Dungeon Tiles or New Maps?

[Mouseferatu]

I voted "other" because" I'd like to see them use the dungeon tiles for most encounters, but occasional new maps for special unique encounter areas.

As a creator as well as a fan, this is kind of where I am. I suck hard at making maps, and I really like having the option using the tiles. If I'm just creating a random wilderness area, or a tiny dungeon complex, and the precise details don't matter so much... Then yeah, I'm happy to be able to use the tiles.

But...

It has to remain an option, not a mandate. If I've created an encounter, or a complex, or an adventure that requires (or is just made better by) a purpose-built map, then I want the flexibility to design that map. I need a mix of both. The ability to use tiles is a benefit, but the requirement to use tiles would, I think, be extremely creatively limiting.

 

[malraux]

I'd rather have more art and handouts than fancy encounter maps.

I miss useful handouts. I'd far rather have a nice set of PC handouts over an awesome encounter map. The Players will see the handouts, but only I will ever see the map as it is in the book.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

For encounters I really don't care, map or tiles is no matter but I would like to see more regional maps for the countryside the adventure the is taking place in.

 

[Kralin Thornberry]

I'm split.

Artistically, I'm "challenged", which means that for me, drawing stick figures is a challenge.

That being said, I love good maps, but I can't draw them out, and to print them out just makes a really good map look bad.

That being said, I don't mind the tiles, but I hate when they don't tell you which set and how many of each tile from each set you have to use. Digging through 12+ sets of tiles for the correct ones is just a pain.

 

[DMZ2112]

My opinion:

I actively resent that Wizards uses Dungeon Tile maps in Dungeon, because I don't want to (and haven't) bought them, which means I'm left to draw their crummy junk by hand. It's the worst of both worlds!

Art budget, my foot. It's product placement, plain and simple.

 

[CiH]

What sets of Dungeon Tiles are they referring to in these adventures?

Are they referring to the DT1 and DT2 from a few years back? Will those do? Or are they referring to these new fangled Essentials tiles I am seeing?

Or are the Essentials tiles just a reprint of the older product? I can't tell.

I ask because I bought 2 - 4 of the Dungeon Tile packs back in the DT1 & 2 days, but I have not kept up.

Also, folks are indicating that Dungeon isn't telling you from which packs the tiles come, which seems like an oversight in the product placement (which I agree that it is).

 

[Obryn]

I don't mind on a lot of maps where it really doesn't make a difference. (I mean, really, what's the big deal if that underground temple is made out of tiles or hand-drawn?) A decent map is a decent map.

However, I don't think dungeons should be restricted to what can be built with tiles.

I don't use them, so I'm drawing it regardless. All I ask is that hand-drawn maps are fairly easy to replicate in a larger size (as opposed to, say, the maps in Trollhaunt Warrens.)

-O

 

[KidSnide]

I posted this comment in the Bark at the Moon thread, but I think it's more relevant here:

The problem with dungeon tile maps is that WotC hasn't figured out how to do outdoor maps with dungeon tiles. Inside a dungeon, the tiles work pretty well. Dungeons are rooms connected by corridors, so thin narrow tiles can connect the bigger tiles for form a dungeon with the black "table space" serving as walls.

Well, the problem with outdoor spaces is that (1) there normally aren't walls, so the table isn't helping expand the total area with blank space and (2) the areas should be bigger than a dungeon. That means the designers need to use more tiles to create the same sized map (because they aren't getting help from the table) and they need a bigger map. Unless the designers assume that players buy wilderness tiles by the case, you get bizarre small, cramped and uninteresting maps for the encounter.

Really, outdoor tiles should all come with a double-sided poster that shows different sides of mostly featureless terrain that matches the tiles (fields and forests, sandy and rocky desert, cavern and carved stone). That way we can create interesting and large terrain by putting the tile features we want down without having to organize a zillion semi-featureless terrain tiles of various sizes and shapes.

-KS

 

[CiH]

Really, outdoor tiles should all come with a double-sided poster that shows different sides of mostly featureless terrain that matches the tiles (fields and forests, sandy and rocky desert, cavern and carved stone). That way we can create interesting and large terrain by putting the tile features we want down without having to organize a zillion semi-featureless terrain tiles of various sizes and shapes.

Now, that is a smart idea.

 

[The Little Raven]

Now, that is a smart idea.

I concur. It is quite brilliant and does solve the primary issue with outdoor tiles.