A couple of questions about the new products that I could probably go find the answer to myself if I had the time:
Publisher, Chief Creative Officer
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Ha! I'm actually working on the product descriptions for these right now.
To answer some of your questions a bit earlier than that, however, here are some quick responses.
• They are not evergreens, but we're printing enough that they should be around for a while. Future printing decisions will be made based on how well these sell, and how much appetite we think the public has for _another_ printing, which is a decision based on information that doesn't yet exist, so we haven't made it yet. ;)
• These are straight-up reprints of "classic" Flip-Mats. There is no new cartography involved with these new (old) releases.
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Chief Technical Officer
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The tiny text on each map has been updated, so it is possible to differentiate the new from the old, but apart from the fact that the packaging uses the new "wraparound cover" style instead of the old "bag with header card" style, differences should not be readily apparent.
I'm surprised I didn't notice this new product line until today. I think it's a great idea to bring back some of the Gamemastery flip-mats for a reprint. Definitely excited for the outdoor ones like Forest, Woodlands, Swamp.
Just curious, what prompted the team to reprint? I read Vic's post back from 2009 about not ever planning to reprint, so what spurred the motivation to bring back these mats?
I'm surprised I didn't notice this new product line until today.
Well, we didn't have it on the site until today. :D
Liz, your ninja image is aptly fitting. I left the room to get a glass of water and you've already replied.
I didn't think Paizo would stealth announce a product line, isn't there usually a blog post or something beforehand? Or will the announcement come later and we're just a tad early?
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Chief Technical Officer
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Just curious, what prompted the team to reprint? I read Vic's post back from 2009 about not ever planning to reprint, so what spurred the motivation to bring back these mats?
Erik selected eight maps that sold well enough—and have been out of print long enough—that we *think* we can sell enough to justify.
An important thing to note here is that when you reprint a product that has only recently gone out of print, retailers don't order it like it's a new product—they place *reorders*, which are usually a fraction of what their initial orders were. We believe that these particular products have been gone long enough that retailers will order them as if they were brand new—or at least closer to that than a restock order.
Yay! This is awesome!
I'm hoping that you reprint this one some day.
I'm hoping that you reprint this one some day.
Definitely a good one to reprint. Super useful for a GM. You've got my support as well.
I have pretty much zero expectation that will happen, though. I dare say the difference in art style makes them a non starter.
Me neither, but the product picture of those three seems (to me, at least) to be substantially different from the newer maps.
The style continues to evolve, but in my opinion those first few seem like a real break from the rest.
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Chief Technical Officer
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Some of you might recall that Flip-Mats were originally produced by Steel Sqwire. Initially, we just distributed their products into the hobby; later, we licensed the Flip-Mat brand from them and extended the line as the publisher, and eventually, we purchased the brand from them.
During that first period, they published 4 Flip-Mats: the original Flip-Mat plus the the 3 Flip-Mats you're talking about. The cartography style they used was a bit softer, and I'd say a bit less realistic.
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Thanks, vic. I'd forgotten that.
The fact they were originally made by someone else probably introduces further barriers to me getting my complete collection. :(
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Publisher, Chief Creative Officer
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I'm hoping that you reprint this one some day.Definitely a good one to reprint. Super useful for a GM. You've got my support as well.
This one is on the short list, but it's probably still a bit too recent to avoid the order/re-order issue Vic mentioned above. I'm watching it. If the first eight classics sell really well, there's really a lot of opportunities to bring back several.
But that's currently a pretty big "if."
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Publisher, Chief Creative Officer
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Some of you might recall that Flip-Mats were originally produced by Steel Sqwire. Initially, we just distributed their products into the hobby; later, we licensed the Flip-Mat brand from them and extended the line as the publisher, and eventually, we purchased the brand from them.
During that first period, they published 4 Flip-Mats: the original Flip-Mat plus the the 3 Flip-Mats you're talking about. The cartography style they used was a bit softer, and I'd say a bit less realistic.
Also, I'm not certain that we have the files for those early Flip-Mats, so unfortunately they are very near the bottom of the "potentials" list.
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Some of you might recall that Flip-Mats were originally produced by Steel Sqwire. Initially, we just distributed their products into the hobby; later, we licensed the Flip-Mat brand from them and extended the line as the publisher, and eventually, we purchased the brand from them.
During that first period, they published 4 Flip-Mats: the original Flip-Mat plus the the 3 Flip-Mats you're talking about. The cartography style they used was a bit softer, and I'd say a bit less realistic.
Also, I'm not certain that we have the files for those early Flip-Mats, so unfortunately they are very near the bottom of the "potentials" list.
Two thoughts:
One, cant't the image be extracted/extrapolated from the pdfs? Honest question, but perhaps it is not as straight forward as it seems. I don't know.
Two, as a secondary option, could they be used as the basis/inspiration for touched up version by your cartographer? I suppose if you are paying for new artwork you might as well pay for actually new artwork and not recycled artwork.
Last note. Personally, I don't have strong feelings about this I just had a couple of thoughts and thought I would put them out there.
Just want to say this is AWESOME. Thanks for doing this, Paizo.
Graywulfe, I could be wrong, but I think the issue is that Steel Sqwire has the original design images.
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Looking at the specific maps in the first batch, I'm torn, because I already have most of them. However, I want the line to succeed so some other maps -- maps I don't already have -- will be re-printed.
As I no longer have ship, I'll be buying that one for sure...the others I'll have to consider more carefully.
Edit: How did Waterfront Tavern not make it into the initial batch? That one seems like a top-tier candidate for inclusion. Was it because of the (deliberately?) very similar Seedy Tavern?
Just found out about this, as I still need a few.
Might I suggest printing some as a mirror image of the original so that the two could be combined edge-wise.
How, if at all, do the Classics interact with the Maps subscription? I presume they're not included in the sub, as people who have been subbed since the beginning would already have them, but is there some kind of sop to be tossed like, if you preorder a Classics flip-mat and have a Maps subscription, you can get the free PDF, a la the AP compilations?
I can confirm they're definitely not included in the sub (no great surprise).
The free-PDF-to-mapsubscribers-who-preorder is a good suggestion for a perk. I'm guessing that's not a thing currently (since I can't see it anywhere and I would have thought it'd be spelled out).
If it's easy to code, I think it's a good incentive to wake one's previously latent completionist quest.
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Chief Technical Officer
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We do indeed do that for Flip-Mat Classics, but the text explaining it was missing from the most recent listings. This has been corrected.
Note: Flip-Mat Classics are not included in the Pathfinder Maps Subscription. Pathfinder Maps Subscribers who preorder Flip-Mat Classics: [product name] will receive a free PDF when their physical copy ships.
Awesome! Thanks for clarifying that, Vic.
*goes off to preorder some Flip-Mat Classics*