One of the things that has struck me in my recent con experiences with PFS (PaizoCon & Origins) is the frantic scurrying many GMs are doing to provide players with interesting table experiences by providing high quality battlemaps. We all saw the projector rig at PaizoCon. Kyle (Baird) and several other GMs (Shane?) spent major dollars to upsize, print and laminate maps from scenarios. I know Doug (Doug Doug - the original five star GM) and Kyle have spent a lot of time with 1" grid paper and handfuls of markers in order to grab players' attention and let them know that their enjoyment of the game is important. My own wife has recently brought up the uncomfortable topic of cutting back on Sharpie purchases for the sake of the kids' college funds. This occurred after I showed an unhealthy enthusiasm for the new, limited edition, sand colored marker they released in their "Carribean Colors" line this summer (WHOO HOO - several purchased in both regular AND fine point).
With this said, it seems to me that there is an unmet market need for printable mini scale (1"=5') maps for use with PFS scenarios. I would propose that Paizo should make PDFs of these maps available for purchase as an optional supplement to the scenarios. Each page could include a 6x8 section of the map which could be trimmed and joined to the other sections to make the complete map.
While I am no business genius or copyright attorney, and I am sure there are issues I could not possibly know about, here are my supporting arguements:
1) Paizo (presumably) already owns the rights to the maps. If this is not completely true, portions of the additional sales could be directed to the designer/cartographer. What is left should be mostly profit (less some initial formatting and website sales costs).
2) Based on my experience (described above), there is a market for this product.
3) Having easy to print maps might encourage more people to play/GM. I takes money and/or time to create decent maps. Personally, I found it easier to reenter gaming when I found the Ptolus campaign and it's accompanying Skeleton Key map packs.
4) Color laser printers are going for $249 these days. Two years ago, printing out some huge map on an inkjet was not practical (I know - I tried it). Now, it is relatively cheap.
5) Players love good maps. They talk about it at game days and the cons. They ooh and aah at tables with good maps, they complain about tables with really bad maps. Players who have a good time are more likely buy rulebooks and supplements. GMs like players who are having fun. GMs who are having fun are likely to buy more stuff too.
6) If map folios work for the adventure paths, then couldn't a similar product also work for PFS?
7) The integration of flipmaps and map packs with the scenarios is brilliant. Keep doing that. Just release supplemental map PDFs with scenarios which do not utilize these other products.
8) Some GMs (many who might particularly vocal) might complain "that back in my day we didn't even have dry erase markers. We used M&Ms and graph paper. In the dark. And we were GRATEFUL for them!". However, I believe that many other will download PDFs, print them, and bring them to their FLGS on PFS game day.
I would not be surprised if there are lots of reasons why Paizo hasn't done this already. Just thought I would throw it out to see what you all thought.
