Concern about PF Flip Maps usage in SFS

[Freedom Snake]

First let me state that I love the fact that PF Flip-mats/map packs are being used for SFS! It provides more opportunity for adventure than the comparatively young Starfinder Flip Mat line has had time to produce.

This does present a concern for me as a person with less than 1 star PFS GM experience; I don't own any of these maps and some PF maps are no longer in print or available through retail store distributors.

Because of this, I see four possible scenarios and I'm anxiously concerned that I may not be able to acquire materials called for by a scenario. I am fully aware that blank maps and wet erase pens exist, but my artistic abilities to recreate the same engaging level of detail are sorely inadequate.

Scenario 1) SFS writing criteria mandates usage of/limits usage to maps currently in publication

Scenario 2) Paizo will resume publication of any required maps that are out of print but called for in a scenario

Scenario 3) If you didn't play/purchase Pathfinder products in the past then you are in the "tough luck" boat, while those that played Pathfinder may own everything used in Starfinder scenarios

Scaenario 4) I was misinformed by a retailer and every Pathfinder Flip Mat/Map Pack ever used is still and will continue to be in print as long as Starfinder Scenarios call for it.

Can someone from Paizo give me a true sense of the reality of the situation?

[Sebastian Hirsch]

You could always buy the PDF, print, laminate, and tape the pages. I do it a lot mostly for the custom maps from PFS/SFS scenarios, but I had to print a fair number of out of print flip maps and map packs as well.

It takes a bit of time and money to set up, but I gave up drawing anything complicated after Overflow Archives.

[Thurston Hillman]

To answer some of the concerns: generally speaking, we only use in-print maps when designing Starfinder Society scenarios. That being said, the initial launch relied heavily on Pathfinder Map Pack: Starship Chambers and Starship Corridors, the former of which is currently unavailable (from what I can only guess is a result of Starfinder's overwhelming success.) Currently, as far as I'm aware, only Starship Chambers seems to be sold out.

There really aren't too many Pathfinder maps that we can use, unless it's an "open area biome of the week" scenario. That being said, we're in a really tough situation because map art consumes a lot of our art budget for a scenario, so we end up in this weird choice of "can we work in new maps" or "do we need NPC/creature art?" We often end up with this scenario where our choices end up as "use a Pathfinder map that might be out of print to fit a particular scene" and save on our internal art budget. Or "Make a whole new custom map that GMs are going to have to custom print anyways" and lose out on the art budget with no benefit to the GM. That being said, this is only a theoretical situation that hasn't yet come up (the only maps we've called upon were available at the time of scenario go-live.)

Overall, this situation is becoming less and less of an issue, especially as more and more Starfinder Flip-Mats get released. I suspect in the coming year, we'll have far less of these situations to worry about, and almost all of the pre-printed map packs / flip-mats that we employ will be currently available products.

Hope that gives you a reasonable update on the reality of the situation!

[Freedom Snake]

Thanks Thurtsy! It does. I was able to order all three of the 1-09 maps from Paizo. While Paizo doesn't publish stock levels, another very large online retailer had 0, 1 and 2 (in no particular order) copies of the maps available. and all three stores in my area were out of stock on all 3, with 1 having a stock level of 0 (the same one as the online retailer) in their distributor inventory, thus sparking concern that I might have been dangerously close to missing out.

0 stock level is not the same as out of print however, and out of print was my real concern. You've assuaged my fears.

@Sebastian, I actually go into Photoshop and scale up the custom maps (including for the APs) to 1"x 1" squares, then print posterized on photo photo paper to create a sort of custom map pack that I can assemble and place under a sheet of Plexiglas at my tables. This allows me to keep the map pieces at letter size for storing in each scenario folder for transportability. I actually taped and rolled my first few and decided that for my needs, the custom map pack route was better. At $7/foot for a map, I have started getting the evergreen custom maps printed on vinyl at a sign store, to roll up and take to cons.

All of that said, I'm a collector at heart and want to buy "all the things" to have official products whenever possible. Out of print maps would put me in the category of a collector searching for near-mint condition flip mats.

[Ascalaphus]

Thurston Hillman wrote:

There really aren't too many Pathfinder maps that we can use, unless it's an "open area biome of the week" scenario.

I wonder if Starfinder maps will focus on different environments than Pathfinder?

I'm running Iron Gods and I've noticed that Pathfinder outdoors flipmats tend to cater strongly to temperate climate, healthy leafy green environments. There are not that many ruined-environment-wasteland flavored maps available.

Perhaps Starfinder will fill in that gap for me?