Looking for some modern-day maps usable for RPG purposes, I recently stumbled upon Modern Day Maps X by LPJ Design. Its being available as a watermarked PDF for $6.99 triggered the classical impulse buy reflex and caused me to download it, hoping for instant gratification.

What do you get?

Modern Day Maps X is a compilation of four sets of maps of (more or less) contemporary everyday locales like cornerstores, hotel rooms, bars and the like. The PDF contains 79 pages, including the cover and five pages of ads for Haven - City of Violence, which leaves room for 73 maps. There's no introduction, preface or index, or any additional information of any kind.

Each map covers one page. You get a nice selection of plans for ordinary locales like a hotel room, a bedroom, an automobile dealer, a restaurant, a gas station, several types of stores ond offices, warehouses and street corners, but also more exotic ones like the site of a plane crash, two murder scenes complete with bodies, police car and weapon lying around, or a stake-out setup. There's a strip club, a subway platform, some boats, and some prison rooms like shower, cell etc.

How does it look?

To be honest, it looks a bit cheap. Thick black lines, no shading except some areas which are checkered or polka-dotted for no discernible reason and big boldfaced lettering all over the map; I have seen much nicer maps used in RPGs. The maps look rough and not at all like professional building plans or street maps. Some maps even lack the scale, and there are several buildings which lack windows.

However, some maps contain small details like trash cans and refuse strewn around corners, items on table etc; stuff for players to interact with, which is a nice idea. Also, just about everything is lettered, so there's little room for confusion.

So, should I buy it?

Well, it's not too bad for the price. Most of the maps seem very usable, if a bit rough. You can print them out and simply plunk them on the table, and there's enough of them to cover lots of different situations and most of the staples of any modern genre. And most players love maps. Considering the amount of time it takes to draw halfway decent maps yourself, this is a good source of disposable generic locales. They do look a bit primitive, however, and some of the buildings look simplified or not very convincingly thought out, while others offer great roleplaying material.