Man, I freakin' love these new Dungeon Tiles

[Glyfair]

Which tiles were those?

Ummm...the ones that were in the Basic D&D Set? There were only one set of tiles in it. They were laid out the same as the tiles used in the first Worldwide D&D Game Day, only they were actually on cardboard (as compared to the D&D Game Day ones which were printed on a heavy paper/thin cardstock).

 

[Viking Kitten]

That depends on the manufacturer. $10 will cover nearly two complete E-Z TILES sets which will give you over 50 tiles, plus they are fully customizable allowing you to use them again and again and not have them look the same way twice (all room contents can be turned on/off to customize each tile before printing). Preprinted tile sets means you are stuck with item locations like tables, chairs, etc.

Pdf set are much more customizable, true. But add in the price of ink for printing tiles out in color and the Dungeon Tiles are much cheaper. Ink is stupidly expensive, but that's a whole other thread.

 

[Drew]

I agree. These are very, very nice.

 

[Conaill]

Pdf set are much more customizable, true. But add in the price of ink for printing tiles out in color and the Dungeon Tiles are much cheaper. Ink is stupidly expensive, but that's a whole other thread.

6 pages for $9? Yeah, right... Inkjet printing will cost you a fraction of a dollar, depending on which brand printer you have, and whether you buy original cartridges, generic 3rd party cartridges, or refill them yourself.

Actually, even if you make an unfortunate printer choice such as Lexmark, and keep buying their overpriced cartridges, you'll typically still wind up well under a dollar a page. More likely closer to half a dollar a page or less. (I know whereof I speak - having just traded in such a Lexmark printer. )

Have a look at WorldWorks Games' DungeonLinX: Lair of the Dragon God, for example. For that same $10, you get 32 floor tiles (7x7", plus some corridors), one 7" dragon, 3 sets of doors, four "pitfall" inserts, and two lava outflow channels. Any of which you can print out as often as you like.

Don't want to mess with gluing the tiles to foamboard, edging them, etc? Heck, just print on cardstock and cut them out with a pair of scissors. If one of your tiles gets squished in your book bag, or spilled upon by a careless gamer, it'll only be pennies to print out a new one...

 

[Felon]

6 pages for $9? Yeah, right... Inkjet printing will cost you a fraction of a dollar, depending on which brand printer you have, and whether you buy original cartridges, generic 3rd party cartridges, or refill them yourself

Don't want to mess with gluing the tiles to foamboard, edging them, etc? Heck, just print on cardstock and cut them out with a pair of scissors. If one of your tiles gets squished in your book bag, or spilled upon by a careless gamer, it'll only be pennies to print out a new one...

I don't know about the rest of you guys, but even when I'm low on cash, I still place a premium on my finite time on this mortal coil. I don't grasp how someone can be so frugal as to reject the concept of putting a dollar value on convenience, and think saving a few bucks is worth a not-insignificant amount of time consumed printing, cutting, and assembling pieces on your own (and repeating the process when you squish one in your book bag).

I might be able to get a better page-to-dollar ratio from a PDF vendor, but....these are more than enough, and they're plenty cheap, and they can be used off-the-rack. That all works for me, folks.

 

[Viking Kitten]

6 pages for $9? Yeah, right... Inkjet printing will cost you a fraction of a dollar, depending on which brand printer you have, and whether you buy original cartridges, generic 3rd party cartridges, or refill them yourself.

Actually, even if you make an unfortunate printer choice such as Lexmark, and keep buying their overpriced cartridges, you'll typically still wind up well under a dollar a page. More likely closer to half a dollar a page or less. (I know whereof I speak - having just traded in such a Lexmark printer. )

Yep, I have a Lexmark and I would rather chew off my big toe before I buy another color ink cartridge. Even on ebay it costs something like $20. And refilling color cartridges is a pain to do. My hat of printer companies know no limit.

The time factor is even more of an issue than the money though. I could easily scan and print out more of the Dungeon Tiles, but I would just buy another set instead.

 

[Viking Kitten]

Ummm...the ones that were in the Basic D&D Set? There were only one set of tiles in it. They were laid out the same as the tiles used in the first Worldwide D&D Game Day, only they were actually on cardboard (as compared to the D&D Game Day ones which were printed on a heavy paper/thin cardstock).

Oh yeah... taking a look at his basic set again... these are printed on cardboard. For some reason, I was thinking that they were on cardstock. Cool, they should be pretty compatible then. And the box is the perfect place to store the tiles in. If the new basic set has different tiles, I might have to get one.

 

[Thunderfoot]

Felon - again its about what works for you. If you like small square rooms, then I recommend you go for the new WotC tiles, you'll never have to worry about time, and they will hold up to a lot of abuse.

However, if you want something a little different, then they suck! Period. Anyone that wants their game to be unique by adding architechural elements will quickly find that these just don't cut it. They aren't for everyone, They work for the time crunched must play now types, the young inexperienced DM looking to throw something together and those that only need a basic layout to get by. For anything else, they fail miserably. They are completely uncustomizable and are genre specific: square, cut-mine caverns; any natural setting will suffer from the lack of curves and "flowing" style of build. I'm sure that eventually they will come up with something to fill that void, but this isn't it.

The other consideration is cost - you get 6 pages for 9$. That's it, if you need more you have to buy more. In the short term, they are cheaper. If however, you need multiples of a room in .pdf format, you pay the initial cost, print out the multiples and save big bucks. Spending $20 just to get two rooms isn't going to endear this product to those that game on a budget. If you have the money to spend, good for you, by all means go for it. I however have a wife, two kids and am a full-time student, my oldest starts college next year and my youngest starts when the oldest graduates. Saving money is a big deal for me.

No one is saying that one is better than the other (okay maybe a little bit) but each side of this 'argument' has its merit. For me it doesn't work, and convenience NEVER outweighs satisfaction for me.

 

[WayneLigon]

I'll have to check out the WoTC Tiles. I did a lot with just the small ones that came in the Minis startup set, so these look pretty good.

The FLGS had two sets of the Cadwallon tiles, and they did look very very nice. I still wish I could see a larger representation of the artwork, though, before I shell out $30.00 on city tiles. What I could make out on the back cover looked pretty impressive. If I can ever see a set or two opened, I might buy them. The style of city street/alley looks very much like something I can use.

 

[Ghendar]

I've no idea what you get from a PDF, but nine bucks for the kind of thick, sturdy card stock that I doubt most of our printers' rollers can handle seems like a great deal to me.

I agree. The sturdyness alone is worth the price.
Well, for me anyway.