Use of Flip Tiles in PFS scenarios? (present and future)

[Iff]

Hi folks,

I've been away from the game for a while, but I plan to return as a PFS GM with the launch of Pathfinder 2. I noticed the 'new' Flip Tiles system, and they look really cool and useful! Being so flexible, I could imagine they'd be used in scenarios quite a lot. But before investing, I'd like to put the question here:

- Have the flip tiles been used in PFS scenarios so far? And in that case how much, more than flip mats? Any sets in particular that see good use?
- When will the first PFS2 scenarios be announced? That's also when we know which maps each scenario uses, right?

Would be grateful for any of your experiences and thoughts, to help guide my buying decisions.

[Woran]

Iff wrote:

Hi folks,

I've been away from the game for a while, but I plan to return as a PFS GM with the launch of Pathfinder 2. I noticed the 'new' Flip Tiles system, and they look really cool and useful! Being so flexible, I could imagine they'd be used in scenarios quite a lot. But before investing, I'd like to put the question here:

- Have the flip tiles been used in PFS scenarios so far? And in that case how much, more than flip mats? Any sets in particular that see good use?
- When will the first PFS2 scenarios be announced? That's also when we know which maps each scenario uses, right?

Would be grateful for any of your experiences and thoughts, to help guide my buying decisions.

Yes!

I missed you!
We need to play a game again soon!

[Woran]

Enthousiasm for your imminent return aside, if you click my name and go to my profile, there is a link to maps used in scenarios. Im currently on my phone so I cant link.

[Iff]

Thanks, Tineke. Nice to know you're present and active. :)

The link is very helpful, but also a bit... disappointing. Seems like so far only one of the flip tiles pack was used, once. Support for them might increase in the future of course, but flip mats still seem like the 'sure bet' for the moment...

[Woran]

Its not entirely up to date (not all scenarios are added), so there is one more scenario that uses fliptiles. But yeah, all in all not much. Altough they could probably replace some of the generic map packs.

[Xathos of Varisia]

I would really like to see the flip-tiles used more. I bought the Forest set and Forest Perils expansion set. The players liked them and so did I. I'm hesitant to buy the others because they really have not been used much to date. If they are not going to be featured in PFS then they really are going to be limited and may not be worth purchasing.

[Michael Sayre]

We'll continue to use the flip-tiles in PFS. From a development perspective they're slightly more time-consuming than a flip-mat, and they're pretty new so a lot of our writers are still kind of figuring them out. We've also got a finite amount of flip-tile environments produced, so currently we have to be working on a scenario that's in e.g. a forest or a dungeon before the flip-tiles come into play. Eventually we'll have a large enough catalogue that we'll have a pack for most situations, but we're not there yet.

Between those initial hurdles and the fact that we've basically been working at breakneck speed as we ramp up to one of the most product-laden GenCons ever, the flip-tiles haven't been used as much as they might have otherwise. I anticipate them showing up with increasing frequency for the scenarios that we start working on post-August (and actually just recommended a flip-tile pack in the outline I sent one of our scenario authors).

[Xathos of Varisia]

I am looking forward to picking up the urban starter set. To me, that set has so much potential for additions.

While we're at it, when should we expect the Tavern Starter set? Or will that be an expansion pack of the Urban Starter set?

[Ascalaphus]

@Michael Sayre: can I suggest one feature that I think GMs will love? The flip tiles are numbered, could you put those numbers in the scenario? That really helps with picking out the right ones during prep.

[Hmm]

@Michael. Ditto Lau!

[Michael Sayre]

Lau Bannenberg wrote:

@Michael Sayre: can I suggest one feature that I think GMs will love? The flip tiles are numbered, could you put those numbers in the scenario? That really helps with picking out the right ones during prep.

This is 100% something that should be happening going forward. We had a little bit of data loss in the early use of Flip-Tiles because we hadn't fully adapted our development to layout process to account for the new information, but it's always been our intent to include those numbers for the GM.

[Marc Waschle]

So all our old flip mats are going to go the way of the Dodo? Just wondering?

[Michael Sayre]

Marc Waschle wrote:

So all our old flip mats are going to go the way of the Dodo? Just wondering?

No. Flip-TIles replaced the Map Pack line, not the Flip-Mat line. Flip-Mats should continue to be produced and used in scenarios at more or less the same rate they always have.

[Marc Waschle]

Thanks Michael!

You made my evening and probably saved my marriage! lol

[Iff]

Thanks for the 'behind the scenes' peek, Michael. Very insightful. Glad I made this thread, and it's awesome to see this kind of communication!

[JoeDapper]

Tineke Bolleman wrote:

Iff wrote:

Hi folks,

I've been away from the game for a while, but I plan to return as a PFS GM with the launch of Pathfinder 2. I noticed the 'new' Flip Tiles system, and they look really cool and useful! Being so flexible, I could imagine they'd be used in scenarios quite a lot. But before investing, I'd like to put the question here:

- Have the flip tiles been used in PFS scenarios so far? And in that case how much, more than flip mats? Any sets in particular that see good use?
- When will the first PFS2 scenarios be announced? That's also when we know which maps each scenario uses, right?

Would be grateful for any of your experiences and thoughts, to help guide my buying decisions.

The last game I ran, What the Helms Hide, made use of the tiles. I loved it. It was the Forest Starter Pack. It's 42 tiles and the scenario made use of 16 of them, i believe.

For proper use, you have to dig out the ones specified and lay them out. And then what I did after that was bundle them in backwards order so i could lay out the ones farthest away from me first and work backwards. So it was flip mat, tiles, flip mat.

I see their versatility quickly obsoleting the flip mat.