pogre
Legend
I thought about that, but I'm finding that I just don't have the time to craft. I want to spend more time on writing adventures and just playing the game.
For published material, which I have not ran yet, but plan to, I buy the battlemap sets and print them out on a plotter printer.
When I started DMing again, I did make a DM Scotty 2.5 Cavern set. If you have time, you can make some cool terrain, very inexpensively, with great play- and replay-ability. I might try to find time to make a bunch of generic dungeon terrain using his Tile Scape tutorials.
Sounds like you have figured out DF is not for you, which is cool.
I currently play in a campaign with playmats and it is a ton of fun. It really does not take very long for me to build encounter areas, because I have my tiles very organized, and I typically have special tiles I am going to need set aside. I think players who are new to my campaign are typically impressed with how fast I get pieces on the table.
I set up street scenes, taverns, shops, and more in addition to the dungeon stuff. I currently run a WFRP 2e city campaign and the city tiles (and sewer tiles) have been a ton of fun. I use them for a lot of non-combat encounters.
I totally agree with you about painting the DF tiles. Does not appeal to me in the least.
Miniatures and terrain are the main part of my rpg "budget". So, I am always going to drop some coin on DF kickstarters. I did not pledge KS1, because I have several dozen sets of the older resin basic dungeon tiles. I also skipped KS4 because I already built a castle out of hirst arts blocks.
Storage is an issue. I am running out of cabinet space again! SO your easy to store requirement for play aids is understandable to me!