Why Use Dungeon Tiles?

[Retreater]

I'm looking at the new D&D Essentials Dungeon Tiles sets. I've never purchased a set of dungeon tiles, and I was wondering if I am missing out on anything.

I regularly use dry erase or wet erase battlegrids, drawn to fit the needs of the adventure I'm running. For the occassional re-usable location (such as a frequented tavern, etc.) I pre-draw on grid paper and re-use as necessary.

Those of you who use Dungeon Tiles, what do you think they could bring to enhance my game?

Retreater

 

[Aurumvorax]

If you're comfortable with drawing adequate maps then no, dungeon tiles won't bring anything to your game. It's for people who need ideas, want to play a miniatures game, or need some something fast on the fly.

 

[AngryMojo]

I use them because they're faster and easier than drawing a map. They're also far more detailed than I can draw, so they wind up looking better.

 

[nnms]

I'm a big dungeon tiles addict, but I'd recommend getting some and using it with your dry erase battle map. You can just toss the tiles down as room and draw how they are connected, for example.

 

[S'mon]

They're pretty. If you're running a Delve type session with 3-4 encounters, and you know what they'll be, you can blu-tack up the tiles in advance onto cardboard and they work very well.

For regular play, I find a dry-erase Paizo flipmats is far better. Either the plain ones to draw dungeons on, or the ones with wilderness scenes for outdoor encounters.

Edit: I find trying to set up tiles during play is disastrously slow; finding the right tiles takes far longer than drawing out a map on dry-erase.

 

[brewdus]

They're a pain in the butt to transport and if you don't secure them to something they move around too easily when people move their minis!

 

[brainstorm]

I'm looking at the new D&D Essentials Dungeon Tiles sets. I've never purchased a set of dungeon tiles, and I was wondering if I am missing out on anything.

I regularly use dry erase or wet erase battlegrids, drawn to fit the needs of the adventure I'm running. For the occassional re-usable location (such as a frequented tavern, etc.) I pre-draw on grid paper and re-use as necessary.

Those of you who use Dungeon Tiles, what do you think they could bring to enhance my game?

Retreater

It is personal preference. I use a combination of tiles, flip maps and Dwarven forge sets. I like to take pictures of my games for my campaign website, so these are much more scenic than hand drawn maps. Once you get used to using them, they're easy to set up. I use poster tack to keep them from moving around.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

They can be used to quickly lay out an interesting and attractive combat environment, adding tactical options that might not be obvious with just magic markers and a battle mat.

Just don't limit yourself to the WotC tiles - there are scads of very nice tiles and predrawn maps from lots of publishers.. Not to mention some of the 3D and '2.5D' options that are out there.

The Auld Grump

*EDIT* Conversely, don't rule out the WotC tiles either. Who knows? Maybe you will like them. (Though I prefer PDFs in this regard. On the other hand, the WotC tiles look pretty solid.)

 

[pawsplay]

Since you can manipulate them with your hands, that saves spacial-visual processing power with which to envision the layout. They also tend to involve less cleaning. Finally, I have found they are handy when PCs keep traipsing back and forth between a few locations.

 

[megamania]

Edit: I find trying to set up tiles during play is disastrously slow; finding the right tiles takes far longer than drawing out a map on dry-erase.

They're a pain in the butt to transport and if you don't secure them to something they move around too easily when people move their minis!

What I do is preset the encounter then after doing a drawing with the description of the encounter I place the tiles used and the creature figures into a freezer bag zip-lock. This is then numbered to match the encounter number. Works very well for me.