MapDEX Set I - The Broken Brick Dungeon

[Crothian]

Ever wish you could make your own customized map quickly and easily for use in an RPG or adventure game? With MapDEX Adventure Map Cards, now you can!

Each 4"x4" MapDEX card features a hallway or room taken from an eerie, brick-lined dungeon, and these cards can then be combined in any way possible to create a huge, detailed map! MapDEX cards are lushly illustrated, and each set includes placable item cards - such as torches, doors, treasure chests, and more - that GMs can place at their leisure, adding to the customization possible.

Each 72-card MapDEX deck can be used to create a map that is 32 inches by 36 inches - almost 3 feet square - or mix and match multiple sets to create huge dungeons! And to make things easier, every MapDEX tile has 1" grid lines already present, a standard size for many miniatures and RPG measurements. Simply shuffle and build, and you're all ready to take your fellow gamers through an amazing, detailed setting that can change every time you play!

Quick Info:
Set Name: The Broken Brick Dungeon
Number of Cards: 78 total - 72 map, 6 placeables
Setting: Medieval/Fantasy
Type: Dungeon
Product ID: LRP1001
Suggested Price: $10.95
Release Date: June 29th, 2005

 

[Crothian]

Map Dex set 1 The Broken Brick Dungeon

Once again companies are trying to make the miniature aspect of gaming easier for gamers. There has been a great increase in the options for miniature gaming in the past years. They have made it easy even for an old anti miniature gamer like myself to see the advantages of using them to enhance the game. Things like the tact tiles and flip book that make and break what people used to think of a battle map have taken some groups by storm. There has been a great amount of new options for miniatures from the great miniatures Wizards puts out of the classic D&D creatures to the Fiery Dragon guys and their mountain of creature token they have to some of the new people like Monster Tiles that create ceramic tiles that have monsters on them for use. And then there is the spell templates that Steel Sqwire and again Fiery dragon have done with battle boxes and wire area effect diagrams. It has been an impressive amount of energy, time, and detail that have gone in to this newer aspect of role playing.

Map Dex Set 1: The Broken Brick Dungeon is an interesting attempt to make dungeons easier for the DM. The product consists of seventy eight four by four inch cards. Seventy two of them are parts of a dungeon and the other six are things to be placed in a dungeon. The cards are done in full color and done very nicely. The card stock used is a bit thinner then I would like. The bend easily and can be shuffled but can also be ripped, folded, and spilled on that could ruin the cards.

This is good product that has some room for improvement. The four by four cards are perfect for slowly creating a dungeon for the party. I do not think the shuffle and randomly flipping cards to create it works that well though. There are hall ways that are five or ten feet wide plus the room tiles. So, it is easy to flip over tiles that just do not fit with the map. I think it might be better to prearrange them ahead of time and then use the dungeon that is made during the session. To help in this type of use of the cards it would be great if they had numbers on them. Just a small number in one of the corners would greatly enable them to be used easily in this preconstruction way. Also, a card with an example dungeon using these would have also been useful.

There are also six cards with extras on them. This includes doors, open doorways, pit traps, grates in the floor, and other items like that. They need to be cut out and get placed on the other maps. They are a little on the light side and can easily get blown or moved. Also, while the pictures are done nicely it is not always easy to tell exactly what it is a picture of. The angle is from above on all of them and that can make things a little hard to recognize some of them. Labeling them would have been helpful.

The cards do have their uses, they are easily transportable and will make it easy for some DMs. There is a lot of usefulness in them and they can easily be improved so hopefully the next sets will be a little more versatile and uisefull.