Post by Gilvan Blight on May 16, 2010 19:03:20 GMT -5
Quickly: great product for a great price.
Summary:
This is exactly what it sounds like it is, paper for gaming. It's a huge roll of brown paper with a pre-printed 1" square or hex grid on it perfect for most modern RPG combat systems. This is one of those "why didn't I think of that products" due to it's simplicity.
In one roll you get 30 square feet of mapping surface! 30 inches wide and 12 feet long. The paper is kind of brownish and has a slight coating on it that reminds me of wax paper. The grid is nice and dark and easy to see. The paper can be written on with pretty much anything you would use on regular paper including pens, pencils and coloured paper. Your usual dry and wet erase markers will work as well but can't be erased. The coating on the paper ensures that the paper lies flat even when coming right off the roll. It can also be cut which would be perfect for presenting one room at a time.
I used this for the first time in my 3.5 game, where we are playing through Expedition to The Ruins of Castle Greyhawk. I was able to easily draw out the entire Vaults of Creation and didn't even use up half of the paper. I then rolled most of the map back up and laid out the area around the players with the plan to roll out more as they explored further. It worked a charm.
The most impressive part. $4 a roll available at your FLGS or online at www.gamingpaper.com/ You can buy by the case for a discount.
Here's a pic from my game:
Some other impressive bits: it's somewhat fire retardant. There's a vid online where the people at gaming paper drop a lit cigarette on the paper and try to catch it on fire and basically fail. It tends to wrinkle pretty easy but this can be easily fixed with an iron. There's an entire Youtube channel for marketing this stuff.
The Good:
You just can't beat the price. At $4 a roll you could buy 90 square feet of gaming paper or 1 set of dungeon tiles. I really like the fact that you can use nearly anything to write on the gaming paper. Now for the one map I drew I used my usual wet and dry erase markers, mainly because that's what I have for drawing maps with, but I look forward to having more then 4 colours on my maps. What I did find even with the wet/dry erase is that this stuff is very easy to draw on. Something about the texture makes it easier then a wet erase board or lamination. I loved having enough space to draw out an entire dungeon floor. When using tiles I have to estimate where the players will go and prepare what I can, and invariably the players go somewhere I haven't prepared for. Also I often run out of tiles of the right size. With Gaming Paper I don't have either problem. I draw out the entire floor (heck I could do the entire dungeon) and then I have a map no matter where the PCs go. Also drawing it myself, I never run out of tiles. The versatility of this is pretty unmatched. You can keep it how it is, tape a bunch together, cut it up, past it on 3-d scenery etc. A quick google of gaming paper and you can find some pretty cool maps out there.
The Bad:
One advantage to Wet/Dry erase is that you can erase it. As you can see in my picture there I messed up drawing one room. It was easy enough to line over it and I had room between the rooms to compensate but that could have been much worse. Whatever the coating is on the paper it is very susceptible to finger prints. You can see some on the pic above. These were all made while drawing the map. Doesn't really detract from play at all, but is a bit odd.
The Ugly:
This paper is THIN. You have to be relatively careful when using it. It doesn't tear very easy but it does wrinkle. It's about as thick as butcher's paper with a slight waxy coating. Once you start cutting out rooms and such keeping things neat an tidy isn't too easy. I personally prefer leaving things on the roll as much as possible so far.
Overall:
This is an excellent product that I definitely suggest. The ability to draw in any colour with any drawing tool and the fact you get enough room to draw out entire floors if not entire dungeons far out weigh any cons. Sure the papers a bit thin and you have to be careful when drawing as it's not erasable, but for this price you really can't do better.
Summary:
This is exactly what it sounds like it is, paper for gaming. It's a huge roll of brown paper with a pre-printed 1" square or hex grid on it perfect for most modern RPG combat systems. This is one of those "why didn't I think of that products" due to it's simplicity.
In one roll you get 30 square feet of mapping surface! 30 inches wide and 12 feet long. The paper is kind of brownish and has a slight coating on it that reminds me of wax paper. The grid is nice and dark and easy to see. The paper can be written on with pretty much anything you would use on regular paper including pens, pencils and coloured paper. Your usual dry and wet erase markers will work as well but can't be erased. The coating on the paper ensures that the paper lies flat even when coming right off the roll. It can also be cut which would be perfect for presenting one room at a time.
I used this for the first time in my 3.5 game, where we are playing through Expedition to The Ruins of Castle Greyhawk. I was able to easily draw out the entire Vaults of Creation and didn't even use up half of the paper. I then rolled most of the map back up and laid out the area around the players with the plan to roll out more as they explored further. It worked a charm.
The most impressive part. $4 a roll available at your FLGS or online at www.gamingpaper.com/ You can buy by the case for a discount.
Here's a pic from my game:
Some other impressive bits: it's somewhat fire retardant. There's a vid online where the people at gaming paper drop a lit cigarette on the paper and try to catch it on fire and basically fail. It tends to wrinkle pretty easy but this can be easily fixed with an iron. There's an entire Youtube channel for marketing this stuff.
The Good:
You just can't beat the price. At $4 a roll you could buy 90 square feet of gaming paper or 1 set of dungeon tiles. I really like the fact that you can use nearly anything to write on the gaming paper. Now for the one map I drew I used my usual wet and dry erase markers, mainly because that's what I have for drawing maps with, but I look forward to having more then 4 colours on my maps. What I did find even with the wet/dry erase is that this stuff is very easy to draw on. Something about the texture makes it easier then a wet erase board or lamination. I loved having enough space to draw out an entire dungeon floor. When using tiles I have to estimate where the players will go and prepare what I can, and invariably the players go somewhere I haven't prepared for. Also I often run out of tiles of the right size. With Gaming Paper I don't have either problem. I draw out the entire floor (heck I could do the entire dungeon) and then I have a map no matter where the PCs go. Also drawing it myself, I never run out of tiles. The versatility of this is pretty unmatched. You can keep it how it is, tape a bunch together, cut it up, past it on 3-d scenery etc. A quick google of gaming paper and you can find some pretty cool maps out there.
The Bad:
One advantage to Wet/Dry erase is that you can erase it. As you can see in my picture there I messed up drawing one room. It was easy enough to line over it and I had room between the rooms to compensate but that could have been much worse. Whatever the coating is on the paper it is very susceptible to finger prints. You can see some on the pic above. These were all made while drawing the map. Doesn't really detract from play at all, but is a bit odd.
The Ugly:
This paper is THIN. You have to be relatively careful when using it. It doesn't tear very easy but it does wrinkle. It's about as thick as butcher's paper with a slight waxy coating. Once you start cutting out rooms and such keeping things neat an tidy isn't too easy. I personally prefer leaving things on the roll as much as possible so far.
Overall:
This is an excellent product that I definitely suggest. The ability to draw in any colour with any drawing tool and the fact you get enough room to draw out entire floors if not entire dungeons far out weigh any cons. Sure the papers a bit thin and you have to be careful when drawing as it's not erasable, but for this price you really can't do better.