WotC Dungeon Tiles vs. 3rd Party Products

[rgard]

I am thinking of getting a couple of sets of the WotC Dungeon Tiles until Treebore reminded me of the 3rd party companies like Skeleton Key Games that also publish tiles in PDF.

What has been your experience with both the WotC tiles and 3rd party tiles? Which company makes the best product in your opinion? Are the PDF tiles too much effort? What is the variety like?

Olaf the Stout

I do like both the WotC version and others. Like others have said it's a decision for you between sturdy ones pre-printed (WotC), not so sturdy pre-printed (Paizo) or SKG and print them yourself.

All the above are great graphically.

One other thought, if you have the time, you can make your own without too much effort. I had some of the tiles from the Chainmail set laying around. These tiles don't have the one inch grid on them. I photocopied the tiles onto 1" grid paper and voila had more tiles useable with the others. You do the same with photos or drawings in books.

Thanks,
Rich

 

[mhensley]

Does anyone who has used both these and Tac-Tiles prefer these? I can't imagine not using my Tac-Tiles.

Ken

I have used tactiles for the past couple of years. They're really nice and versatile, but I find them to be a bit of a pain to lug around. The dungeon tiles are much prettier and much lighter. The next time I dm, I plan to use the new dungeon tiles.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

So do these dungeon tiles limit your range in dungeon creation?

 

[megamania]

We just used the WoTC Tiles for the first time this weekend. It worked well enough. It allowed me to creat rooms on the go quicker than drawing them out and also allowed me to keep my carefully drawn dock area of Storm reach to remain on the mat. There was a certain bit of explaining what was within the room as most tiles are blank or devoid of structure. The summoning circle was eye catching.

I will use them again in the future.

 

[Captain Howdy]

I usually just use Tac-Tiles, I am very happy with them. Although Skeleton Key Games just made some really nice Rappan Athuk tiles, and Ptolus tiles too.

The WotC ones look pretty cool, but I think that unless I will be playing them for one specific inteded use (a la the SKG Rappan Athuk ones), I would just use my Tac-Tiles... I guess my reaction to the WotC ones is neutral. I would use them, but I don't think I'll be spending the money one them any time soon.

 

[SiderisAnon]

Mounting Printed PDFs

I have a number of players in my group who are wargammer heavy and so I started using the Skeleton Key Games tiles out of DM self defense. I think they're an excellent addition to the game, though I have to admit I've spent way too much buying various sets so that I can create a wide variety of setups.

For mounting them, I experimented with a number of options. What I have found that works best is that I print them on cardstock, then use some spray glue to glue two additional pieces of cardstock on the back. The triple thick cardstock holds together nicely and don't bend on uneven parts of the table. (Just use the spray glue outside.)

I figured it out one time, and I'm spending about 50-cents per tile with the cardstock, glue, and ink. I don't remember if that amount included the original PDF.

I really wanted to laminate them, but I couldn't find a system that was 1) Reasonably priced on the laminator itself; and 2) reasonably cheap on the lamination (pouches, rolls, whatever).

--SiderisAnon