Street Level
Street Level is a sci-fi battlemap with cartography by Simon Powell and published by DramaScape.
By Aaron T. Huss
Learn more about Street Level here
Purchase Street Level here
Find other DramaScape products here
Street Level is a future-like battlemap, although it can easily be used for modern settings too, featuring a small section of an urban street bounded by highrise buildings (not skyscraper). The futuristic appeal is more in flavor of the textures and the worn look of the street rather than any single piece that stands out as a true sci-fi addition. This means that you can easily use the battlemap for modern, sci-fi, cyberpunk, and post-apocalyptic settings, increasing its possible use options. The main focus of the battlemap is the urban street rather than the buildings. This means its more ideal for a street-level (see the significance of the name?) encounter such as rival gang members slugging it out or some type of high-tech duel between a PC and NPC.
OVERALL
Street Level is a cool looking map, albeit one that is fairly focused on a small area. I wouldn’t call it a full city block, maybe half a block, although the streets do allow you to continue your map in any direction desired. It be better to have a larger section of the urban environment represented or offer tiles that continue the street where all you need to add is the buildings. However, it still makes a cool location for a showdown.
RATINGS
Publication Quality: 10 out of 10
As always, DramaScape does an excellent job of cutting their battlemaps across multiple pages. It also includes a square-grid, hex-grid, gridless, and Virtual Tabletop version.
Visual Appeal: 10 out of 10
The Street Level map is quite stunning. Unlike a previous battlemap, this one uses very distinct textures and coloring for the sidewalk, curb, and street, making each one very easy to discern. It also has a fantastic worn look to it that shows the environment is not new and has seen many decades of wear and tear.
Desire to Use: 8 out of 10
Street Level is a great battlemap to use for an urban showdown. The only drawback is how small it is, even though the 3D images depict a larger area. I think it should be about twice as long, but this is only a minor complaint. What you get is a good sized area and more than enough for that urban showdown.
Overall: 9 out of 10
Street Level is another great addition to your sci-fi urban environments and another great piece from DramaScape. By focusing on the street instead of the buildings, the Game Master has more flexibility in where they place this map within their city and what surrounds that street.