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Finally! Dungeon Tiles! But...

Sorry, I just can't get excited about 6 tiles for $10.

If you want to create your own dungeons (complete with corridors and a wide variety of rooms) check out 0one (yes, that's a zero followed by the word one):

http://www.rpgnow.com/default.php?manufacturers_id=287

They have several different 2D product lines:

Battlemaps have a top-down 3D look to them.
Skirmish Tiles are a bit simpler top-down without the 3D look.

Both product lines have a number of different bundles.

For Battlemaps (prices range from $6-6.50)
The Dungeon Rooms (5 different bundles) have 8-9 rooms each
The Dungeon Corridors (2 bundles) have 12-13 tiles each)
The Sewers bundle has 10 tiles

Note however there is a "Complete Corridors" set and a "Complete Dungeons" set which brings the price down to about $4 per bundle when purchased all together.

So for $28.70 you could have 25 corridors and a total of 44 different rooms. Yeah, you've got to print them out yourself and mount them to cardboard (I use illustration board myself) but you can make as many as you want. Far better (and ultimately cheaper) than paying $10 to get 6 tiles.

For Skirmish Tiles ($7.50 each):
There are three different bundles (two volumes of Dungeon Rooms and one called Fiendish Grounds). These bundles each give you a total of 30 corridors and rooms (mostly rooms). They also have several sets that cover castles (four different sets that handle each level of a castle, from ground, first, second and upper). I don't have the castle sets so cannot comment on them. There is a Complete Skirmish bundle for $35 that gets you all 7 sets, which brings the price down to $5 each.

But if you are interested in dungeon stuff, for $22.50 you would have 90 corridors and rooms, Yes, that's not a typo. 90 tiles. WOrks out to .25 cents each. Again, yes, you have to print these things and mount them yourself, but the variety is staggering, and even if the cost of printing and mounting came to another .75 cents per tile that would bring the cost up to $1 per tile.

The WotC tiles are $10 for 6 tiles, or $1.67 each. And you only get one of them. The Oone tiles you can print and make as many as you want.

Oh . . . if you want samples, check out the listings on RPGNow. Once you select one of the bundles, you will find a button that says Demo. CLick that and you will be shown one of the tiles. I believe all of their collections have a Demo button, so you can get a good look at about a dozen tiles this way.

I'm actually surprised that WotC would even get into this market. About the only crowd these will appeal to is the type that really doesn't like to make things themselves. I guess people who play with pre-painted figures and don't ever paint their own minis just wanna play games, and that's fine. No slam intended.

But anybody who is used to gaming ALSO being a "hobby" where you have to paint minis and make terrain won't find it a stretch to make their own tiles - and way cheaper too.

I've been a fan of 2D tiles since GW's Warhammer Quest. The tiles from Oone are at least one grade better in quality of the visuals, and the 2.5D stuff coming soon from WorldWorksGames looks to be another step up.

The stuff from SkeletonKey Games falls into a different category for me. I donj't mount those tiles for continual use. I devise a cavern or dungeon complex, print the tiles I need on good quality paper or medium cardstock, tape them together from behind, and fold or roll the whole thing up. I use those as maps that, once the adventure is completed, the map has served it's purpose.

And for those wo are wondering, I'm not a sock puppet either. Just a happy consumer of Oone, WWG and Skeletonkey Games products.

Steve
 

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I can't see anything on the product description saying "Random".

I wonder if these are similar to the tiles in the Basic Game. (They do say "durable"). The basic game tiles are 10"x10" (iirc), about 0.25" thick cardboard.

Cheers!
 


SeattleGamer said:
But anybody who is used to gaming ALSO being a "hobby" where you have to paint minis and make terrain won't find it a stretch to make their own tiles - and way cheaper too.

I love making things for my games - screens, terrain, props of all kinds, magic item cards, etc. . . but I don't have as much time anymore.

It really sucks that none of these products really appeal to me - but I guess in order to do that it would have to be generic as possible, as modular as possible, as sturdy and lightweight as possible and allow me to incorporate my own stuff using a dry erase marker or have some kind of colorforms-like vinyl setting stuff (barrels, beds, chairs, tables, torch scones, doors, stairs, etc. . ) that can be easily stuck down and stays there, but can be moved on a moment's notice - and that really isn't likely to happen - until then I'll stick with alternating between tact-tiles for impromptu stuff and pre-drawn rooms and areas on those big 1" box graph paper boards you get at Staples. :)
 

Rodrigo Istalindir said:
Mayhap I was reading too much into it, but "Format Booster Pack" says 'random' to me.

It could be; I just need more information. I'm hoping Stephen Schubert will have more info on these the next time he pops over to maxminis.

Seattle Gamer said:
I'm actually surprised that WotC would even get into this market. About the only crowd these will appeal to is the type that really doesn't like to make things themselves. I guess people who play with pre-painted figures and don't ever paint their own minis just wanna play games, and that's fine. No slam intended.

There's a lot of those type of people out there. DDM is a successful product line for a reason. (And MageKnight, and HeroClix, etc.)

Yeah, you've got to print them out yourself and mount them to cardboard (I use illustration board myself) but you can make as many as you want.

That's a big problem for many people. In my experience, printing in colour isn't cheap at all.

There have been people on the DDM boards asking for these tiles for a while now - I expect they'll be very happy they're coming along. I'll reserve judgement on them until I see them, but the actual idea isn't a bad one.

Cheers!
 

Merric,

While in the past this was true, you should appreciate that there has been a HUGE price change in full color laser printers over the past year.

These printers are now at the same price black and white laser printers were three years ago. You can get a fully outfitted color laser for about $350 right now if you look.

The downward price pressure continues, too.

Consumable costs for full color laser is about a nickel a page if you have your color carts professionally refilled (~30 cents otherwise).

Within the next 18-24 mos, we are gong to be seeing some of these color laser units in the $200-300 range.

The inkjet printer is about to go the way of the dot matrix.

I believe the future is in full color printed maps. In fact, I'm betting heavily on just that. ;)
 

Steel_Wind said:
Merric,

While in the past this was true, you should appreciate that there has been a HUGE price change in full color laser printers over the past year.

These printers are now at the same price black and white laser printers were three years ago. You can get a fully outfitted color laser for about $350 right now if you look.

Really? Fantastic! :)

That's cool - even if it sinks this product line, I'll be able to afford a good printer.

Cheers!
 


On the other hand, inkjet printers are ridiculously cheap(*), and offer great quality for their price. For example, I happen to know that Denny Unger, the guy in charge of WWG, uses a cheapo Lexmark inkjet printer for all his work - including that demo picture I posted above!

(*) Ink is the main expense for inkjet printers, but you can refill the cartridges at a fraction of the price. Overall, consumables still wind up somewhat more expensive than for a laser printer, but it's still going to be far less than $1/page, printer cost included.
 

Got some info from Stephen:

(a) is this a random package?
A. not random

(b) how thick (durable) are the tiles>
B. Thick cardstock (like boardgame-thick)

(c) are they dry erase? (could be cool)
C. Not intentionally

(d) who designed them?
D. Collins, Noonan, Decker were primaries, all of R&D had some input

(e) what are the plans for sets of these?
E. Think we're trying to put stuff together on the website at some point

(f) what are they like?
F. The tiles are punched out of the six page-sized boards, and provide double-sided floor sections that can be used as rooms, corridors, and so on. The section sizes vary to allow hallways and rooms to be built. They'll be prolific at Gen Con, as I understand.

Cheers!
 

Into the Woods

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