Monday, August 27, 2018

Starfinder Flip-Mat: Cantina [RPG]

I've always found it interesting that, thanks to the famous scene in A New Hope, one doesn't go to a "bar" in many space-fantasy settings: instead, one goes to a "cantina" (which is just the Spanish word for the same thing!).  Anyway, the Starfinder Cantina flip-mat is a really nice double-sided depiction of two very-different versions of the space-cantina concept.  I've used it now in a couple of different scenarios.

One side is like what you would find in Mos Eisley: a dirty, dimly-lit decrepit hive of scum and villainy.  It has private booths for whispered conversations (where someone could shoot first!), a curved bar where someone's arm could get chopped off, a stage for some (ahem!) jizz-wailing, and then some other sensible features like a private back room for high-stakes gambling, a dingy kitchen, toilets, etc.  It's a very good-looking mat with tons of little details for an evocative scene.

The other side is a well-lit, glitzy nightclub of the type you'd find on a fancy cruise liner or in an expensive section of someplace like Absalom Station.  Multiple bars, a large dance floor, back offices, and more make it useful for a wide variety of encounters.  I really like how you can see exactly where the queue would line up so the bouncers can judge whether people make the grade and are allowed in.  As we discovered the other night, the place would be a death-trap if there were a fire, but money can buy off safety inspectors!

In sum, both sides of this flip-mat are great, and I definitely envision using it for multiple SF games.

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