jubbs71
Paint Manipulator
Posts: 125
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Post by jubbs71 on Nov 10, 2015 14:29:43 GMT
I have made many tiles as instructed by DMScotty and theDMG throughout the last few years. When I saw Wyloch's tiles I was intrigued. Taking techniques I learned from all three I made a more heavy duty version of Wyloch's tiles. Considering I have been DMing for over right years now and my campaigns run for many sessions (One instance there were 60+ sessions over the course of two years with characters only achieving 8th level in that span..) I wanted to have tiles that really handle the abuse of the gaming table. Cardboard does a great job but being a guy who loves overkill I wanted to try to make even more durable tiles. I had a friend cut 1/4" MDF board into 2.5" x 2.5" tiles and I picked up some 1/4" x 1/4" square poplar strips from the hardest store. The two sheets of MDF and the poplar strips I bought only cost about $12 (the rest of the materials I already had laying around). My tiles aren't perfectly complete but her are some step by photos! Here my are the tiles my friend cut. Here are the 1/4" x 1/4" wood strips I bought. Here are the tiles with gorilla wood glue used to attach the walls. Then I base coated the tiles with a dark brown rattlecan and painted the walls using the same sponge technique theDMG used on his tiles. I also painted some popsicle sticks for the boards. Base coated in flat black, 80% dry brush coverage of a burnt umber and then a 30% dry brush coverage of a territorial beige. They turned out darker and more weathered than I would have liked but I am lazy and don't want to add more paint to liven them up. And here is a nearly completed tile. I still want to do a bit more with the walls and assemble more than thirty tiles. But time is a resource we all haven't enough of!
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Post by Wyloch on Nov 10, 2015 14:51:49 GMT
Holy cow. Those are boss as hell.
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Post by bluecloud2k2 on Nov 10, 2015 14:55:49 GMT
Fracking Epic. Wish my phone would let me give karma.
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Post by nvdberg on Nov 10, 2015 19:02:51 GMT
Looks sturdy as hell, well done. Those will last you a very long time.
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Post by sgtslag on Nov 10, 2015 19:13:58 GMT
Very nice work. Have you considered using wood stain, in place of paint? Popsicle sticks take stain quite well, giving a varied color throughout the wood surface, in one step. I used Minwax Polyshades urethane-stain on bamboo skewers, as well as toothpicks, and the results look decent, IMO. The advantage of using Minwax Polyshades, is that it stains, and seals, in one step. The Minwax Polyshades comes in a variety of colors, but my preference is for either Royal Walnut (dark brown), or Tudor (a black stain). I also use these two colors on miniatures, using The Dip technique. Cheers!
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Post by tauster on Nov 10, 2015 19:19:19 GMT
Great stuff. I bet they survive almost anything. I would recommend making a few double-sized ones so you can build larger rooms faster.
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jubbs71
Paint Manipulator
Posts: 125
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Post by jubbs71 on Nov 10, 2015 19:29:16 GMT
Very nice work. Have you considered using wood stain, in place of paint? Popsicle sticks take stain quite well, giving a varied color throughout the wood surface, in one step. I used Minwax Polyshades urethane-stain on bamboo skewers, as well as toothpicks, and the results look decent, IMO. The advantage of using Minwax Polyshades, is that it stains, and seals, in one step. The Minwax Polyshades comes in a variety of colors, but my preference is for either Royal Walnut (dark brown), or Tudor (a black stain). I also use these two colors on miniatures, using The Dip technique. Cheers! I have some stain and seal stuff I could try. That would be way faster than all the hand painting I did...
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jubbs71
Paint Manipulator
Posts: 125
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Post by jubbs71 on Nov 10, 2015 19:31:30 GMT
Great stuff. I bet they survive almost anything. I would recommend making a few double-sized ones so you can build larger rooms faster. That is a great idea! I should have my friend cut some of the pieces in bigger squares and rectangles. I am excited to make other tile sets like caverns and dungeons as well. Larger pieces would come in handy!
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Post by bluecloud2k2 on Nov 10, 2015 20:23:32 GMT
Just be sure to wear a respirator. The glue use to make mdf is cancerous if you breathe it in.
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sotf
Advice Guru
Posts: 1,084
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Post by sotf on Nov 10, 2015 21:14:24 GMT
Trying to do something similar, thin plywood rather than MDF, but it's the step up from cardboard and makes things quite durable in the long road.
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Post by l7arkness on Nov 10, 2015 21:50:56 GMT
Really cool idea, i personally like the time saving and cost effectiveness.
Basic math i did to see how much i would need for a good set 1 Sheet of 1/4"x 2'x 2' MDF Board will make approximately (81) 2 1/2" square bases for 3$-6$ 1 Stick of 1/4"x 36" Square wooden dowel will make approximately (14) 2 1/2" long Single Walls for .50$-1.25$
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sotf
Advice Guru
Posts: 1,084
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Post by sotf on Nov 10, 2015 22:34:35 GMT
Really cool idea, i personally like the time saving and cost effectiveness. Basic math i did to see how much i would need for a good set 1 Sheet of 1/4"x 2'x 2' MDF Board will make approximately (81) 2 1/2" square bases for 3$-6$ 1 Stick of 1/4"x 36" Square wooden dowel will make approximately (14) 2 1/2" long Single Walls for .50$-1.25$ For both, you have the cut waste that you need to add into the measurements, but it should still be rather close, though it tends to add up over time. Most carpenters or long time woodworkers tend to know their tools well enough that they automatically figure it in. I'm just going with pre-cut squares for mine, they're sanded and everything...ready to use with no mess for tiles and I just need a bit to take the edge off if I use their products for terrain basing.
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jubbs71
Paint Manipulator
Posts: 125
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Post by jubbs71 on Nov 11, 2015 4:15:04 GMT
An updated photo of a few tiles more done.
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Post by l7arkness on Nov 11, 2015 13:12:35 GMT
Really cool idea, i personally like the time saving and cost effectiveness. Basic math i did to see how much i would need for a good set 1 Sheet of 1/4"x 2'x 2' MDF Board will make approximately (81) 2 1/2" square bases for 3$-6$ 1 Stick of 1/4"x 36" Square wooden dowel will make approximately (14) 2 1/2" long Single Walls for .50$-1.25$ For both, you have the cut waste that you need to add into the measurements, but it should still be rather close, though it tends to add up over time. Most carpenters or long time woodworkers tend to know their tools well enough that they automatically figure it in. I'm just going with pre-cut squares for mine, they're sanded and everything...ready to use with no mess for tiles and I just need a bit to take the edge off if I use their products for terrain basing. loss of material from cutting was calculated in if you use a 1/8" thick blade over the total cuts you will lose 1 1/8" materiel leaving you with 3/8" strips of drop. Which still leaves you with (81) 2 1/2" square bases for 3$-6$
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jubbs71
Paint Manipulator
Posts: 125
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Post by jubbs71 on Nov 13, 2015 6:19:21 GMT
All thirty tiles completed!
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jubbs71
Paint Manipulator
Posts: 125
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Post by jubbs71 on Nov 13, 2015 17:27:03 GMT
After playing with these tiles this morning I don't think 30 is enough to do most things.
What would you guys recommend for how many of each type of piece?
There are: Single wall tiles Hallway tiles (two opposite walls) Corner tiles (two adjacent walls) End of hallway tiles (three walls) Center tiles (no walls)
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Post by Wyloch on Nov 13, 2015 18:29:48 GMT
My usual answer: depends on how you like to design dungeons. If you want to build the Vault of Iptiz, I would recommend the following: 8 Dead End, 8 Hallway, 16 Corners, 16 Field, 8 Rounded, 8 Slanted, 24 Single-Wall, and 4 Acid. You can download that free module from Episode 017. drive.google.com/file/d/0B6DUFiaF6EbpdVU4Q0xob0RIQVk/viewAnyway, yes I think my standard dungeon set is around 150 tiles or so. Single wall tiles always tend to be in high demand. I recommend you design your next dungeon, build ONLY the tiles you need to run it. Run it. Then design your next dungeon. Built ONLY the tiles that are missing, if any. Run it. Rinse and repeat. By your fourth dungeon, you will find you no longer have to build tiles anymore.
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sotf
Advice Guru
Posts: 1,084
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Post by sotf on Nov 13, 2015 20:28:38 GMT
Rinse and repeat. By your fourth dungeon, you will find you no longer have to build tiles anymore. More of not having to make many of them, most people will often find that they don't have enough as scope inevitably increases. Especially once you start with things like cavern tiles and transition tiles in addition to the basic dungeon ones. And that is without the specialty tiles that don't fit the normal format such as 5" ones for a magical circle or similar things that might be useful but need to be anchored in place
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Post by DnDPaladin on Nov 13, 2015 20:38:52 GMT
i agree with wyloch, the biggest problem people have is that they build what they "think" they need... you should always built what you "know" you need !
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Post by thedmg on Nov 14, 2015 20:50:39 GMT
Rinse and repeat. By your fourth dungeon, you will find you no longer have to build tiles anymore. 4 Dungeons?... Lava Ice Desert Jungle Subaquatic Ethereal Sewers Mines Verticals Organic (inside large creatures) Bone (Gigeresque) Caves Burrows Subterranean Urban And these are just below ground
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