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Platinum (aka 'WOOHOO!') aspect: Usability. The Flip-side of this is actually the best of all the Flip-Mats, and its even better than its own 'A side.' Yes, its the old 'going through the forest' deal. But it happens in numerous adventures, and this side of the mat makes it super easy to show. And with no changes.

Gold (aka 'Why You Buy') aspect: Instant full-color setup. This kicks the crap out of drawing it out yourself onto a pad of paper.

Electrum (aka 'Cool But Weird') aspect: No apparent way to get inside the hollow tree. But maybe that's the adventure.

Silver (aka 'The Eh') aspect: The 'pond' is actually more of a creek. Should be a few squares wider and longer. By all means, give us water, but bigger than a PC can jump across.

Copper (aka 'Waste of Space'} aspect: The so-called 'druid shrine.' Its basically only a stone bench and chairs. The 'spooky cave' is pretty damn huge too.

Gem Idea: Adjust the entryway on the ‘A-side’ to match the forest path (it’s 10’ wider) so that if you had 2 of these flip-mats they could really connect by matching right up.

Platinum (aka 'WOOHOO!') aspect: Graphics give a good idea of elevation, both for the pass itself and the boulders lying within.

Gold (aka 'Why You Buy') aspect: Instant full-color setup. This kicks the crap out of drawing it out yourself onto a pad of paper.

Electrum (aka 'Cool But Weird') aspect: Skulls. Pile of them in a 10' nest, then another pile of 3 of them near one of the towers. Then yet another 2 loose ones by the entryway. Can you say 'ambush?' Oh, and there's a fire pit, but its in a weird spot.

Silver (aka 'The Eh') aspect: The path going through the pass is road-sized, rather than the trail you'd realistically expect. But that might explain...

Copper (aka 'Waste of Space'} aspect: Towers. {sigh} If I wanted towers, I could add 3D towers using Dixie Cups. Instead, If I want to re-use the mat I have to say every time, "Ignore the towers, they're not really there." Or do the reverse and add towers to every Mountain Pass moment. Shoulda been left out.

But the weird thing is that the flip side of this Mat looks like the 'entry' to the reverse side. That is, it appears that the graphic was too long and got flipped over. If you had 2 of these mats they would join together almost seamlessly to make a much longer set and be useful as a neat one-off battlefield. And for that, I admit the towers would work.

Gem Idea: Uhh. Hmm. There's a pretty narrow number of good snow modules and not sure how this fits in ‘as is.’ So an idea to improve the usefulness of this product (and its counterpart, the Dungeon Flip-Mat) would be to have fans write scenarios specifically for it. This could either part of RPG Superstar or just as a download to get more sessions outta this thing.

Platinum (aka 'WOOHOO!') aspect: There are about 12 buildings and then 12 stalls making this a pretty decent-sized area for PCs to bargain hunt. Inclusion of a central fountain ties it all together. Graphics overall are cool with some appearing to be shrunken photos.

Gold (aka 'Why You Buy') aspect: Instant full-color setup. This kicks the crap out of drawing it out yourself onto a pad of paper.

Electrum (aka 'Cool But Weird') aspect: Rope shop

Silver (aka 'The Eh') aspect: There isn't any one place that truly stands out. Maybe the crystal ball. Or perhaps the rug spot. It would help if at least one of the buildings was an odd shape.

Copper (aka 'Waste of Space'} aspect: Flowers. OK, one spot would be neat but we have a stall, a spot, and a building. Not to mention what look like dead flowers all over the board. Why not a bowyer/fletcher? Or a potter or some other artisan?

Gem Idea: Offer fan-submitted, downloadable writeups for the various shops. It'd not only be neat to see the different concepts customers came up with for each place, but also give the mat more use.

Platinum (aka 'WOOHOO!') aspect: The ship has awesome details, especially in the coloring of the weathered decking, the netting and its shadows, straw in the cargo hold, etc. It looks real.

Gold (aka 'Why You Buy') aspect: If there's a water adventure, this is pretty indispensable.

Electrum (aka 'Cool But Weird') aspect: Lifeboats. Nice to have included, but it might be hard getting the one on the 2nd level up to the sea.

Silver (aka 'The Eh') aspect: I'm all for a sea campaign, but the water-side isn't that useful without a ship to sail on it. With the ship on the other side, you'd have to either make or buy your own ship to use it. And that'd defeat the point of buying this mat in the first place. Instead, give us a little island, jungle lagoon, grotto, etc. Something for the lifeboats to go to.

Copper (aka 'Waste of Space'} aspect: Cannons?! The crew bunks should be where the cannons are and a galley or a brig should be where the beds are.

Gem Idea: Make more ships out of this material, even if just the top deck, for sea battles.