Thursday, September 21, 2017

Vehicles (Pathfinder Map Pack) [RPG]


Vehicles is a very different map pack than the norm.  Instead of tiles that fit together to create a landscape suitable for an encounter, the 18 sheets in this pack are designed to be cut apart and placed on top of other flip-mats or map packs.  Everything from beasts of burden to boats to various carts are included.

Two of the sheets are full of mounts: common mounts like horses and ponies, quite unusual mounts like rhinos and giant geckos, and even a full pack of sled dogs.  Four full sheets are of different chariots, so I guess you'd be all set if you need a classic Ben Hur scene.  One sheet has a couple of sleds for the aforementioned sled dogs, another is a couple of hang gliders (!), and three are devoted to a top down view of what the back describes as a "steam giant" (a gearwork construct of some kind?--it's hard to tell with a top-down interior view).  Of
much more mundane origin (but surely more common use) are a rowboat and then two sheets that can be taped together to make a keelboat/river barge.  Last, and best, are three sheets each containing two different types of wagons, carts, and carriages.

It feels really weird cutting up a product like this, but the results look a lot nicer than I could draw or find on the Internet.  Importantly, they're sized appropriately for a 5" grid so character minis match up.  Things like the carts and mounts are perfect for PCs, but they also serve well as added background colour to urban or road encounters.  As a GM, I used the keelboat for several consecutive sessions when the PCs were making a long river voyage and it was great.

If I had complaints, it's that this was one of the map packs that was released before the line started appearing in boxed-form, so once the pieces are cut out, they're harder to store.  A second criticism is that too many sheets are devoted to weird or off-beat things like the "steam giant", hang gliders, etc.

On the whole though, I was surprised by how useful this product was--it's definitely something I've gotten a lot of use out of in the few months I've owned it, and it's made my encounters clearer and more "professional" looking.  I'd grab one before it goes out of print!

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