Reddit reviews Dry Erase Dungeon Tiles, Combo Set of Five 10" and Sixteen 5" Interlocking Squares for Role-Playing and Miniature Tabletop Games

I'm about to make a post about how I built a fully functional DM screen from scratch for about $14, but as far as original content that's it for me. However, here's some links that caught my interest or inspired me if it helps any.

Tips

ProJared: How to be a good DM

DM Support Group

Content Generation

DonJon Inn Generator

[World Gen] (http://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/14706/rules-for-generating-a-game-world-as-you-go)

Map making

Podcasts

For inspiration

Adventure Zone - A real play podcast with a group of seasoned improvisational comedians. The perfect, I think, blend of fun, fantasy, and storytelling. Certainly not serious, but still has really great storytelling and roleplaying. Griffin is an amazing DM and has really inspired me to create like he does.

Hello from the Magic Tavern - Doesn't play DnD, but lots of lore inspiration...for better or worse.

Dungeon Master's Block - Lots of good idea and discussions.

Materials

[Role 4 Initiative dry erase tiles] (http://www.amazon.com/Dry-Erase-inch-Dungeon-Tiles/dp/B016H1B0RW) - My dungeon master uses these, it is SO much easier than using one giant dry erase playmat. We used to totally cheese things in dungeons because we knew the action must be in the direction of the rest of the empty squares. With the tiles, it's not obvious anymore which doors to take and which direction to go.

[Color coded ball pawns] (http://www.amazon.com/Ball-Pawns-Accessories-Assorted-Colors/dp/B00JOPU3UY?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s01) - I haven't gotten these in the mail yet, but I think they'll work great for marking the player characters. If I even run a longer campaign, I think it would be fun to use wooden peg dolls, painted with paint pens, as player characters, NPCs, most humanoid monsters...and other various wooden things for the bigger and weirder.

[1 inch wooden squares] (http://www.amazon.com/Package-Round-Disc-Unfinished-Cutouts/dp/B00CA1Y878?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00) - cheap way to make markers for enemies, can write on with sharpie or use a 1 inch circle cutter to use your own color. See the really good guide here.

DM cheat sheets

Ozuro

Ronny Hart

I don't think either of these are perfect; nobody else's DM screens will ever be perfect for how you run a game. I combined these two and added my own notes for my own screen.

Reddit threads I've saved

Overland travel

Sandbox play

Terrain features for encounters

Software

DM Minion - Seems like it would help a lot with organization, certainly not required for success. Can't get it to work with my PC.

Highly recommend these alternative mapping options as well:

Dry Erase Dungeon Tiles, Combo Set of five 10" and sixteen 5" interlocking squares for role-playing and miniature tabletop games
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B016H1B0RW/

I swear by these: Dry-Erase interlocking dungeon tiles.

Cons:

The surface can be somewhat uneven since they're puzzle pieces.
Requires care in taking them apart and drawing on them so that the edges don't get damaged or stained.

Pros:
Can be as large and oddly-shaped as you need.
Very easy to store and very portable.
Double-sided, so you can draw "secrets" on one side and flip over as appropriate.

I found that they fit perfectly in a shoebox (or Ikea's small cardboard storage boxes), and that so long as you have a modicum of care while using them, they stay nice for a long time. They're easy to clean off and so long as you don't leave the marker on for weeks at a time, they don't stain. I've used mine for 2 years (we play monthly) and aside from a few dings they're still just as nice as when I got them. They're great for pre-drawing your map on, then taking them apart, transporting the map, and assembling it as needed.

Depending on the complexity of the dungeon I'll either predraw, draw as it goes along, or only day certain areas as needed (with the rest being theatre of the mind). I use these when dming.
https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B016H1B0RW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_ygmaCbW14X828

Nah, I bought them from Amazon. [Link]

Dry-erase tiles! These are the ones we bought at our local game store

All of our characters end up with similar Perceptions, so I draw the tiles [usually before game- I'm the best with drawing lines and colours and other such jazz]. Anything people can't see is attached later on, or we draw the dotted lines of dividing.

It can be a bit of a pain at the end of the night to clean, but the ability to create your map on the go = worth it. Bonus, you can break pieces off, erase and re-use as need be :)

https://www.amazon.com/Dry-Erase-inch-Dungeon-Tiles/dp/B016H1B0RW

You could try these

I use these erasable battle tiles and an erasable battle mat from Chessex.

Dry Erase Dungeon Tiles, Combo Set of Five 10" and Sixteen 5" Interlocking Squares for Role-Playing and Miniature Tabletop Games https://www.amazon.com/dp/B016H1B0RW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_2cU5CbMEMM7QC

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B016H1B0RW/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_4zD.Bb331G0Z4

I bought them at my local game store for this price actually.

Play around with the tiles a bit to see if you like them! You can go as deep down the rabbit hole as you want, to be honest. The common consensus is that simple eraserboard tiles/maps work great as the workhorse for drawing out combat areas. These kinds of tiles are really useful because you can simulate line of sight/closed doors/etc by not placing down your tiles until your players advance further in. And you can draw features on the tiles to represent things in the area that are important.

I like to incorporate these blank tiles with other terrain that I've made or purchased as a way to make "filler" tiles. Say you have some city tiles that work for an encounter, but you need a walkway between two buildings or you need an alley between two buildings or something. You can place the blank tiles down, then place your city tiles on top and tell your players "the white space is an alley between these two buildings." Or in a recent game I had a small shrine in the wilderness where the party was attacked by a predator that was stalking them. I set up my blank tiles and put the terrain that represented the shrine on the table. Now the blank tiles represented the forest around the shrine.

I think it's better to start with stuff like this than it is to spend a bunch of money/time on Dwarven Forge or Hirst Arts specially made terrain. Over time, if you have the money and interest, you can eventually build up a collection of whatever kind of terrain you want. But for now, start with things that will be useful almost all of the time and are relatively cheap.

If you're looking to go three dimensional with your terrain/accessories, I can't recommend papercraft terrain like Fat Dragon Games makes enough.

As far as minis go, you have a LOT of options. WotC sells blind-box miniatures boxes that have decent quality, prepainted minis. And there are sites like Miniature Market and Troll & Toad where you can buy the specific miniatures you want. You also have a massive variety of unpainted miniatures you can use. The D&D officially branded Nolzur's miniatures are high quality and well-regarded. I also highly recommend the Reaper Bones line of minis. The quality is slightly worse than the Nolzur line, but the variety and price are difficult to argue with.

One option I don't see mentioned enough are "flat" miniatures. Pathfinder has a box set of popular monsters printed on cardstock that you put on stands to represent what the players are fighting. I've also seen plastic versions of these which I have never purchased, but Sly Flourish speaks highly of. If you do some googling I'm sure you can find tons more resources for printable "paper miniatures."

Hope this helps!

We use these and our whole group thinks they're great. We can quickly mock up the map with dry erase markers and it's easy to add a tile on if the battle shifts. Our current party is 8 with the NPCs without including any enemies so it really helps us keep track of where everyone is. It also helps justify my miniature obsession.

Ah, well that's a whole nother issue, and really depends on what tools you have available to you.

If all you have is a single grid mat, I'd suggest either draw the map as you go or draw the whole thing in advance, and cover up unexplored rooms with paper.

Personally, I only draw/build the rooms where a fight may occur using these or these, but you could use them to create the entire dungeon and just lay out rooms when the party gets to them.

I've found these to work fairly well. The only thing I haven't been too thrilled about, is that after maybe a dozen sessions, some of the edges are fraying. A little bit of superglue fixes it though, so I'm still quite happy with them.

The advantage is it let's you draw things up ahead of time, and you can keep portions of the floorplan/dungeon concealed until the players actually enter the room.

Combine them with a good multi-colored set of dry erase markers, and you can prep some decent looking maps ahead of time, while still keeping things as surprises for the players.

There are some great options out there for modular map tiles as well Roll 4 Initiative makes a fairly well-used dry-erase option. Do you prefer wet erase or dry erase?

https://www.amazon.com/Dungeon-Interlocking-Role-Playing-Miniature-Tabletop/dp/B016H1B0RW/ref=asc_df_B016H1B0RW/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312066261512&hvpos=1o2&hvnetw=g&hvrand=18243076028045259427&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9029988&hvtargid=pla-527058601577&psc=1

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Can prepare ahead of time or on the fly and hold up better with mini's being moved around

Check these out:

Dry Erase Dungeon Tiles, Combo Set of Five 10" and Sixteen 5" Interlocking Squares for Role-Playing and Miniature Tabletop Games https://www.amazon.com/dp/B016H1B0RW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_m.E.Bb8JS9W6Y

I want these but I am perpetually poor

I know one cheap solution has already been proposed, but I just wanted to throw these out there:

https://smile.amazon.com/Dungeon-interlocking-role-playing-miniature-tabletop/dp/B016H1B0RW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1497531919&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=dungeon+tiles+dry+erase&psc=1&smid=A380WD9LOHYW0R

They are white board pieces that assemble like puzzle pieces. This allows you to continuously build onward when in a dungeon crawl situation, or have an enormous board if that's your thing. Slightly pricey, but highly recommended.

I make battle maps because I find that stuff fun - but you can make very simple ones!

I use this paper - it comes out to <50c per map.

Though you could just use butcher paper and a wooden dowel with one inch marks on it for for every 5 feet - that's what I'm doing after I run out of the grid Paper.

For city maps, I use this method.

Again, I spend more time with it because I like to, but less so when I too am pressed for time. You could likely make them very simple, and they would still look good and make sense.

I can post a few pictures of some of my town and battle maps when I get back if you're interested.

I tried to use premade maps to print initially, but it was both very expensive and hard to see. Again, I can post pics later if you want.

I'm trying to get my best friend into DMing, and I've encouraged him to look into these, which are available in many sizes. Wet erase marker for 30 seconds, bam a battle mat.

If you want something in the same vein that's a little more hardcore, there's these, which I may get if I run a less serious campaign in the future.

There's also Matt Coville's video onterrain that is very helpful. All of the stuff he puts out is, really.

Hope that helps!

These are what I like using.

https://smile.amazon.com/Dry-Erase-inch-Dungeon-Tiles/dp/B016H1B0RW/

And then I use these for minis

https://smile.amazon.com/Looney-Labs-Treehouse-Board-Game/dp/192978077X/