Quote:
Originally Posted by RPGnet Reviews
[i]Post originally by screenmonkey at 2004-10-22 18:22:28
i was wondering about the map tiles. How many are there? What size are they? What sorts of features can be found on each side? Are there numerous combinations to be had with them such that i could create a decent variety of dungeons with them?
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I know this was asked a couple years ago, but I thought I'd give some more details for anyone who hasn't yet seen the contents of the boxed set:
DESCRIPTION OF THE TILES:
> There are four 10x10 double-sided tiles (i.e. 10x10 grids of 1-inch squares.)
> In general, the full-colour, nicely detailed rooms on each tile would be perfectly suitable for typical man-made dungeons, castles, tombs, and that sort of thing (but not as perfect for natural caves or wooden houses or that sort of thing - though they should should still work in a pinch.)
> Each side of the tile is divided into two or three rooms, with 1"x1" rough grey flagstones on the floors, sometimes cracked or covered in debris (these serve both aesthetically, to lend a nice creepy dungeon-crawl atmoshpere, and functionally - each square flagstone is one "space" for movement.)
> The floors and details are in shades of lighter grey or other colours, the walls contrast sharply in very dark grey, with easy-to-find medium-brown doors (in short, everything is easy to see and identify, and very easy on the eyes, unlike the maps that come with D&D Miniatures starter sets.)
> Some debris is scattered around most of the rooms (loose stones, broken weapons, piles of bones, loose coins, small puddles, that sort of thing.) A few rooms contain furniture and other, similar features (wells, chests, tables, bookshelves, etc.) I tell my players that, unless I say otherwise, anything visible on the map is fair game (they can pick up broken weapons, search chests or skeletons, look under carpets, throw loose rocks at monsters, or whatever.)
> There are a couple of special-purpose rooms (an alchemist's/wizard's lab, tomb full of coffins and an evil-looking altar, a room full of giant mushrooms, and a room full of debris), but the rest are more generic - quite a nice mix for any number of basic dungeon-crawls (not just the one in the included module.)
VARIETY, RE-USABILITY, AND EXPANDABILITY:
> The Basic Set includes instructions on how to use the four tiles to make a dungeon 8 tiles in size - you simply re-use tiles your party has already explored, flipping them over and moving them as they delve further into the dungeon. There's no reason why you can't just keep using the same ones as the party goes deeper and deeper into the dungeon. In this way, they are definitely re-usable, though they'll certainly start looking very familiar after a while.
> Fortunately, WotC also seperately sells relatively inexpensive packages of double-sided customizable Dungeon Tiles. A single set of these will contain dozens of smaller rooms and hallways, ranging from 1x2 door sections, up to 8x10 rooms and buildings. These extra Dungeon Tile sets are in the same style as the tiles that come in the Basic Set, and the two items work perfectly together. A single package of Dungeon Tiles, combined with the Basic Set's tiles, can add nearly limitless possibilities to make your own dungeons, and a set of Dungeon Tiles and a Basic Game set would make a great gift together.
> Anyone sitting on an old HeroQuest game can, of course, use the dungeon furniture from that game to further customize the tiles (or, for that matter, use these tiles in HeroQuest as a superior replacement for the game board. In fact, the Basic Game tiles, and the Dungeon Tiles sets, can be re-usable for any number of future D&D adventures, and for any number of other role-playing, miniatures, and board games.)