Solving the limitations of battle maps

hartlage

First Post
In “Battle maps take over Dungeons & Dragons,” I wrote about how the widespread introduction of battle maps can improve the fun of combat encounters. Everyone knows where everything is. The game never gets bogged down with boring descriptions of layout and dimensions.

Nonetheless, as much as the simple map avoids confusion, it suffers two weaknesses where I still search for improvements.

Elevation

Without 3D terrain, battle maps do a poor job of representing elevation, and cannot clearly represent rooms with multiple, overlapping levels, such as balconies.

When I create my own adventures, the limits of the flat map limit the kind of spaces that I imagine. So sometimes I work to break the constraints of the map. For example, I once ran a vertical dungeon, perched on walkways and platforms carved into—and jutting out of—a giant cliff. While this kind of environment can inject some fresh wonder into the game, I’m always annoyed when an encounter forces, say, a balcony into an essentially static combat. If an encounter adds the complexity of multiple levels, I want a dynamic encounter with characters on the move between levels, trading fire and flying around. If you have levels, force the characters to go to them before they clear the room.

balcony_tile_small.jpg

I want to find some convenient brackets or holders that raise dungeon tiles over the battlefield as with my improvised balcony in the photo. Ideal holders would be compact enough to fit in my convention bag, but heavy enough to stay put. Do any MacGyvers out there have suggestions?

Lighting and visibility

Someday, I hope we all have touch-sensitive, electronic battle maps that sense and track the presence of a particular miniature in a particular spot, and automatically reveal the parts of the cave that that the players can see. Until then, dealing with lighting and line of sight is a chore that I too often gloss over. Some methods help. You can reveal the map as the players explore, either by lifting coverings, laying new tiles, or just drawing as needed. However, in a big battle, where some combatants lurk in the darkness, the matter of tracking who sees what becomes unwieldy. When does lighting become worth tracking? Does anyone have any tricks for handling lighting and visibility?
 

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I have a rag bin in the same room where we game.

Wen needed, we just pad the area beneath the mat, and voila! Rolling hills, etc.

They sell terrain pieces made of hard foam at the local gaming store, but those aren't marked with grid lines. Easy enough though to just get some insulation foam and cut a few pieces, then ink in the lines. Open cell hard foam works best, by the way.

You could even print out grid lines and graphics onto a piece of paper and glue it to the foam. A little plastic lamination on the top side and you're good to go.

If you can't find the open-cell foam (look in craft stores if you have to) consider scraps of plywood. A bit heavier, but still workable and stackable, for greater elevation changes.

One thing about props and scenery in general though: They can obstruct the player's view of the field, making it hard for them to see, reach or move their figures. So don't overdo it.
 

Take a look at Terraclips. They're intended for use with the Malifeaux game, to build and hold together the terrain for the miniatures game, but they'll work to hold dungeon tiles together, too.

The clips themselves are just plastic clips in three different configurations so you can connect tiles together. A pack comes with an equal number of right angle corners (_|), straight connectors (_ _) and T connectors (_|_). They're sturdy enough plastic that you could use two wall sides to create that balcony and still be able to see beneath it.

These will give you the flexibility to put together some 3d terrain using your existing collection of dungeon tiles. Because they can break down and go back together easily, they should travel well, too.

Dungeon tiles are a little thicker than the Malifeaux cardboard, so you may distress your tiles a bit, or break a few clips, but that's a small price to pay for reliable, transportable 3d terrain.

-rg
 



i have given serious consideration to using lego bricks and minifigs.
Props can be great for game color and flavor. A pack of dominos (the game tiles, not the pizza) can serve as wagons, walls, woodpiles, or a lot of other things that start with "W".

A bag of lichen from the game store can become random shrubbery (with or without knights who say "Knee"!), can mark the borders of a lane or a clearing.

But I think these are a bit off topic. The OP was about ways to go beyond the two dimensional limits of the battle mat.

We just encountered this in a game last weekend. Shadow Walk drops you more or less on target, meaning a D10 x 100 feet off in any horizontal direction. Land in an object and you displace a D10 x 1000 feet in the same direction. If that places you inside another solid object you get displaced to the nearest empty spot and leaves you stunned.

So we were heading for an Elven village in the hills. Because of the slope, fully half of all random directions would place inside the hillside. More in the same direction would just place us deeper underground.

That isn't obvious or easy to represent on the map, when the battle mat is laid out smooth and level on the table.

Blocks of upholstery foam (get them at a fabric shop, cut them with an electric knife) are great, by the way. Sand colored or green are easily available, they won't break or crumble, and you can just grab them and stuff them into a bag when you're not using them. Being bent or crumpled in storage is no big thing, and they can be cheap. Buy in 3/4, 1 inch and 2 inch thicknesses, for variety.
 

I recently got a pack of plastic combat tiers, and have used them to great effect simulating terrain with perches/balconies. This last Friday we used them for an aerial combat between hippogriff mounted PCs and a dragon, with dice by the minis to track elevation.

Combat-Tier-1.jpg
 


Another advantage of the lego brick idea is that when you have lots (like me), it is fairly easy to represent ariel combat using some of the tall pieces to build a tower. since they are all to ratio with the minifigs, you can even judge height by the number of bricks used.
 

I recently got a pack of plastic combat tiers, and have used them to great effect simulating terrain with perches/balconies. This last Friday we used them for an aerial combat between hippogriff mounted PCs and a dragon, with dice by the minis to track elevation.

Combat-Tier-1.jpg
Those look great, if a bit breakable.

I had a friend, a retired machinist, who made me some "flight stands" for figs. 1x2 base, 1x1 top connected by some all-thread. They're magnetized to stack, so they work sort of like these do.
 

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