RPG Battle Grid Mat - 24" x 36" High Quality Double Sided Neoprene Mat Plus Dry Erase PVC Film - Table Top Role Playing Map - DND Role Play - Dungeons and Dragons Maps Tiles - Tabletop Gaming Mat

(I have not been compensated for this review!)(TL:DR = the mat we've been waiting for)I've been gaming for decades, and have seen the progression of Tabletop RPGs from pencil & paper to virtual. I've owned giant graph paper grids, large whiteboards, vinyl mats, folding dry-"erase" grids, and modular tiles. They have each improved on those that came before. But by far, this Neoprene mat is the best I've had. 1"x1" squares on one side, hexes on the other. No folds or creases. No splits down the middle. No areas where the grids don't line up.Just a lightweight, roll/unroll to perfect surface every time. Can even be placed over a rough surface to give terrain texture, or over something taller to give smooth elevation. The size is large enough to accommodate most standard RPGs that do not take up whole tables for their needs. However, there is enough room for a quite large encounter or multi-location scenarios (dungeons/bases).The plastic cover is nice, but has the usual issues of dry/wet "erase" not being 100% effective (hint: buy overhead projector sheets - some come in packs of 50-100 - and use any marker you like, even permanent...be sure to have the clear plastic laying over the mat when you draw, so any mistakes hit that instead of your mat).The included carrying tube shields it nicely, and protects from snags & stains while in transit. Plus, looks like a scroll/map case for added immersion. Mat & protective cover roll up to fit easily inside, along with clips, markers, & cleaning cloth. I also throw in the dice tubes & minis I know I'll need when play starts.I took it to a local game store to run a session, and several fellow gamers & DM/GMs asked the store for one. They did not carry it, and management asked where I got it. They no longer sell the old vinyl, and carry these exclusively.I cannot recommend it more strongly!

After years of running games online (post-COVID) or just running games that didn't use a grid, I decided to get a campaign together to run Shadow of the Weird Wizard. My old grid board was no longer viable, but I figured the internet would have plenty of choices for me to pick from.Turns out I was wrong: The internet had a couple of choices and many of those weren't highly reviewed. I took a chance on this Abishai mat when I had gotten too frustrated to keep looking for something perfect. I figured Amazon allowed returns, so if it didn't work I'd try something else. Thankfully, that was not needed in the slightest.This mat and dry erase sheet are great quality, and the sessions I've run on it have been joyous. Yes, you should replace the markers like other reviews say, but you can clean it fairly easily with a damp cloth and a bit of water. The mat itself has both squares and hexagons, so I might use this board to run an ACKS II campaign in the future without having to spend more money on another mat. The color and design of the mat are aesthetically pleasing while not getting in the way of readability, and the size works very well for my round table.

I love this mat and its utility. I had some struggles finding the best way to use it in our game, but now I feel like it has its place.The mat itself feels durable and strong, the clips have retained their strength over 10 different sessions of use, and the markers are good.At its size it fits on a small dining or coffee table just right which works great with our game environment. To give you an idea of my experiences and the different ways I've tried to implement this as a tool for our game.Random Encounters:In my opinion the best argument for this map is how easy it is to throw down a random encounter. I draw some simple top down scenery or even just shapes to represent obstacles/cover and my players can easily visualize where the goblins ambushing them are. It adds variation to those styles of encounters and spices them up.Drawing a dungeon by hand:I drew the last half a dungeon my players were in when I bought it. This likely varies from user to user, but due to the size of the mat and my drawing speed, I found this the least useful way to use this. The size constrained how much of the cave system I could lay down at once and I didn't want to interrupt the flow of the game to draw/erase rooms in real time.Printing a map:I really enjoy building location/dungeon maps with Dungeon Painter Studio. One of my favorite uses of the mat has been to print said maps at Staples and then lay them under the vinyl and clamp it all together using the given clamps. The underlying mat gives it a sturdy feel and helps everything stay in place. The PVC film works great for drawing additional information on the map such as trap locations when players stumble upon them in real time. Again the size of the play area is the limiting factor in this so you cannot make sprawling dungeons, but I love it for smaller encounter areas. A great example for me was a multi-story home of a corrupt noble that my players were trying to infiltrate to find evidence on.Theater of the Mind Aid:Sometimes you plan to run things without physical maps but your players struggle getting their barrings on what you describe. Akin to my statements on Random Encounters, its great to have a large surface to just draw information on even if its not at the game scale.Complaints:The strap on my tubular document case that it comes in for toting around came undone on one end when I was carrying it to its third session. The erasers suck, especially if the marks have set out for an entire 3 hour+ session. I now just use a wet paper towel or cloth.TL;DR: Its a great multi-use tool for running a D&D campaign that you will definitely get your money out of. Its size is good for small tables like ours, but not for sprawling dungeon crawls.