Vote for the best dungeon tiles accessories!

[Jhaelen]

I only voted for Ruins of the Wild since it's the best by a wide margin. And yes, I'd like them to release a lot more wilderness tiles and I'm looking forward to the Sinister Woods one.

The next best would probably be Caves of Carnage.

I'd considered Streets of Shadow but refrained from buying it because it seemed I'd need to buy at least 3 or 4 sets of it before it would become actually usable. Currently I'm using poster maps for city encounters. I also didn't like the sewer side of the tiles.

I prefer erasable battle-mats to dungeon-tiles since the latter tend to be too fiddly for my taste and there's just too much variety to dungeon rooms when you want to recreate maps from published modules.

 

[Pseudopsyche]

I'd considered Streets of Shadow but refrained from buying it because it seemed I'd need to buy at least 3 or 4 sets of it before it would become actually usable.

I worry that the newer sets are designed with the expectation that you buy more than one copy. The example maps printed in Arcane Towers, which came out yesterday, all use two copies of the set! At first glance, each set gives you four quadrants of a circular room that you can use to build a single floor of a round tower, but instead of giving you four copies of two different styles (one for each side of a tile), they give you two copies each of four different styles. Sigh, I had been hoping to get away with just one copy of each set.

 

[Ceramicwombat]

Yes, you will need two sets of Arcane Towers to make some configurations look right. I realized this after I picked it up today and will likely pick up another set. I think Arcane Towers is one of the better dungeon tiles sets WotC has released. Trying to draw large circles on a battlemat is a bit of a pain. Also, the crenelated wall tiles will come in handy.

I voted for Streets of Shadow, Ruins of the Wild, and Arcane Towers. I have all the gray rectangles I need for basic dungeon design from the other sets, and the three I voted for have the most utility for laying out anything I don't want to draw.

 

[CasvalRemDeikun]

Yes, you will need two sets of Arcane Towers to make some configurations look right. I realized this after I picked it up today and will likely pick up another set. I think Arcane Towers is one of the better dungeon tiles sets WotC has released. Trying to draw large circles on a battlemat is a bit of a pain. Also, the crenelated wall tiles will come in handy.

Seriously? Looks like I will be making a hobby store run when mine come from Amazon. I love towers, so this is a set I have been looking forward to a lot.

 

[Jhaelen]

I worry that the newer sets are designed with the expectation that you buy more than one copy. The example maps printed in Arcane Towers, which came out yesterday, all use two copies of the set! At first glance, each set gives you four quadrants of a circular room that you can use to build a single floor of a round tower, but instead of giving you four copies of two different styles (one for each side of a tile), they give you two copies each of four different styles. Sigh, I had been hoping to get away with just one copy of each set.

Having recently bought a bunch of sets while they're still affordable, I also acquired two copies of 'Arcane Towers'.

It has quite a few minor but annoying problems:
- While it's not new that the example maps require two sets (previous sets also required two copies, they just didn't point it out), what _IS_ new is that two sets aren't even sufficient. At least I cannot figure out how to recreate the tower top.
- Each set contains a single crenellated corner piece. So if I want to create a square tower top, I need FOUR sets. Very clever.
- While I can get behind the idea of the 'closed cupboard'/'open cupboard' tiles, there are several tiles that show identical stuff on both sides, e.g. ladders and tables. What's the point of having two-sided tiles if both sides show the same thing? Simply swapping the images would have allowed me to put down four tables or four ladders at the same time.
- Every set comes with four entry entry doors to connect a round tower with straight corridors. Two pieces are mirrors of the other two. Why isn't there some variety considering I need to buy two sets anyway? Especially, since these are open on one side.
I also, initially, thought they didn't fit, before I noticed they're supposed to partially cover the round tower border to hide the version with outer walls. Not a very elegant solution.

In summary, this is not one of the better sets. While it does what it's supposed to do, i.e. allow you to put down round towers (with two different diameters) it offers none of the variations possible with other sets.
I really don't see any advantage over using a simple poster map showing a tower floor.

 

[buddhafrog]

I really like using these, but secondarily to battlemaps, printed e-skelton and other .pdf maps, and especially Starship Troop Floorplans (comes with 8 terrain maps that can represent snow, plains, jungle, rock/caves, desert/mountain, swamp, beach, and lava fields.

To me, the nature and city tiles just look so fake and stiff. I prefer to use printed maps for cities and buildings, and the Starship Trooper Floorplans maps for nature terrain and draw things on it.

But for dungeons or castles, laying out piece by piece of dungeon tiles is very effective and the tiles stiffness fits the setting perfectly. My players love when I use them.

Of course, my opinion differs greatly from the poll, which surprises me.