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Hi all,

I would like to present a module for a modular Dungeon Crawl board I am working on at the moment.

The idea was to have something resembling Dwarven Forge tiles, but lighter, with more detail and less modular (at least for the bigger pieces). I wanted to achieve a natural, seamless look, so I went for a 27cm x 27cm piece, with 3cmx3cm tiles and 5cm high walls. This way it can be used with games that need a grid and also games that support free movement. The tile size allows bigger miniatures to be placed and the walls give a three dimensional feel, but don't overwhelm the miniatures. For now I would like to use it with DnD Next and Song of Blades and Heroes.

The idea is to make 15 more tiles in this style to be able to fill a whole table of 1.20m x1.20m.

If you are interested in the construction of the piece have a look at the four part tutorial on my blog. A list of materials needed, detailed step-by-step instructions and WIP pictures can be found there.

However, enough talk for now and pictures of the finished piece as well as some of the undead dwelling in it:

Awesome. Very Skyrim inspired.

Really amazing!

Nicely done!

This reminds me of a particular area in Dark Souls I was just getting my ass kicked in Very nice work, and I really love the theatrically lit photo - super atmospheric!

Love it! Looks just like an excellent dungeon crawl should. Well done.

The cave definitely looks awesome, and the paint job really brings it to life. You can really see a lot of effort went into this!

However, there is one problem I know from personal experience, and that is playability. With rather high walls, I'm afraid players would have a hard time seeing what is in the middle without hanging over half the table... Also, moving objects and measuring distances might become somewhat difficult.

Nice! Love it, looks like a Draugr crypt from Skyrim.

Hi all,

thank you for your comments so far.

Skyrim was a big inspiration for this modul and I am glad I was able to recreate the feel of the desolate burial mounds.

With regard to playability:

The modul is without a question a compromise and I must admit that I sacrificed maximum playability and modularity for visual impact. I don't think removeable walls would have worked with this due to the roots and vegetation going down the walls and onwards over the tiles and the alcoves with the skeletons demand at least 3cm of height.

The actual walls measure 3.5cm, which allows most heroic scale miniatures to actually slightly protrude over the top of the walls. Dwarves and smaller models do indeed disappear and I could see this being a slight problem. Measuring distances will be more difficult, but as of now we use rule systems that use tiles for movement, so it should be easier.

The other question will be if we ever fill a whole table with modules or much rather have 4 or 5 out at a time, changing over when the heroes proceed further into the dungeon. We might also play sitting on the floor, so visibility should not be an issue.

All objects you see on the modul can not be moved, as I wanted to reduce set up time. I do have a number of separatly based dungeon furnishings, so these could be placed in a module.

I thought for narrow corridors it might be an idea to have only one side with a wall or to have two walls wich can be removed (held in place with some magnets), but the problem of wall elements interacting with the floor remains.