Mats

[frankthedm]

upholstery vynil

Pegboard should be available at a hardware store.


Heck the pegboard, if slick enough, could be used as a battle mat [I'd still put a layer of plexiglass or clear plastic vynil over it]

 

[kenobi65]

I have several Chessex mats (both the regular-sized Battlemat and the big Megamat). I love them. They're durable as heck (one of them is over 20 years old), and if you take just a little care of them, you'll never have problems.

To reiterate / build on some of the other comments:
- Don't use a red marker on it. Ever. Just throw the red marker away when you buy the package. Even if the red marks are only on for a little while, they may still stain.
- Don't leave marks (of any color) on it overnight; the longer the mark is on it, the harder it is to clean off.
- To store it, roll it up (the cardboard mailing tubes you can find at office supply stores are the perfect size to store them). Don't ever fold it; the creases are a bear.
- I have good luck with the "Vis-a-Vis" overhead transparency markers by Sanford (make sure you don't get the permanent kind), or Crayola washable markers.

 

[frankthedm]

I have several Chessex mats (both the regular-sized Battlemat and the big Megamat). I love them. They're durable as heck (one of them is over 20 years old), and if you take just a little care of them, you'll never have problems.

They are durable because they are the equivalent of upholstery vynil.

-Forget the "Vis-a-Vis" and stick with the fat barreled Children's Washable Markers. They are cheaper and don't look like a small "Sharpie" permanent marker!

-Red children's washable markers seem fine on mats in my experience.

-Rubbing alchohol works well enough to cleam most mats.

- To store it, roll it up (the cardboard mailing tubes you can find at office supply stores are the perfect size to store them). Don't ever fold it; the creases are a bear.

Sound advice.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

I am always intrigued as to why people go for the Chessex mats over the Crystal Caste ones. When I got mine about 5 years ago I found the Crystal Caste mats to be much better value for money. They are double-sided (hex and squares) and (at the time) cost about the same price as a single-sided Chessex mat.

Olaf the Stout

 

[scourger]

2 alternatives:

1) 1" grid easel pad

2) an end roll of newspaper from your llocal paper

either will let you draw up any number of mats before the session and throw them away when no longer needed

 

[The_Universe]

Adding my voice to those encouraging you to go for the flipmat. I have vinyl mats from both chessex and crystal caste, tact tiles, home-made dry-erase, dwarven forge terrain, homemade terrain, and the flipmat. The Steel Sqwire Flipmat is BY FAR the most versatile product, AND it's the hardest to permanently damage. It's also the cheapest and most portable.

At 10 bucks, how can you go wrong?

 

[Audhild&Krin]

I had to recently replace our Chessex mat (apparently Vis-a-vis makes permanant markers, oops) and I was told that Chessex was going to discontinue production of the single sided megamat. The double sided cost just a little bit more than the single sided, at least from the site I got it on. I got mine from frpgames.com, they also have the Steel Squire mat mentioned earlier.

 

[Mark CMG]

Adding my voice to those encoruaging you to go for the flipmat. I have vinyl mats from both chessex and crystal caste, tact tiles, home-made dry-erase, dwarven forge terrain, homemade terrain, and the flipmat. The Steel Sqwire Flipmat is BY FAR the most versatile product, AND it's the hardest to permanently damage. It's also the cheapest.

At 10 bucks, how can you go wrong?

This mirrors my own situation. Although I will admit to an interest in one day picking up a Mondomat™ if I can get one for super cheap.

 

[Steel_Wind]

Adding my voice to those encouraging you to go for the flipmat. I have vinyl mats from both chessex and crystal caste, tact tiles, home-made dry-erase, dwarven forge terrain, homemade terrain, and the flipmat. The Steel Sqwire Flipmat is BY FAR the most versatile product, AND it's the hardest to permanently damage. It's also the cheapest and most portable.

At 10 bucks, how can you go wrong?

Hey - I like the Flipmat. I have two of em.

I prefer a projector of course But I do still prefer the Megamat over the Flipmat. It's simply bigger than the Flipmat and acts as a nice padded surface to keep the dice on the table and die rolling sounds to a dull roar.

Hell - Get both. A Megamat and a Flipmat. At $10 you really can't go wrong. The option to use a Sharpie on a Flipmat is nice - but I have an irrational fear of having a Sharpie near a Megamat. In moments of haste... bam, Dead mat.

I do second the nod to Crayola Children's washable markers though. I use em and they come clean as a whistle. A few squirts of Windex and the Megamat is pristine.

 

[blargney the second]

I use an easel pad with a one-inch grid. It's easy to combine with Dungeon Tiles, it can be cut down to different sizes, and it lets me keep the maps I make for later re-use.
-blarg