Organizing and using Dungeon Tiles

[JoshR]

I just bought a few packs of WotC's dungeon tiles, and while they look nice, I can see myself losing track of them easily.

Does anyone have any ideas for organizing dungeon tiles to make it easier to lay out a dungeon on the fly, or to plan one in advance using specific tiles and then bring them out gaming and have some idea where the individual tiles are?

I'm thinking maybe something that involves different containers/envelopes/folders organized by setting (or by tile set) and then size. It's complicated, though, by the fact that each tile has something different on the flip side.

Any other tips for effective use of dungeon tiles would be appreciated.

 

[Festivus]

I use one gallon ziplock bags... they are:

a) Waterproof
b) See-thru so I can see what is in each bag
c) Durable
d) Have a little area where I can write on the bag with a marker to identify the contents
e) Dirt cheap

I organize them by set, one set per one gallon ziplock. Works great for me. For storage I just keep them in a hanging file.

 

[Treebore]

I use one gallon ziplock bags... they are:

a) Waterproof
b) See-thru so I can see what is in each bag
c) Durable
d) Have a little area where I can write on the bag with a marker to identify the contents
e) Dirt cheap

I organize them by set, one set per one gallon ziplock. Works great for me. For storage I just keep them in a hanging file.

Ditto.

 

[Asmor]

I got this really weird thing from Staples that's like a big box with lots of smaller, long boxes in it. It's become my GM toolkit.

I have a bunch of tape cases from old backup tapes at work that fit 2x2s and smaller really well...

I tried gallon freezer bags at first, but I found it insufficient... I think it's really important for them to be sorted by size, and a gallon bag just isn't that good unless you're going to use a lot of bags.

 

[Treebore]

I tried gallon freezer bags at first, but I found it insufficient... I think it's really important for them to be sorted by size, and a gallon bag just isn't that good unless you're going to use a lot of bags.

Yep. Hence the hanging folder box. I sort by size too. My sets are separated, by size. I have about 15 bags of stuff. So I use about 3 bags per set, since I have the first five sets.

I'll likely need another folder box after set 7.

 

[SavageRobby]

I use gallon ziplock bags as well and keep them all in Container Store containers (I think these are men's shoe boxes, but I may upgrade to a boot box for more size). I don't worry about organizing by set, though - I jumble them all together, cause I don't care which set they're from.

Instead, I organize them by size. One baggie contains all the 1" wide tiles (1x1, 1x2, 1x4), one contains all the 2x2 tiles, one contains all the 2x4 tiles, one contains all the 4x4 tiles, one with all the 4x8 tiles, etc.

Organized like this, I've found its much easier to setup a dungeon on the fly. I usually don't do that with them anymore (its much easier to plan out a layout ahead of time, especially since the layout usually changes slightly from whatever map I'm using as I fit the tiles together), but on the rare occasions I've needed to, its soooo much easier having the sizes divided.

 

[Stormtower]

I'll chime in with agreement for all the suggestions above. The plastic gallon bags work great on a budget, and the large storage boxes from Staples are a sweet option if you have some disposable income.

I've found my Dungeon Tiles work best when I divide first by size (a bit) and then by rough, broad categories of utilization, with my bags of tiles labeled thusly:

Dungeon Dressing (this is for statues, bookshelves, treasure, sarcophagi, etc.)
Water (tiles featuring watery terrain)
Alcoves (the ones with the half-circle architecture surrounded by darkness)
Doors
Stairs
Darkness (all the tiles with just darkness on the flip side)
Pits
Magic Effects

All of my 10x8 tiles are separated from the others and kept together. All the Wilderness tiles are also separated into their own container, regardless of size. I have two copies of each set (1-5) and this system is working great so far. Before I divided the smaller tiles into categories, I was constantly having to search for the most commonly used tiles, like doors and stairs.

Of course, YMMV with the precise categories and meta-organization style you choose to use, but I do recommend trying to sort them by some logical utilization categories. It makes things flow much faster. Hope this helps.

 

[Woas]

Good ol' shoe box for me.

I rubberband common sized pieces together and then neatly place them in a shoe box. The single squares and largest sized tiles are loose though, since it's difficult to get a normal band around them.

 

[Kristian Serrano]

I wonder if Dungeon Tile users would pay money for storage specifically designed for storing Dungeon Tiles, and if so, how much would we be willing to pay.

Personally, I'd pay up to $15 for a stackable box that could hold up to 4 sets. A bottom layer could hold the 10" tiles and upper trays of the box would have compartments specifically designed for holding specific tile sizes. A lid for each tray could allow for labels to be placed above the respective compartments for quick identification.

 

[Woas]

You know those plastic sheets card collectors use that hold 9 cards (3x3)? I'd pay money for those if they had correct sized holders for the tile pieces.