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I like this set of maps!
Encompass included both a color set and a black and white set. Great job!
The only complaint would be that the grid lines are to thick. Dotted lines on the b/w map would have been better.
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an excellently detailed full color map of a large Inn. Great artwork that gives you everything you could want in the Inn
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I use a lot of tilesets for D&D. This set has great quality color and an open layout. I really like the marble floor, the statuettes and the simple 3-D effects. It's big too, measuring over 3' x 2-1/2', fitting on two foam poster boards. The overlaying grid is just right for miniatures use. However, 3% overlay? Other tilesets I use cut off at the grid markers making it very easy to assemble the printed pieces. ProFantasy, please adopt this! The overlay is extremely difficult compared to the other method. Also, while I like the few tiles that are interchangeable, the choices are undesirable. Don't put monsters into the tiles. Creatures should always be represented by tokens or miniatures. Having a static representation on a map is useless. And the choices for tile C are bad, worse and awful. The statue of the demon is completely out of place, and the others are creatures.
Pros: great layout, color and most choices for fixed items.
Cons: 3% overlay instead of side-by-side tiles, creatures plugged into the map.
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Even if you already own some other miniatures-scale tavern map, as I do, you still might find Tendril's Oak Inn to be a good purchase if, like me, you don't want every inn or tavern your PCs visit to look the same. As the product description and the cover illustration show, Tendril's Oak Inn sits along a road running alongside a wood—a classic fantasy trope useful in almost any fantasy RPG campaign.
The artwork depicting the inn is very nice and seems to have been created using Campaign Cartographer (or a similar tool). The product includes several different types of maps—battlemaps (in black and white, color, or color with a white background), overview maps, and "scratch maps" suitable for adding DM or player notes—though I'm not quite sure why Encompass found it necessary to distribute so many different PDFs; I can't see any good reason, for example, why the scratch maps come in four one-page PDFs instead of one four-page PDF. (Personally, I also don't like having animals depicted statically on the maps. I can just hear it now: "We'll hide our loot under the third pig on the left. He never moves.")
If all you want is a good map of a woodland inn, this product will serve you well. But the author goes beyond that, and supplies a key to the inn's layout as well as notes on NPCs, plot hooks, and so on, all of which the DM can use or ignore as desired.
Tendril's Oak Inn was my first experience with the Encompass line, and I certainly like it well enough to check out other offerings in the series.
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I was writing a haunted house adventure and thought I'd give this titles a shot to see if it could spice up a game where I normally use a battlemap. After purchasing, I quickly regretted my decision. The map art is horrible but they really aren't very useful to a "generic" haunted house. The house looks MUCH more "lived in" than haunted. The rooms are way to small to have any sort of dynamic combat. Several rooms, such as a ballroom, which I would put in a haunted mansion aren't even here. If you are looking for just "a house" this will do, otherwise save yourself the money and just use a battlemap.
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As nice as Encompass' artwork is - and it is really nice - there is very little in this mansion that makes me feel as though it is inhabited by a lich or any other malicious, undead creature. I own five Encompass products, and I have finally come to the conclusion they are stuck in "table, chair, rug and bed" mode. There are lots and lots and lots of these 4 items in the various rooms of the Lich's Mansion. So if tables, chairs and rugs are what your PC's hope to find in the rooms they explore, this is definitely the place for them. In my opinion, very little imagination or effort was utilized in creating this product. Except for the mausoleum and a couple skeletons in the cellar, this could be anyone's house. Game Master's are looking for originality, atmosphere and aesthetics when purchasing battle maps. There is nothing much creepy about this place, although I have to give a thumbs up for the mausoleum, just for the spectacular artwork. Unfortunately, even the mausoleum falls short of being even the tiniest bit spooky. Artwork: 5. Originality: 1. Attention to detail: 2. Atmosphere: 1. Wow factor:2 Overall: 2 And PLEASE . . . get rid of the RED arrows on the stairs. We can figure out which way is up and which is down. Really, we can.
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Creator Reply: |
The settings purposely lean toward the generic side so that they can be used more flexibly. That way folks don't *have* to use them in the way presented in the accompanying documentation if they have another purpose in mind. We feel it is easier for GMs to add things to the setting through presentation and description than it is to try and remove them once items are graphically represented in the image that don't fit in with their current campaign. Lich's Mansion contains dilapidated, ruined old furniture--at least what's left of the furnishings--the floor is dirty, the grounds are unattended, the basement is trashed. It doesn't have to be the current residence of a Lich. It could be the home of an eccentric recluse, it could be an abandoned property or a plain old-fashioned haunted house. |
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Excellent product. I used this in a session (six players in my group) and we enjoyed the battle - I probably did more than them. The inn's sprawling maps made it possible for my party to split into two groups - one party member ran outside, stood on an out-building, and fired arrows into a room; while the remained pressed the battle down the hall. This wouldn't have been possible if I had sketched the map out on our dry erase battle mat - and the graphics made combat much more interesting.
This is the second Encompass product I've used and I'll certainly be using all of them - the price is right and my group loves it when I drop the maps out on the table.
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Like other Encompass products my group has used Thundermaul Castle has not let us down. The artwork is colorful and distinctive - so you can easily glance at the table with miniatures and see what the terrain is like. Tables, benches, doors, windows - it's all here.
My local printer charges US$.22 per color page on heavy cardstock. It takes just minutes to cut one or two borders and tape them together for a sturdy map that we use over several session. This amount of detail so fast really creates a decent location for miniatures on table - much, much better than dry erase mats.
Thundermaul Castle comes with a large (four-page) overview scaled to 5' per square of the entire castle. Lying this down and using it to track movement across the castle grounds adds a greater scale and sense of realism to the area. Then, if an encounter moves indoors, we switch to that building's two-page map set.
I have no intention of using a motte and bailey in my current campaign but when this was published I bought and printed that day so I could work the maps into the next game session. You can't go wrong with this set - the individual building maps (all are wood with the exception of the bakehouse) can easily be re-used in another encounter location.
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This has been one of my better RPG purchases... The Octagon is an incredibly beautiful castle, rich in design and playability. I waited for the right moment to place this before my trusty little band of adventurers and they were awed and immediately anxious to check out the new surroundings. The coloring used is impressive and also makes for a less expensive printout, yet still provides some breath-taking views. Also, the detailed description provided some great groundwork, and was flexible enough to fit well into our current table-top adventure. My thanks goes to Encompass for creating such a fine product and I look forward to their future releases.
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I had my initial doubts, but I must say that I am impressed with Encompass who almost daily made changes to address the feedback provided by myself and others who purchased their products. As this product is currently offered, it is a very nice piece of work. The addition of 8x10 tiles with a white background provides an ink-saving option most companies do not . . . unless you want to print out black and white battle maps. The building itself is well drawn and would provide an adventuring party a very cool place to hang out - or a place to sneak in and take out the bad guys. No matter where your imagination takes you, this is a well-done product and well worth the investment. The only negative I can find is I feel all the 8x10 files really should be offered with and without the white background - not just for the first floor. I sure hope Encompass creates some themed dungeons to delve through. I haven't purchased the Mad Wizard's Laboratory yet but will likely do so in the near future.
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I had purchased "The Octagon" from this line. There were several problems, which I reported to customer service. Within minutes I got an answer and had a complete refund. Mr Jeff Montgomery then tried to solve the problems. For me that is excellent customer support and I thank you for that.
Encompass on the other hand has been terrific. I got contacted 5-6 times to get my opinion. I am in RPG games since mid 80's and never before met such caring customer support. Bravo.
In order to make the tiles suitable for A-4 size Encompass reduced size to 8x10 squares per page. There are still no cut borders, but it is probably a personal tase then a real issue. As it is the tiles fit quite well. I am sure the company will be adding 2 pages for secret door and traps of the product. (They are visable now)
I personally like light color use on the bases of tiles, ands thats what you get. This enables the art of the tiles to shine. Details are every where and color use is sharp. The system free notes are also a nice touch. They have good details which you might want to adapt. The terminology used is no alien to D20 users.
The product certainly deserves 6,95 price tag. I hope there will be more modular ones in the coming months in which the user can make some arragements. I certainly recommend this and the other two products. Even if you do not need the locations, they pleasure to look at.
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This is my 2nd review of this product. Initially, I stated that the artwork was pretty good but neither the layout nor the logistics were. Now, I am happy to retract my initial negative comments and replace them with positive ones. This is a very good product. I have purchased several “inn” type battle tiles sets from various companies. The artwork and attention to detail rank right up there with some of the better inn sets available. I still dislike the fact that you can't page through and look over the entire building without opening 4 pdf files and that the stairs are labeled with giant red arrows. However, those negatives seem minor when compared with the overall quality of the newly-revised product. With the layout and ink-saving changes, I am happy to recommend Tendril’s Oak Inn to any game master who wants a nicely presented place for their PCs to hang out or just pass through on their way to some grand adventure. I will definitely purchase more Encompass products in the future. Their artwork and their willingness to listen to criticism regarding the initial release of their products have hooked me as a customer.
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Art & design are good, plothooks are available, inhabitants are nicely described.
As answer to the negative feedback from other reviewers Encompass has also within 24h released additional ink-saving battlemaps for each of their products, so this issue seems to be gone.
Reasons for not giving 5 stars are the missing basement and the fact that to me the wizard theme was too similar to Encompass' other product "Mad Wizards Tower". Also The Octagon has only 4 inhabitants (5 with familiar) which gives me a feeling of "emptiness" - to me a lost opportunity for providing more plothooks and room for intrigue as it was for example done in "Tendril's Oak Inn".
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Art & design is good, inhabitants are nicely described, plothooks are available, descriptions of each room with a lot of love for detail (example: staff does not like the lavatory on 2nd floor because they have to carry the water up there).
The printing related issues my fellow reviewers report don't bother me - I consider the available view maps, 1 for each floor, nice and detailed enough at least for my roleplaing games, no need to print out anything else.
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