Does anybody use Master Maze for their gaming?

[JoeGKushner]

1. They're high end toys.

2. They consume a lot of space.

3. They take time to assemble/put away.

4. They lend a great visual to the game.

My main problem came in the consumption of space. As the owner of many sets, since I no longer game at my place, they're useless in essence. Too heavy to take to another person's house for one game.

Fun stuff and if I ever have a larger apartment again, they'll see use.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

And as stated above, Hirts molds are as beautiful and far more priceworthy then MM.

I really dont see why people say that. The molds are expensive (34 dollars) and dont produce many bricks, requiring you to either slave away at cranking the bricks or shell out more money for an additional molds. The plaster isnt exactly super cheap either, then you add in time assembling stuff. Further, unless you design it to be modular, you spend a ton of time making a building, then have to store it forever.

If you have a lot of time on your hands, you can make some stuff a bit cheaper than DF, if you're in it for the long haul. For joe average who wants to make some dungeon rooms,. I'd say a few dwarven forge basic room and passage sets (79 each) will go much further. For a few hundred bucks you can make a good setup. With hirst arts, for a few hundred, you get the stuff to make the stuff to make a good setup. It adds the benefit of making exactly what you want, but I wouldnt really say its FAR better.

One unexpected problem with both is how empty rooms look once built unless you also get some accessories. You've got these great setups, but nothing in them but PC's and monsters. Mega miniatures, JR terrain and printed out cardboard props from worldworks can help this.

 

[JVisgaitis]

I have a set and they look cool, but I don't use them. Like someone else said, its hard to see your figures and it takes forever to set up. I use them more for the D&D Minis game with the one set I have. I wouldn't spend the money, its not worth it.

 

[JVisgaitis]

One more thing... The squares are designed as a perfect 1" x 1" square. When you try and line up to medium D&D minis in a double corridor, a lot of times you have issues with them fitting. That just increases my ire. Again, they look awesome, they just aren't a good investment for every game IMO.

 

[dougmander]

I have lots of MM sets (Dagger 75's roommate is a dabbler in comparison). They are gorgeous. They can be a pain to set up -- but if you give your players a sketch on paper and let them build it, then they have the fun of putting it together rather than waiting around for you to do it. If you use plastic 5-drawer storage units, it's quite easy to find the piece you're looking for.

I agree that it's hard to fit the minis in sometimes -- I had to remove the 1-inch bases from lots of my minis and go with smaller bases. As for Hirst Arts, it looks like a fascinating hobby in itself but I just don't have time to make cast after cast, then assemble and paint it.

 

[Zander]

I have a small quantity of MM and I like it a lot. I've also played in larger MM set-ups at cons and enjoyed those.

The problem with MM is the cost. To construct an extensive dungeon like the ones I've played in at cons would cost a fortune.

A cheaper alternative is Ainsty. Unlike MM, it comes unpainted but the sculpting and production quality is just as good.

 

[DM_Jeff]

I hate it. Hate, hate, hate, with the burning fire of a thousand suns. In addition to the amount of set-up time required, my main complaint is that I can't see anything. In order to actually see the placement of minis or markers, you have to basically stand and hover over the thing.QUOTE]

Quoted for the exact experience my wife and I had. A player who was apparently quite well off who gamed with us for a while brought over tons of the stuff for us to use. It was pretty, sure, but it failed in every other aspect. We even had trouble the first few minutes trying to get 2 PC minis to walk side-by-side down a 10-ft. wide hall because the walls weren't built for the diversity of mini sculpts with spears, swords, or action poses that bring them out of their 1" square.

-DM Jeff

 

[pogre]

I really dont see why people say that. The molds are expensive (34 dollars) and dont produce many bricks, requiring you to either slave away at cranking the bricks or shell out more money for an additional molds. The plaster isnt exactly super cheap either, then you add in time assembling stuff. Further, unless you design it to be modular, you spend a ton of time making a building, then have to store it forever.

If you have a lot of time on your hands, you can make some stuff a bit cheaper than DF, if you're in it for the long haul. For joe average who wants to make some dungeon rooms,. I'd say a few dwarven forge basic room and passage sets (79 each) will go much further. For a few hundred bucks you can make a good setup. With hirst arts, for a few hundred, you get the stuff to make the stuff to make a good setup. It adds the benefit of making exactly what you want, but I wouldnt really say its FAR better.

One unexpected problem with both is how empty rooms look once built unless you also get some accessories. You've got these great setups, but nothing in them but PC's and monsters. Mega miniatures, JR terrain and printed out cardboard props from worldworks can help this.

I agree with many of your "complaints." I think Hirst Arts molds are really for people who like to model, paint, and build scenery. The main advantage is the flexibility the Hirst Arts molds provide. You can build anything!

I use both MM and Hirst Arts. I think the Hirst Arts stuff is a great complimentary product to the MM line.

One other advantage you have with Hirst Arts is you can build the walls lower to allow folks who are seated to see more easily. I like the 3.5" walls of MM, but I can certainly see why it frustrates some.

If you go with Hirst Arts I highly recommend using dental plaster. For the time and effort you want something that is going to last and is rugged enough to stand up to continued use. Plaster of paris fails in both these regards.

 

[xnosipjpqmhd]

I have mixed opinions.

I used 3D dungeon pieces in a one-shot (okay, two-shot) game a while back, just to see how well they worked. It was an updated Caves of Chaos (actually about 1/3 of the whole caves). These pieces are SUPER heavy to haul around, take up a lot of table space, and slow the game down a bit while you fiddle with them.

If you do decide to use them for a large dungeon, I strongly recommend that you prearrange various sections of the dungeon on 8x10 thin wooden boards. Then just whip out each full board as the heroes advance. (Also I recommend arranging it so that your board sections divide at doorways.)

This method has the added attraction that, as the PCs approach the edge of the map, you can simply remove some boards from the opposite end of the table, slide the remaining boards over a bit (don't scuff yer table!), and add new boards as needed.

The second time I used them was at an ENworld game day. I only used them for a single building. I think the cool factor was appreciated by the players, but whipping out (and putting away) a full-color paper map would've been just as good and a whole lot quicker.

So I'll probably try them again in the future, when I've forgotten what a pain they were. Recently I've been sticking with paper maps (but then I'm a graphic designer, so I'm biased).

As for price, I couldn't afford the MM and DF stuff. I built my set using a couple boxes of bathroom tile I lucked into real cheap. A little all-purpose adhesive and some paint, and I was good to go!

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I have Master Maze, and used it for my Chainmail setups as well as for FRPGs. However, I don't use it that much.

Despite its high quality and great visual impact, it IS a hassle to set up. Thus, I relegate it to MAJOR encounters only.

Don't get me wrong- I love it and if I see a bargain on it, I pick it up- but I don't go looking for it.