Just to satisfy my curiosity - why don't the Adventure Path map folios contain a couple of key encounter locations in grid form? Either particularly large areas which are painful to recreate by hand. Or perhaps areas that are relatively easy to use generically for home campaigns?
Perhaps there is little demand for that - but I'd very much be pleased with that kind of content. The actual maps available here on Paizo aren't bad, but in my opinion they lack the visceral and "real" feel that the encounter areas in Adventure Paths have.
Just to satisfy my curiosity - why don't the Adventure Path map folios contain a couple of key encounter locations in grid form? Either particularly large areas which are painful to recreate by hand. Or perhaps areas that are relatively easy to use generically for home campaigns?
If I recall properly, they're avoiding battle maps as part of the maps line because because the poster maps are intended to be more like an atlas or gazetteer. I remember one of them (Council of Thieves, I think) included NON-combat scale battle maps, and that was pretty much universally reviled. All of that is okay by me; I've used several of the poster maps in my non-Golarion campaigns.
Frankly, what I'd rather see is for the Adventure Paths and/or modules to use existing materials from the flip mats and/or map packs a lot more often. I think it is only once or twice that I've seen a module or Adventure Path use a flip mat, and they've never used anything from the map packs.
I'm not saying to use the same ones over and over ("Hey look, it's the creepy chapel from the graveyard map pack again. Now remember our tactics in this place!"), but there's a lot of flip mats and map packs, and it wouldn't be unreasonable to use them once, maybe twice.
Frankly, what I'd rather see is for the Adventure Paths and/or modules to use existing materials from the flip mats and/or map packs a lot more often. I think it is only once or twice that I've seen a module or Adventure Path use a flip mat, and they've never used anything from the map packs.
and it wouldn't be unreasonable to use them once, maybe twice.
I hope to never ever see this. A duplicate map would be unacceptable at the best of times, and I've found the map packs to be somewhat boring and uninspired.
I'd rather have custom maps for the AP found in that AP (like what they've been doing now).
Also a big "no" on battle-maps in the Map Folios. I much prefer the gazetteer-style maps (especially city maps!) that they've been doing recently.
I just bought part 1 of the Carrion Crown adventure path, I am sad to see that this map folio is not available until July. Are these maps not useful for the first few parts of this adventure path? What's the story?
That 8-panel poster map of Ustalav is reason enough for me to purchase this, and then I get 4 additional city maps at no extra cost? I'll get this the second it becomes available :)
Nope, it's a new one created just for this product that combines the sites on the inside cover of Rule of Fear with sites from other sources and names for every river, forest, mountain range, etc. And it looks awesome! :)
Just to satisfy my curiosity - why don't the Adventure Path map folios contain a couple of key encounter locations in grid form? Either particularly large areas which are painful to recreate by hand. Or perhaps areas that are relatively easy to use generically for home campaigns?If I recall properly, they're avoiding battle maps as part of the maps line because because the poster maps are intended to be more like an atlas or gazetteer. I remember one of them (Council of Thieves, I think) included NON-combat scale battle maps, and that was pretty much universally reviled. All of that is okay by me; I've used several of the poster maps in my non-Golarion campaigns.
Frankly, what I'd rather see is for the Adventure Paths and/or modules to use existing materials from the flip mats and/or map packs a lot more often. I think it is only once or twice that I've seen a module or Adventure Path use a flip mat, and they've never used anything from the map packs.
I'm not saying to use the same ones over and over ("Hey look, it's the creepy chapel from the graveyard map pack again. Now remember our tactics in this place!"), but there's a lot of flip mats and map packs, and it wouldn't be unreasonable to use them once, maybe twice.
They have actually used the map packs on a few modules. Academy of Secrets, and the start of the Price of Immortality Trilogy come to mind, might be others i dont recall. But would be really nice if they were used a lot more. Seems kind of a waste to make them and not use them in the modules and AP's more.
Nope, it's a new one created just for this product that combines the sites on the inside cover of Rule of Fear with sites from other sources and names for every river, forest, mountain range, etc. And it looks awesome! :)
It definitely looks awesome! Worth the cost all on its own.
Is there any chance you'd make similar maps for other countries, perhaps even as special map folios with multiples of them?
Nope, it's a new one created just for this product that combines the sites on the inside cover of Rule of Fear with sites from other sources and names for every river, forest, mountain range, etc. And it looks awesome! :)It definitely looks awesome! Worth the cost all on its own.
Is there any chance you'd make similar maps for other countries, perhaps even as special map folios with multiples of them?
Really like my Ustalav poster map. Aside from the Inner Sea poster map folio, this is my favorite map folio because of that Ustalav map.
Been getting good use of mine in the campaign. The map of Ustalav is referred to regularly and as we are in ToB, the Leipstadt map right now. I would've preferred some more maps of adventuring locales (the Shudderwood for instance) and some others but found the folio to be farily useful. It was the first folio I picked up.
Been getting good use of mine in the campaign.
Same.
Although I must say it's rather unfair to staple the name Carrion Crown on the product and then put maps of towns that don't have anything to do with Carrion Crown at all.
I have no idea why are Ardis and Karcau map in there.
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Been getting good use of mine in the campaign.Same.
Although I must say it's rather unfair to staple the name Carrion Crown on the product and then put maps of towns that don't have anything to do with Carrion Crown at all.
I have no idea why are Ardis and Karcau map in there.
Ardis and Karcau are in there as the PC's can go there if they like to buy items and stock up if they like in between areas (at least as a GM I tell my group that).
I sure would like Paizo to officially let us know why they make these map folios and what they intend them to be used for. Most of the reviews of these products are negative, or have a great many negative things to say. Especially this (carrion crown) folio which contains maps of places that are not even in the AP as well as leaving out maps of places that are. They can never be used for tabletop minis and can rarely be used as player handouts without heavily modifying them to cover up secrets. So in conclusion... Apart from sometimes being pretty works of art, How does Paizo intend these maps to be used in game?
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I sure would like Paizo to officially let us know why they make these map folios and what they intend them to be used for. Most of the reviews of these products are negative, or have a great many negative things to say. Especially this (carrion crown) folio which contains maps of places that are not even in the AP as well as leaving out maps of places that are. They can never be used for tabletop minis and can rarely be used as player handouts without heavily modifying them to cover up secrets. So in conclusion... Apart from sometimes being pretty works of art, How does Paizo intend these maps to be used in game?
We make poster-size versions of some of the most gorgeous parts of our Adventure Paths because, at least for us, giant maps of fantasy lands and cities are a part of the reason we player roleplaying games, because they enrich the premade adventures that we love, because they inspire ideas for new adventures, and because they are a pleasure to look at. They are meant to be tools for existing adventures, giving context to players and providing springboards for GMs.
Maps in this line have never been created for miniatures. That's what our Pathfinder Flip Mat and Pathfinder Map Pack lines are meant for (and I think gamers using these maps as such would be disappointed knowing other writable technology exists).
Our poster maps have been a series that has been constantly reinvented. You'll see with this particular one we attempted a format that increased the numbers of maps in the product, even drawing in several maps from Rule of Fear in an experiment to broaden the product's appeal beyond Adventure Path GMs. You've likely noted that we did not repeat the experiment with the Jade Regent Map Folio--but data is always valuable.
We did not create this line to provide sets of large, ready made player handouts. Some GMs use them as such, but what information GMs choose to share with PCs and what they deem verboten varies wildly from game to game. However, including at least one map that is blatantly meant to be used as a player handout is the topic of our newest experiment, featured in the Shattered Star Poster Map Folio. This folio pulls in the player friendly map from Player Companion: Varisia, Birthplace of Legend and reproduces it as a much increased size. We'll be paying particular attention to how this newest map folio is received and, as always, make changes and retain successes.
As with everything Paizo does, we're constantly on these boards, we're constantly listening, and we're constantly playing with the products we design to suit the widest audience we can. We've also learned that reviews, while useful, cannot be the only way we assess product success. On the whole, Poster Map Folios remain an important part of our Campaign Setting line and one that retains enough public demand that we've done numerous sets and plan to continue to for the foreseeable future. But again, like everything, we'll continue to tinker with these, continue to work toward the things people tell us they want to see, continue to create these in ways that best serve their related Adventure Paths, and continue to make them the jaw-dropping art pieces the best maps always are.
As always, our community is the best resource for advice on how to employ gaming accessories of any type. If you're interested in suggestions on how you might make use of Poster Map Folios in your game, totally start a thread with a title to that effect. I'm sure dozens of awesome responses will shake loose!
+1 for Battlemaps in the Poster Map Folio. The only Map Pack with real play value was the kingmaker Map Folio. And even there I missed some Battlemaps. If you don´t want your Map Folio going down the battle map way please add more adventure locals from the APs to the Flip Mat Line.
Or even better make a new line with 4 double sided maps (like wotc doing). So you could cover at least 8 places in an AP. Heck I would even bought one such map pack for each adventure. I hate it to stop gaming to draw a new battle scene on my chessex mat!!!!
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What I would love to see is a Flip-mat addition for Adventure paths only. For instance you have your normal flip mats and then the adventure path flip mats. As mentioned above have a flip mat set with 4 to 8 double sided flip mats in it that comes out after all 6 books are released. This would be a HUGE buy. especially if the flip mat set had increased size flip mats :)
This I would buy as would any and I do mean ANY adventure path subscriber as you would get some from the normal flip mat line to purchase them :)
I'm pretty skeptical about the idea of doing Adventure Path based Flip Mats, but maybe you folks can help me talk through my two biggest issues.
Adventure Paths rarely feature battles in the wide open spaces a Flip-Mat demands. Even if we didn't take an arena style area and presented something more like a whole dungeon, it would mean the AP's dungeon would be constrained by the set number of horizontal and vertical squares we can fit on a Flip-Mat with 1-inch squares. In either case it would mean the Adventure Path's design and plot would be influenced by the physical restrictions of the Flip-Mat format. As GMs, are you cool with us telling our authors to create stories restricted by the physical size of Flip-Mats? This would probably mean we couldn't have an adventure in a castle--or in a space that isn't a rectangle.
Also, what maps would we choose? Every Adventure Path includes 4 to 8 pages of maps. Our only Flip-Mat two-pack costs $24.99 and presents 4 maps. Would you be satisfied with an Adventure Path themed pack that costs $25 and is only useful for four specific fights over the course of a months-long AP? Alternately, if we did Flip Mats for every map, and constrained the APs to 4 pages of maps each, would you be cool with paying more for an AP's maps then you did for the AP volume itself (an additional $150 at the end)?
My other big concern (yeah, I know, this is a third one) is how we market these maps to non-AP players. A Flip-Mat of a forest or town appeals to any GM who has forests or towns in their games. A Flip-Mat of Xin-Shalast appeals to any GM with Xin-Shalast (or other half-ruined alpine magical city) in their game. I worry that the potential audience for the former is greater than the latter.
I'm not trying to be difficult here, but these are just a few of the considerations that have gone into the current Map Pack and Flip Mat strategies.
All of this said, we have done exactly what folks are asking for here. Flip-Mat: Town Square presents two key scenes from the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path, but are also generic enough to have broader utility. I could see us doing this in the future, but we're most knowledgeable about an AP and what scenes would most benefit from additional support once that AP has concluded. This often means the timing for putting out maps is less than advantageous. It worked well with the Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition, but for a new Adventure Path it would probably mean releasing the map months after the AP's creation (we have to order minis scale maps, production, printing, etc).
I'm not saying any of these concerns are insurmountable, but I'd love to hear some thoughts.
Personally, I really enjoy how the Map Folios are now. Particularly with recent inclusions of the parchment-style, player-friendly maps of the Shackles and Varisia. As a GM who is about to be using the Crown of the World poster map as a handout, I just wish you guys had started doing them one AP sooner!
I would have no use for the map folios if they were gridded encounter areas. I play in three different groups (with almost entirely different players in each one), and none of them use miniatures.