Representing 3D on a Tabletop

[Tormsskull]

Hi all,

I've often wanted to include something more interesting into the battles, and so I've thrown in various environmental differences, some difficult terrain, etc.

What I'd now like to do is find a way to make the tabletop map 3D so as to make even more interesting opportunities for battle. Does anyone have a good way of doing this for a live game?

[Shar Tahl]

The Dm's Craft Channel

I have made several tiles using this guy's techniques. they work really good.

[Cleanthes]

Papercraft is the cheapest way to do it, although it's expensive in time. But check out Fat Dragon Games; they have tons of great terrain. Here's a couple links to builds I've done:

http://fatdragongames.proboards.com/thread/1953/shrine-blibdoolpoolp?page=4

http://fatdragongames.proboards.com/search/results?what_at_least_one=stag+l ord+fort&who_only_made_by=0&display_as=0

http://fatdragongames.proboards.com/thread/2050/bad-day-cauldron-shackled-c ity

Or,if you can afford it, Dwarven Forge makes crazy cool stuff too!

[Shar Tahl]

Shar Tahl wrote:

The Dm's Craft Channel

I have made several tiles using this guy's techniques. they work really good.

They pretty much give you free-form and you just use measuring sticks that are in 1" increments to do movement without worrying about squares. All you really need is a hot glue gun, spray paints and old cardboard boxes

[Tormsskull]

Cleanthes wrote:

Or,if you can afford it, Dwarven Forge makes crazy cool stuff too!

Thanks for the links. A lot of that stuff is very impressive. Unfortunately, my artistic talent (and patience) leaves a lot to be desired.

The Dwarven Forge stuff looks like it is suited for someone of my non-talents. Has anyone else used this stuff?

I have a year-long campaign coming to an end in about two months. I was hoping to do something epic for my players, and I think a 3D dungeon could be just the thing.

Can anyone else recommend or speak to the quality/ease of use of the Dungeon Forge stuff?

Thanks

[Tormsskull]

Cleanthes wrote:

Or,if you can afford it, Dwarven Forge makes crazy cool stuff too!

Thanks again for the suggestions. I ended up going with a few Dwarven Forge sets. I'm impressed by the quality of the pieces, just wish there were more pieces per set or they were less expensive. Plotting out an entire dungeon and revealing sections at a time would require 10+ sets I think.

As for now, I'm going to try it just building one room with the tiles, and then when the group gets to that room, present it. I might stick to using the tiles only when 3D is truly needed.