Dungeon Stamps Limited Edition

[Teflon Billy]

Dungeon Stamps is (are?) an interesting product.

The concept is pretty unique: use rubber stamps and an inkpad to speed up the drawing of terrain on an erasable battlemat. So far so good.

There’s really no “RPG content” to review here, you either like the concept described above for it’s utility, or alternately you find the concept sounds like more trouble than just drawing terrain yourself with a pen. Either would be a reasonable assumption to arrive at based on your personal meeds, but for our purposes here, I will be breaking out my old chessex erasable hex map and just seeing how well the things actually work.

I will be writing this review in real-time, as I attempt to use the product.

So here we go (sets down the keyboard and peruses the package)

Ok, the little box the stamps and accessories come in is quite nice. Pressed cardboard , with a small brass latch to hold it’s hinged lid shut. The “Hinge” itself is just more pressed cardboard, so I don’t think the box itself will be that useful as a permanent storage thing. Still, it’s a neat, sturdy little container and the product itself fits into it like a jigsaw puzzle.

Included in the box is a little bottle of ink, and a stamp-pad. I worry that the ink is some kid of special “Dungeon Stamps Secret Formula”, and would be difficult to replace. I have no proof one way or the other mind you, as the label on the bottle doesn’t mention refills.

OK, let’s fill up the stamp pad and see how that goes. (at this point our author drips the ink onto the pad)

Ok, it’s filled up now, and after sitting for five minutes soaking, I think it’s ready to go.

The selection of stamps here are…

• A Table maybe? It looks like a table, in that it is an overhead view of a woodgrained rectangle. It prints onto the Chessex map well.
  
• What looks like an isometric view of a windowpane. I guess this gets stamped over the regular walls that you draw by hand. Or maybe the table is a wall, and you stamp it on either side of the window. It’s nicely done and stamps well.
  
• Staircase! Ok, this one is definitely a staircase. It seems to have a bit of trouble holding enough ink compared to the other pieces in the set.
  
• A Torch Bracket…but it is not made in the same “overhead isometric” view that the other stamps use. This torch-bracket would actually appear to be attached to the floor.
  
• A Double Door. Nicely done perspective-wise and prints well on the mat.
  
• A Single Door. Ditto.
  
• Cargo (crates and barrels). Nice, and prints up well.
  
• A Tree. Well done, but tend to smudge more easily than the others due to the fine detail of the cut itself. Not really a criticism of the stamp, more a warning to myself to be more careful.
  
• …and two I am just lost on. One looks like maybe it’s a giant keyhole, or maybe a ladder descending into a hole in the ground, the other I have no clue…maybe it’s a pillar or something laying on its side (though the ends are open). I don’t know. Both print well.

Ok, that’s the extent of the practical test of the product, and I think it went well. The stamps seem to be well-made examples of rubber stamp technology and I like the presentation (the box I mentioned earlier).

I like these things. The concept is a strong one, if the execution is a little iffy at times. 2/8 stamps being not immediately recognizable is a large percentage, but for a first “working the kinks out” effort it’s a good one.

I probably won’t use them myself (I can draw well enough, quickly enough that I don’t think these have a lot of utility for me), I might use The Tree occasionally.

I’m told there are more sets being released soon, and I think that a lot of folks will find them useful.

 

[Crothian]

A real time review!! I'm impressed.

 

[Messageboard Golem]

Dungeon Stamps are rubber stamps with map symbols made for use on vinyl game mats and dry-erase surfaces. These easy-to-use stamps add instant visual appeal to any table top RPG. Create dungeons on the fly right in front of your players. When the encounter is through, wipe the map away with a damp rag and start anew.

 

[Messageboard Golem]

I think the mystery stamps are supposed to be an arrow slit and a chair.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Green Dragon Studio has crafted a nifty toy in Dungeon Stamps. I picked up the limited edition pack on E-bay. Apparently some of the packs suffered some ink damage. Me being the semi-poor reviewer I am, bought a set.

When it arrived, with prompt shipping I might add, I opened the package not knowing what to expect. It comes with ten hand crafted stamps including the following: Arrow Slit, Chair, Crates and Barrel (one stamp), Double Doors, Single Door, Stairs, Table, Torch, Tree, and Window. It also comes with the inkpad and the bottle of Dungeon Stamp Ink, which is a black color.

I tested them on my double sided matt with no problem. Some of them like the torch and chair I just couldn’t figure out at first. The detail on these is lacking. Others, like the door, table, and tree, are great and easy to use.

When I brought the stamp over to a friend’s house the other day, he expressed some interest in them and a ‘cool’ factor. I then learned one game problem with them. Because the stamps are hand crafted, it’s not always perfectly aligned to the grid. I also discovered a ‘meta’ problem with the stamps if you will. When the GM is drawing something out by hand on the matt, his likelihood of stopping to grab one of the stamps is greatly diminished. Now if he knows ahead of time what he’s doing, like setting up a bar scene and has the torch, chair, window, door, stair and table stamps ready, no problem. If he’s doing a dungeon, he’s not going to stop to pick up the door stamp and expertly place it. He didn’t use all of the stamps, mostly the door and double door, but in one room, he tried out the torch to represent numerous torches on the wall and he agreed. The torches need more work.

In actual use, I found that I wish I had more inkpads and different colors of ink, green for the trees and brown for most of the other items. A dark brown ink would’ve probably been better than the black ink since many of the items are that color naturally.

In terms of clean up, I had no problems. The GM who used them, uses a lot of different markets and often uses alcohol pads to clean up his matt. I report that they cleaned up with no problem. It was nice to see them clean up so well as this represented one less problem.

Dungeon Stamps fall into the category of ‘neat’ idea and if the GM thinks ahead of time how he wants to use them, they can be worth the money. If you do everything off the cuff and draw out everything as you think of it, unless you make an effort to remember you have them, their use may be limited.