Is terrain worth the hassle as a DM? I think so! But it's not without it's challenges. I hope this sheds some light on how I approach the use of terrain in tabletop RPG's. Drop your best advice here because I'm sure I missed some great ideas.
I usually play GM-less or at least extremely collaborative -- and when there's no pre-planned map the whole group can set up the terrain in a semi-random fashion, just like one would do in a wargame. You can also have everybody help to set up things from a photo or map illustration (if you don't need a surprise effect), like in a boardgame. Once everyone knows what they're doing that's even faster (and more detailled!) than having one person drawing on a dry erase map.
I reckon this above all else is what makes you my favourite of the CZcams crafters. Several times I have seen you re-evaluate your approach, whether it is to a build technique, the uesfulness of certain kinds of builds, or the entire approach to your game. When I saw your "I am going to use a battlemat now for all these logical reasons" video I was really impressed by the fact that someone like you who literally makes their living crafting terrain would make the argument that you do not need to do it and other methods are better for certain situations. It might seem silly to say it, but that showed an ethical standard and capcity for self reflection that can be sorely missing in the youtube shark pit, but is a feature of all the best channels. All the best mate, you are doing a great job.
@@johnnybigbones4955 Thanks for noticing. One of my favourite things to do is questioning, and consequently changing, my own outlooks and opinions on things. It's one of the most powerful things a person can do, and the world would be a much better place if more were willing to try it.
If it's outdoors, I often describe the setting, then place some base "markers" down (river x-wide here, road intersection there), then hand the players the scatter terrain and let them fill in the rest. I also use homemade foam boards, placed on a lazy susan, so the players can spin and see what they need to. Also, for those DM's with a long table, sitting at the head feels cool but a "Last Supper" setup helps everyone stay equally immersed and an even distance from the board or mat and DM.
Wow how this game has changed since I started playing back in the eighties. I was in the USAF stationed at Grand Forks North Dakota. I was on a fire team who would spend 4 days and 3 nights out in the missile field. We only had room in our gear for a few of the books. Our maps were on graph paper set up on a clipboard covered with cork. No minis, just flags on pins with names on the flags or colors to represent different things. The entire thing was done as 'theater of the mind" style story telling. For some bigger maps, if we were on a missile site, would just be drawn on the ground with a stick. lol Those were the days. That is what was so much fun about these type games. You can play with nothing or get as detailed as you want or need to get. Thanks m8, love the site.
To be fair it’s always been a mix of story telling and elaborate physical set ups, with everything in between. The early game was designed and played using a big sandbox wargaming table in Gygax’s basement and some players have always been building 3D terrain. The difference these days is that because of the net and media we are so much more connected and you get to see what more people are doing.
Thanks for your service! I have to agree... most of my games were not done with minis.. at most we drew out our maps on grids. The main difference was when we played the game Recon from palladium.. it had a rule set for mini from the beginning and we would use our GI Joes as our player characters :)
Yup, we still play with nothing. I scribble some type of map in 2 minutes on scrap paper when necessary. But I definitely see the appeal of terrains and minis. They look super cool. To me RPG just has always been a game of pure imagination and that's how I DM it even today.
@@Ianuarius I tend to agree. However, my interest in minis at the moment is that I am writing my own RPG and will be playing with some teens. They seem to be more visual than when I was a teen. Based on that, I think the minis and terrain might help at some points of the adventure.
I should say: I am not super interested in terrain crafting per se, but this channel got me to start painting minis again for the first time in like 15 years.
To a certain extent, though the hobby has it's roots in wargaming, and dungeons and dragons is probably the most "wargamey" of the available games. Part of why I like it!
What I do is that I have a battlemat and I give one of my players (the one that likes to draw) the makers. While I describe the room, that person would draw it to how the group imagines it. It doesn't really matter if some things are smaller or bigger. This has worked well in my experience. It gives my players an extra something to do and takes a load off my chest
I use this technique when playing with my grandkids. I rarely touch the markers and it works out great. Sometimes, they come up with better ideas for my maps.
This is a video I have wanted to make for a long time. I think the 3D printed folks could use a lot considering how popular printable tiles are. REALLY well done, Jeremy!
Excellent video, and I appreciate that you can say that it takes time to "change sets" and could cause a little disruption. One thing I've learned to do that helps minimize that disruption: I buy sheets of dollar store black foamcore, and pre-stage my terrain on them. I keep those pre-staged terrain scenes on the top of my game shelf, and then lift and drop the whole thing on my table when it is time for the reveal. That's a fast way to swap out scenes.
Not sure if you already implement a security system to this idea, but you could add a small piece of Velcro to the bottom of all your terrain and building pieces. It would keep pieces from falling off when switching the boards but easy to remove to change up the map later! You can get yards of Velcro pretty cheap at most supermarkets.
Hey! With all the terrain you build I kinda lost track over all you videos. Can you do a overview video where you show of all of your terrain so we know what you have on hand :D it would Be nice to see everything in one overview! Keep it up man!
I have built a lot of stone block walls roughly based on this channel (made out of florist foam that I had on hand) that are around one to one and a half inches high and anywhere from 2" to 4 inches long, some with corners. My friend ran his campaign last week after I had a lot of them done. He pre-makes encounter rooms on poster board, and we used my walls to help define corners and sight lines. it was a great synergy, and everyone at the table got to place wall pieces around his map.
I wouldn't even a think about asking how to run dungeon tiles for a role playing adventure. This is the video I didn't realize I needed to watch. By the way I got my basement finished Pretty much furnished at moving all my gaming stuff in there.
Great Video! I like the idea of a sidescrolling dungeon. I do something similar, kind of. I prepare my layouts on smallish 60cmx60cm wooden plates and put them on the table as needed. This way i don`t have to use a lot of time to change the scene, but also don't need to have a massive one piece map. It gives me a little more breathing room at the table for elaborate maps, while also keeping the time to switch at a minimum.
Been playing and then running games for 36 years. I love how technology has made it so that everyone can share and learn from others best practices- but sometimes that is a two edged blade. Even for as long as I have been DM'ing I still fell into that trap of trying to 'build everything' even though I knew better. Watching a lot of crafting vids is addictive... and there are some very talented folks out there making some incredible stuff for their games. It was refreshing to be reminded that it is not necessary- to keep it really down to the minimum as it can take away from the game even if it does add something to the experience. Make your terrain useful- so that it serves an actual purpose first. Then have that 'showcase' room. Everything else is theater of the mind- keep the action going and don't slow down the game nu-necisarrily. But I especially like the advice on breaks- that is a definite do for both the players and the DM. It works wonders for your game and can actually help your players stay more focused an 'in character'. It can also give the DM a much needed break to cope with player changes and surprises. Great video- keep them coming!
When running a large chamber in ICRPG WARPSHELL last Friday, I busted out a half piece of black foam board and put 4 small scatter pieces of flooring down, oriented toward each player to represent where they were 8n the room. It was 3 levels and roughly 4 chambers, so this provided an easy callback to location while running the actual combat and RP as ToTM.
Dude, this is an absolutely fantastic perspective to have been able to observe. I can’t wait to make more tile sets. I love it! I also love that you mentioned that you don’t need a massive amount since the tiles are made to be modular! That’s flipping genius! A scrolling dungeon sounds absolutely great and keeps everyone on the toes since you are the only one that knows what’s about to happen! It’s brilliant!
This video is pure gold! It shows your massive DM experience and it is very useful and inspirational both for long time players and newcomers! Thanks J! Love your job man!
Hey I'm the designer of the t-shirt you're wearing. It's weird and cool to see my own design randomly on CZcams. I guess the algorithm really knows me!
@@BlackMagicCraftOfficial It's one of my favourites, the one I have myself is from The Yetee, they sent me that one from their screen printing run and quality is really good. About the DTG ones (printed on demand with a fabric printer, like Redbubble does), I don't know about t-shirt brand but the actual printing, I can recommend getting it on Neatoshop, quality is top notch. Btw, good job with your channel! Very impressive skills, I never used miniatures before in my D&D games but seeing what you do it's really motivating me to do something :)
Totally the message I needed to hear - thanks! I've been starting to plan out loads of terrain I 'need to have' - you've helped me realise I can just chill out a bit and use it when it works. Means I can craft for fun not on a timeline. Cheers 👍🏻👍🏻
Here's what I've got planned for RPG setup with tiles, props and minis - note that I'm still VERY far from actually doing it, but still very slowly just planning out the entire campaign setting. Make a GM map ring binder with acetate transparency/viewfoil pages that you draw/print the maps on. Each sheet has only one room or piece of terrain that the players will be able to see when entering it Between these terrain sheets you have other sheets that show the locations of traps, monsters or notes for any other special areas. Put each room's terrain pieces and other features(excluding traps, monsters and other hidden items) in a separate box. (If a piece is used on multiple maps, mark the underside of it with all box/room numbers, once that room is done put it in the next box) Once players reach a new area, just take out the terrain map out of the binder and give it to them along with the box to assemble(traps are on a separate sheet so they won't find anything out) while you prepare any monsters, effects or descriptions. Once they are done, they hand you back the terrain sheet and you put it under the traps one for easy reference where they are This ensures that while you are busy setting up stuff, the players themselves set up the terrain according to your design - they keep being involved and don't lose interest while you have a bit of a breather to prepare everything else
Great video, I think pacing can also be useful. If you can end the session "before you lies the doors to Kaz-du-lagmar...And we will call it there" That allows players to set up larger spreads or more complex stuff beforehand if they don't feel comfortable about the "side scrolling" stuff. To use Fog of War they can simply cover stuff up with black napkins or light weight sheets. I like your method, and I think you give good advice. It is also good for those on a tight budget.
I found that a combination of Maps work together or just for quick setup. Flip maps big and small work wonders! I love the small ones Alot more since you can switch them out with ease over a Plastic or Washable Grid mats that you can simply draw on or add nice scatter terrain during breaks. Paizo makes wonderful thin tiles that you can easily build a map with :) This video has Alot of great advice, and It's such an accessible hobby :)
This has got to be one of my favorite videos you've done. And that is saying something because you create phenomenal content. Very informative and very helpful. Keep up the great work!
I wish this video came out 2 years ago haha. This is a lot of stuff I've had to learn the hard way. Between mini painting and terrain crafting, it's super easy to bite off more than you can chew, and burn yourself out. One note regarding massive sandbox dungeons though, I tend to get overwhelmed thinking about prepping for the whole dungeon, but I learned to get over this by remembering how much my group will actually accomplish in a 4-hour session, which is usually 3 to 5 encounters (we're a very beer & pretzels group and most of us are smokers, so breaks are also frequent). So the megadungeon may have 100 rooms, but I know that my players might see 6 at most if they're feeling extra driven that session. So I start from their point of entry and look at every possible path they could take in one session. In most dungeons, this is only about 10-12 rooms, which is considerably more easy to prep for. Then in between sessions, I can repeat this from where they left off. This has kept my sanity firmly intact.
Yep. I think we all read Journeys in the Dark and got blown away by Moria as kids, but realistically your group is gonna get through maybe 8 rooms max in a session. I still want the ability to make a massive sprawling labyrinth, but mostly to relive that fantasy from reading Tolkien as a child. One of the most evocative parts of his books, I think.
This was the one thing that I had a problem with. How do I set up the maps? Should I use the terrain I have? When should I set it up? Should I represent it all? Thanks for clarifying this stuff. :) At least now, I know that having scatter terarain is better because you can use it in both dry erase battle mats and crafted dungeon tiles.
When I started crafting, I did a full-blown dungeon so I could put it all down on the table. As my players explored it, I was laying down the tiles and the dungeon was getting bigger and bigger until it was complete. It was one of the most satisfying experience I had because everyone (including me) was amazed by the scope of it, even if it was a medium sized dungeon. The thing is, it takes wayyyy too much space and beside being really nice to look at (it really is nice though), it took so much time to craft and put down that it rapidly became a hassle to do everytime. Now, I simply did a bunch of scatter terrain and tiles and I only put down terrain for the encounters. In fact, I only put down terrain when there is movement involved AND initiative. So basically, only for combat. Everything other than that is done with theatre of the mind. Since I started doing that, I found out that you mostly need outdoors stuff since a lot of encounters are outside and a few dungeon tiles + props. That's it. I keep on crafting because I like it and I like to have a lot of scatter terrain to represent a lot of stuff, but any new crafters should be aware that you do not need THAT much stuff and should stick to the minimum. It gets tiring after a while if you don't.
I think constructing a mega dungeon like that is worth doing at least once. It’s super cool. But knowing it’s a big event/special occasion and not something to do all the time is the secret.
I’m currently running my first game with terrain, but I’ve been building it over the past few months just for fun so I have a ton, so my personal approach was on half-sized poster boards I preset each of my battlemaps for major encounters, and I have them hidden behind a small curtain behind me. I then just pop back and snatch them up, talking and finalizing my environment then and there. It’s worked so far, but pulling them out is still early enough to wow my players I should say I haven’t done a full sized dungeon yet, but I will soon!
8:28 that's one of the things that made me fall in love with your channel. At the same week I watched your video about essential terrain pieces, I watched a Documentary about the creation of Darkest Dungeon and why they choose a side-scrooled view instead of a traditional top down; while what they actualy wanted was a first person view such as games like Eye of The Beholder and Might and Magic to cause a claustrophobic atmosphere to the game it kinda devaluated the art style since you rarely see the characters, and for a top down view the problem is that it gives a "god's evye sense to the player" like he's not really in harms way of feel threatened for being too far from the action. The side scroll view came as a solution for maintaining the suspense of not knowing what's ahead of you on the screen an still showing the great art style of the characters (other thing that I think that relates a lot with your setup style for not using walls, completely unnecessary and blocks the view) and makes Darkest Dungeon visual so unique.
This is a fantastic video. It also enforces the aspect of being able to react to what players may or may not do. Especially with players that can roleplay chaotic neutral characters well. Never know when you need to suddenly throw a few weeks planning out the window and improvise! Thank you.
With 3D printed dungeons you can build each entire room with monsters and furniture as one single piece you just place as you go. As per your tile advice I just keep the rooms hidden behind me and just slot them in as the players enter. Fallback#1: Paper floor tiles look great and can be placed quickly and it's easy to have lots of them. Fallback#2: Projection down onto table fills in a lot of gaps including endlessly scrolling rural environments and cavern systems...just add Bling and play!
3D printing full rooms is impractical for the same reasons crafting them is. Reusability and modularity is the most important thing. So important I didn’t think it even needed discussion here.....maybe it should have.
@@BlackMagicCraftOfficial Ah...I probably didn't express myself well there. The rooms are generally built with reusable tiles that just clip together...so making a room takes about 1-2mins max. When finished..pull the room apart and use the tiles to make a new room. PS's video here gives you the idea (czcams.com/video/4dy7VuHULqk/video.html). All the various 3d tile brands do the same thing(Fat Dragon, Tilescape, GameDecor..). The big downside is that very few people have 3d printers (thus far...)
Great video! I’ve absolutely been guilty of over crafting for an encounter. I constantly remind my group to not turn D&D into a tabletop strategy game and loose the theater of the mind aspect of the experience. And really, I’ve crafted a full tavern, and while fun to do, nothing ever happens in it. It’s like I’m just playing house, lol.
Yeah, maps like Tegel Manor and so on... this would be catastrophic for your time to craft and prepare. Usually I try to prepare all stuff, but for some encounters I use now the Big Book of Battle Mats and eraser marker on them + few pieces of terrain, like walls or some furniture. These maps have grids and are great for combat or when your players wander off the story...
I guess the main advice is to don't be too harsh with yourself, you don't need to be perfect. Go one step at a time. Our characters take experience to become a better version of themselves, and so do we too!
Great video, as usual! For dungeons, I've found that drawing a "mini-map" on A4 or A3 paper with 5mm squares as the players progress works well (I digitally make my own parchment-styled paper with faint dots for squares). If the players get into an encounter or you have a nice set piece, then you can pull out the tiles/terrain/battlemap&pens/whatever for it.
Thanks for articulating this. I am 99% a "theater of the mind" DM, but I have used terrain recently, and sometimes in the past. When I do something with miniatures and terrain, it has to be a very important event. That doesn't mean that I don't enjoy minis, etc. I love 'em. I just think that a good DM is capable of painting a picture with their words, creating visuals in players heads already. I prefer that both as a DM and a player. A special gaming event though deserves a little more of the pull-out-all-the-stops treatment.
This makes a lot of sense. I had wondered about how to handle visibility distance, but this does it automatically. I'll certainly be trying this. Four years after post date. Yeah. I'm glad I found this oldie but goodie!
I got to see Detective Pikachu this week, and there was a scene with giant turtles the size of small towns. It got me thinking: somewhere there's probably a toy turtle that could be repurposed into a massive monster encounter/terrain piece with a building or location on top. Would love to see you take on that style of project in a series of videos!
Would you ever consider doing a video on your most used pieces of scatter terrain? For travelling DMs like me, even lugging around things like tiles can be difficult, and I was wondering what pieces you get the most mileage out of, so I can consider only making and transporting the things that will get used regularly and to great effect.
I've seen so many fights in bars in D&D and other turn-based encounters, I feel like a tavern would get a lot of use on my table. We have pretty rp heavy sessions too and almost visit a tavern at the end of every day. Almost every adventure starts in one and almost every town has one. You don't need a mini building for rp but when you're new to building terrain and you're working with a limited budget, your first question you ask yourself is, "What would get the most use?" A tavern would be the most logical choice for a building, which is what everyone wants to build immediately after watching their first BMC video lol
I really love using 1 inch quad ruled easel pads I got for $15.99 at Staples. It is good especially if you are doing larger dungeons. I do think theatre of the mind is the best way to handle large sets and I agree that not every encounter needs to have terrain to represent it.
I played AD&D, and 2E D&D in the 80's, & 90's. And rediscovering D&D... 5E and all I have to say is wow! The stuff we have now is really cool. For the longest time my friends and I had a graph paper map of what we had covered, a dining room table place mat, and either our minis (If we had them) or something like a coke bottle lid, or my favorite a rook, knight, or bishop from a chess set. The bad guys we were fighting was often a handful of 6 sided die. This wonderful game has come a long way.
Love it. I run Hero Kids which uses a grid based system, you gotta have tiles or at least a mat. We use tiles and I hate fiddling with them so I just give the kids a map in game, lay out ALL the tiles (same as the map would show) except for hidden rooms and such, then drop in enemies, items, scatter etc as their line of sight allows them to see it
This may be a lengthy reply, but I think an important note when laying out tiles/terrain is to try to accurately depict the information that the player’s know about the physical environment. It seems common sense to me, but if you as the DM present information that “the passage leads to a long, narrow corridor, as you step through the entrance you see a series of doorways on both walls” and then neglect to simulate that mental image with tiles/terrain I believe you can create a disconnect between player knowledge to the environment. If you only place a few 1x2 tiles and a doorway and proceed to go on with the narrative players may feel unsure or limited on the actions they can do, which could be frustrating for players. So.. in sum I guess place the terrain logically to what information is presented to the players. Another great BMC video!
Not everything, my reply was mostly pertaining to the space. So if the party knows that the hallway stretches far out I think it would be fine to lay out the entire hallway rather than a segment. I’m not good at putting my thoughts in words.
I know I'm ultra late to the video here, but I've got a solid tip. When my party is about it fight a wilderness encounter with trees around, I have a bunch of trees in a bag that I can have set around for them to use as line of sight breakers. Well, I hand the bag to my players and tell them to set the trees up wherever they want! It give me time to pull out minis and maybe other structures I have planned and it keeps the group entertained and makes them feel involved in the combat. Some might be concerned about the players abusing this but it ultimately doesn't matter. The player minis go down first and then give them a vague shape they need to remember and have them go at it. For example, my players are on a pathway. I would tell them "here you go guy, place the trees wherever, but remember that there's a big pathway you're walking on."
Professor Dungeon Master at Dungeon Craft sent me. He said you we're good shit and as always, the professor doth not defy the telling of truth. Just staring my D&D crafting hobby and hoping to make a business selling cheap tile sets and offering services as a DM. Videos like yours are so helpful and amazing. Thank you.
Good video. I think its important you touched on the disruption factor. This does break the pace of the game, but you have to find a balance because the disruption can be worth it. Keep a good toolbox of scatter terrain available. A few rocks and trees for outside. A few pillars and furniture pieces for interiors. These things can set up in seconds and contribute to cover and combat while adding great visual aids.
If you use one of the 3D printed dungeon terrain systems, you can also pre-build rooms that are held together with clips. Then just set them down "floating" next to prior rooms already on the map and quickly add the scatter. I have to continually remind myself that I don't need to print EVERYTHING. Thanks for the video!
I dig your philosophies. Thoughtful, common sense thinking to keep you from making things harder on yourself later... is a rare thing indeed. That's what being wise means. It's also what experience gives you... and you have both, kind sir.
I always preferred describing the room as I drew it on the battle mat and/or placed things. This avoided having a bunch of questions about what the characters see on top of the setup time. e.g., There is a bookcase in the corner *plunks a bookcase on the map*. There is a desk next to it *don't have a desk prop, so drop a die-6 to represent it. And then when you get to *and there is an ancient vampire dragon in the middle of the room* and plunk that down, its go time. Or don't plunk him down, because he has improved invisibility going because he heard you coming.
This probably the most useful video to me so far - thank you. I come from a scale modeling, and wysiwyg larp background so its hard to then look at my campaign and try and draw the line between DIORAMA and just a drawn out map
I had literally just run a mini one-shot with my sister to test out the D&D dungeon tiles just before going on to CZcams, this being the first video. Thanks, CZcams! And thanks, Black Magic Craft for helpful videos :)
For me I don’t use tiles, with how beautiful a lot of these battlemats have gotten I find using everything but the tiles speeds up time. I draw out the mat before hand and then cover with black paper. When the party gets to that area the paper comes off and the scatter goes in.
This made so much sense and eased my DM stress. Making something big fir the “last” encounter of the dungeon or whatever had really awed my players. This was great thank you!
When using a battle mat, one youtuber I follow suggests getting a sheet of acrylic glass and putting it over your battle mat so you don’t accidentally erase your map. It also allows you to make changes by drawing on the glass.
I am dm'ing for my first time it will be a one shot on my birthday and your videos have really helped (i wanna do a cool showdown piece now hopefully my players will get there lol) THANK YOU! i was feeeling a bit overwhelmed
Hey man, I'm new to the hobby and ttrpgs in general. Your channel came up in conversation last night during the first session of the first-ever campaign I'm playing in. I've watched several of your videos since last night and I really enjoy the content you're creating. I'm planning on starting my first set of tiles this weekend so thanks for the inspiration. Off topic though, where did you get the shirt you're wearing in this video. I'd love to get my hands on one. Thanks again!
Please send me a crew of 5 people and several thousand $ for the appropriate equipment and I'll make it happen. If my players agree that is At the end of the day our game is for us and for our enjoyment and not everything is content for others ;)
The various ways these types of games can be played is so cool! Having awesome amazing sets, sticking to a mat, or practically 100% in the mind, being able to mix them all to taste is the best. For two or three years now I've been playing 100% homebrew RPGs with some friends. We started with nothing but a couple dice at a lunch table, and now that we're spread across the country we use Discord: just dice, our voices, and instant messages. Since Discord introduced screen sharing in servers, we've begun to incorparate simple battle maps into some campaigns, but not all. Hopefully my family will be starting a game soon. For that one my brother and I are planning to use a battle mat (or maybe just a sewing mat) and whatever old toys and legos we have lying around. If we can find the storage space, we definitely hope to make a couple set pieces inspired by tutorials on your channel and some other crafters' just for that extra bit of wow now and again. Have I mentioned how much I adore these types of games?
Thanks for this video! It really helped me alot. My recommendation is to only use terrain & minis for combat and some skill challenges. Gives the feeling that the pc can get lost and that dungeons and caverns is mazes by abstract descriptions and more If no encounters is planned in a location/ dungeon room, you name it which can give tactical advantage to use terrain and minis, why bother use it? Saves a lot of time and prepp and smoother gameplay 👍 Came from war gaming and was in the beginning building almost everything and used in my games which slowed everything down alot... Since outside combat you can move where ever you want there is no use build and show all corridors and rooms if no encounters is taking place there. Happy crafting and gaming!
Yea - mixing it up is best. I have the Loke battle Map Books for 'insta layouts', then a mat for freehand areas, and also all the dungeon interlocking tiles from the Board Games CR, WoA and Drizzt. So lots of options. For sure it would be wonderful to have one of those massive immersive gaming tables with a semi-perma layout, but I'm running on a 6ft by 3ft table, so I need to think modular. As an additional idea for the future, I bought myself 100 4"x4" 'coasters that are made out of thin ply and coated either-side with white paper: not interlocking of course, but would make excellent tiles if scored and painted... dirt cheap from Amazon too! ATM I am using them as masks for unexplored dungeon areas. Nice.
Great topic! I struggled with this in the beginning...how to keep flow of the game. I used to set up game boards and bring them out from the back when the time was appropriate, but recently I’ve become a traveling dm. Whole new challenge bc I can’t pre prep like I would in my own home. Now I just hope the wizard uses arcane eye so I can lay everything out at once lol!
Love the video. One issue I'm having is the wizard in my party consistently sends her spider to explore ALL of the parties surroundings before they decide which direction to go. I'm making terrain as I go. My players just reached the lost mine of phandelver, and I'm currently making tons of dungeon pieces for this and future games. I have almost enough pieces to have a good terrain set up for all encounters, but no way I can build everything in game for the spider's recon everytime players have a decision about which way to go. I've been moving pieces around and trying to show everything the spider can see, but it is too slow for game play and players have started getting bored and overwhelmed with decisions. My other idea was to hand the wizard a paper map (I've already cut up the map to have segments available) of the area her spider has explored and only building terrain when the players decide which direction to go. I think even drawing it out would be to slow, and this way I can keep the information between me and the wizard.
My first terrain was D&D Moathouse from Hommlet, by Gary Gygax. The next was the Inn of the Welcome Wench. It serves as a generic inn/tavern for many encounters. So I think the tavern is a perfect piece for a beginning DM. ( I used DM Scotty's 2.5 building scheme, similar to what I did with Legos 10 years ago)
This video is really underrated. I'll be pointing some friends to this for sure! (as well as hopefully making some of those tiles you have sometime. I have a bunch of the official D&D ones, but those being both blank but textured makes them look just a ton better!)
Thought your idea of the snapshot terrain play (instead of creating a huge setup) is a fantastic idea! I will definitely be using this to my advantage.
Hey Jeremy, just going back through and re-watching some videos here. I just want to weigh in on taverns. I have seen many different channels do a tavern build, Jeremy included (I think his is more of a photo prop setting if I am not mistaken). And I am not bagging on anyone building one. I'm seeing both sides of this. Some groups like the tavern and that's great, run with it. Others would rather get the info they need and start a good old fashioned dungeon crawl, and again, nothing wrong with that. With all that said, if the group wants to use the tavern in town, may I offer a suggestion or 2. The first one is, unless there is something that they need to physically find in the tavern that deal directly with the campaign, I wouldn't plunk the tavern on the table every time. Lets say they make it back to town at the end of the session and they want to just go to the tavern, that could be a theater of the mind sort of thing. Also at the end of the session, I would still have it tie in with the next part of the campaign loosely. A scroll, some intel, something just overheard. Not enough to totally tip the DMs hand on the next session, just enough to whet the pallet so to speak. The second one is Jeremy found another good way to do the same thing with out using the tavern. Look up the bulletin board build he did. This essentially does what I was talking about above but gives a little more power to the players cause they can now pick and choose over whats on that board. In other words, it streamlines the process and leave more time for game play afield than in one building. I hope you don't mind this comment Jeremy, and this is nothing more than some suggestion, no snarkyness or anything like that implied from this side. Just putting this out there hoping it might help someone.
OMG Thank you, this was a super helpful video. You’ve been a real inspiration with all your crafting videos for sure, but seeing the way you run games with terrain is also really cool! I’d love to see more examples of using terrain in an encounter ;D
@@BlackMagicCraftOfficial I know Wyloch has a video or two where he shows how he uses his terrain, and I think I've seen one for DM Scotty too, it's kind of the missing link for me and probably a lot of people, just exactly how does this terrain work. I think if more people understood the usage they would build different projects. I would love to build amazing one of a kind and specific builds but it just doesn't make sense when you think about how little use it would get. I've probably watched all your videos, and have learned so much from your channel, thanks for it all!
This slowing down gameplay sometimes is actually good for me! I only have two players in my current campaign, so things often move faster than I can actually plan.
It would be awesome if you live streamed a game or two of yours! Not sure if it would interest your crew, but I'd watch for sure! Thanks for the awesome videos!
Just starting to build my dungeon tiles right now and all of these questions have run through my head. Sometimes I wonder if it's worth the time invested but I'm pretty confident it will be. Have you ever put a ton of time, energy and/or cash into a prop that was only used once? Do you think it's worth it to build items for a specific encounter or is it best to make generic items for continual use? Love these videos. Keeps me inspired every week.
I like to let my players build the dungeon as I describe it. If it’s an important scene or battle I will make small adjustments or corrections but otherwise it makes them a part of it and I’ve found they enjoy it
When I added all my new bookshelves that was kind of the idea. Don’t even need a curtain cause it would all blend in with the collection. One shelf stays empty for this. The trays are what I was doing previously and figured it’s a more viable solution for most people. I have yet to run a D&D game in the new space so I haven’t officially transitioned.
Watching you set up your smaller pieces of terrain on a battle mat made me think of a question. Have you ever used or experimented with lead weights or something like it to keep your smaller set pieces(collums, doorways, statues) from wobbling or being knocked over? Thanks in advance!
Playing open ended is great - sometimes. If I want to make things easier on myself and nudge the players in the direction I want them to go I use NPCs or barriers of some kind. They release the barrier by going the way I want them to for the next encounter. This makes preparation and terrain placement much less stressful (not sure stressful is the right word - more like less chaotic LOL).
For dungeon-crawly moments without constant combat, I give descriptions of the rooms and make the players create a map on small grid paper. I will bust out the terrain only when we roll for initiative. I like the air of mystery and investigation this maintains as players hover over the map they are drawing, and sems to work well at keeping them engaged. Not for every group though!
@@BlackMagicCraftOfficial The DM in the game I am a player in has us draw the map when we play on a wet-erase battle-mat. For large maps he assigns us each a "quadrant" and describes it and we are all tasked with drawing our section. It involves us in the process and makes it take a fraction of the time to draw out the combat.
I think one of the problems that GMs experience is that they see all of these amazing set ups from terrain companies that are trying to sell large quantities of terrain. The GM then thinks they need $10,000 of Dwarven forge.... But in reality that set up is so impractical, restricting and distracting for the actual game. Great video!
Dwarven Forge is beautiful stuff, but one of my biggest problems I have with it is exactly what you are talking about. It is their business to make sure people think they need these huge set ups in order to sell more (I don't blame them, they are a business) but even if money to buy it isn't an issue actually implementing set ups like that is really problematic.
@@BlackMagicCraftOfficial Hahaha, I had no Idea he entered the guild build XD! The mention is in the latest video (surprise, surprise: it´s on modelmaking). Turns out, you have made him buy a proxxon. Soooo, I guess it´s finally safe now to call you a youtube influencer, eh? This whole thing is just awesome.
I like to use the tiles to help me brainstorm the layout of my dungeon. Then when it's to my liking I just take a bird's eye view picture which serves as my DM map.
Same here. And I think the key word is sometime. When you DM you can't be rigid and do things only one way. And that is what comes out the most of today's video. Simply put you do you 😉
great video, good ideas/advice. The Dungeon Crawlers Tshirt is one of my favorites, mines brown though. This reminded me of some of RuneHammers videos. Great work.
Is terrain worth the hassle as a DM? I think so! But it's not without it's challenges. I hope this sheds some light on how I approach the use of terrain in tabletop RPG's. Drop your best advice here because I'm sure I missed some great ideas.
Black Magic Craft Runehammer’s channel. Hank has lots of good vids on USING the terrain/scatter.
I usually play GM-less or at least extremely collaborative -- and when there's no pre-planned map the whole group can set up the terrain in a semi-random fashion, just like one would do in a wargame. You can also have everybody help to set up things from a photo or map illustration (if you don't need a surprise effect), like in a boardgame.
Once everyone knows what they're doing that's even faster (and more detailled!) than having one person drawing on a dry erase map.
I reckon this above all else is what makes you my favourite of the CZcams crafters. Several times I have seen you re-evaluate your approach, whether it is to a build technique, the uesfulness of certain kinds of builds, or the entire approach to your game. When I saw your "I am going to use a battlemat now for all these logical reasons" video I was really impressed by the fact that someone like you who literally makes their living crafting terrain would make the argument that you do not need to do it and other methods are better for certain situations. It might seem silly to say it, but that showed an ethical standard and capcity for self reflection that can be sorely missing in the youtube shark pit, but is a feature of all the best channels.
All the best mate, you are doing a great job.
@@johnnybigbones4955 Thanks for noticing. One of my favourite things to do is questioning, and consequently changing, my own outlooks and opinions on things. It's one of the most powerful things a person can do, and the world would be a much better place if more were willing to try it.
If it's outdoors, I often describe the setting, then place some base "markers" down (river x-wide here, road intersection there), then hand the players the scatter terrain and let them fill in the rest.
I also use homemade foam boards, placed on a lazy susan, so the players can spin and see what they need to.
Also, for those DM's with a long table, sitting at the head feels cool but a "Last Supper" setup helps everyone stay equally immersed and an even distance from the board or mat and DM.
Wow how this game has changed since I started playing back in the eighties. I was in the USAF stationed at Grand Forks North Dakota. I was on a fire team who would spend 4 days and 3 nights out in the missile field. We only had room in our gear for a few of the books. Our maps were on graph paper set up on a clipboard covered with cork. No minis, just flags on pins with names on the flags or colors to represent different things. The entire thing was done as 'theater of the mind" style story telling. For some bigger maps, if we were on a missile site, would just be drawn on the ground with a stick. lol Those were the days. That is what was so much fun about these type games. You can play with nothing or get as detailed as you want or need to get. Thanks m8, love the site.
To be fair it’s always been a mix of story telling and elaborate physical set ups, with everything in between. The early game was designed and played using a big sandbox wargaming table in Gygax’s basement and some players have always been building 3D terrain. The difference these days is that because of the net and media we are so much more connected and you get to see what more people are doing.
thank you for your service.
Thanks for your service! I have to agree... most of my games were not done with minis.. at most we drew out our maps on grids. The main difference was when we played the game Recon from palladium.. it had a rule set for mini from the beginning and we would use our GI Joes as our player characters :)
Yup, we still play with nothing. I scribble some type of map in 2 minutes on scrap paper when necessary. But I definitely see the appeal of terrains and minis. They look super cool. To me RPG just has always been a game of pure imagination and that's how I DM it even today.
@@Ianuarius I tend to agree. However, my interest in minis at the moment is that I am writing my own RPG and will be playing with some teens. They seem to be more visual than when I was a teen. Based on that, I think the minis and terrain might help at some points of the adventure.
I should say: I am not super interested in terrain crafting per se, but this channel got me to start painting minis again for the first time in like 15 years.
You’ll be crafting before you know it lol
@@ddesouz6 same tho
The distinction between wargames and roleplaying tabletop games is a very important distinction. Good video
To a certain extent, though the hobby has it's roots in wargaming, and dungeons and dragons is probably the most "wargamey" of the available games. Part of why I like it!
What I do is that I have a battlemat and I give one of my players (the one that likes to draw) the makers. While I describe the room, that person would draw it to how the group imagines it. It doesn't really matter if some things are smaller or bigger. This has worked well in my experience. It gives my players an extra something to do and takes a load off my chest
This is an awesome idea and one I’ve rarely seen implemented.
That is very clever!
I use this technique when playing with my grandkids. I rarely touch the markers and it works out great. Sometimes, they come up with better ideas for my maps.
This is a video I have wanted to make for a long time. I think the 3D printed folks could use a lot considering how popular printable tiles are. REALLY well done, Jeremy!
We can't get to much thought on the subject so I hope I see one from you to. I've waited for a video like this for a long time!
Excellent video, and I appreciate that you can say that it takes time to "change sets" and could cause a little disruption. One thing I've learned to do that helps minimize that disruption: I buy sheets of dollar store black foamcore, and pre-stage my terrain on them. I keep those pre-staged terrain scenes on the top of my game shelf, and then lift and drop the whole thing on my table when it is time for the reveal. That's a fast way to swap out scenes.
good idea!
Not sure if you already implement a security system to this idea, but you could add a small piece of Velcro to the bottom of all your terrain and building pieces. It would keep pieces from falling off when switching the boards but easy to remove to change up the map later! You can get yards of Velcro pretty cheap at most supermarkets.
@@sticksandstones713 I like that idea.
what a great idea!!
Great video. But this part- "Use the loop of meta-gaming" - ha! Yes.
Hey! With all the terrain you build I kinda lost track over all you videos. Can you do a overview video where you show of all of your terrain so we know what you have on hand :D it would Be nice to see everything in one overview! Keep it up man!
I have built a lot of stone block walls roughly based on this channel (made out of florist foam that I had on hand) that are around one to one and a half inches high and anywhere from 2" to 4 inches long, some with corners. My friend ran his campaign last week after I had a lot of them done. He pre-makes encounter rooms on poster board, and we used my walls to help define corners and sight lines. it was a great synergy, and everyone at the table got to place wall pieces around his map.
I wouldn't even a think about asking how to run dungeon tiles for a role playing adventure. This is the video I didn't realize I needed to watch. By the way I got my basement finished Pretty much furnished at moving all my gaming stuff in there.
Great Video! I like the idea of a sidescrolling dungeon. I do something similar, kind of.
I prepare my layouts on smallish 60cmx60cm wooden plates and put them on the table as needed. This way i don`t have to use a lot of time to change the scene, but also don't need to have a massive one piece map.
It gives me a little more breathing room at the table for elaborate maps, while also keeping the time to switch at a minimum.
Been playing and then running games for 36 years. I love how technology has made it so that everyone can share and learn from others best practices- but sometimes that is a two edged blade. Even for as long as I have been DM'ing I still fell into that trap of trying to 'build everything' even though I knew better. Watching a lot of crafting vids is addictive... and there are some very talented folks out there making some incredible stuff for their games. It was refreshing to be reminded that it is not necessary- to keep it really down to the minimum as it can take away from the game even if it does add something to the experience. Make your terrain useful- so that it serves an actual purpose first. Then have that 'showcase' room. Everything else is theater of the mind- keep the action going and don't slow down the game nu-necisarrily. But I especially like the advice on breaks- that is a definite do for both the players and the DM. It works wonders for your game and can actually help your players stay more focused an 'in character'. It can also give the DM a much needed break to cope with player changes and surprises. Great video- keep them coming!
When running a large chamber in ICRPG WARPSHELL last Friday, I busted out a half piece of black foam board and put 4 small scatter pieces of flooring down, oriented toward each player to represent where they were 8n the room. It was 3 levels and roughly 4 chambers, so this provided an easy callback to location while running the actual combat and RP as ToTM.
Dude, this is an absolutely fantastic perspective to have been able to observe. I can’t wait to make more tile sets. I love it! I also love that you mentioned that you don’t need a massive amount since the tiles are made to be modular! That’s flipping genius! A scrolling dungeon sounds absolutely great and keeps everyone on the toes since you are the only one that knows what’s about to happen! It’s brilliant!
This video is pure gold! It shows your massive DM experience and it is very useful and inspirational both for long time players and newcomers! Thanks J! Love your job man!
I really have to thank you, because of your Videos my Game Tables have become way more interesting.
Hey I'm the designer of the t-shirt you're wearing. It's weird and cool to see my own design randomly on CZcams. I guess the algorithm really knows me!
That's really cool! I love that shirt!......and I now have to cherish it since redbubble stopped using the good bella canvas tshirts :(
@@BlackMagicCraftOfficial It's one of my favourites, the one I have myself is from The Yetee, they sent me that one from their screen printing run and quality is really good. About the DTG ones (printed on demand with a fabric printer, like Redbubble does), I don't know about t-shirt brand but the actual printing, I can recommend getting it on Neatoshop, quality is top notch.
Btw, good job with your channel! Very impressive skills, I never used miniatures before in my D&D games but seeing what you do it's really motivating me to do something :)
Totally the message I needed to hear - thanks! I've been starting to plan out loads of terrain I 'need to have' - you've helped me realise I can just chill out a bit and use it when it works. Means I can craft for fun not on a timeline. Cheers 👍🏻👍🏻
Here's what I've got planned for RPG setup with tiles, props and minis - note that I'm still VERY far from actually doing it, but still very slowly just planning out the entire campaign setting.
Make a GM map ring binder with acetate transparency/viewfoil pages that you draw/print the maps on.
Each sheet has only one room or piece of terrain that the players will be able to see when entering it
Between these terrain sheets you have other sheets that show the locations of traps, monsters or notes for any other special areas.
Put each room's terrain pieces and other features(excluding traps, monsters and other hidden items) in a separate box. (If a piece is used on multiple maps, mark the underside of it with all box/room numbers, once that room is done put it in the next box)
Once players reach a new area, just take out the terrain map out of the binder and give it to them along with the box to assemble(traps are on a separate sheet so they won't find anything out) while you prepare any monsters, effects or descriptions.
Once they are done, they hand you back the terrain sheet and you put it under the traps one for easy reference where they are
This ensures that while you are busy setting up stuff, the players themselves set up the terrain according to your design - they keep being involved and don't lose interest while you have a bit of a breather to prepare everything else
Great video, I think pacing can also be useful. If you can end the session "before you lies the doors to Kaz-du-lagmar...And we will call it there" That allows players to set up larger spreads or more complex stuff beforehand if they don't feel comfortable about the "side scrolling" stuff. To use Fog of War they can simply cover stuff up with black napkins or light weight sheets. I like your method, and I think you give good advice. It is also good for those on a tight budget.
I found that a combination of Maps work together or just for quick setup.
Flip maps big and small work wonders! I love the small ones Alot more since you can switch them out with ease over a Plastic or Washable Grid mats that you can simply draw on or add nice scatter terrain during breaks. Paizo makes wonderful thin tiles that you can easily build a map with :)
This video has Alot of great advice, and It's such an accessible hobby :)
This has got to be one of my favorite videos you've done. And that is saying something because you create phenomenal content. Very informative and very helpful. Keep up the great work!
The new tattoo is amazing! Haven’t seen the vids in a minute so idk when you got it, but I love it
I wish this video came out 2 years ago haha. This is a lot of stuff I've had to learn the hard way. Between mini painting and terrain crafting, it's super easy to bite off more than you can chew, and burn yourself out.
One note regarding massive sandbox dungeons though, I tend to get overwhelmed thinking about prepping for the whole dungeon, but I learned to get over this by remembering how much my group will actually accomplish in a 4-hour session, which is usually 3 to 5 encounters (we're a very beer & pretzels group and most of us are smokers, so breaks are also frequent). So the megadungeon may have 100 rooms, but I know that my players might see 6 at most if they're feeling extra driven that session. So I start from their point of entry and look at every possible path they could take in one session. In most dungeons, this is only about 10-12 rooms, which is considerably more easy to prep for. Then in between sessions, I can repeat this from where they left off. This has kept my sanity firmly intact.
Yep. I think we all read Journeys in the Dark and got blown away by Moria as kids, but realistically your group is gonna get through maybe 8 rooms max in a session. I still want the ability to make a massive sprawling labyrinth, but mostly to relive that fantasy from reading Tolkien as a child. One of the most evocative parts of his books, I think.
This was the one thing that I had a problem with.
How do I set up the maps? Should I use the terrain I have? When should I set it up? Should I represent it all?
Thanks for clarifying this stuff. :)
At least now, I know that having scatter terarain is better because you can use it in both dry erase battle mats and crafted dungeon tiles.
When I started crafting, I did a full-blown dungeon so I could put it all down on the table. As my players explored it, I was laying down the tiles and the dungeon was getting bigger and bigger until it was complete. It was one of the most satisfying experience I had because everyone (including me) was amazed by the scope of it, even if it was a medium sized dungeon.
The thing is, it takes wayyyy too much space and beside being really nice to look at (it really is nice though), it took so much time to craft and put down that it rapidly became a hassle to do everytime.
Now, I simply did a bunch of scatter terrain and tiles and I only put down terrain for the encounters. In fact, I only put down terrain when there is movement involved AND initiative. So basically, only for combat. Everything other than that is done with theatre of the mind.
Since I started doing that, I found out that you mostly need outdoors stuff since a lot of encounters are outside and a few dungeon tiles + props. That's it. I keep on crafting because I like it and I like to have a lot of scatter terrain to represent a lot of stuff, but any new crafters should be aware that you do not need THAT much stuff and should stick to the minimum. It gets tiring after a while if you don't.
I think constructing a mega dungeon like that is worth doing at least once. It’s super cool. But knowing it’s a big event/special occasion and not something to do all the time is the secret.
@@BlackMagicCraftOfficial exactly. I am glad I did it, but now I have a kid. So reusable scatter terrain it is. :P
I’m currently running my first game with terrain, but I’ve been building it over the past few months just for fun so I have a ton, so my personal approach was on half-sized poster boards I preset each of my battlemaps for major encounters, and I have them hidden behind a small curtain behind me. I then just pop back and snatch them up, talking and finalizing my environment then and there. It’s worked so far, but pulling them out is still early enough to wow my players
I should say I haven’t done a full sized dungeon yet, but I will soon!
8:28 that's one of the things that made me fall in love with your channel. At the same week I watched your video about essential terrain pieces, I watched a Documentary about the creation of Darkest Dungeon and why they choose a side-scrooled view instead of a traditional top down; while what they actualy wanted was a first person view such as games like Eye of The Beholder and Might and Magic to cause a claustrophobic atmosphere to the game it kinda devaluated the art style since you rarely see the characters, and for a top down view the problem is that it gives a "god's evye sense to the player" like he's not really in harms way of feel threatened for being too far from the action. The side scroll view came as a solution for maintaining the suspense of not knowing what's ahead of you on the screen an still showing the great art style of the characters (other thing that I think that relates a lot with your setup style for not using walls, completely unnecessary and blocks the view) and makes Darkest Dungeon visual so unique.
This is a fantastic video. It also enforces the aspect of being able to react to what players may or may not do. Especially with players that can roleplay chaotic neutral characters well. Never know when you need to suddenly throw a few weeks planning out the window and improvise! Thank you.
With 3D printed dungeons you can build each entire room with monsters and furniture as one single piece you just place as you go. As per your tile advice I just keep the rooms hidden behind me and just slot them in as the players enter. Fallback#1: Paper floor tiles look great and can be placed quickly and it's easy to have lots of them. Fallback#2: Projection down onto table fills in a lot of gaps including endlessly scrolling rural environments and cavern systems...just add Bling and play!
3D printing full rooms is impractical for the same reasons crafting them is. Reusability and modularity is the most important thing. So important I didn’t think it even needed discussion here.....maybe it should have.
@@BlackMagicCraftOfficial Ah...I probably didn't express myself well there. The rooms are generally built with reusable tiles that just clip together...so making a room takes about 1-2mins max. When finished..pull the room apart and use the tiles to make a new room. PS's video here gives you the idea (czcams.com/video/4dy7VuHULqk/video.html). All the various 3d tile brands do the same thing(Fat Dragon, Tilescape, GameDecor..).
The big downside is that very few people have 3d printers (thus far...)
Ah, yes, that’s totally different! The various clip systems are the best thing about printed tiles vs crafted ones.
That's why the "Room Design" segment drunkensanddragons/runehammer did was sooo good! Great video! Brings me back!
Best ttrpg content on CZcams
Great video! I’ve absolutely been guilty of over crafting for an encounter. I constantly remind my group to not turn D&D into a tabletop strategy game and loose the theater of the mind aspect of the experience. And really, I’ve crafted a full tavern, and while fun to do, nothing ever happens in it. It’s like I’m just playing house, lol.
Yeah, maps like Tegel Manor and so on... this would be catastrophic for your time to craft and prepare. Usually I try to prepare all stuff, but for some encounters I use now the Big Book of Battle Mats and eraser marker on them + few pieces of terrain, like walls or some furniture. These maps have grids and are great for combat or when your players wander off the story...
I guess the main advice is to don't be too harsh with yourself, you don't need to be perfect. Go one step at a time. Our characters take experience to become a better version of themselves, and so do we too!
Great video, as usual!
For dungeons, I've found that drawing a "mini-map" on A4 or A3 paper with 5mm squares as the players progress works well (I digitally make my own parchment-styled paper with faint dots for squares). If the players get into an encounter or you have a nice set piece, then you can pull out the tiles/terrain/battlemap&pens/whatever for it.
Thanks for articulating this. I am 99% a "theater of the mind" DM, but I have used terrain recently, and sometimes in the past. When I do something with miniatures and terrain, it has to be a very important event. That doesn't mean that I don't enjoy minis, etc. I love 'em. I just think that a good DM is capable of painting a picture with their words, creating visuals in players heads already. I prefer that both as a DM and a player. A special gaming event though deserves a little more of the pull-out-all-the-stops treatment.
This makes a lot of sense. I had wondered about how to handle visibility distance, but this does it automatically. I'll certainly be trying this.
Four years after post date. Yeah. I'm glad I found this oldie but goodie!
I got to see Detective Pikachu this week, and there was a scene with giant turtles the size of small towns. It got me thinking: somewhere there's probably a toy turtle that could be repurposed into a massive monster encounter/terrain piece with a building or location on top. Would love to see you take on that style of project in a series of videos!
Would you ever consider doing a video on your most used pieces of scatter terrain? For travelling DMs like me, even lugging around things like tiles can be difficult, and I was wondering what pieces you get the most mileage out of, so I can consider only making and transporting the things that will get used regularly and to great effect.
I've seen so many fights in bars in D&D and other turn-based encounters, I feel like a tavern would get a lot of use on my table. We have pretty rp heavy sessions too and almost visit a tavern at the end of every day. Almost every adventure starts in one and almost every town has one. You don't need a mini building for rp but when you're new to building terrain and you're working with a limited budget, your first question you ask yourself is, "What would get the most use?" A tavern would be the most logical choice for a building, which is what everyone wants to build immediately after watching their first BMC video lol
I really love using 1 inch quad ruled easel pads I got for $15.99 at Staples. It is good especially if you are doing larger dungeons. I do think theatre of the mind is the best way to handle large sets and I agree that not every encounter needs to have terrain to represent it.
I played AD&D, and 2E D&D in the 80's, & 90's. And rediscovering D&D... 5E and all I have to say is wow! The stuff we have now is really cool. For the longest time my friends and I had a graph paper map of what we had covered, a dining room table place mat, and either our minis (If we had them) or something like a coke bottle lid, or my favorite a rook, knight, or bishop from a chess set. The bad guys we were fighting was often a handful of 6 sided die. This wonderful game has come a long way.
Love it. I run Hero Kids which uses a grid based system, you gotta have tiles or at least a mat. We use tiles and I hate fiddling with them so I just give the kids a map in game, lay out ALL the tiles (same as the map would show) except for hidden rooms and such, then drop in enemies, items, scatter etc as their line of sight allows them to see it
This may be a lengthy reply, but I think an important note when laying out tiles/terrain is to try to accurately depict the information that the player’s know about the physical environment. It seems common sense to me, but if you as the DM present information that “the passage leads to a long, narrow corridor, as you step through the entrance you see a series of doorways on both walls” and then neglect to simulate that mental image with tiles/terrain I believe you can create a disconnect between player knowledge to the environment. If you only place a few 1x2 tiles and a doorway and proceed to go on with the narrative players may feel unsure or limited on the actions they can do, which could be frustrating for players. So.. in sum I guess place the terrain logically to what information is presented to the players. Another great BMC video!
I strongly feel you DONT need to place everything you describe, but what you put out shouldn’t massively contradict what you describe either.
Not everything, my reply was mostly pertaining to the space. So if the party knows that the hallway stretches far out I think it would be fine to lay out the entire hallway rather than a segment. I’m not good at putting my thoughts in words.
I know I'm ultra late to the video here, but I've got a solid tip. When my party is about it fight a wilderness encounter with trees around, I have a bunch of trees in a bag that I can have set around for them to use as line of sight breakers. Well, I hand the bag to my players and tell them to set the trees up wherever they want! It give me time to pull out minis and maybe other structures I have planned and it keeps the group entertained and makes them feel involved in the combat. Some might be concerned about the players abusing this but it ultimately doesn't matter. The player minis go down first and then give them a vague shape they need to remember and have them go at it. For example, my players are on a pathway. I would tell them "here you go guy, place the trees wherever, but remember that there's a big pathway you're walking on."
Professor Dungeon Master at Dungeon Craft sent me. He said you we're good shit and as always, the professor doth not defy the telling of truth. Just staring my D&D crafting hobby and hoping to make a business selling cheap tile sets and offering services as a DM. Videos like yours are so helpful and amazing. Thank you.
How much action is taking place in a tavern
My whole playgroup: nervous laughing.
alcoholic tavern brawlers, the lot of us
I had the same thought, lol.
Good video.
I think its important you touched on the disruption factor. This does break the pace of the game, but you have to find a balance because the disruption can be worth it.
Keep a good toolbox of scatter terrain available.
A few rocks and trees for outside.
A few pillars and furniture pieces for interiors.
These things can set up in seconds and contribute to cover and combat while adding great visual aids.
If you use one of the 3D printed dungeon terrain systems, you can also pre-build rooms that are held together with clips. Then just set them down "floating" next to prior rooms already on the map and quickly add the scatter. I have to continually remind myself that I don't need to print EVERYTHING. Thanks for the video!
I dig your philosophies. Thoughtful, common sense thinking to keep you from making things harder on yourself later... is a rare thing indeed. That's what being wise means. It's also what experience gives you... and you have both, kind sir.
I always preferred describing the room as I drew it on the battle mat and/or placed things. This avoided having a bunch of questions about what the characters see on top of the setup time. e.g., There is a bookcase in the corner *plunks a bookcase on the map*. There is a desk next to it *don't have a desk prop, so drop a die-6 to represent it. And then when you get to *and there is an ancient vampire dragon in the middle of the room* and plunk that down, its go time. Or don't plunk him down, because he has improved invisibility going because he heard you coming.
This probably the most useful video to me so far - thank you. I come from a scale modeling, and wysiwyg larp background so its hard to then look at my campaign and try and draw the line between DIORAMA and just a drawn out map
I had literally just run a mini one-shot with my sister to test out the D&D dungeon tiles just before going on to CZcams, this being the first video. Thanks, CZcams! And thanks, Black Magic Craft for helpful videos :)
For me I don’t use tiles, with how beautiful a lot of these battlemats have gotten I find using everything but the tiles speeds up time. I draw out the mat before hand and then cover with black paper. When the party gets to that area the paper comes off and the scatter goes in.
This made so much sense and eased my DM stress. Making something big fir the “last” encounter of the dungeon or whatever had really awed my players. This was great thank you!
When using a battle mat, one youtuber I follow suggests getting a sheet of acrylic glass and putting it over your battle mat so you don’t accidentally erase your map. It also allows you to make changes by drawing on the glass.
I am dm'ing for my first time it will be a one shot on my birthday and your videos have really helped (i wanna do a cool showdown piece now hopefully my players will get there lol) THANK YOU! i was feeeling a bit overwhelmed
It'd be pretty awesome to post a video of a full length game using these terrain pieces.
Dude. Production level 9000! You should be proud of this: good content, delivered excellently, with helpful expertise. Love it.
The sound effect on the title card popouts is a nice touch so I can look up from what I’m painting. 😃
Some great advice. As I go into Perilous Dark. I think you really nailed it. Thanks 👍
Great tips . Thanks just planning out my first DM this - along with all your videos- big help
Hey man, I'm new to the hobby and ttrpgs in general. Your channel came up in conversation last night during the first session of the first-ever campaign I'm playing in. I've watched several of your videos since last night and I really enjoy the content you're creating. I'm planning on starting my first set of tiles this weekend so thanks for the inspiration. Off topic though, where did you get the shirt you're wearing in this video. I'd love to get my hands on one. Thanks again!
I wish you’d show how you DM! It would be a great learning experience to see you guide a campaign with all this wonderful stuff you build!
Please send me a crew of 5 people and several thousand $ for the appropriate equipment and I'll make it happen. If my players agree that is At the end of the day our game is for us and for our enjoyment and not everything is content for others ;)
Great video! I would love some more explanation on how exactly YOU play. Thanks!
I've never dm'd before but I've been considering running a 1 shot for a few people & I think this really helped me feel more prepared.
The various ways these types of games can be played is so cool! Having awesome amazing sets, sticking to a mat, or practically 100% in the mind, being able to mix them all to taste is the best. For two or three years now I've been playing 100% homebrew RPGs with some friends. We started with nothing but a couple dice at a lunch table, and now that we're spread across the country we use Discord: just dice, our voices, and instant messages.
Since Discord introduced screen sharing in servers, we've begun to incorparate simple battle maps into some campaigns, but not all. Hopefully my family will be starting a game soon. For that one my brother and I are planning to use a battle mat (or maybe just a sewing mat) and whatever old toys and legos we have lying around. If we can find the storage space, we definitely hope to make a couple set pieces inspired by tutorials on your channel and some other crafters' just for that extra bit of wow now and again.
Have I mentioned how much I adore these types of games?
lindybeige brought me here i already feel like i will love your channel :)
Thanks for this video! It really helped me alot.
My recommendation is to only use terrain & minis for combat and some skill challenges. Gives the feeling that the pc can get lost and that dungeons and caverns is mazes by abstract descriptions and more
If no encounters is planned in a location/ dungeon room, you name it which can give tactical advantage to use terrain and minis, why bother use it? Saves a lot of time and prepp and smoother gameplay 👍
Came from war gaming and was in the beginning building almost everything and used in my games which slowed everything down alot...
Since outside combat you can move where ever you want there is no use build and show all corridors and rooms if no encounters is taking place there.
Happy crafting and gaming!
Yea - mixing it up is best. I have the Loke battle Map Books for 'insta layouts', then a mat for freehand areas, and also all the dungeon interlocking tiles from the Board Games CR, WoA and Drizzt. So lots of options. For sure it would be wonderful to have one of those massive immersive gaming tables with a semi-perma layout, but I'm running on a 6ft by 3ft table, so I need to think modular.
As an additional idea for the future, I bought myself 100 4"x4" 'coasters that are made out of thin ply and coated either-side with white paper: not interlocking of course, but would make excellent tiles if scored and painted... dirt cheap from Amazon too!
ATM I am using them as masks for unexplored dungeon areas. Nice.
Great topic! I struggled with this in the beginning...how to keep flow of the game. I used to set up game boards and bring them out from the back when the time was appropriate, but recently I’ve become a traveling dm. Whole new challenge bc I can’t pre prep like I would in my own home. Now I just hope the wizard uses arcane eye so I can lay everything out at once lol!
There’s a reason I only DM at home 😂
Love the video. One issue I'm having is the wizard in my party consistently sends her spider to explore ALL of the parties surroundings before they decide which direction to go. I'm making terrain as I go. My players just reached the lost mine of phandelver, and I'm currently making tons of dungeon pieces for this and future games. I have almost enough pieces to have a good terrain set up for all encounters, but no way I can build everything in game for the spider's recon everytime players have a decision about which way to go. I've been moving pieces around and trying to show everything the spider can see, but it is too slow for game play and players have started getting bored and overwhelmed with decisions. My other idea was to hand the wizard a paper map (I've already cut up the map to have segments available) of the area her spider has explored and only building terrain when the players decide which direction to go. I think even drawing it out would be to slow, and this way I can keep the information between me and the wizard.
My first terrain was D&D Moathouse from Hommlet, by Gary Gygax. The next was the Inn of the Welcome Wench. It serves as a generic inn/tavern for many encounters. So I think the tavern is a perfect piece for a beginning DM. ( I used DM Scotty's 2.5 building scheme, similar to what I did with Legos 10 years ago)
This video is really underrated. I'll be pointing some friends to this for sure! (as well as hopefully making some of those tiles you have sometime. I have a bunch of the official D&D ones, but those being both blank but textured makes them look just a ton better!)
Thought your idea of the snapshot terrain play (instead of creating a huge setup) is a fantastic idea! I will definitely be using this to my advantage.
Hey Jeremy, just going back through and re-watching some videos here. I just want to weigh in on taverns.
I have seen many different channels do a tavern build, Jeremy included (I think his is more of a photo prop setting if I am not mistaken). And I am not bagging on anyone building one. I'm seeing both sides of this. Some groups like the tavern and that's great, run with it. Others would rather get the info they need and start a good old fashioned dungeon crawl, and again, nothing wrong with that. With all that said, if the group wants to use the tavern in town, may I offer a suggestion or 2.
The first one is, unless there is something that they need to physically find in the tavern that deal directly with the campaign, I wouldn't plunk the tavern on the table every time. Lets say they make it back to town at the end of the session and they want to just go to the tavern, that could be a theater of the mind sort of thing. Also at the end of the session, I would still have it tie in with the next part of the campaign loosely. A scroll, some intel, something just overheard. Not enough to totally tip the DMs hand on the next session, just enough to whet the pallet so to speak.
The second one is Jeremy found another good way to do the same thing with out using the tavern. Look up the bulletin board build he did. This essentially does what I was talking about above but gives a little more power to the players cause they can now pick and choose over whats on that board. In other words, it streamlines the process and leave more time for game play afield than in one building.
I hope you don't mind this comment Jeremy, and this is nothing more than some suggestion, no snarkyness or anything like that implied from this side. Just putting this out there hoping it might help someone.
OMG Thank you, this was a super helpful video. You’ve been a real inspiration with all your crafting videos for sure, but seeing the way you run games with terrain is also really cool! I’d love to see more examples of using terrain in an encounter ;D
i have the party map out the terrain with tiles while i describe it to them.
This video is mandatory for anyone wanting to use 3D crafted terrain for RPG gaming. Great video!
Send it to everyone you know that plays 🤗
@@BlackMagicCraftOfficial I know Wyloch has a video or two where he shows how he uses his terrain, and I think I've seen one for DM Scotty too, it's kind of the missing link for me and probably a lot of people, just exactly how does this terrain work. I think if more people understood the usage they would build different projects. I would love to build amazing one of a kind and specific builds but it just doesn't make sense when you think about how little use it would get. I've probably watched all your videos, and have learned so much from your channel, thanks for it all!
This slowing down gameplay sometimes is actually good for me! I only have two players in my current campaign, so things often move faster than I can actually plan.
It would be awesome if you live streamed a game or two of yours! Not sure if it would interest your crew, but I'd watch for sure! Thanks for the awesome videos!
People always underestimate the costs and crew involved to do that properly.
@@BlackMagicCraftOfficial oh I don't doubt that! Would just love to see you in action!
Just starting to build my dungeon tiles right now and all of these questions have run through my head. Sometimes I wonder if it's worth the time invested but I'm pretty confident it will be.
Have you ever put a ton of time, energy and/or cash into a prop that was only used once? Do you think it's worth it to build items for a specific encounter or is it best to make generic items for continual use?
Love these videos. Keeps me inspired every week.
I have, and I’m never happy about it so I tend to stick with more generic reusable builds.
Hit that bellll love your stuff you've taught me so much in the craft thanks man
The Beard Worked bruh never seen a video like this, people gonna like this topic and watchin you build
As someone new to the hobby, I thank you for this great lesson
Keep up the good work.
I like to let my players build the dungeon as I describe it. If it’s an important scene or battle I will make small adjustments or corrections but otherwise it makes them a part of it and I’ve found they enjoy it
I'm liking the viking beard.
It’s getting there
Instead of the trays you could just have a shelf with a drop curtain for your on-deck encounters.
When I added all my new bookshelves that was kind of the idea. Don’t even need a curtain cause it would all blend in with the collection. One shelf stays empty for this. The trays are what I was doing previously and figured it’s a more viable solution for most people. I have yet to run a D&D game in the new space so I haven’t officially transitioned.
Watching you set up your smaller pieces of terrain on a battle mat made me think of a question. Have you ever used or experimented with lead weights or something like it to keep your smaller set pieces(collums, doorways, statues) from wobbling or being knocked over? Thanks in advance!
Glue pennies to the bottom. Larger pieces have room for more pennies. You'll find you don't need very many to keep them in place.
Playing open ended is great - sometimes. If I want to make things easier on myself and nudge the players in the direction I want them to go I use NPCs or barriers of some kind. They release the barrier by going the way I want them to for the next encounter. This makes preparation and terrain placement much less stressful (not sure stressful is the right word - more like less chaotic LOL).
For dungeon-crawly moments without constant combat, I give descriptions of the rooms and make the players create a map on small grid paper. I will bust out the terrain only when we roll for initiative. I like the air of mystery and investigation this maintains as players hover over the map they are drawing, and sems to work well at keeping them engaged. Not for every group though!
You’re the second person to mention having players draw the map as you describe it. I think that’s awesome and I need to try it.
@@BlackMagicCraftOfficial The DM in the game I am a player in has us draw the map when we play on a wet-erase battle-mat. For large maps he assigns us each a "quadrant" and describes it and we are all tasked with drawing our section. It involves us in the process and makes it take a fraction of the time to draw out the combat.
I think one of the problems that GMs experience is that they see all of these amazing set ups from terrain companies that are trying to sell large quantities of terrain. The GM then thinks they need $10,000 of Dwarven forge.... But in reality that set up is so impractical, restricting and distracting for the actual game.
Great video!
Dwarven Forge is beautiful stuff, but one of my biggest problems I have with it is exactly what you are talking about. It is their business to make sure people think they need these huge set ups in order to sell more (I don't blame them, they are a business) but even if money to buy it isn't an issue actually implementing set ups like that is really problematic.
That plateau problem is way too real.. good words as always my man
Did you make the gelatinous cube or is that a glass candle holder?? it looks wicked awesome!
It’s a wizkids mini
Omg this question have I asked for years so thank you for this video!!!
Great video! Really helpful. Would love to see a gaming table build!!
I have a video that talks about my game table in detail. Not a step by step build, but it explains how I made it.
Woohoo! Lindybeige just mentioned you! You´re moving up in the world :D.
What? I love lindy! He's been commenting on some vids and even entered the last guild build! Gotta find that mention :D
@@BlackMagicCraftOfficial Hahaha, I had no Idea he entered the guild build XD!
The mention is in the latest video (surprise, surprise: it´s on modelmaking). Turns out, you have made him buy a proxxon. Soooo, I guess it´s finally safe now to call you a youtube influencer, eh?
This whole thing is just awesome.
I like to use the tiles to help me brainstorm the layout of my dungeon. Then when it's to my liking I just take a bird's eye view picture which serves as my DM map.
Me too! Not always but I do this sometimes.
Same here. And I think the key word is sometime. When you DM you can't be rigid and do things only one way. And that is what comes out the most of today's video. Simply put you do you 😉
Photos of that roughed out layout are super helpful. As are photos when you have to end a session in a “freeze frame” mid-combat.
great video, good ideas/advice. The Dungeon Crawlers Tshirt is one of my favorites, mines brown though. This reminded me of some of RuneHammers videos. Great work.
Great tips and I enjoyed this - thank you!