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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 5821953" data-attributes="member: 1210">The problem with Dungeon Tiles isn't the tiles themselves, it's using them in published adventures to make crappy maps, sometimes with notes like "the big pipe is actually an altar" or "the dead bodies are actually bushes".I mean, how many times do we need to have the same layout and the same four crystals growing from the ground? How many reflavorings do we need to do before we realize that an actual decent map in the module is far better than one pieced together to help sell the tiles?I look at the way a good module uses maps, say Red Hand of Doom, and it's nothing like the way tile-based maps are used. Good cartography is a module is more important than good art IMHO. Not only do Dungeon Tiles fail to build a good map- they're just ugly- they are repetitive, they encourage WotC to give short shrift to maps in adventures and they utterly fail to correspond to any scene other than the one they actually depict- the one where the sewer pipe is an actual sewer pipe and the corpses are corpses. If the whole point of tiles is to enhance the game experience, it doesn't work to say, "Here's a picture of the area- except A, B and C are all different." Why use the tiles at all then?Now, don't get me wrong; I have no problem with anyone using them as they see fit, but to me, they actively detract from immersion 9 times out of 10, they don't add much to the game (AFAIHS) and they end up with WotC deciding that tile-based maps are a great way to save money on module construction!HINT: Black and white is a better option. Cheap but sturdy paper is a better option. One book per module, rather than the two-booklet format used in 4e's HPE series, is a better option. Crappy maps is a horrible way to save money, and tile-based maps are universally crappy IMHO- they shoehorn adventure designs into predetermined shapes with predetermined features when at their best.All of this, again, is IMHO- but it's a pretty damn strong HO.</blockquote>

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