The Marble Sanctum Battle Map Review

Review copy courtesy of Black Scroll Games.

Pros

• Visually, we know what to expect by now. It's the style we are used to, however with the added bonus of having water in parts of the map. It's a very nice detail.
• 3 levels of map composed of about 56 tiles (some edge pieces are a bit smaller than a page and are put on the same page).
• Made for the 1 inch is 5 feet standard scale.
• Isometric visual aid provided (as Black Scroll Games often does, and did again).
• VTT jpgs provided.
• Both broken into pages and single poster versions are provided for easy printing.
• Layers are present to allow the option of grid lines and no grid lines. If the area has natural grid lines due to the stone work or other means, grid lines aren't added.
• Area descriptions and background story is included, and it's pretty good for getting the creative juices flowing.

Could Go Either Way

• Just like last time, this map is also done in the same 3D style that other Black Scroll Games maps and tiles are done.
• Like with their work that I reviewed just recently, the majority of the map uses the shapes of the stones in to denote squares for movement. This once again looks great but isn't applied for the entire map, though it is for most of it. If you don't like grid lines on your map and prefer for squares to be denoted by the design of the location, you might not like those areas.
• The map is specialized, but not as much so as The Portal Under The Stars. The size and fact that it's broken up into different levels makes it a bit easier to steal from. However it's also arguable not as useful straight out of the box since it isn't based on an adventure. This leaves it somewhere in the middle between

Cons

• The same grid issues I mentioned in my review of The Portal Under The Stars are also present here. I'm hoping it'll get updated in the future, and will update this if it occurs. I've been told this isn't the case on the card version of the tiles (the ones for $40.00 USD), but I have not seen them myself.
• Secret rooms aren't noted. Not noting secret entrances could be a plus if you prefer coming up with that part yourself, but not noting the secret rooms is a different situation.

Note: Everything below is about the PDF version of the battle map.

I reviewed of a Black Scroll Games release right before this. However, given that they had 3 releases there is more reviewing that could be done. And more reviewing I shall do, this time taking a look at The Marble Sanctum. What can I say, I like battle maps. It follows the established tradition of Black Scroll Games previous work, though as I said before every map comes with it's own strengths and challenges. This one in particular is quite large compared to other maps they've released previously. 

The Tiles

Well, there's quite a lot of these guys. Assuming you don't print it as one massive poster, it comes out to 56 tiles. Of course, with how maps are broken some pages are only partially filled. However, that is still an impressive number. The map is further broken up into sections. In total there are 4 spread across the three levels of the sanctum. This is because the second level has 2 disconnected parts.

The areas of the map themselves are quite varied and well done. The flooded areas in level 3, the hidden lake, the foliage areas (really only around exits and entrances), and the status field alcoves are my favourites. There are also little details that caught my eye. The bones, and rusted weapons are a nice touch and help add character to the area. The entrances are also done nicely with loose rocks and vines being detailed. It's the kind of things that you wouldn't expect to find in a generic map or a map tile set. Those tend to be more general and less niche. However, sometimes you want that niche but unique room and for that purpose these kinds of rooms are useful. Tile sets don't tend to have a flooded version either. As you'd expect, there are also some rooms that are more plain. In a map these kinds of rooms are important to flesh out the location (not every room can be the throne room), but the ratio between them and the more unique rooms is also important. I'd recommend a look at the images provided on the product page in order to form your opinion on that topic. The images there are a bit small but should be enough to get an impression of the layout.

There is some rubble detail on the map. However, if you wanted rubble piles that could be used for cover and other things, you'll probably have to add it yourself. The same is true for traps, though there are plenty of areas where they could easily slot in. I would recommend thinking about these carefully, since sources of cover can be hard to come by. The secret doors will also require a bit of work since they aren't noted and neither is the mechanism by which to open them. This is another thing where your opinion will vary based on how much you like pre-done for you when you buy this kind of map. Instead a room without an obvious entrance is a secret room and will require a secret door. This will mean you'll spend some time staring at the map to find the secret doors. I would have preferred them to be noted on one of the visual aids.

Background Story

The addition of descriptions and adventure inspiration is a nice touch. It also hits me in the right spot since the story involves undead, and by now you should all know my stance on them in adventures. Having a springboard like this to help create an adventure is definitely helpful. It has some very cool options. It also isn't authoritative, aiming to inspire by giving different ways to take things on more than one occasion. The result is that it feels you can take as much or as little as you want, which is my preferred tone for this sort of thing. The writing in general is done well for what it is. The final room where everything builds to is potentially really cool encounter (Dungeon Master skill obviously a factor). I don't think you'll buy the map just for the background story, but it is well done and definitely is a welcome addition. It's just that it's not a complete adventure. Some products are adventures that happen to feature some maps (usually to small to make useful in combat, but that's for another review and another product) but this is a map that happens to have some adventure hooks.

Reuse

The map has quite a few interesting rooms that can be reused in ways the original design did not intend. Quite a bit of it would require use of scissors, but it's still fairly easy to do. The way certain parts are broken or combined means that sometimes parts of other rooms are on the same page or that a part that would have been nice to have on the same page is on another. That's not so unexpected, given that it's meant to be used as a whole map. Still, I was able to run part of the second level and part of the third level for my campaign last Friday. The fact that it's broken into three levels, or 4 sections, means that those individual parts can quite easily be reused.

The Art

I still feel that the best way to get a full impression about art in this kind of thing is to see some of it. That's why I'd recommend looking at a Black Scroll Games map. You can get their free map here (you'll need to enter your email) or can look at their product page. However, some of the stand out things about this map are the lighting and water. By this point I've come to expect great lighting from Black Scroll Games. Water can be quite tricky to get right, and also changes appearance based light. Having the water looking this good was a nice surprise for me. Take a good look at that water on the third level, since it's shown off on the product page. This map in particular also has quite a few nice other details, such as drag lines, rusted weapons and skeletons.

There is some over extending of grid lines, like I pointed out in the other product I recently reviews, but I don't think it was as noticeable here. I think it's because of the colour. The darker brown of the rock and vines together make for a background that makes the grid lines stick out less. Still, the larger chunk doesn't require the grid lines and like before, grid lines aren't added when they are already built into the design of the floor. It's still not perfect, but I think this version is closer to what I prefer.

Other Considerations

This map is quite big but it also is quite expensive compared to some others. I don't normally comment on price, but in this case it might be hard to justify if you are not looking for a pre-made map. You can buy 2 tile sets from the same company and still have some money left over. Of course, if you wanted a ready to use map and instead focus on filling out the adventure, it would be exactly what you want and tile sets wouldn't be a replacement. You'd need to design the dungeon first and then fill it in. If a ready map is what you wanted, than taking a look at the layout of the 3 levels on the product page will give you a good impression if it is right for you. Of course, since this map is more specific it also tends to have more details. Depending on what kind of map you want, your opinion will differ.

What I felt was Missing

Black Scroll Games are basically one of the standards I use for what I consider a complete map package. See? This is how you do it. Make it easy to print as a poster, to print in pages (especially important given how this is the most likely used method), to use in VTT, provide backstory/adventure hooks, and provide overview pages for Dungeon Masters. 

That said, it isn't an out-of-the-box ready to run adventure. It'll need work to turn those ideas into a fully fleshed out and ready to go state. This can go either way. Some people would prefer to do it how they like it and have full control. Some people want something mostly done. Some people like something ready-to-run and then tinker with it until they are happy. Depending on which of those people you are, you might see the lack of fully fleshed out adventure as a con or not mind, since you would've ignored it anyway if it existed. However, if you wanted a full adventure you won't find it here. You'll need to fill it in yourself.

I would have also liked to see the entrances labeled on the cross-section visual aid. It just helps give a better sense of the space as it was imagined originally, especially for the second level. Since you can rearrange the relative layouts of the separate sections however you want easily, it's not much of an issue. However, since we have the visual aid it would have been helpful without sacrificing anything.

Price

The digital map is available here for $19.99 USD. It costs $45.00 USD to get both the digital and printed map and $40.00 USD for just the printed map.

Summary

It's a big map that has almost everything, like Black Scroll Games always does. VTT, poster maps, map broken up into pages, isometric view, vertical view, and back story/plot hooks. It's all here. And it's also good. The visual style is great as well and the water in particular almost feels like showing off. This map also has nice added touches and details. The drag lines in particular are one of my favourites as well as the water effects. The grid lines being overextended again is disappointing since it looks so good otherwise. There is also the opportunity costs. It's a good set but you could buy two tile packs from Black Scroll Games instead and have money left over due to it's high cost. Those sets won't have as many small details, but they still look great. If you want a battle map with the adventure left you but with basically everything else you could hope for in an adventure included, you'll probably like this. Just look at it and I think you'll know if it's for you.