How do you make effective game use of WotC's Dungeon Tiles?

[Renshai]

The best option has already been posted, don't worry about sticking exactly to the map provided in the adventure. For several adventures I have pre-built rooms and have them ready on nearby table.

Recently, I just stack various terrain pieces that I think I will need on nearby flat surface and build the rooms as I need them. It only takes a few minutes to lay them down.

 

[Ktulu]

Two things I've found very effective:

1. Sort the sets by type and size (i.e. any wilderness piece below 3x3 gets placed in the same bag). All 3x3 in the same bag, and up. It makes locating pieces much faster for myself.

2. Utilizing poster gum (That pseudo-sticky blue stuff that doesn't leave a mark) you can put together most rooms ahead of time and then pull them out ready to go before the fight.

I also lay a plexiglass sheet above the tiles allowing me to draw over them and it helps with the knocking them around.


Ktulu

 

[avin]

Too much time spent. I got 6 sets but I'm actually using Paizo eraserable tiles.

 

[Rechan]

Some general tips.

If you want elevation without physically putting something under the tiles, just take a smaller tile and put it beside the main tile. Say, "This is a balcony." The end.

If you don't have enough rubble, just tear up some paper and wad it up, and put that in the rubbly squares. I love posits; normal postits are a Burst 1 size, and the smaller ones are a 10x10.

If you need to make walls, use jenga blocks. A jenga block is roughly 1x3.

 

[fba827]

Most of the pusblished modules are built on their own dimensions, not with the tiles, so it is hard to create them specifically -- as others have said, you need to improvise.

Either that or make your own adventures using the tiles as inspiration to create your scenes.

Dungeon Delve (the new 30 levels of encounters/levels) out this month (or early next) (I THINK!) uses the tiles and tells you what sets make up which encounters.

 

[C_M2008]

I was using tiles, but they are bulky and slow to use.

I have switched to World Works( cardstock terrain) which is a bit faster(because I cheated and put small magnets on everything and use a piece of sheet metal with generic ground squares pasted on top) When ever I need a room I just drop some walls and some features and done, the magnets hold it in place.

I can do towns(I built my structures modular so I even have the insides available to use), forests, dungeons, quickly and the players really get up to some crazy shtuff when they can see everything in 3d.

That said it does cost some $$$ to get started, but it's comparable if you're buying 2-3 of each dungeon tile set.

 

[jgerman]

I like them in concept and I'm not a fan in practice. I stopped collecting them and the rest sit unused. If I'm not using MapTool I'm either drawing it on a mega mat, using printed maps, or using maps that came with the module.

I think that if I were to do a "delve" type setup where the map is laid out from the start I might, but for 'normal' play they're useless to me.

 

[JackSmithIV]

Reading this thread, it seems the biggest problem with dungeon tiles is that a lot of you guys are trying to use them to construct rooms that match the ones in published modules. This is, in my past experience, and hopeless endeavor. I simply use the battlemap.

I do, however, own three sets of dungeon tiles, and for me they are a godsend. The trick is to design your encounter areas around the tiles, drawing inspiration for the tiles. I run my own Forgotten Realms campaign, and it's going wonderfully, but the PCs are 6th level, so I'm very accustomed to designing encounters.

I start with a concept, select my monsters, grab an appropriate combination of tiles, and then lay them out. I play with them for a while, adding elements here and there, throwing tiles in and out of the mix. My crawls are usually delve-size (3-4 encounters) in order to facilitate story-intensive, 1-session excursions that can be done without an extended rest. I then put the tiles in a little Tupperware bin, set them aside, and when my players reach the dungeon, I begin to lay them out, easily remember where each goes due to the smaller size of my dungeons.

I have a few different sets that easily mix and match, so I don't feel limited by my selection. On the contrary, I feel like having the tiles adds to quick, creative design. For example, I wanted to design a underground cultist hideout for the more sinister members of The Order of the Blue Fire. Using only tiles from Halls of the Giant Kings, I assembled the dungeon using staircase that decended into a waiting hall, off of which was a store room (a 4x4 tile with a 2x1 supply case), the cultist sleeping chambers (a specific tile), and an empty room containing the giant table. Then they decended further, through a few more rooms, then then I realized I wasn't sure where I was taking this. I spotted the jail tile, and realized it made a perfect room for the Order to be performing arcane experiments are spellscared captives. I added a fireplace tile to the end of it so I could narrate the mood lighting (narrated as a dark, cage-filled torture chamber lit only by a burning blue fireplace), and put some plaguechanged gibberlings in a few of the cages.

It was an incredibly memorable delve that wouldn't have had such a nice centerpiece final-encounter were it not for Dungeon tiles. I think the key to getting the most out of your tiles is using them as tools for not only immersive gaming, but inspired design.

 

[Nikosandros]

Too much time spent.

Same here. I used them once, but it took forever to set up the maps. I don't game at my place, so building the encounter areas in advance isn't really an option.

Sometimes I use an erasable battlemat, but usually I draw the maps in advance on A3 sheets with a 1" grid. They look quite ugly, but they get the job done...

I regret not being able to use the dungeon tiles, but I really haven't found a way to make them work for our group.

 

[Morrus]

Then last night I spent about an hour trying to "build the set" for a simple encounter from H2 Thunderspire Labyrinth (area C1 from adventure book 2). Not only was this super time-consuming, sorting through piles of different tiles, but I discovered I couldn't quite build the room as depicted: not enough rubble tiles of the correct size/shape, nothing to adequately depict a balcony, etc.

Hah hah! That brings back memories!

Nope, you can't build the locations in the official published modules from the dungeon tiles. It'll drive you nutty trying!