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Big Hexyland 2 Modular Fantasy World $5.00
Publisher: Blue Boxer Rebellion
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by Alastair M. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 08/30/2015 05:50:45

Although calling itself a sequel to the original Blue Boxer Rebellion's "Big Hexyland", this is really a rather different product to that original, albeit in a similar style. Maybe a different name - "Big Hexyland Modular Expansion Set", perhaps - would have clarified things for anyone who thought this would continue the earlier Big Hexyland world in new directions, and in the same way, with text-description node maps as well as the beautiful coloured landscape ones.

However, this set has its own strong appeal, and the option to turn off an array of individual terrain items on all except one of the maps, provides a fascinating customising option beyond the original Big Hexyland's "fixed" world. The maps are again wonderfully-drawn, if maybe a touch less colourfully than in the original set, though as before, they'll benefit from being printed on a home inkjet at the best quality level, and paper stock, you can muster. It's definitely worth sitting down and going through this set carefully, experimenting with the different terrain layer options, before deciding how to print any given map to fit your own world as well - or indeed to extend the original Big Hexyland world, because that's equally possible.

The labelling is the only real disappointment. There's just the option to have all the labels on or off on each map. They're also in black, so at times there's no colour contrast, and become hard to read against some terrain features. But worst is they're totally unimaginative for the most part, and serve really just to tell you which feature is which for the layers list - something you can easily work out by simply switching on and off individual map layers anyway. Even had the names been more appealing, the single "all or nothing" option of them being on just one layer, defeats any customisation of the map features. Of course, adding layers to label each feature separately would add considerably to the file size, and the complexity of configuring your own maps, so perhaps providing a single layer option to name all features using the properly contrasting label colours of the first Big Hexyland, and with imaginative names, would have been a better compromise. Maybe the labels could be omitted entirely for the hex-corner barrier mountains, as these seem most likely to be features GMs will wish to alter especially.

As noted already, one of the maps is different, "The Gnashfang Chaos". Strangely, this map is drawn with only two layers - the map and its labels - so separate features on it can't be turned on or off. Also, its labels are all imaginative, and are presented in properly contrasting black or white, as best suits the landforms they're set against. Indeed, this looks more like an escapee from the first "Big Hexyland" set. If only it had been given a node-map description page too!

A reworking of the labels, to become like those on "Gnashfang Chaos", would make a real improvement to this product. Even so, I'd still give it a four-star rating for what it is currently.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Big Hexyland 2 Modular Fantasy World
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