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Author Topic: Dungeon floorplans - especially caverns - compatible with WotC Dungeon Tiles?  (Read 1492 times)

Offline Hobgoblin

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 4911
    • Hobgoblinry
Recent games of Sellswords & Spellslingers, Shadespire and Pulp Alley have got me thinking about 28mm dungeon bashes (I ran a 15mm D&D campaign for my kids and their friends last year). I like the idea of a system with a bit of AI (possibly Sellswords) that would keep the gamesmastering confined to the roleplaying situations and important NPCs, while the monsters generally do their own thing.

There's no question of me running weekend campaigns until the Six Nations is out of the way, but I thought I might plan a bit more in advance and create a "megadungeon" using floorplans. I've got the WotC Master sets for dungeons and wilderness, and will probably add the city set for sewers and the like. But I need caves! WotC used to do these, but no longer do, so that the extant cave sets now cost exorbitant amounts.

So, I thought I'd put this question to the hive mind: who else makes good floorplans that work with the WotC ones - i.e. are on thick card (like Space Hulk or Advanced Heroquest pieces)? I'll probably rope in our Descent tiles, though they have jigsaw connections so will have to be self-contained areas. Does anyone do a similar thing? The Paizo ones seem to be much thinner (and thus less compatible and more destructible).

The point of this project is minimal effort - I want to use the available time to paint up or even make some unusual monsters and NPCs. So any pointers as to commercially available floorplans - especially caverns - would be much appreciated!

Thanks in advance!
« Last Edit: January 09, 2018, 01:36:49 PM by Hobgoblin »

Offline phreedh

  • Scatterbrained Genius
  • Posts: 2143
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Paizo flip-mats maybe? They're thinner, but they're very durable. Nothing like the old flimsy D&D Miniature Games maps.

http://paizo.com/pathfinder/accessories/maps/flipmats

That being said, I had problems having them lie down flat.
Please visit my miniature gaming blog at http://ministuff.godzilla.se


Offline Hobgoblin

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 4911
    • Hobgoblinry
Thanks, phreedh. Those may be the only real alternative. What puts me off the Paizo stuff is the fiddliness of reveal the areas step by step (I suppose you'd have to overlay them with a covering sheet cut into pieces). The mats look good for "god's eye" skirmishes, but less handy for games with an exploration angle.

And, as you say, things that won't lie flat are annoying.

I may yet have to make my own cavern tiles, but I'd rather not if at all possible.


Offline Sangennaru

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 5779
  • The Lazy One
    • The Lazy Forger
I would HIGHLY reccomend this kit from Heroic Maps:

http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/192492/Heroic-Maps--Geomorphs-Basic-Dungeon

I printed those on 3mm extruded PVC and the result is pretty professional!

Offline PhilB

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 431
    • A Dragontooth Grognard
There are a whole lot of free options online, if you're willing to go with photocopied rooms, caverns and such. Color inkjet printers are so cheap these days that you can print off multiple sets of corridors and such.

Try googling "cavern tile set pdf download"... here are some of my first (free!) results:
- Pymapper.com has free samples here: http://pymapper.com/tile-downloads/
- Dragonsfoot appears to have lots of free maps, though I didn't see any caverns at first glance:https://www.dragonsfoot.org/maps/
- This page of free maps looks promising, but it's not really "tiles": http://www.fantasticmaps.com/free-stuff/

There is a lot of more specific high-res map content available in specific RPG discussion areas, like one of the very active Pathfinder forums on Paizo.com. Check out a few of the maps here:
http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2i3wa?Community-Created-Stuff
https://shoba.deviantart.com/art/Skulls-Crossing-Western-Caves-100dpi-674312556 and
https://shoba.deviantart.com/art/Pathfinder-Maps-Graul-Homestead-at-Dawn-640712826

The drawbacks are that this requires you to do one of two things:
- Either use cut-up paper bits as is, perhaps with some double-sided tape to hold the map to a surface like a plastified tablecloth, or
- Take the time to glue your maps onto cardboard, then cut out your shapes, etc.

I've had great success using high-res maps printed on paper and simply trusting to the weight of the figurines to keep them in place. But I was usually using full-sheet maps rather than fiddly bits of geomorphic corridors and such.

Cheers,    --- PhilB

Offline Severian

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 440
A couple of years back I bought on ebay a set of modular dungeon tiles made by Colossal Maps. They also did a cavern set, which I vaguely meant to get and never did. I just had a quick look on ebay and (of course!) I now can't find either set. I'll look further later, though they may no longer be trading.

Anyway, the tiles are pretty flimsy but sticking them to stiffer card shouldn't be too onerous; and the dungeon set is pretty extensive. I'll let you know if I turn up anything.

Offline Hobgoblin

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 4911
    • Hobgoblinry
Many thanks for all the suggestions and links! I'll take some time to go through those. The geomorphs look excellent. They key thing, I think, is being able to show only what the PCs can see.

Serendipitously enough, I discovered last night that WotC are re-releasing their dungeon tiles in a couple of weeks - either new versions of the three main sets, or the old ones plus some extra stuff. The accompanying blurb says that there will be caverns in the dungeon set, which sounds promising. So I'll wait a little while and see. But I'll certainly study the options above in the meantime.

The plan that's slowly crystallising in my head is for a megadungeon that could be used for a whole variety of games: RPGs, skirmishes and hybrids - using the same recurring villains and monsters. One day we might use Song of Blades to play out a skirmish close to the surface; another time, we might use Sellswords & Spellslingers to chart an expedition to retrieve some valuable object. Another occasion might be a full-blown RPG session using TBH or Whitehack or Dungeon World. The idea would be to get the players sufficiently familiar with some of the locations that they'd start to build up "local knowledge" of what might be lurking in certain parts of the underworld. But of course all those things would be in flux ...



Offline gnomehome

  • Mad Scientist
  • Posts: 562
Have you thought about the Massive Darkness (CMON) tiles - these are available seperately

http://[/img]][/img]
I like my games like my orange juice: pulpy with no added sugar or artificial sweeteners

Offline Hobgoblin

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 4911
    • Hobgoblinry
Thanks! I was completely unaware of these. They look very promising indeed, so I'll investigate.

 

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