Printing your own dungeon?

[Horizon]

This has probably come up before, but due to the lack of a search feature and the general stupidity of google site search I'm starting this new thread about it.

Does anyone have any experience with printing your own dungeon tiles? How did you do it? Did you glue the prints on cardboard for durability? Did you laminate them? What kind of tiles did you print, just alot of loose squares to piece together as you go or did you use standard rooms/corridors? Where did you get those standard rooms/corridors? How do you represent doors?

Alternatively, do you use blank pages with only a basic grid printed on them and draw your dungeons on that (or really any other kind of combat environment)?

What did you like about it, what didn't you? Any general recommendations?

On a side note: I know tiles generally come pretty cheap, but with the added shipping costs and the fact that I just bought the D&D books and the rest of my group isn't really interested in buying any (except mini's for their own characters) I'd like to keep the tiles as cheap as possible.

NB I'm talking about standard D&D 1-inch tiles.

 

[pogre]

If you are trying to save a buck - make sure they are reuseable. Years ago I used to draw them and back them with matting board. I cut the ends so they could be locked together like puzzle pieces.

 

[derbacher]

I'll blow maps and pictures up in Paint Shop Pro, print them on the laser printer in B&W for use as tiles, then cover them with a lexan sheet and draw whatever else is needed in dry erase marker. Switch rooms when needed, store everything in a large art portfolio, and reuse whenever you can (which is not very often ).

 

[philreed]

What did you like about it, what didn't you? Any general recommendations?

Take a look at SkeletonKey Games' various tile sets. They're in PDF so you can print as many of each one as you need. And there's a wide variety of tiles to choose from.

I recommend trying the pack of free tiles to get a feel for them.

http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=3634&SRC=EnWorld

Over 50 free tiles.

 

[EricNoah]

I draw the interesting bits out on a battle mat, erase when done.

One of my DMs has a huge grid paper tablet suitable for presentations, on which he draws the interesting bits as we go along. He can save them for later if we wander back into that area, which isn't very often. He draws the dungeon as a whole on a piece of normal graph paper.

As cool as it would look, I don't think I'd go through the effort and materials to print a scale dungeon (or even part of it) unless it was a super-special encounter.

 

[MonkeyDragon]

Though I eventually retreated back to my battlemat, last summer I did try making some tiles.

step one, in photoshop, make a 1 inch grid on a letter-paper-sized file. print onto cardstock.

step two, cut into various sizes of rooms and hallways. I did everything from 1x1 to 8x10.

step three, laminate with contact paper. I reccommend the stuff that comes in sheets for this, not the rolls. the sheets are stiffer, shinier, and more transparent.

the resulting tiles are light, can be marked on with a wet erase marker and wiped off with a damp cloth just like a battlemat, and completely reusable. When I don't have large things to draw, I bust out the 8x10s, but I did find that switching around all the pieces got to be tiresome with individual rooms and hallways. They would also slide around a lot, though I figured that could be fixed with a dab of velcro on the back and a fuzzy dropcloth.

 

[Abstraction]

For a specific building/dungeon, I create the entire map in Illustrator using 1" squares, then print it out in however many tiles it takes. I cut each room apart. As the players move through the area, I put another piece down. Because I have it on computer, I feel free to mark on the tiles. I also have a smaller version in my notes with DM info on it. If the players start getting really deep, I take tiles off that are behind them.

For everyday use, I use the battlegrid that came with the book in a plastic sleeve. I write on the sleeve with dry-erase markers.

Occasionally, like when I did a sea battle and needed a very large space, I will have everyone clear everything off the table, put things out on it and movement is all done with rulers.

 

[Horizon]

Ok, I really like some of your ideas. For simple things, I understand, it's probably easiest to just draw it on a battlegrid or on a laminated battlegrid for reuse. This gives a little more overhead during play.

For added reuse I can see the cardstock tiles (possibly with puzzle piece sides) coming in real handy, but they seem to be a lot of work to make (though this is a one-time thing), but reduce the overhead during play a little.

Finally one-shot maps, the least reusable of options, but it does appeal because it would allow for a lot of extra situation specific detail added beforehand. Least overhead during play, most before every session.

Thanks, I'll have to consider this. Some things I will need to take into account is that I often have to carry my DM stuff around and that I don't actually own a printer . I think for now I'll go with a single or maybe a couple laminated battlegrids. What kind of paper size do you use for this? If I'm gonna have to print it at the university anyway, I might as well pay for it to be A3 or even A2.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I use dry erase + battlemat for most stuff, but when I want to do something BIG...I break out the Dwarven Forge.