Frugal GM Review: The Trip & Trap from Heroic Maps

Last week I picked up The Trip & Trap from Heroic Maps' Storeys line.

I've been wanting a good Inn/Tavern map I could use in my game and this particular map was perfect. There are three levels: basement, main floor, and 2nd floor quarters/rooms.

The download consists of three main groupings of files. The first is an A4 sized PDF of the gridded version of the maps. Then you get a full set each of the maps with and without the grid. These digital maps are 300 dpi which means you could conceivably get them printed out rather expensively at full-size from your local FedEx Kinkos.

You can also reduce them to 100 DPI and use in any of your assorted Virtual Table Top (VTT) systems.

Example of good overlap

I went the cheaper option and printed out the PDF at home. The A4 PDF is password protected/locked down, but since you only need to print the files it isn't really an issue. There are directions on the 1st page on how to properly size the printing to get 1" = 5' scale, which is coincidentally just how my printer wanted to print it natively on my Letter sized stock.

All three levels came out to 20 printed pages and for the most part cutting out the pieces was easy. There was just enough overlap to make piecing the parts together rather simple and aside from one screw-up on my part it all three maps came out great. Normally I print to cardstock, but this time I used regular paper because I was planning on laminating the maps when I was done gluing it down to poster board. The thinner paper vs. cardstock made the lamination work better to hold everything together. If you go the route I did I'd suggest using a light-tack gluestick so you can more easily position the overlapping papers.

Finished Main Level

I was really impressed with the end results. I liked how it seemed that the artists deliberately placed objects on/under the overlap to make aligning the pieces much easier. Using the grid helps a little bit, but printed objects covering the overlap help out a lot more. I also loved the addition of three "secret" rooms that could be swapped in & out of some dead space on the map. This lets me get just a bit more mileage out of the map.

The Trip & Trap is a good tavern map that I think a lot of GMs can easily use in their game. Assembly was easy and it doesn't take much to put together this game aid that you'll want to use often. I really think I'm getting my $4.50 worth on this download.