Help out a Sistah - Dungeons and Dragons Terrain

[anatess2]

Hi D&D gamers, I was hoping to get some suggestions.  Last time I played D&D was in the 80's so I really don't know much about the new-fangled gadgets these days.  My son now wants to be a Dungeon Master and so in his Christmas list he asked for a mat.  I looked at the mat and I'm like... ermm... dry erase?  Where are the 3D mountains and the streams and the lava and the fort, etc. etc.  I mean, sure we made our own back in the day with plaster of paris but surely they sell those things nowadays?  Anyway, so I went searching for it and well... there are a quadzillion of them and they all are seemingly a lot of money for a tiny amount of features.

So, I was hoping I can get some advice on really cool mats and tiles and 3D features and such to give to a wanna-be Dungeon Master.  Or is that that 3D features are just too much hassle when you can just draw the thing on a mat?

Thank you very very much for the assistance.

[zil]

Huh.  We drew our terrain / dungeon / whatever on hexagonal graph paper.  Guess we were poor, or cheap, or low-tech, or something.  Of course, no one but me liked it, and then we had that fireside about D&D and heavy metal being evil...  All I have left is the graph paper - and maybe the dice somewhere.

[anatess2]

3 minutes ago, zil said:

Huh.  We drew our terrain / dungeon / whatever on hexagonal graph paper.  Guess we were poor, or cheap, or low-tech, or something.  Of course, no one but me liked it, and then we had that fireside about D&D and heavy metal being evil...  All I have left is the graph paper - and maybe the dice somewhere.

Hmm... in my day, building terrains was a big part of the fun.

[Guest]

14 minutes ago, zil said:

Huh.  We drew our terrain / dungeon / whatever on hexagonal graph paper.  Guess we were poor, or cheap, or low-tech, or something.  Of course, no one but me liked it, and then we had that fireside about D&D and heavy metal being evil...  All I have left is the graph paper - and maybe the dice somewhere.

Yup.  That was us as well.  Of course, my cheapiness has been well documented.

@anatess2,

All you really need is a board (rigid or roll up) that has a grid on it.  Hexagons are usually preferred over squares.  But then you can draw on a dry-erase material (if that's what you have).  I prefer to get stuff out of my toy bin and say: These are trees, these are mountains, river, etc.

But the grid is difficult to improvise or do by hand.  So, I splurge for the board with the grid.

[Fether]

44 minutes ago, anatess2 said:

Hi D&D gamers, I was hoping to get some suggestions.  Last time I played D&D was in the 80's so I really don't know much about the new-fangled gadgets these days.  My son now wants to be a Dungeon Master and so in his Christmas list he asked for a mat.  I looked at the mat and I'm like... ermm... dry erase?  Where are the 3D mountains and the streams and the lava and the fort, etc. etc.  I mean, sure we made our own back in the day with plaster of paris but surely they sell those things nowadays?  Anyway, so I went searching for it and well... there are a quadzillion of them and they all are seemingly a lot of money for a tiny amount of features.

So, I was hoping I can get some advice on really cool mats and tiles and 3D features and such to give to a wanna-be Dungeon Master.  Or is that that 3D features are just too much hassle when you can just draw the thing on a mat?

Thank you very very much for the assistance.

We had a large glass table and we taped a square grid system under it. Then we drew everything with dry erase markers. When we went to a new area all we had to do was erase and draw again

[Jane_Doe]

2 hours ago, anatess2 said:

Hi D&D gamers, I was hoping to get some suggestions.  Last time I played D&D was in the 80's so I really don't know much about the new-fangled gadgets these days.  My son now wants to be a Dungeon Master and so in his Christmas list he asked for a mat.  I looked at the mat and I'm like... ermm... dry erase?  Where are the 3D mountains and the streams and the lava and the fort, etc. etc.  I mean, sure we made our own back in the day with plaster of paris but surely they sell those things nowadays?  Anyway, so I went searching for it and well... there are a quadzillion of them and they all are seemingly a lot of money for a tiny amount of features.

So, I was hoping I can get some advice on really cool mats and tiles and 3D features and such to give to a wanna-be Dungeon Master.  Or is that that 3D features are just too much hassle when you can just draw the thing on a mat?

Thank you very very much for the assistance.

Your basic reusable mat is a 3x3ft grid, which you use wet erase (aka expo) markers on.  You can buy it online or any gaming store for the same price.  If you want to use playing pieces, you can use whatever (spare change, monopoly pieces, pebbles, etc).

For mid-tier you can buy stuff like figurines of people, furniture, a little lake, etc.   Don't go to a store any just buy some (that's expensive).  Much cheaper is online, in bulk, discount, etc.  I can point out a few places if you'd like.  You want things that's flexible and can be used in many different campaigns.  For example: you draw the layout of a house on the mat, and then populate it with a figure of a chair, table, counter, etc.  Next setting: you erase the house and draw the tavern layout instead and populate it with the same chair, table, etc.  

Yes, there is a ridiculous expensive and niche stuff.  The only people that go that way are those freaks who have nothing else to do with their money and time.  They're cool looking, but inflexible and stupid pricy.  

 

What matters the most for D&D is not having cool looking stuff, but the story telling aspect.  Having a basic map / pieces can really help with the visualization.  And ultimately for story telling it doesn't matter if the piece is a spare penny or a $200 custom figurine.  

Edited December 13, 2017 by Jane_Doe

[Guest]

15 minutes ago, Jane_Doe said:

 And ultimately for story telling it doesn't matter if the piece is a spare penny or a $200 custom figurine.  

When I'm GM, I like to use dice.  20 sided or more for each person allows the use of the numbers to indicate their hit points.  So, by looking at the dice we know how wounded they are.

[Jane_Doe]

32 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

When I'm GM, I like to use dice.  20 sided or more for each person allows the use of the numbers to indicate their hit points.  So, by looking at the dice we know how wounded they are.

Great idea!

[mirkwood]

Yep dry erase markers.  Terrain is largely used with tabletop wargaming.  Occasionally I will use pencils to mark a hallway and room entrance for purpose of figure movement.  I've used dry erase mats, but I prefer the open table.  Sometimes we have used legos to mark out walls etc.

[Ironhold]

Do you have the patience for papercraft? 

I ask as Canon has a papercraft website up, with the bulk of it being available for free. 

N-scale buildings, perfect for N-size railroads, micro armor, and larger-scale combat games: 

http://cp.c-ij.com/en/contents/CNT-0011571/index.html

http://cp.c-ij.com/en/contents/CNT-0010191/index.html

http://cp.c-ij.com/en/contents/CNT-0010563/index.html

http://cp.c-ij.com/en/contents/CNT-0010963/index.html

 

Assortment of Hot Wheels - scale buildings, vehicles, and whatnot: 

http://cp.c-ij.com/en/categories/CAT-ST01-0084/index.html

 

Selection of landmarks from around the world, varying scale: 

http://cp.c-ij.com/en/categories/CAT-ST01-0097/index.html

[askandanswer]

My son spends a lot of time playing dungeons and dragons these days. He and a fellow player decided to make their own bits and pieces so they went and brought a 3d printer. I think they've only used it a few times then they lost interest.

[NightSG]

With my old group, it was interesting when it came time to actually map something out.

GM: "I forgot the figurines, so everybody come up with something you can identify as your character."

<Sound of a single round being removed from each of four people's spare mags.>

<Dead quiet from me, because it doesn't make much noise when you pop a .357 round out of a speed strip.>

GM: "...uh, I'm going to need a list of everybody's caliber so I can keep track."