My modular sets, almost complete.

[dmzane]

Those look fantastic...I wish I could paint tiles that nice.

[Deleted]

No paint was used in the production of those dungeon tiles.. not one drop.

[dmzane]

Yeah I love the look of your tiles, I was just wishing I could paint tiles as good as your printed ones...if I could then I could probably do it for a living lol.

[vestrivan]

Great tiles, I love them! Specially the round pieces... respect!

[whytespirit]

That's fine, everyone is different. For me and my club laying the tiles on a black background defines the wall and I mention where a corridor or space continues to the players. I have used black gauze/ netting strips to denote areas fading into darkness. It means that walls are already defined unless otherwise mentioned and the possibilities of using tiles - like almost every other dungeon tile made - are endless. Chasms and drops are different though either an arrow to another part of the table is used or a gap with a height market can be used.
I would love to have different levels on different heights though, that would be so cool.

[dungeonmistress]

I like the walls, too. But @aj is right, it is a matter of personal preference. Put ten people in a room with a picture of a field with a tree in it and blue sky with a few clouds and you will ten very different descriptions of that picture. We all see things differently.

[Deleted]

I'm working on a pretty good cave/cavern set at the moment, its got a lot of similarities to DM Scotty's 2.5D Next system, the 3D wall and outcrop pieces can be arranged however you like, however they are designed to include useful elevations, so miniatures can be placed on them, for more dynamic play. I just finished making a bunch of crystal formations and fungus covered outcrops, now I am making a few base sheets, I want to include a plain rock surface, a chasm that is closed (ie, the chasm starts and finishes on the one tile) and one that is open (extends beyond the tile on a couple of edges) as well as a pool (closed water feature) and a river (open water feature). Finally, I want to have a series of elevations, so I can either stack them on top of each other to make a cliff situation (or travelling down into a chasm) or have overhanging split levels (mezzanine) or simply a stepped incline, perhaps representing a section of the cavern that has been pushed up from an earth quake or some such.
That should pretty much cover all the basic encounter environments I need.

[grandinquisitorkris]

Aug 29, 2014 6:17:18 GMT whytespirit said:

Aug 27, 2014 20:27:46 GMT @aj said:

 Because we like the way it looks and feels?
 What do you do when there are walls within a room? What if the tile is right against another one, representing two parallel rooms?
 Every system is just representative and it largely comes down to preference.. yours differs from mine I guess.

Hurray for individuality!

Use a black coloured tile could be a solution, I wasn't getting at anyone. I was merely asking why some gamers define walls on their tiles. For me it's about using a tile set that is practical and almost endless in possibilities. 

i think it has to do with the visaul creativity of the persons building the dungeon , and the amount of dedication they have to the craft . i am not making a dig at you , but ask your self why you create a dungeon at all , instead of useing "theatre of the mind" ? my guess would be that it not only makes it easier to get all of the players to understand where they are , but its also more impressive to look at . do you use actual figures , or just wooden pawns ? same reasoning i would presume .

in every hobby (in this case the crafting aspect) , there are people who take it very much to heart , so that while we all accept that other people may not put in the degree of dedication that we DO , we our selves put in all the details to meet our own sense of devoution not just to the game , but the crafting of the game to make it all that we think it can be .
 
if you have seen my figures in my threads , you could very well ask why i go to such length to make them each individually , when they could all be substitued with paper tokens ? many players and DMs go the cheap and easy rout , but i am a "miniatures gamer" , so to meet my expectations , that just doesnt fly . for me , building the figs is as much about the process as it is about the result . as a result , i also look at what other have done to see if there is anything i can really learn from them . for instance , in the minis war competition , i voted for the ozze because while AJ's beholder was impressive , the ozze was also impressive , and the tutorial part about the platic beed parts showed some great attenion to detail and materials handling .

i wont speak for the others , but to me , a dungeon with out the walls doesnt look complete , as if the person making it was rushed , and still needs to finish it .

[whytespirit]

For your information I have an honours degree in fine art, and 25 years experience in graphic design and publishing. It has nothing to do with visual creativity, I am used to the maps of TSR when the dungeon was printed on blue graph paper and the solid blue was defined as solid rock. In my case the black is the solid rock and the edge of the tile defines the wall. It's not rocket science and yes I use painted miniatures and not wooden pawns. I will post an adventure photograph that shows the kind of effort our club goes in creating a visually exciting dungeon terrain when I get the time.

In the mean time happy crafting!!!!

[dungeonmistress]

For me, it's the fun of letting my imagination loose in a medium where A) I don't have to spend tons of money (that I don't have) to achieve a desirable result, B) my work can and is admired and utilized by my friends, and C) when I'm done with it I can sell it, if I wish, to my FLGS. The money gained from that sale can be used to purchase more supplies to make more game environments.

Plus, my players do get more immersed in the game as they pay attention to all the little details in each encounter area. They love it when they trip over a crack in the floor and stumble into the crates that they had hoped to take cover behind and suddenly they're grappling with the foe, when they notice out of the corner of their eye, the treasure, the map, the amulet or what-have-you laying in the ruins of the crate they smashed as the fell in the first place. It's the little details like this that bring it to life for them.

Not every group is going to need or even want this level of detail. My group loves it, so I do my best for them. Watching their enjoyment as we play, is really all the payment I need.

I am getting close to the point where I will have all the basic tiles and walls and things I need and all I'll need to craft are the really special tiles and such. beyond that, I can turn my attention to making mini's and a mobile DM's 'Trunk of Tricks'.

[Deleted]

The cavern tile set is available now.. I purchased it, opened the file to look at the pages, then ran down to the mall to buy new printer ink.. they look amazing! I would say a Cavern large room set is going to follow shortly.
Thing that struck me, aside from how good looking the design is, is the sheer number of sections to choose from, all the options, the endless variability... oh my.

Anyway, I am going to be a very busy crafter for the next couple of weeks

[grandinquisitorkris]

Sept 12, 2014 15:13:43 GMT whytespirit said:

For your information I have an honours degree in fine art, and 25 years experience in graphic design and publishing. It has nothing to do with visual creativity, I am used to the maps of TSR when the dungeon was printed on blue graph paper and the solid blue was defined as solid rock. In my case the black is the solid rock and the edge of the tile defines the wall. It's not rocket science and yes I use painted miniatures and not wooden pawns. I will post an adventure photograph that shows the kind of effort our club goes in creating a visually exciting dungeon terrain when I get the time.

In the mean time happy crafting!!!!

what was your focus in fine arts ? your question was why do the walls when just the floor is enough ......... why do you use miniatures when pawns/tokens are good enough ? you mention your experience in graphic design and publishing , and perhaps thats part of why you view the floors as good enough  ; the main focus on graphic design seems to be what OTHER people want , trying to get a project "good enough" for a supervisor or client , as opposed to ONLY doing your own thing for YOU . atleast that was my school experience with fellow  students who were graphic artists and designers trying to break away to discover them selves in the fine arts world .

you mention the old days of graphpaper maps , and to me thats all the wall-less dungeon tiles really are . if i'm goingto spend my time making and painting figures , i want the battle field to be just as well produced . when i play games that use tile maps , i alsways put a black sheet down on the table first , not to differentiate the bounderies , but to put even more focus on the game board and the figures on it , and adding in things like the partial walls takes the map from being just a paper representation , to being as much a piece of art as the miniatures on it .

to me personaly its also part of my sculpture training in that when we presented a piece for critique , the piece had to be presented as it would be in a gallery , display stand and all , not just tossed on a table or hung from any section of wall , hell , if we JUST wanted to hang something on the wall , we had to spackle in the previous nail holes and touch up the white paint so that it looked fresh for the critique , and if the wall needed to be another color to accent the piece , we had to bring in a sheet of plywood , texture it and paint it as a false wall panel .

[jazhi]

Hey AJ, have you made the cavern tiles? I'm curious what they look like.

Also curious what you use for props, such as shelves, beds, tables, etc. -- printed or painted?

[justicechest]

You know,I don't know why I've instinctively resisted the idea of printed tiles, because it's extremely hard to argue with how great these look. I have a taste for doing things the hard way in general (not just in crafting ) but I can't honestly say that I'm producing anything that looks this good, and for a higher cost in materials and time at that. I would love to play at a table like this.

Course I have weeks sunk into my set at this point and pretty much have to use them till they wear out to get my money's worth, so to speak . 

[DnDPaladin]

bah to me its quite simple... it would cost me far less to paint it then print it. inks so much costy around here.
but damn, it does look awesome compared to mines.

[SpielMeisterKev!]

Howdy,

Ink =~ Paint

In context,
Kev!

[justicechest]

Yeh I think if you add up cost of glue, paint, brushes, etc. and factor in time (which I think is the biggest difference in resource cost), you probly get a better ROI on these printed tiles, especially since they look so durned nifty. I started out using thedmg's egg carton advanced floors and I'm somewhat stuck continuing for uniformity, and it GUZZLES hot glue. It's a very nice effect mind you but there's a price.

For sure it's a question of taste, but it struck me last night that I wasn't giving this enough credit. I speak only for my own pieces obviously here because there are so many awesome sets posted on this board, but I needed to put my hands together for this and it was long overdue.

[Deleted]

Hey, I have a metric crap load of Reaper Bones miniatures arriving in the next couple of months.. I don't have time to paint anything else! DMScotty is waiting for his Kickstarter pledge goodies to arrive (and a fair few other crafters as well).
But yes, it saves a lot of time, the printing does work out to be a bit easier on the wallet, particularly now that the home printers (I think) are going to move toward continuous supply ink tanks, not disposable cartridges.
The office supply glue sticks are comparatively cheap, they are designed specifically for the task of sticking paper together.. however, hot glue has so many more uses for terrain work, miniatures and such, I will never give mine away, thats for sure.
I am happy to provide an alternate method, one which is well supported by print craft artists, and if the simple print method appeals to a wider array of folks, all the better for the hobby in general.
No I just need someone to create an archive of 3D printable dungeon furnishings, fork out for a hot plastic desktop printer and I'll be sorted for life!

Oh, and I use a mix of paper printed and crafted furnishings, mostly printed, because crafting things is relatively slow going for me.

[jazhi]

I have a monthly subscription for ink for my HP printer. The ink still comes in cartridges, but they are larger than even the extended life and it's quite a bit cheaper this way. My printer automatically orders them for me when I get low on ink, which is really convenient.

I'm about halfway through making a large set of tiles, but I'm starting to think that it would be cheaper and easier to print them. My only hesitation is that the cave tile walls look like they would be extremely fussy to cut out. Not such a big deal for the paper, but the cardboard/foam core might be a real pain.

[DnDPaladin]

what printer do you use ?
because you still have to add the price of a printer to the mix as well considering i have none.
not to mention the time to set it right. my moms printer always seem screwed up when it comes to colors, lines and the likes.
if anything i'd buy a laser printer instead. much better then ink !