About a month ago, a company called Banners on the Cheap got in touch with me. One customer used their service to make a giant RPG map. The banner company makes those large vinyl banners that shops sometimes use to display sales or business-as-usual messages.
I thought it was an interesting idea but didn’t need to import a giant map from the States to test the theory because I knew they’d also be contacting other gamers. Instead, I opted to wait and see what other people made of the service. Now the results are in.
One of my favourites comes from RPG-Blog.com and the use of Random Dungeon Generator at DizzyDragon.net. It’s a huge map, and the blog post is a walk-through of how it was created.
Sean Samonas of the Dungeon Crawl had another good idea. He got two maps; the first is just blank squares, and the second is an overview of his homebrew game content Nialtier. I think the blank map is especially wise as I’m sure it’ll get used again and again.
Lastly, Brittney Brombacher from Blonde Nerd may have the most pretty map. This isn’t a classic tabletop RPG… this is Zelda Light World.
In short, I think the service works as advertised. If you need a great big giant map and a robust one, perhaps even one you can write on, then the Banners on the Cheap family of sites seems like a good choice.
Disclaimer: Banners on the Cheap did say hello and offer a review service – but this was declined. This post represents research into the concept instead.
You're welcome to share observations about this article in the comments.
