DIY WotC-styled Dungeon Tiles printing

[N0Man]

I've bought several of these sets, but so many of them have become ridiculously overpriced once they go out of print. I really want to buy more, and would be happy to be buy more at the original $9.99, but I'm not going to pay the jacked up $99.99 and $199.99 prices that these *Insert insulting plural noun* are asking. They are nice color cardboard prints, but I can buy Dwarven Forge stuff for those prices.

Anyway, since Wizards aren't going to print anymore (I've contacted their customer service to ask), I may just have to make some myself. So, has anyone had much luck in printing/creating knock-off, alternatives, etc of Dungeon Tiles?

I was thinking of even scanning pieces of some of the out-of-print ones that I do have in order to make a 2nd copy, as well as maybe customizing several, and designing a few from scratch. In total honesty, due to the fact that they aren't selling some sets, I'm not above pirating scans of sets I don't have that are out of print as well... I WANT to buy them, but if they won't sell them, there's not much else I can do.

If anyone has tips, or experiences they can share, or can point to resources on this subject, please do share. If someone has good photos of anything like this they've made, I'd love to see those as well.

I don't think I could possibly make anything that looks as nice as the ones WotC made, but I'd like to try my hand at making something at at least approaches them.

I'm aware of some of the 3D ones like Fat Dragon already btw, and sure they are nice but space *is* a consideration for me. Part of the appeal of the WotC ones are that they are flat and don't take up much space.

 

[im_robertb]

No more at $9.99!? No more being printed? But...I just discovered their awesomeness! I have $60 of Chapters gift cards to spend!

Someone around here made dungeon tiles for the first few Scales of War adventures. His method I think was to print onto cardstock, glue onto cardboard, and then cut it out. I think this gave something a bit lighter than the WotC dungeon tiles, but they looked really good in the photos.

 

[Thanee]

Anyway, since Wizards aren't going to print anymore (I've contacted their customer service to ask), I may just have to make some myself.

You mean the OOP sets, right? They sure continue to expand the line.

BTW, I just recently got a set of DT1 from ebay for €20, so it's not like they are completely unavailable at decent prices. Took a while to find one, of course, and I actually found it on accident when I was looking for an extra copy of DT4; but I wanted to have a complete sealed set of them, which I have now (DT1 was the only one missing there; already have a complete set plus some extras for play). The amazon marketplace prices are positively insane. It's not even remotely worth that much (sometimes there are reasonable sellers between them, though; my extra copy of DT3 was bought from amazon marketplace a few months ago for only $10).

So, has anyone had much luck in printing/creating knock-off, alternatives, etc of Dungeon Tiles?

Nope, but there are plenty PDFs available (for cheap) from various companies; color-printing those and glueing them on sturdy cardboard and then laminating for protection doesn't seem that hard to do. It probably just needs some patience.

I'm aware of some of the 3D ones like Fat Dragon already btw, and sure they are nice but space *is* a consideration for me. Part of the appeal of the WotC ones are that they are flat and don't take up much space.

The newer sets of Dungeon Tiles will also incorporate some 3D elements, as I have read elsewhere.

Bye
Thanee

 

[N0Man]

No more at $9.99!? No more being printed? But...I just discovered their awesomeness! I have $60 of Chapters gift cards to spend!

Someone around here made dungeon tiles for the first few Scales of War adventures. His method I think was to print onto cardstock, glue onto cardboard, and then cut it out. I think this gave something a bit lighter than the WotC dungeon tiles, but they looked really good in the photos.

There are still sets in print, but I was referring to the sets that have gone out of print.

For example, take a look at this list on Amazon...

Dungeon Tiles (Dungeons & Dragons Accessory) Used and New
That's right... From $95 to $277... That's right, up to 18 times the original price.

I've tried to do as Thanee suggested and find shops online that still had some for a reasonable price... Unfortunately that has led me to getting ripped off and dropping $50 and they never actually sent me the sets I purchased. I'm going to have to deal with my bank to get the money back now.

 

[Dire Bare]

Anyway, since Wizards aren't going to print anymore (I've contacted their customer service to ask), I may just have to make some myself. So, has anyone had much luck in printing/creating knock-off, alternatives, etc of Dungeon Tiles?

Wizards won't print the OOP sets again, true, but they do release new sets that are often similar to some of the older sets. I originally thought I might want multiples of various sets, but with purchasing just one copy of each release, I have a giant box filled with dungeon tiles.

I was thinking of even scanning pieces of some of the out-of-print ones that I do have in order to make a 2nd copy, as well as maybe customizing several, and designing a few from scratch. In total honesty, due to the fact that they aren't selling some sets, I'm not above pirating scans of sets I don't have that are out of print as well... I WANT to buy them, but if they won't sell them, there's not much else I can do.

I think if you copy or scan your tiles for your own personal use, you should be fine. Just don't distribute them to others in any way.

And, as previous posters have noted, there is a good handful of companies that sell PDF files filled with flat tiles that are very compatible with WotC's Dungeon Tiles. There's a lot of good stuff to choose from out there, just do a search on RPGNOW.com and you'll find them. I think even Fat Dragon has a few. Here's a link:

EN World PDF Store - 2-D Buildings/Terrain | 2-D Gebäude/Gelände | Construction 2-D/Terrain - RPG PDF downloads

 

[kitsune9]

I've bought several of these sets, but so many of them have become ridiculously overpriced once they go out of print. I really want to buy more, and would be happy to be buy more at the original $9.99, but I'm not going to pay the jacked up $99.99 and $199.99 prices that these *Insert insulting plural noun* are asking. They are nice color cardboard prints, but I can buy Dwarven Forge stuff for those prices.

Anyway, since Wizards aren't going to print anymore (I've contacted their customer service to ask), I may just have to make some myself. So, has anyone had much luck in printing/creating knock-off, alternatives, etc of Dungeon Tiles?

I was thinking of even scanning pieces of some of the out-of-print ones that I do have in order to make a 2nd copy, as well as maybe customizing several, and designing a few from scratch. In total honesty, due to the fact that they aren't selling some sets, I'm not above pirating scans of sets I don't have that are out of print as well... I WANT to buy them, but if they won't sell them, there's not much else I can do.

If anyone has tips, or experiences they can share, or can point to resources on this subject, please do share. If someone has good photos of anything like this they've made, I'd love to see those as well.

I don't think I could possibly make anything that looks as nice as the ones WotC made, but I'd like to try my hand at making something at at least approaches them.

I'm aware of some of the 3D ones like Fat Dragon already btw, and sure they are nice but space *is* a consideration for me. Part of the appeal of the WotC ones are that they are flat and don't take up much space.

There are lots of 2d tiles at RPG now and with World Works Games. Skeleton Key Games has billions of tiles for lots of themes that you can print off and WWG has their Dragon God tiles that they call 2.5D which means that there are flat tiles with some 3D stuff like double-doors and a dragon, but all that's optional.

Paizo have their flip mats and also sell tiles under their Game Mastery line.

 

[Mark]

If you're going to the trouble of making them yourself, anyway, here's an alternative to the artwork you can use -

http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/258059-kevs-lounge-free-dungeon-tiles.html

 

[RogueMonkeyChief]

A couple of years, WotC posted a Dungeon Tile Mapper program on their website. If you download the program, it contains all the images from the first four set of Dungeon Tiles. They are lower resolution, but if you open them in Paint and stretch them 300%, they print out at the correct size.

 

[darjr]

The latest version of the Dungeon Tile Mapper is available at the yahoo group for it. dungeon_tiles : D&D Dungeon Tile Maps (WotC)

 

[Theron]

Here's my technique for the printing/mounting part of the equation.

I picked up a box of Avery full-page shipping label stock (Item #8465). It's exactly what it sounds like, a full continuous page of uncut label stock. It wasn't cheap (about 30 bucks for a box of 100 sheets), but it wasn't awful.

Next, I went to Hobby Lobby and bought a package of craft foam sheets. The sheets are about 8.5 x 5.5 and are lightweight (about 1/16" thick) colored foam sheets.

Then, I just print to a sheet of label stock, peel off the back, stick a couple of sheets of foam to it, make sure it's good and secure, then cut them out. Easy peasy.