The wild forests hold dangers as deadly as those of any dungeon, and this gorgeous map sets the scene for memorable woodland encounters. From the secluded clearing to the inviting pool to the trackless wild, Flip-Mat: Forest is a perfect set-piece for any campaign, useful for random encounters or well-planned ambushes. Don’t go into the woods alone!
This portable, affordable map measures 24" x 30" unfolded, and 8" x 10" folded. Its coated surface can handle any dry erase, wet erase, or even permanent marker. Usable by experienced GMs and novices alike, GameMastery Flip-Mats fit perfectly into any Game Master’s arsenal!
On tabletops across the world, the Flip-Mat Revolution is changing the way players run their fantasy roleplaying games! Why take the time to sketch out ugly scenery on a smudgy plastic mat when dynamic encounters and easy clean-up is just a Flip away?
This is a bread and butter map that I use almost once every night.
General and yet varied enough that it covers soooo many bases.
I think every DM I know uses this map to excess.... for good reason.
The map is not only much darker than on the product images (which are already kind of dark in this case), not only too dark for dry erase markers to be of any use, but its actually so dark that its really hard to discern the details of the pictured forest scenery AT ALL.
Ok, that last statement was a slight hyperbole - the map is certainly somewhat useable, but you'll need good lighting, and as I said - forget about dry erase markers.
I hardly ever need to run a wilderness scene, but, since I have a difficult time drawing a convincing forest, I felt like one or two maps like this one would be handy to have around.
I have no complaints at all about it: I'm sure this will work just fine for some of the few wilderness scenes my group ever do end up in, and the Swamp flip mat will work great for the rest, in combination with one or two map packs and Dungeon Tiles sets.
I think this will be quite suitable for any purposes I'll need it for.
(And, now that I think of it, why couldn't it double as a cave?)
The title is what a player said when I held up the map from about five feet away, while commenting on the fact the flip mat was too dark. "But it should be dark, that's a cave, right?"
No. No, it's not a cave.
I know the other reviewers have already noted this issue, but I want to be clear just how dark this thing is. Dry erase markers barely show up, negating much of the point of having a flip mat. This has been an increasing problem with flip mats; the "dark" side of the cathedral mat is also too dark to draw on and see the details well, for example.
The sample art on the Web page is deceptive--my print of the map at least is darker than the sample image, and is so dark a green to be nearly brown, so it's not very pretty to look at, either. Maybe I just got a bad copy, but based on what I've read here, that is unlikely.
This is especially disappointing as the Forest flip mat was to replace, thematically speaking, the much vaunted "Woodlands" flip-mat, now out of print (which I never got a chance to buy). I imagine you'd still be better off buying, begging, or stealing the OOP mat than buying this one. (Disclaimer: I do not actually advocate theft of any product.)
