Looking for honest reviews of dungeon tiles
Hey, I received a gift certificate to a book store and I'm thinking about picking up some dungeon tiles.
Normally, I wouldn't bother with this stuff since I generally think game accessories are a waste of money, but I'm taking a new approach to gaming, and I think the tiles may be useful. Besides, they're practically free to me.
What I'm looking for are some honest opinions on the various sets. I have enough to buy 3, maybe 4 sets, and I want to choose the right ones. It's impossible to get a read of whats inside the set based on the publisher's info.
I have seen 3 sets: Lost Caverns of the Underdark, Dire Tombs and Arcane Corridors.
I felt Lost Caverns was a good concept, but that the execution was lacking. The black jagged borders were too hard to differentiate in the kind of low light that we usually use at the game table.
Dire Tombs was the best of the three as it offered a pretty broad assortment of room sizes as well as some non-standard hallways.
Arcane Corridors was by far the most vibrant of the three, but the magic subject matter that pervaded the images made them slightly inappropriate to my realitively low-magic campaign world.
I'm curious to hear about the other sets. What about the most recent ones... Hall of the Giant Kings and especially Streets of Shadow. Streets of Shadow sounds like it has potential, but only if they are easy to manipulate. I have a feeling they are too limited. Like, the interior of an Inn is always useful, but you need to be able to change the dimensions and the details.
Anyone had a closer look?
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Players usually don't care wether it's a nice dungeons tile, or a dirty piece of graph paper.
All those greedy bastards want is to massacre the monsters inside and lift their earthly
possesions. Speak of which I once had this player who was so greedy he tried to hock
just about anything he found on the creatures dead bodies. The one time we had
a "lootless'' monster he tried to pluck out it's eyeballs and sell them. The sad thing was
that his character was a monk too. Anyways, If I were you I spend the money on something else
like a supplement such as the Player's Hanbook 2 (Awesome) or Unearthed Arcana (A must).
On another note. One simple and effective way to combat player's gaffling all your hidden loot
with too much ease is mounting the valuable alone on a pedestal. There's no way any
moderately experienced gamer would go near anything on a pedestal.
-"Players usually don't care wether it's a nice dungeons tile, or a dirty piece of graph paper.
All those greedy bastards want is to massacre the monsters inside and lift their earthly
possesions."
I don't know if that's entirely true of all roleplayers man. For my monthly campaign that I run we turn the gaming room into one big life sized handout, and everyone seems to appreciate that. By your rationale we could be playing under a cardboard shack in the alley and it wouldn't matter...which isn't true.
Myself, I don't use minis and so don't need dungeon tiles. I know many gamers however that swear by them. they'll often buy 3 or 4 sets of the same tiles so that they can do huge areas all at once. My one friend will set them up ahead of time in another room. He uses WFRP rules, so what he does is run his session at the table using those rules; then, when it's time to swtich to minis he also switches to the Mordeheim rules (easily compatible) and everyone moves over to the next room. He sets up massive areas ahead of time and uncovers them a bit at a time as PCs progress through the area.. That being said, he also is one of the most talented mini painters and set piece creators I've ever seen. His buildings and such are amazing. He's switched from dungeon tiles to formed and molded dungeon pieces that he casts himself then paints.
It's alot of work, but for him it's a labour of love. I don't play in any of his games (not my style), but his players love the added detail it provides. When he was using the dungeon tiles he was very happy with them.
(I have to say though that I wish I had a picture of the one set up I saw when I was over sampling some of his newly brewed stout. There was a little cove with some hidden caves in it that you could see inside by liftingh off the rocky "roof" of each one. There was the beach, a few buildings that also had removable roofs, and then there were three ships in the bay. He even had actual water, and they were actually floating. It was absolutley sick. But, he put more time into that than he did running the session...so I'm still not sold it's a good use of GMs time. If, however, you are into making those things anyways I suppose it all feels right in your head.)
I started using minis 2 years ago after years without them. See, I'm notoriously absent-minded, I lose my wallet and my keys at least once a week. Keeping track of where every character when I'm deep in role-play mode is hard enough to do, but with the onset of premature senility, there is no way I will ever run another game without minis (or at least some sort of marker).
My only beef with minis is that they encourage linear thinking. "Move, strike, move, strike." Whereas I'd much rather PCs engage their environment and think in multiple dimensions. Generally speaking, I think ceilings and walls are more important than floors. And I consider combat in D&D to be a fluid process. You don't simply move and attack: a successful hit is the end result of nearly a minute of swashbuckling action, the damage inflicted representing the cumulative effect several strikes, as well as physical exhaustion, and self-inflicted abrasions. (If I were creative enough with flowery language, I would summarize each combat round once everyone had taken their turns, and I would describe the round as a series of simultaneous actions)
As for dungeon tiles, like I said, I'd never actually -buy- them. But I have to use this gift certificate, and I can get a whole lot of tiles vs. maybe one or two books. I'm currently in a master's program, and if there is anything in this world I don't need right now, it's more books! Besides, I play a hybrid of 1st Ed and 2nd Ed. so the mainstream bookstore doesn't carry any RPG books that interest me. (Now, if they carried Hackmaster or Aces and Eights, there would be no discussion. Alas.)
Finally, one of the reasons for the dungeon tiles is so I can, again, randomize my DMing. I can build dungeons by pulling tiles out of a bag, not so much at the game table but rather, when I'm prepping for the game. It may or may not work.
I'm totally impressed with fancy dungeon minis though. I know a guy who invested a fortune in Dwarven Forge products, and I'm totally jealous. I think they are the coolest things ever. As for people who make their own 3D dungeons... that's just... wow. Where do you find the time!
-"(If I were creative enough with flowery language, I would summarize each combat round once everyone had taken their turns, and I would describe the round as a series of simultaneous actions)"
That's what I do most of the time. You don't have to be that flowery though. Sometimes visceral, gritty, and to the point serves the scene better.
-"I'm totally impressed with fancy dungeon minis though. I know a guy who invested a fortune in Dwarven Forge products, and I'm totally jealous. I think they are the coolest things ever. As for people who make their own 3D dungeons... that's just... wow. Where do you find the time!"
To be fair, my friend doesn't really have the time either. Not really anyways...he's insomniac, so time makes itself for him. He's also a brewer, so he finds himself with too much beer most of the time and has to do something while he drinks it. He and I are going to collaborate on a project where I design a dungeon campaign that takes place strictly in the walls of said place, and he is going to make the scenery a piece at a time. When it's done we're going to co-GM the campaign. The obstacles to overcome in this endeavor are HUGE, and we have very clearly bitten off more than we can chew.
Your idea sounds great, Scott.
If I had the artistic skills or the patience to make models, I'd be making animated films or something. Sounds like he puts a lot of effort into his creations, and few people will ever appreciate it.