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.
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Hi Andrew, thanks for the props on my dungeon map. I’ve really enjoyed seeing the variety of uses that people have gotten from this offer from Banners on the Cheap.
I’m looking forward to seeing what you decide on.
I haven’t decided on what map I need em-bannered yet :) It may be some time! Thanks very much for being a good sport and not objecting to your map picking up some of the limelight here. I think you’ve trail-blazed an interesting path!