Dungeon Tiles. Anyone used them at length yet?

[Shadowslayer]

Just curious. For those guys that own them, how exactly do you use them?

I just laid out my next dungeon on the floor and although its a pretty small dungeon, its still pretty big (square inch wise) No way that baby's fitting on my table...and I have a pretty good table.

I was thinking of setting it up so that the overall dungeon is basically in quadrants. When the PCs are done with one section, it comes off and the hallways and doors (thank you HeroQuest) are laid out for the next quadrant. I'll have each quadrant in a separate file/folder/baggie.

I noted as I was setting it up just for myself, I spent a lot of time digging and flipping each tile over trying to find the one I'm after. I want to eliminate as much digging and sorting as I can by keeping each dungeon "section" seperate.

Anyone else have any experiences/tricks to make the game flow while using them? I just don't see building (scrolling?) it entirely as you go.

Thanks in advance for any ideas you can share.

 

[thedungeondelver]

I run in to the same issue of table space with my massive DWARVEN FORGE setups.

The best thing I can tell you is to have your big boss monster rooms and a few supporting corridors laid out and narrate the rest of it - mundane corridors really don't merit that much detail anyway. An 80' (or 8"!) long hallway with nothing in it, even if fighting goes on, doesn't really require a lot of attention.

 

[MojoGM]

I find the correct pieces ahead of time, and put them in individual large ziplock bags. It has worked great so far.

Dungeon Tiles and pre-painted plastic miniatures are two things that have really improved my game.

 

[Shadowslayer]

The best thing I can tell you is to have your big boss monster rooms and a few supporting corridors laid out and narrate the rest of it - mundane corridors really don't merit that much detail anyway. An 80' (or 8"!) long hallway with nothing in it, even if fighting goes on, doesn't really require a lot of attention.

Yeah, I thought of that. On the other hand, I find that when I design with the tiles in mind...there's not a lot of mundane space. Heh...no 8o foot corridors here.

But you're right. I was playing thru Howling Horde last time, and I had the dungeon rooms all drawn out om 1 inch graph paper to lay down as we went. About halfway through, we just switched over to the old style way of just drawing it out on a pad of 1/4 inch graph paper and only pulling out the premade "rooms" when there was a combat.

Guess I'm just looking for a happy meduim.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

I would suggest numbering each tile with a Post-it note. You could even re-use the Post-it notes each session so it doesn't cost you too much. Dividing the tiles up into areas so you don't have to seach through 50 tiles is also a very good idea.

Olaf the Stout

 

[EyeontheMountain]

We ahve been usingthem in the Shattered Gates module, and they ahve been useful, but also a pain, as the tiles do nothae mundane things like desks, chairs and beds etc in a moveable format. Some tiles have them permenantly marked, but trying to indicate a room with lots of beds in it is odd. I'm really wondering why the smaller 1,2,4 square pieces do not have such things, but instead more unusual features.

 

[Shadowslayer]

Agreed. I'd like to see them do one sheet of 1 -2 square odds and ends, like beds, tables, chairs, coffins, chests etc. I know they've done a few of these...but not many.

 

[Richards]

I have one each of the first two sets, and what I've started doing is building the whole setup for the day's adventure ahead of time, throwing those tiles into a Ziploc bag, and then drawing the map on scratch paper (as usual). As I draw the next room on the map, I have one of my players duplicate the setup using the tiles.

And yes, I use HeroQuest doors as well. They work great. (I'm not so fond of the "door tiles" that come with the Dungeon Tiles. Standup HeroQuest door work much, much better.)

Johnathan

 

[Shadowslayer]

Its funny, I have 1 of each set plus an extra of the first release...so 4 sets. That's already a whole whack of tiles. I could cover my living room floor. (and I thought about doing it too... ...but my wife was home. )

Good thing they're heading towards caves and wilderness. I think they've got enough dungeon stuff.

And yes, I use HeroQuest doors as well. They work great. (I'm not so fond of the "door tiles" that come with the Dungeon Tiles. Standup HeroQuest door work much, much better.)

Wouldn't it be cool if each DDM booster had a plastic standup door in it?

 

[DemonKing]

Agreed. I'd like to see them do one sheet of 1 -2 square odds and ends, like beds, tables, chairs, coffins, chests etc. I know they've done a few of these...but not many.

There are some coffins and so on in the latest pack, plus some triangular corner pieces (not every room has to be a rectangle or square, at last!).

I think they're probably of more use for your own modules (which you can design around the tiles) than published stuff. So far for the published adventures I've been mainly using the blank sides.