemat, only to look down in horror as your attempts to wipe it clean prove fruitless, you’ll know exactly what I mean).

For those who prefer to stick with wet-erase markers, the principal bonus of the flip-mat is that it is extremely easy to store and transport. Being able to fold-up the flip-mat into a profile a little smaller than an 8.5” x 11” means the flip mat stacks nicely with a set of rulebooks.

Gamers took notice when Steel Sqwire first released the flip-mat and the original mat won an ENNie in 2005 for best accessory. I bought mine that first Gencon and was pleased with the transportability of the product.

SteelSqwire Gets Fancy-Schmancy

The original Flip-mat was a whitish grey in color, featuring a simple 1” grid. In the ensuing two years, Steel Sqwire expanded on the flip-mat concept by offering their product with a 1” grid over a pre-printed scene. These early Steel Sqwire flip-mats (Dungeon, Tavern, Forest Path and City Square) are highly collectible now and are virtually impossible to find in a new condition. If you find one lurking in some forgotten FLGS -- buy it.

The early success of the flip-mat concept did not escape the notice of Paizo. Leveraging the better distribution of Paizo and their reduced costs from higher volume printing, Paizo now manufactures flip-mats under an arrangement with Steel Sqwire and has since 2007.

“The flip-mat line has been highly successful and innovative, especially so for use at conventions and game days. They're simply more convenient to use than the floppy Chessex mats, and lighter than other solutions from other companies”, says Paizo Publisher, Erik Mona.

I confess that I am a huge fan of the flip-mat line both for its ease of transport and for the quality of the images on the mats themselves. I not only use them regularly, I collect them and I am always pleased to get a new one. To be fair, I have to admit that I am biased as all hell when it comes to flip-mats. The main reason for my passion for this product line are their utility when running a session of Pathfinder Society. When time to complete a session always seems tight, bringing out a flip-mat for use at the table during an encounter instantly gets everyone involved in the action. More importantly, no time is taken up drawing out the details on the map. Admittedly, if I only had one or three of the things, it would get awfully repetitive, very fast.

However, the reality is that each of the Pathfinder Society Scenarios published in a given year will make use of both prior and newly released flip-mats – and I’ve bought every one available for me to buy to date. The result is that any given flip-mat in use at the table changes from week to week and few are rarely seen again at our PFS sessions for several months. As most mats are double-sided with a different pre-printed image, that allows for a high degree of unique maps across the many PFS scenarios. Certainly, I find that players are always entertained when a new flip-mat they have never seen before comes into play.

While Paizo has produced the flip-mats in far higher quantities than Steel Sqwire originally did, even now, a few of the flip-mats produced by Paizo have started to go out of print (Ship, City Market and Woodlands). The sheer breadth of the flip-mat line is now very significant, with 35 released over the past 6 years.

The current stock of flip-mats still available for purchase through Paizo features 26 individual pre-printed flip-mats in addition to the plain, double-sided gridded mat. Accordingly, for those GMs who are interested in leaping into the flip-mat line with both feet, it is still possible to amass a large collection from products that remain currently in print.

Of all of the flip-mats that have gone out of print, the one I felt the greatest regret over was the Ship flip-mat. Ships are so common in many of our campaigns so it is no surprise that combat on board a ship crops up often. Having an attractively illustrated battlemap of a ship is always handy and ours have been used repeatedly in many of our campaigns. But the worst part of it is, somewhere along the way -- I lost or misplaced my Ship Flip-Mat.

The sign that the Ship Flip-Mat was going out of print was mentioned by Paizo in a blog post just prior to last year's Gencon. Alarmed, I ordered one immediately. Luckily too, as the Ship mat finally sold-out shortly thereafter.

For those who want to purchase an OOP flip-mat like the now iconic Ship Flip-mat, you can go to the after-market at a huge premium. A search in a local FLGS is likely to be the most productive step you'll take in your hunt for an OOP mat. Regrettably, as so many online merchants list OOP item in their online catalogue even though they don't have any for sale, Google searches for OOP flip-mats can be extremely frustrating.


If you can't find the real thing live-in-concert, Paizo does provide an electronic version of the flip-mat via .PDF for $8.99 at 150dpi resolution. With large format printing and lamination services, it is possible to fill in the missing flip-mats to complete a collection – albeit at a premium price.

Pirate Ship Flip-Mat

So what do you do if you are planning a pirate campaign and don't have a Ship flip-mat? Well, as of last week, you can now purchase the new Pirate Ship Flip-Mat. Timed for release just prior to the forthcoming pirate themed Adventure Path, titled Skull and Shackles, the new Pirate Ship Flip-Mat offers a new variant for a pre-printed ship -- and the illustration is rather top notch, too.

On the main "battle-side" of the 24" x 30" flip-mat, the pre-printed image depicts two ships locked in a boarding action, for all your piratical needs. The illustration and color reproduction is remarkably clear and the water surrounding the ships actually looks like a frothy sea. I would rate this particular flip-mat as one of Paizo's best efforts.

One the reverse of the Pirate Ship Flip-Mat are three of the Pirate Ship's decks. One showing part of the main deck, with the interior of the foc'sle and aft Captain's cabin depicted as well. The remaining decks are clear improvements over the illustrations on the original Ship mat, one depicting crew quarters (with hammocks deployed) officers/mate's cabin. The remaining bottom deck depicts the cargo hold with a lot of crates, sacks, and barrels stowed in a most unseamanlike manner. While the shifting cargo would leave a lot for a grouchy captain to complain about, it does provide lots of flavour and cover, while still providing some areas in which to conduct a battle.

In general, the illustrations used for the Pirate Ship are simply better in almost every way over the original Ship Flip-Mat illustrations. The lighting on the images are improved and the resolution of the wood grain and decking is more believable and appropriate, in my opinion.

The main problem with the Pirate Ship Flip-Mat arises out of its inherent design. It's just not possible to depict a battle on the "boarding" side of the mat which then drifts down below or into the ship's cabins at the same time as a fight on the main deck. This is for the very good reason that the other deck illustrations are on the opposite side of the flip-mat. My guess is that a lot of GMs who will be running the Skull and Shackles Adventure Path will be purchasing not one Pirate Ship Flip-Mat -- but two of them to deal with this issue.

The problem of the sameness to the cabin lay out on the flip-mat, it turns out, is slated to be improved next month with the release of a new modular Map-pack, Ship Cabins. While some of the tiles in the Ship Cabins pack can be combined together to provide a self contained deck, the real usefulness of the modularity of the Ship Cabins tiles is that they are designed to interact with and be placed over the deck layout on the Pirate Ship Flip-Mat, thereby allowing you to change the layout on your flip-mat. This approach has been used in some past Paizo flip-mats to varying degrees of success, but it is an interesting concept intended to extend the usefulness of both products. While the variations are far from infinite, it does goes a long way to extending the usefulness of the product.

Pirate Ship Flip-Mat
Price: $12.99 (Map) $8.99 PDF

Recommended: All Pathfinder GMs and D&D DMs -- of any edition.


Paizo Map-Packs

If I am biased in favour of the flip-mat line, I have to admit the opposite with respect to Paizo's Map Pack line. Frankly, I've found it very hard to warm to these products.

The principal problem is one of perceived value. Like the Flip-Mats, they are priced at $12.99. There are 18 individual 5" x 8" full color tiles in a Map Pack, sold on flexible card stock. To their credit, Paizo has now started to print the newer Map Packs with the same coating on them that is used on their flip-mat line. Consequently, the tiles in the newer map packs can be drawn upon with wet, dry erase and even a Sharpie.

While that's a helpful innovation, it didn't address my own perception of value. With 18 tiles in a pack, do the math and you'll see that you are getting a 24"x30" worth of image(s) in each map-pack. While that's a useful amount of art, to be sure, it's only half the art you get on a double sided flip-mat.

The easiest way to fix this would be for Paizo to choose to print on both sides of the Map-Pack tiles. The problem with doing so is the additional cost of the art images. "We've never really considered it. It would push the price up, mostly on the art side, which would translate to an increase in price, which is something we'd prefer to avoid", Erik Mona confirms.

The products clearly have significant differences. Unlike the Flip-Mat, the Map Packs are not simply one large image that can be reassembled. For the most part, unlike D&D Dungeon Tiles, the tiles in a Map Pack are generally not intended to be arbitrarily placed down as generic tiles. Generally, each Map Pack contains battlemap scale illustrations that are instead thematically bundled together. The rooms or areas depicted in a pack might be a "one off" 5x8 illustration -- although this is rather rare. More often, the illustration is usually part of either a 2 panel or, more often, a 4 panel map. The problem is, often the tiles themselves don't really seem to be designed to be placed down in a truly arbitrary fashion. Often, many of the map "panels" seem to go together only one way or -- at most -- two ways without looking "off".

While the result is useful, it seemed awfully expensive and relatively limited to me. Consequently I had a great deal of difficulty "getting into" Map Packs. Even when a Pathfinder Society mission called for the use of one or more Map Packs, I initially resisted buying them for quite a while.

Turns out, I wasn't alone in that reticence.

Doubling-Down on GameMastery Map-Packs

Gary Ray, the owner of Black Diamond Games in Concord, California and well known blogger confirms that while the flip-mats have always been a strong seller at his store, not so with the GameMastery Map Pack line. "The things wouldn’t sell. I would mark them down to half-price and they sat in the bargain bin for a year. Nobody would buy them."

Then Gary Ray did something that almost no retailer would try and do with a product that just wouldn't sell. He doubled down and didn't just buy more of them -- he bought multiple copies of the entire line Map Pack line (about 32 of them were in print at the time Ray made the decision to double down on the product that he couldn't sell).

As it turns out, the key to Map Packs is to stock the entire line, side by side. Once the customer got a sense of how wide and varied the line was and how they might be used together in a complimentary fashion -- they started to sell. "They are not what I would call a strong-seller now, but they are decent -- a fair seller now."

Erik Mona isn't surprised at Gary's success. "I think customers want variety. If all you have is Map Pack: Haunted Mansion, and I'm not running a Haunted Mansion encounter in my campaign, it really doesn't matter that you have it in the store, because I'm not buying it. Even if I like the idea of Map Packs generally, and would be open to something that fit more closely with my needs, if the store doesn't have it, I can't buy it. Stocking the full line gives lots of different options, and makes it more likely to pick up a sale. And once I've started using quality maps in my campaigns, and once I know I can buy them at your store, I'm going to keep coming back to fill in my collection. Eventually, I may even plan to put a haunted mansion in my campaign, knowing that I can go down to your store to pick up an appropriate map."

Maybe I'll give 'em a try then...

Hmm. Well, I have to be candid: I still wasn't sold on the product line. But I decided to make regular purchases and at least buy the Map Packs that were noted for use in the Pathfinder Society Scenarios I was running. As a result, little by little, my collection grew and the utility of the tiles I had did increase, as did my guarded affection for the product.

Perhaps more importantly, I did find that some of the Map Packs were better and far more useful than others. For example, Inns, while not outright modular, was certainly more modular than most and the main panel maps were highly useful. Similarly, both Shops and Campsites, also stood out as being quite useful. Campsites became a bit of a go-to map pack when adventuring in the wild, and can even be used with the Forest Flip-Mat.

But the most useful of the Map Packs I came across were two specialized packs. The Caravans map pack has only one purpose: to show wagons and various trains you might expect to find in an overland or gypsy caravan. For conducting a battle, or circling the wagons for a fight in that sort of encounter setting, it's an extremely useful accessory. GMs of the Jade Regent AP, in particular, will find it a "must buy".

The other specialized map pack I came across that stood out was the Sewer map pack. While it isn't the best sewer artwork I've seen, it was decent. Above all, the design of the tiles themselves presented a truly modular layout and permitted a very serviceable and useful sewer map to be assembled by arbitrarily placing the tiles in whatever configuration you wanted.

Finding these map packs in my local FLGS wasn't easy mind you. Because our local game shops in Toronto tend to have high-rent per square foot, they cram a lot of product on the shelf. When displayed on edge, they are nearly impossible to see, let alone identify what map pack is in stock. So people go through them and leave them in a mess and staff don't tidy up the shelves as often as they should...

Compared to the way that Gary Ray stocks his map packs, I could see why this product line wasn't selling very well in my local store.

Map Pack: Mines

So with all of that said about the Map Pack line, and after purchasing about a dozen+ of the things over the course of 5 months or so, I finally came across a map pack that has become an instant favourite. In fact, the Mines Map Pack is not only my favourite -- I've got two of them and may still yet buy a third.

The reason for my strong approval of this particular Map Pack is a function of the artwork, the theme, and the modular design of all of the tiles. Like the Sewers pack and the Caverns pack, the Mines Map Pack is fully modular. But unlike these older packs -- Jason Engle's art on the Mines Map Pack is not only serviceable, it's excellent.

The designer at Paizo who has taken over much of the responsibility for the design of the Map Pack and Flip-Mat line is Stephen Radney-Macfarland ("SRM"). When he was at WotC, SRM had worked as designer on the Sinister Woods tiles set. "Typically those products were concepted by the design group and then designed by whatever designer, developer, or freelancer had time in his or her schedule. I just happened to be the guy with time in his schedule for Sinister Woods. Well, actually I think I begged to be the guy with time in his schedule to work on that tiles set. I really enjoyed designing it."

The modular design of the Mines Map Pack which I found so useful was the aspect of the design which SRM intended. "My approach was to make a set of mines that was very modular, useful, and expandable. The basic goal was that if you bought one set of the Map Pack, you could design a pretty robust mine with and be happy with your purchase. If you wanted to buy multiple copies you could create truly epic and labyrinthine mines. In general I prefer making a Map Pack that is as modular and customizable as possible. When I GM, those are the products I find most useful and tend to go to over and over again. It's always my first goal when designing these products to make something I want to use in a game."

Typically, Paizo tends not to show graphical images of their map pack products without some obscuring "sample" watermark which makes getting a good look at the map pack difficult. However, when the Mines Map Pack was released last Fall, it was at the same time as the Pathfinder Beginner Box was released and the free downloadable scenario for the Beginner Box features a design created with the Mines Map Pack that I can show you. "We were very careful not to garble the main advice in the Beginner Box Game Master Guide with a lot of stealth advertisements for other Paizo products. Adding it to the downloadable adventure was a way to showcase further products that could aid a new GM's adventure building in a very "show don't tell" sort of way."

As you can see from the basic layout of just seven of the 18 tiles in the set, you can do a lot with this set. With two or even three of the map packs at once, you can relive your journey fighting the kobolds in the first Baldur's Gate if you so desire, or whatever else your tricksy mind can imagine. Hasn't that always been the goal of a good GM? Big thumbs up.

Map Pack: Mines
Price: $12.99 (Tiles) $8.99 PDF

Highly Recommended: All Pathfinder GMs and D&D DMs -- of any edition.

 

[Lwaxy]

Yup, once I asked my game store to rearrange the map packs so we could see them all, they sold a lot better as well. I'm trying to get a full collection as well.

 

[Windjammer]

For completeness sake, it might help clarify that the image displayed above is that of the 2005 basic flip mat. The colour scheme on that changed in later versions of the same product, so you now got a grey mat on one side and a brown'ish hue on the reverse. That's perfect to cover 'indoor' (i.e. dungeon) and outdoor scenes. Here's an illustration, so you know what you'd get if you purchase the current version of the Basic Flip-Mat (strongly recommended):

On Paizo's map tiles - friends of mine have these, I never got them. The card stock doesn't compare well with what other companies have on offer. And their pricing doesn't compare well to the Dungeon Tile sets by WotC (especially the recent Master sets), which are double sided, and vastly more versatile in use and sturdy. You can actually write with wet erase on WotC tiles, something I wouldn't recommend for the Paizo map tiles.

And oh, the best fantasy tiles with 1-inch grid ever made are those made by Rackham. French manufacturer, went out of business a couple of years ago, but copies remain in stores and online shops. Google for "Reversible Gaming Tiles". There's four sets. Were produced for the Cadwallon RPG. Here's a pic:

 

[Lwaxy]

Didn't know they went out of business. Cadwallon and the tiles for it are great, I use them a lot indeed.

 

[Steel_Wind]

The map-packs produced in the last two years or so (not the older yellow "covers", but the ones with the newer "covers") have the same coating on them as are on the flip mats. You can use wet, dry-erase and even a Sharpie on them.

 

[Holy Bovine]

Gotta say Steel_Wind - your experiences mirror mine almost perfectly. Love the flip mats only so-so on the map packs. I am interested to hear that the map packs now have the same coating as the flip mats to allow wet.dry erase markers! I thought the mine pack looked awesome (and given I'm running Kingmaker that actually has a mine/dungeon in it!!!) and now that I know it has the coating I think I'll be picking one or two up myself. Great in-depth review.

 

[Mark CMG]

Another great review!

I, too, have most of the flip mats and use them a lot, particularly when I need to put a quick oneshot together. I am also not as enthused about the card stock used for the map packs. I do have the Campsites and Caravans, both of which I find very useful, and the Ruins can be used in a pinch to augment a battle mat or flip mat when a ruins encounter randomly comes up, and some of the bits from my other two sets, Graveyard and Countryside have seen play but not much. I like the art but the material just makes me edgy.

 

[Saint Mac]

Great review Steel! SO glad you pulled your previous Chronicles pod-cast conversations and reviews into this article for those you have missed it.

Personally, I love my old Chessex battle map with all its "OH CRAP I USED THE WRONG PEN" character. Its like an old stuffed animal I can't seem to go to sleep without. Having said that though, I have used the Shops and think they are great.

With Skull and Shakles wieghing heavily in my mind, I could not help but order the Priate Ships that you reviewed in your article. Love the detail and color, the 'use any pen' will be great as well.

Having not the prethera o mats/maps that you have, I have to cautious with my cash. Thanks for the "reusabilty" comment. Its important for those of us that have to watch our spending. Having said that though, I looked and pondered, I can see no reason for a DM/GM not buying the Priate Ships.

Since I do not have this wonder intention in my hot little hands yet, can you tell me if you believe these maps to be the same surface quality as the map provided in the Pathfinder Beginner's Box?

Thanks again for the info!

 

[13garth13]

Domain name registration $1.99 custody $3.5

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