| GM 1990 |
We've been using a 2'x3' whiteboard that I laminated after putting 1" grid on. When combined with a selection of lego's for tables/trees/fires, and wood-blocks for buildings/cliffs, etc is very functional for our mini's and pawns.
However, one challenge on dungeon crawls is running out of whiteboard space and then having to clean off, rearrange, etc. Also, having seen the Dwarven Forge setups....they are pretty cool....and expensive. An advantage with tiles is you can pickup old areas to recycle "forward" as the group explores, and then if the group nears the edge of the table, just spin the tile they're on 180 degrees and keep building in front of them.
So I cranked out some tiles on my own. I am by -no- means an art expert, but I think they turned out nice for a first cut. Pictures from last nights first-run.
One side is grey/black the other is sand-tone.
Requirements:
"Stone" finish spray paint (sold lots of places)
"Matte or Gloss Clear Coat" spraypaint.
Xacto knife
Ruler and straight edge
Black-pen
Cardboard
Basic steps.
1. Spraypaint large section of cardboard one color. Let dry. Flip and paint other side your 2d color. Let dry.
2. Measure and cut desired section sizes
3. Lightly draw on 1" grid on both sides
4. Clear-coat
It wasn't a lot of work over a couple days and I quickly had a pile of various sizes. My "main" size was 10'x20' since they're easily adapted to lots of room sizes and hallways, and fit nicely in the tool-box tray's I'm using for storage. Also, cardboard is sensitive to moisture and small pieces warp less so they lay flat. I did make a couple larger rooms, and 5' wide (seen in the photo), as well as a couple versions of 1/2 circles.
Next step will be making a few doors out of pop-sickle sticks. I may also make a couple "wall" sections to use when rooms are side-by-side, although for now I can just use sand-tile for one room and stone-tile for the adjacent indicating where the dividing wall is.
A couple lesson learned. If you mark the grid before cutting, it won't always match on both sides. You can see in the pictures how I cut on the line on-side, but the other side wasn't perfect. So mark -after- you cut and all your tiles should look right. Keep the Xacto sharp, but take it easy and make 2 passes for a full cut. Its hard to push all the way through and more likely for the knife to drift.
Has anyone made home-made ones? Any ideas to share if you're a crafter?