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by ced1106g

Introduction
Loke Battlemat's "Rooms, Vaults, and Chambers" (2023) is a spiral-bound set of indoor ground-level and underground rooms. Each map is 8"x12" and its double-page format allows you to use either a single or double page for your encounter. Like other "Big Book of Battle Maps", RVC is printed on sturdy laminated write-on wipe-off cardstock, durable enough to be easily carried. (The larger 12"x16" "Giant Book of Battle Mats" tend to be bulkier for transport. Also, the "Books of Battle Mats" series are hardbound in cardstock slipcovers.) The maps have the same high-quality artwork that you expect from Loke Battlemants, as well as convenient write-on / wipe-off surface and various vinyl cling packs.

City -- Underground -- Modern Day
Overall, this map set would be best for city-based adventuring. RVC maps are a good compliment to the "Battle Mat Book Set: Towns and Taverns". Some of the maps can also be used in dungeons, and even modern day settings.

"Towns and Taverns" (2020) map set and "Add-On Scenery for RPG Battle Maps: Town Trimmings" (2020) vinyl clings set: "Towns and Taverns" and "Town Trimmings" is my recommended start for your city and village maps. "Towns and Taverns" contains both outdoor and indoor maps, including generic buildings. "Town Trimmings" is quite useful to customize maps, as well as add walls, doors, and roofs. RVC would then be an additional purchase after these map sets to further detail your cities and underground.

Scale: BTW, The outdoor street maps of "Towns and Taverns" have necessarily small buildings, so it may seem odd to have an 8"x12" room from RVC in a 3"x4" "Towns and Taverns" building. My handwavy suggestion is to scale the T&T street maps at 10' per inch, rather than the standard 5' per inch. Alternately, for slum and seedy areas, where buildings could indeed be quite small, you can still use the 5' per inch standard. Otherwise, T&T building maps are the same scale and seamlessly work together with the RVC and other Loke mats.

The left side opens up to a grassy area, while the right goes to the street.

Streets -- Villages -- Dungeons
Other Outdoor and Underground Maps: You can also plop down the RVC book onto a "blank" dungeon map, available in the "Battle Mat Book Set: The Dungeon" (2020) or "Dungeons Reignited" (2026), as a street building; or next to or on any outdoor map, such as one from "The Terrain Set" (2025), as a village building. Of course, the underground RVC maps work perfectly fine alongside other dungeon maps of all kinds.

D&D 5e "Keys from the Golden Vault": Those owning this D&D adventure book should know that many of the specialized areas in the adventures (eg. museum, casino, spa, docks, etc.) are available in RVC. However, not all of the specialized areas (eg. animal cages) are in the RVC or T&T books.

The Maps!
Ultimately, you will want to buy a map set that matches your adventures. As much as I like the RVC maps, if you're going to, say run an outdoors adventure, you're going to want outdoor maps. (BTW, If you're looking for a 3rd-5th level adventure with accompanying maps, I recommend the Loke Battlemat's "RPG Encounter Toolboxes - The Veiled Dungeon & The Long Road" (2023) sets. These are the only adventures I know of that include all the battle maps you need for the adventure. Likewise, if you're looking for outdoor maps, look at the mentioned "The Terrain Set" (2025), which includes its own vinyl clings.) As a result, for RVC, I've made lists of the maps in the book which will hopefully help you decide if this set is right for you. Note that a map can appear on more than one list.

City: Common and Generic: List of commonly used maps for most medieval adventures.
City: Specialized: List of unusual maps.
Dungeon and Underground: Maps useful for hidden rooms below a city building, as well as generic rooms for a dungeon.
Modern-Day Maps: Maps that can be used outside of medieval fantasy.

City: Common and Generic
1-2 : Tavern and lower cellar
3 : Office building
3-4 : Office and jail
5-6 : Library
9-10 : Warehouse
11-12: Sewer
13-14: Warehouse hideout
15-16: Crypt
17 : Backroom
27 : Abandoned cellar
33-34: Rock passage
35-36: Weapons shop and general store
37 : Magic item store
38 : Magic item store
39-40: Inn or large meal preparation area and multiple-person sleeping quarters
41-42: Wizard's area, including portal
43-44: Higher-end tavern and lower-level casino
45-46: Flooded stone building or flooded dungeon
47: Stone staircase
49: Evil-looking stone room with green skull floor
50: Stone staircase
51: Stone pool room
52: Treasure room with skull
55-56: Eating hall and preparation
57: Damaged stone room
59: Generic wooden room
60: Generic stone room

City: Specialized
7: Student lecture hall
8: Student classroom
17-18: Theatre
19-20: Industrial area and furnace
21-22: High-end Spa
23-24: Museum
25-26: Large master bedroom and sitting area
28 : Mysterious magical fissure
29-30: Haunted floor
31-32: Jail converted to vault.
42: Magical portal
48 : Stone room with surrounding lava
53 : Abandoned church
54: Deserted stone hall
58: Lava throne room

Dungeon and Underground
15-16: Crypt
28 : Mysterious magical fissure
33-34: Rock passage
41-42: Wizard's area, including portal
45-46: Flooded stone building or flooded dungeon
47: Stone staircase
48: Stone room with surrounding lava
49: Evil-looking stone room with green skull floor
50: Stone staircase
51: Stone pool room
52: Treasure room with skull
54: Deserted stone hall
57: Damaged stone room
58: Lava throne room
60: Generic stone room

Modern-Day Maps
2: Wine cellar
3: Office building
5-6 : Library
7: Hogwarth's student lecture hall
8: Hogwarth's student classroom
9-10 : Warehouse
11-12: Sewer
17-18: Theatre
19-20: Industrial area and furnace
21-22: High-end Spa
23-24: Museum
25-26: Large master bedroom and sitting area
27 : Abandoned cellar
29-30: Haunted floor
33-34: Rock passage
43-44: Higher-end tavern and possibly underground casino
45-60: Various occult, abandoned, and remote areas

RVC Generic Rooms with "Town Trimmings" and "Dungeon Dressing" vinyl clings
Plenty of Maps (and Vinyl Clings) to Choose From
Loke BattleMats has a wide variety of map books and vinyl clings. While a complete buying guide is beyond the scope of this review -- no, I don't have a copy of every Loke map book! -- here're some recommendations for the Loke items I've mentioned in this review.

"Towns and Taverns" (2020) and "Add-On Scenery for RPG Battle Maps: Town Trimmings" (2020): IMO, This is the best "core" set of town maps. You customize the "Town and Taverns" maps with the "Town Trimmings" vinyl clings. Buy whichever "Big Book" and "Giant Book" maps you need for your adventures. Maps are spiral-bound into two volumes.

"The Terrain Set" (2025): Same idea as "Towns and Taverns", but for wilderness maps. For additional vinyl clings, search on "Loke add on scenery".

"Battle Mat Book Set: The Dungeon" (2020) or "Dungeons Reignited" (2026), and "Add-On Scenery for RPG Battle Maps: Dungeon Dressing" (2020): The market has quite a few dungeon maps and tiles, yet you'll want a set that matches *your* dungeon. Take a close look at the maps before buying. Loke Battlemats feature write-on wipe-off surfaces, and the "Add-Scenery for RPG Battle Mats: Dungeon Decorations" (2020) vinyl clings to customize their maps.

"RPG Encounter Toolboxes - The Veiled Dungeon" (2023) and "RPG Encounter Toolboxes - The Long Road" (2023): These boxed sets have a 3rd-5th level adventure with accompanying maps and random encounters. You'll still supply your own miniatures, but you won't be scrounging for maps for the adventure. The maps are loose and fold-out. They're also generic enough for other adventures.

Conclusion
Hopefully, this review will help you decide if the RVC map set is right for you. The 8"x12" write-on / wipe-off book certainly has the high-quality and detail of Loke Battlemats so you can better enjoy your roleplaying and other miniature games!

by sdonohue

Character Collection 3: Bandits and Outlaws is a 2021 release from Gaming Ballistic LLC. It is designed four use with The Fantasy Trip. The book is written by Douglas H. Cole and illustrated by a team of artists.

Presentation
This is available in pdf and print versions. The print version is a 20 page staple-bound softcover with thick color covers and slick interiors in black & white. The layout is two columns in portrait.

Contents
This book contains 72 characters for TFT and focuses on those who have less savory reputations. The book starts with a table of contents and it not only shows all the characters, but it has subheadings to help you find characters of different types like discontented, farmers, heavily armed, merchants and wanderers, outlaws and pariahs, soldiers and warriors, and finally townsfolk. There are several character in each of these sections.

After the table of contents, there's a brief introduction and then we get to the meat of the book, the characters. Each character has a name (usually somewhat terrible like Trem or Vatsk), a single line description (like 30 point unhinged assistant), a small illustration, a description of their history and motivation and then a character sheet with attributes, talents, languages, spells (if applicable), and weapons. All of this typically takes about a quarter-page with typically 4-5 characters per page.

Both the inside front and inside back covers include counters so every character has a counter which matches (generally) their appearance in the illustration.

Evaluation
I like the addition of subheadings in the table of contents. The primary use of this book for most gms is going to be finding stats for an NPC on the fly, and the subheadings and groupings make it much easier to find a farmer or an outlaw, than just thumbing through the book. The history and motivation are interesting and could be used if the character becomes a recurring element of the game or if the gm is looking for some quick npcs for a planned encounter.

The presence of illustrations and counters also helps to make the book more useful, although I don't think I'd cut up my cover to use those counters. Overall, I think this is a good book and somewhat of an improvement over the first two volumes in the series.

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