Varianor Abroad
Explorer
Fat Dragon EZ Tiles: Dungeon Set 1 & 2
This series are game aides suited for a DM who wants to map with increased visual presentation without having to draw out the map. The series provides pdfs of the dungeon environment (including caverns). You choose a basic image like a corridor, room with a well, or parts of a larger room. Using the layer tool in Adobe, you can customize it with skeletons, tables, blood, coins, etc. Print it out, cut it out, and put it on the table connecting to the next one.
This product has a cool customizing factor. It has great appeal for dungeon play. It requires a modest amount of (easy) prep time and functions well. In play, the tiles printed on cardstock have great visual appeal, but a mild problem laying flat. Tape would remedy this, as would weights. They are, in short, ideal for portability and excellent visual presentation in an underground environment. You do have to purchase your own cardstock or heavy stock paper. It will use up a small amount of extra colored ink on your printer. The results are worth it for a one-inch scale map that you can pick up and reuse. The ability to lay down the tile and then move it to form a different section of the corridor was good. The “traditional” dungeon rooms and corridors with odd angles and neat corners were present.
Each individual pdf retails for $5.99 apiece. The zipped download size is about 14M apiece, which is not surprising given the size of the images within. (There’s a lot!) RPGNow currently offers a bundle for $15.00, which includes the caverns set. That seems like good value for the money. You may not be able to duplicate unique rooms from a particular map, but for beer ‘n pretzels kick-in-the door play, these are a great DM’s aide.
The product gets four stars because of the customizing feature and the portability for use at gaming conventions (which I do a lot). While it will not see a lot of use in my home game, I know folks that will find them quite useful for weekly play. The directions were a tad vague until I emailed and found out how to turn on and off the various layers. The layering effect worked well, as did the visuals. (I had to spontaneously invent a reason in one game to turn players away from investigating a well because we were on limited time.)
On a side note, after I visited their website and previewed the product, I sent an email to the publishers. I got a prompt response and my feedback was considered! This is service and it indicates folks who want to improve a product. That was a big selling point for me. It probably helped raise my review a tad from 3.5 to 4 stars because they were so responsive.
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of two pdfs in exchange for demonstrating them at Gen Con. Since you print out the tiles on cardstock with contains the company’s name and website address, I turned the spare cardstock into business cards. I passed the cards out to my players.
PS - I reviewed these as one product. I can add specifics if folks need about either one.
This series are game aides suited for a DM who wants to map with increased visual presentation without having to draw out the map. The series provides pdfs of the dungeon environment (including caverns). You choose a basic image like a corridor, room with a well, or parts of a larger room. Using the layer tool in Adobe, you can customize it with skeletons, tables, blood, coins, etc. Print it out, cut it out, and put it on the table connecting to the next one.
This product has a cool customizing factor. It has great appeal for dungeon play. It requires a modest amount of (easy) prep time and functions well. In play, the tiles printed on cardstock have great visual appeal, but a mild problem laying flat. Tape would remedy this, as would weights. They are, in short, ideal for portability and excellent visual presentation in an underground environment. You do have to purchase your own cardstock or heavy stock paper. It will use up a small amount of extra colored ink on your printer. The results are worth it for a one-inch scale map that you can pick up and reuse. The ability to lay down the tile and then move it to form a different section of the corridor was good. The “traditional” dungeon rooms and corridors with odd angles and neat corners were present.
Each individual pdf retails for $5.99 apiece. The zipped download size is about 14M apiece, which is not surprising given the size of the images within. (There’s a lot!) RPGNow currently offers a bundle for $15.00, which includes the caverns set. That seems like good value for the money. You may not be able to duplicate unique rooms from a particular map, but for beer ‘n pretzels kick-in-the door play, these are a great DM’s aide.
The product gets four stars because of the customizing feature and the portability for use at gaming conventions (which I do a lot). While it will not see a lot of use in my home game, I know folks that will find them quite useful for weekly play. The directions were a tad vague until I emailed and found out how to turn on and off the various layers. The layering effect worked well, as did the visuals. (I had to spontaneously invent a reason in one game to turn players away from investigating a well because we were on limited time.)
On a side note, after I visited their website and previewed the product, I sent an email to the publishers. I got a prompt response and my feedback was considered! This is service and it indicates folks who want to improve a product. That was a big selling point for me. It probably helped raise my review a tad from 3.5 to 4 stars because they were so responsive.
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of two pdfs in exchange for demonstrating them at Gen Con. Since you print out the tiles on cardstock with contains the company’s name and website address, I turned the spare cardstock into business cards. I passed the cards out to my players.
PS - I reviewed these as one product. I can add specifics if folks need about either one.
