Who uses them?
Are they excellent?
Arem they flexible, as in varied enough to create a great number of dungeons with them?
General likes and dislikes?
Thanks for any info . . .I am considering using them heavily in my next campaign, but wanted to here what the community has to say.
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I assume you mean the Wizards' dungeon tiles. I use them. I enjoy them. They are generally well made and inexpensive.
A few things to keep in mind:
The first set that was released was probably the most flexible. You can lay out pretty basic battle areas with just that one set. I still bought a couple to make the best use I could. Some of the tiles are plain while others have some great details on them.
As the sets have continued to be released they have become a little less flexible. Since the tiles are double-sided you would expect one side to be blank and one to have something interesting on it. That has become increasingly less true, requiring you to purchase more than one set for maximum versatility.
All of the sets have some form of "prop" tiles in them. These can be statues, pools of water, braziers, etc. But the props can be sorely lacking. Statues are pretty limited in their execution. There are no tables, chairs, or other furniture. Honestly, if you are going to grab these tiles I would suggest using 3d props with the 2d tiles. Or create your own 2d props.
Some the sets have pieces that have very limited usefulness. The wilderness set, for instance has some nice pieces and then a few that might come up once in a whole campaign, if ever.
I combine them with homemade tiles created in Photoshop. That way I can create that special room and still have a whole host of generic tiles. If this is not an option for you I would suggest looking at the numerous tile sets at your favorite online rpg dealer and pick up some nice .pdf products that you can print as needed and mount on thick cardboard or art board. You can find some interesting stuff for a good amount of money.
Who uses them?
Are they excellent?
Arem they flexible, as in varied enough to create a great number of dungeons with them?
General likes and dislikes?
Thanks for any info . . .I am considering using them heavily in my next campaign, but wanted to here what the community has to say.
I have bought two of each set since they started the series, with the intention of dropping to one per set once I had a good base to work from and the price went up. Surprisingly, the price has yet to go up, so I keep buying two...
I like them a lot. They are fast and easy to use, resonably durable, and inexpensive. There is still a lack of some pretty common room types (round) but that might be a production issue; it may be harder to cut circles (pure guesswork).
I agree that the first set has been the most useful. The cave set is also handy, as it lets you represent something very common, but isn't quite as effective at it. The wilderness set has been the least useful for me personally...when I do use those, I typically drop a few tiles on top of a flipmat to add a few quick details.
I use them myself. They've come in handy many times (and I imagine that they will continue to do so in the future).
I only have four of the sets, essentially the first four. I have two of the wilderness set as I tend to run a lot more outdoor and wilderness encounters than dungeon encounters (that will change once I start running Rise of the Ruin Lords). I certainly hope WotC makes one or two wilderness sets in in the future because of this.
There are certainly a lot of options out there as Allynbard mentioned many companies are making them (either in physical or pdf version) or items similar to them. Personally I plan to pick up some of Paizo's flip mats (most of which have been given good reviews) and some other companies tiles and products.
But for ten bucks the Dungeon tiles are worth the investment. In fact I think i had a DM discover you could also use dry erase markers on them just fine... but then again, I don't remember how that experiment turned out.
Edit: I need to learn the difference between three and four apparently.
I like them too, with a few caveats.
I've found that they can be cumbersome. As with 3D accoutrements, it takes time to “scroll the board” when the characters get to the edge. If you don’t have the tiles all sorted and ready to go, it will take even longer. This break in the action can really disrupt the flow of the game. Sometimes it is better to just use a vinyl map with dry erase markers.
Plus, if you don’t have several sets, you might find yourself cannibalizing the room they just came from (and may retreat back to), or only having a portion of a room (“Yeah, the wall continues this way…”)
What I have done as a compromise is I will create the dungeon (or whatever encounter area) in Photoshop using either a scan of the tiles or something similar for other sources. Then I print the whole thing poster size on 11x17 paper. This can be placed down much more quickly and can be cut, if desired, to only reveal portions at a time.
Also, while I love 3D stuff, like Dwarven Forge, I find reproducible “fold up paper models” to be far more economical. Fat Dragon Games has a line of CDs called E-Z Dungeons that I just love. They are very reasonably priced and you can print all you want forever.
Thanks everyone! I am likely to buy some and then go along with some of the other suggestions here as well.
Thanks again.
I like them, but I tend to use them in conjunction with other sets I own such as the Paizo sets, Hybrid tiles and Cadwallon tiles from Rackham and the old Heroquest and Dungeon floorplans from GW.
Do they match up well with the sets that Paizo offers?