Tabletop Crafts – Homemade Dungeon Tiles

A few months back, I came across this super interesting YouTube Channel The DMG Info. When our illustrious leader, Mark, mentioned them last week, it all came rushing back. I remembered watching this guys videos thinking, “Boy, that sure is neat.” It didn’t look too hard, either. So, I did what any irresponsible gamer would do–I asked my wife if I could go buy the stuff I needed, but didn’t have. She was all for it, even though she had yet to see how much premade tiles cost.

I ran into some problems with my initial attempt. It was enough of a headache, in fact, that I ended up shelving everything–until I saw Mark’s post on how these 3D elements are perfect play aides, especially for those of us to run a game with younger players. I’ve been meaning to run a game for my kids (aged between 7 and 14) for awhile now, but more on that later. So, with Mark’s post, some fires were lit and I decided to give it another go.

First of all, the problems I ran into were ones I could’ve avoided. IF I would have just followed instructions. See, at first I had problems finding corrugated cardboard. Everything I found was of the non-corrugated variety and it was weak. So, I thought, in all of my infinite wisdom, that using foam board would work. Boy, was I wrong. It was harder to cut the larger pieces, the paper would get tore up on one side or another. Beyond that, on the edges, the foam between the paper would often fall out. Okay, you jokesters familiar with this sort of crafting, stop laughing. I figured out how to make it work better. But, it would’ve been easier–and it was!–if I just followed the instructions.

You know, there is a reason he said to use corrugated cardboard. So, I did, and it worked a lot better…a lot. The next thing I found out, which was kind of a surprise to me, was how quickly those glue sticks dissipate. I’m glad I bought a bag of 40, but I went out and bought another 40 count bag just to be on the safe side.

Now, the guy over at The DMG Info makes it look easy–he does. But, when it came time to pouring and mixing paint, I could’ve done better. I’ll chalk it up to inexperience, but sure seemed like I used a lot more paint than I should have. I also had a hard time with getting the mix as perfect as he did, but I figure that will get better with time. He was certainly more talented than me, but so was my 14 year old daughter who decided to sit down and help with the painting. I’m not done and I’ll continue to make more and more stuff here, but here’s a quick preview of what I did do:

Now, I took the time to go back and look at some other videos this weekend as well. I sought out The DM’s Craft as that came so highly recommended. When I got there, I saw he has started doing a new style of homebrew dungeon tiles–what he calls 2.5D Next. These are neat and all, but not something I’m totally interested in. The big issue is that while they are pretty and definitely better looking/more detailed, I can’t make out the square grid. I see how he made it, but I can’t actually see it once the paint is down. I asked my daughter, because she has better eyes than me, and she agreed that–even for her–the grid is too difficult to see, the pattern is too busy. She agreed we should stay with the tiles we’ve done and explore those crafts more.