What you get with this product is a 10 square by 20 square map of a gated entrance to a walled town, city or castle. It is named "South Gate," but by simply turning it around you can make it East Gate, North Gate or West Gate too. As shown in the product description, it is similar in style and theme to the Medieval City 1 and Medieval City 2 maps, and can be used in conjunction with them.
This product consists of two files. The first is a pdf of the map divided into four A4 pages that you can print out and assemble into the final map. If you don't have A4 paper, I have found that legal paper works just as well. In constructing these maps, I have found that the pages fit together nicely with a small overlap that helps conceal any imperfections in assembly. There is also a title page, a couple pages showing what the assembled map will look like, and a small black and white version of the map for the gamemaster to make notes. Also included is a page of open door images in the event that you want the map to show open doors instead of closed doors.
Also, this is the first Heroic Maps product I am aware of that comes with a jpeg of the final map. This is a great addition and should allow folks with large scale printers to print out the entire map at once. I have never used a virtual tabletop, but I imagine you could use this for online gaming too. I suspect that the inclusion of this file was due to my review of prior products where I stated that some might want the option to print the entire map at once, so thank you for listening!
Besides the eponymous gate and smaller side gates, you will note that there are no doors marked on the map. Also, there is no furniture or clutter depicted. You are supposed to supply your own doors and furniture and place them wherever you want. Accordingly, the map will be different each time you use it. If you do not have doors or furniture, you can find some by doing a search on this site for 3D doors or 3D furniture. There are lots of great options. There is even an official Heroic Maps 2D door pack that you can use for this purpose.
As usual for Heroic Maps products, the artwork is beautiful and evocative, depicting a generic fortified entrance to a castle, town or city. I have been particularly impressed with Heroic Maps’ urban maps, and this map begins to reveal the full potential of this line. With just a few more maps, including a plain straight wall section, a section where the wall turns 90 degrees, and maybe a tower or something similar, you could construct an entire walled city. As I have mentioned before, the urban maps by Heroic maps have nice contrast between the interiors of the buildings, the exterior streets and the dividing walls.
Another thing I like about the map is that the main gate opens into a road three squares wide, which is much wider than the one-square alleyways in the Medieval City 1 and Medieval City 2 maps. Hopefully, the use of wide streets will continue in future maps, and I could imagine that these wide streets could lead into a marketplace, a town square, or an upscale part of town.
I think it would be great to have second storey and/or rooftop overlay maps for the buildings in case there are any thieves that want to sneak around at night on the rooftops.
In all, a great addition to the Heroic Maps line that will see a lot of use at my table. Thank you for making these maps. I highly recommend them.
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