Prison....hmmmm this could be useful!!!

Can not wait till we can see a picture of its final artwork.

Sean

Depending on your group, this could be the most commonly-used map of the lot!

I've updated the product image to reflect the finished product.

Sweet!

I've updated the product image to reflect the finished product.

So is the back side actually blank?

Vic Wertz wrote:

I've updated the product image to reflect the finished product.

So is the back side actually blank?

It's all the stone floor texture.

Vic Wertz wrote:

I've updated the product image to reflect the finished product.

So is the back side actually blank?

The flipside IS indeed blank, as requested...but it's a nice texture, though.

gbonehead wrote:

Vic Wertz wrote:

I've updated the product image to reflect the finished product.

So is the back side actually blank?

The flipside IS indeed blank, as requested...but it's a nice texture, though.

Not as requested by me :)

I prefer stuff on my maps, rather than paying for yet another blank battlemat, even if it's a color I don't have.

Hi all -
I've complained about this several times. Blank backsides is lame. I have about 7 of these flip-mats. The ship with water on the back sides is the worst. Like I can't tell my players (who are playing D&D/Pathfinder, which requires a minor amount of imagination) that they're on water on my regular Chessex tan map (or even if I was using one of the generic Flip Mats).
The Marketplace has gray-cobblestone with a little bit of grass. This one is pretty much the same. The back side really should have another section of the prisons. Like the office where PC's might actually have to go.
Theocrat Issak

Hmm, I really like the blank sides in most cases. It allows me to expand what's on the one side with custom material. Now, I agree with the naysayers on the 'ship' mat because the blue is a bit dark for the markers I have.

Depending on your group, this could be the most commonly-used map of the lot!

LOL. That's certainly true!

I hope you all can see that there ARE a few offices and private room on this map to have encounters in. Just wait until you see the Pirate Isle...ooooh, it's good. Plus it has playable areas on both sides.

Vic Wertz wrote:

I've updated the product image to reflect the finished product.

So is the back side actually blank?

Yep, the back is blank stone flagstones!

As soon as I saw this, ideas for a prison type encounter for my kingmaker campaign started running through my head. Can't wait to get my hands on this!

I love that the backside is blank flagstones, Means i can draw new areas and stuff.

For some reason, I can't tell which room the interrogation room is.

I just want to add that I like blank backsides, too.

I just want to add that I like blank backsides, too.

I agree. There should be more rap songs about dat doppelganger booty.

I just want to add that I like blank backsides, too.

+1 I prefer it, I get a new map plus a backside to draw those massive CoT dungeon maps on before the session.

I just got my flip map today, However I am REALLY disappointed that the backside of this map is "blank".

I just got my flip map today, However I am REALLY disappointed that the backside of this map is "blank".

And I am only going to buy this because the back is "blank".

Hi all -

I've complained about this several times. Blank backsides is lame. I have about 7 of these flip-mats. The ship with water on the back sides is the worst. Like I can't tell my players (who are playing D&D/Pathfinder, which requires a minor amount of imagination) that they're on water on my regular Chessex tan map (or even if I was using one of the generic Flip Mats).

Of course you can pretend, but the idea is to make it real. I am using the blank side water, day after tomorrow. My players are going down the river in Jason Bulmahn's Masks of the Living God. So, the blank waterside makes perfect sense. I am also using a barge and the dinghy from Map Packs Boats and Ships. The textures between these two products blend seamlessly with little printer fade or off coloring. The experience promises to be vivid.

Not like taking a blank green map and saying, "Pretend it is water" or "this plastic dice tray is your barge." I bought this stuff, and I am happy they are making it. Blank sheets and all.

Zenborn wrote:

I just got my flip map today, However I am REALLY disappointed that the backside of this map is "blank".

And I am only going to buy this because the back is "blank".

This is the classic "less filling, tastes great" conundrum. I personally like having a blank second side because it allows me to draw encounters that don't work on predrawn flipmats. I get more use out of the blank sides than the predrawn. Of course, it is nice to have the predrawn in case you need something in a pinch. The next one, pirate island, has art on both sides.

-Lisa

Our gaming group has a 4'x8' table with a gray background with black 1" gridlines. I STILL prefer flipmats with a "blank" backside, like the city market (cobblestone back), ship (open ocean back), waterfront tavern (dock district stone), bandit outpost (mostly open field with a dead-end road) and theatre (wooden floor back). The open backs with different designs are massively more useful to me than another art print that I may or may not need.

Dude, I just read this thread, and then all of a sudden, I looked at my mailtray, and the MAP WAS THERE.

THE MAP WAS THERE, MAN. Freaky.

(Lovely map, BTW, and JUST in time for my upcoming game session.)

PS: Since I own the Basic blank flip mats, I generally prefer to have SOMETHING on the other side of the other flip mats, but I still like that one side to be detail-light (but not detail free). For example, like the swamp flip-mat had ruins on one side, and a plainer swamp on the other. Or the bandit outpost had the field outside the outpost.

I would have preferred the other side of the prison to be, dunno... maybe some dirt or cobbled streets and some walls and chains, like a work yard, that could be used for other purposes as well.

At the same time, I'm not horrified by having more blank surface either. Just not what I'd rather have.

But as many flip mats have lots of detail on BOTH sides, the occasional blank is understandable.

This is the classic "less filling, tastes great" conundrum. I personally like having a blank second side because it allows me to draw encounters that don't work on predrawn flipmats. I get more use out of the blank sides than the predrawn. Of course, it is nice to have the predrawn in case you need something in a pinch. The next one, pirate island, has art on both sides.

-Lisa

YES!!!

Lisa Stevens wrote:

The next one, pirate island, has art on both sides.

-Lisa

YES!!!

I must say that the Pirate Isle is one of my favorites. EVER!. There are new types of details and experiments that worked well with this flip-mat. I'll be shedding some light on the working files of this one during my PaizoCon seminar. I'm looking forward to it!

I look forward to putting this one to use. It can be a prison, a monastery, a barracks, an insane asylum, a school, a hospital....

I agree that it's a shame the back couldn't have had another dungeon related in spirit to the prison theme: basement, catacombs, sewers, storage rooms, torture chamber, solitary confinement cells, escape tunnels....

I like having these large pre-drawn dungeons full of rooms and corridors to use off-the-cuff. They should make good game boards for games like HeroQuest and so on, too - a useful tool, very nice artwork, great work :)

Actually what finally sold me over the top on getting this map was the fact the other side was blank. The blank side has the same floor covering as the rest of the prison but does not have the limiting preset dungeon on the back. To me that means that I can have a few prisons around the gaming area that the PCs can enter but the lower level is custom fit to the warden and his style of keeping the less cooperative inmates in line. Being able to draw my own dungeon makes this map more flexible than just another premade dungeon.

Also as I got rid of my old Chessex mat because of discoloration that began to affect the newer drawings I can just use the many flip-mats that have blank sides as a map either separate or all side by side held with Scotch tape to make a larger dungeon.

Well, it's not like I'm going to cancel my subscription if the back sides of the maps are blank, but how many blank maps do you really need?

I like FAR better what they did with the back side of the Village Square one, where there actually is terrain, it's just got no buildings.

Now, for the Necropolis one that's coming out, I'm very glad there's content on both sides - in fact, because more of the maps have stuff on both sides, I doubled up my subscription so that I could use both sides at the same side when I've got maps like the Necropolis or Village Square.

That would be pretty pointless if the second side was blank, so I'm hoping the trend continues.

With this particular map, in practice I am finding the bigger problem is not that the flip side is blank, but that is a darkish gray. Some--but not all--of my dry erase pens don't show up well on it.

This is a general concern I am having with a number of the newer flip mats--they are getting too dark. Other examples include the "dark side" of the Cathedral mat and the new Forest mat (which you can barely see any black markings on, let alone any other colors). Flip mats need to be usable with dry erase markers, and if marking doesn't show up on them because the background is too dark, then much of their long-term utility is lost (not to mention, the gridlines are harder to see).

I will reiterate for future mats I'd like to see "detail light" sides but not blank ones (oddly, I'd be tempted to get Village Square for its "blank" side, but I don't particularly like the decorated one).

I will reiterate for future mats I'd like to see "detail light" sides but not blank ones (oddly, I'd be tempted to get Village Square for its "blank" side, but I don't particularly like the decorated one).

Yeah, I like the back of the Village Square one too; I've got two of them and I'm using them as the basis for a ruined city, along with some of the map packs.

With this particular map, in practice I am finding the bigger problem is not that the flip side is blank, but that is a darkish gray. Some--but not all--of my dry erase pens don't show up well on it.

Good point. We'll see what we can do about keeping them lighter.