Wednesday 20 May 2009

Dungeon Floor Tiles

Dungeon Tiles, Adventure Tiles, Floorplans, E-tiles... call them what you will, I love them. I first used them in the early 80's when Games Workshop collaborated with TSR to produce boxed sets of card Dungeon Floor Plans. Since then I have amassed a huge collection of electronic tile sets that I can print and adapt as needed in my D&D campaigns. Many tiles can be downloaded for free from the Internet, while others are available to purchase as PDF files. Either way they are an easy way to enhance any roleplaying game that uses miniatures.
Here are a few sources on the Internet that I have found useful.
  • Skeleton Key Games sell a superb range of e-Adventure Tiles.
  • RPG Now sell all the Skeleton Key Games tile sets and sets by other companies as PDF downloads.
  • Crooked Staff Productions have a small collection of Dungeon Tiles available on the EN World site. These include basic dungeon sections, sewers and dungeon debris items.
  • The Dungeoneering.Net website has a nice selection of tiles for download.
  • Greywolfs Warhammer Quest Page also has a small selection of good quality Game Tiles available for download.
  • The Ye Olde Inn website has a nice selection of tiles for HeroQuest that can be pressed into service for D&D games.

This is a very small sample of the sites I have found and used to collect Dungeon Floorplans and Adventure Tiles. Now, when I design a campaign encounter, its an easy job to either find or cut-and-paste tiles to fit my needs. I still use the dry-wipe mats on occasion (for random encounters) but where possible I try to use Floor Tiles to enhance the look of preplanned encounters. After all, why bother painting a great model for a particular scene and then not present it in the best setting possible?In addition to published Dungeon Floorplans I have even resorted to blowing up maps from the likes of Dragon or Dungeon magazine. This is the Castle of Overlook which I adaped as a side encounter in my recent campaign. I scanned the map from Dungeon magazine then 'cut' it into sections. I then blew up the sections so each square was 1 inch and then stuck it all together. Hey presto, a castle floorplan.


I usually keep a stock of printed plans ready so whether I need to make a dungeon, a tavern or the deck of a ship, I can do so with the minimum of time and effort. And I think that little extra effort goes a long way to making an exciting encounter a memorable one as well.

2 comments:

  1. I love dungeons and dragons. I still play Hero Quest now and then.

    Was a big fan when I was a kid.

    Dave

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the plug! Also, want to note that the files on Dungeoneering.net are FREE!

    Come on by.

    ReplyDelete

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