Hey, as long as you guys are having fun...

It looks cool, but it also looks like it might be overboard and just get in the way. Trying to reach around walls and under ledges might be a pain. Plus, how does the DM maintain some surprise? If you show up to the game and there's a three story castle on the table, you can be pretty sure you're going to be visiting a castle with enough attantion to detail that you need a board to put the minis on.

Quote from: Dr Rotwang!So why am I not embarassed at having carded Star Wars action figures in my hallway?  Am I doing it wrong?

You're not doing anything wrong.  I'd even venture to say that this is a sign of being a well adjusted person, that you can enjoy your interests independent of other's idiotic elitism.

Dwarven Forge's shit is cool.  It's even cooler in person.  They're some of the most well painted miniature products I've seen.  If I were filthy stinking rich I'd buy them just to build dioramas.

As a gaming aid, they offer a few difficulties, like the time involved in setup, which in turn causes problems if you don't want the players to be able to see say, the whole dungeon floor layout before it starts.

Though at the sametime, I think any player with a soul is gonna be excited as fuck to get to the part of the session where we get to use the pretties.    So having it set up in advance has certain advantages.

Technique:

I build one room at a time. Then when the players have their PCs leave I say "ok, you all head 40' down this corridor.. finally you reach an archway (setting down an archway) leading to another room..." and then build that one.

At Gen Con they used to run the Delve event using a massive Dwarven Forge setup. (The Dwarven Forge booth still maintains a massive setup where they sell their pieces).

Now they just use their own (flat) dungeon tiles. Which are well illustrated and durable, but not 3-D.

QuoteSo why am I not embarassed at having carded Star Wars action figures in my hallway?  Am I doing it wrong?

Obviously not.
But I don´t understand why one would have cheap [not by price, but by actual production value] plastic toys, if you aren´t going to play with them.
I just don´t get it.
I cannot see any value in collecting stuff in a way so that I will never ever be able to use.

I'd love to be able to afford DF mini's. Till then, once I get a group together I'll be putting together the cheaper cardstock alternatives from //www.worldworksgames.com  I only got to use mine once, but it was for the climax of an adventure and it totally rocked. Once you buy the pdf's you can print them out till your hearts content. (or you run out of cardstock and ink)

Takes awhile to build enough to use, but once you have them made you are set, and they aren't all that hard to put together on the fly either. Betweek cardstock, foamcore board, and velcro you can turn the whole thing upsidedown and have your stuff survive.
http://worldworksgames.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=114

Gallery of user pics,
http://wwgallery.pcinfoman.com/index.php?cat=1

Cnath.rm:

I've actually got some of the Worldworks Games caverns (the "caveworks" set) when they first came out and they still look great. (they also lay flat, since I built the 'flat' version. You can glue them onto foamcore for a real nice stand-up, though).

I've since lost the PDF, but maybe I'll pick some of those up again. I see they've updated stuff, so thanks for the link!

Those are neat and would be great for gaming with kids, but unless your a game store owner I don't see how you could afford a huge setup or even have anywhere to put it.

Quote from: Abyssal MawCnath.rm:

I've actually got some of the Worldworks Games caverns (the "caveworks" set) when they first came out and they still look great. (they also lay flat, since I built the 'flat' version. You can glue them onto foamcore for a real nice stand-up, though).

I've since lost the PDF, but maybe I'll pick some of those up again. I see they've updated stuff, so thanks for the link!

Not a prob, I've enjoyed the stuff of theirs that I've picked up so far, my former DM is building a bunch of the "Mini-Chunk" stuff for his games. (for those who haven't seen it, they put out "Chunky Dungeons" while ago, but it was in a 1.5" scale that didn't work for people using the 25mm mini's. "Mini-Chunk" is the smaller version scaled down to 1") I got a sweet deal awhile ago on both the "Maiden of the Sea" and "Ultimate Castleworks" (I think that was the title) sets on cd. a year or so ago, after checking out some of the pics/flash video on the site my gf wants to try out some castle building sometime.

those pics!  those layouts are fucking amazing. :eyepop:

do i have that stuff?  no way, costs too much.  

would i play in a game with them?  fuck yeah!  sure, it takes away some of the surprise, and it would be a bit more tactical.  but the neato-cool toy factor would be worth it.  it would just be a different sort of game, that's all.

Quote from: RockViperThose are neat and would be great for gaming with kids, but unless your a game store owner I don't see how you could afford a huge setup or even have anywhere to put it.

Dude, it's just little modular pieces. My entire collection spans almost half a Kitchen table when laid out, but it fits into an oversized shoebox.

i played in a d20 campaign once that had custom stuff like this for the whole thing. Some of it was dwarven forge, some was homemade but it was frick'n cool.

I played in a campaign for a few years where the DM used both an extensive collection of Dwarven Forge stuff and stuff he made himself (which was also very cool. We LOVED it. It made fights fun, it aided the visualisation of an area, and it enhanced our fun immensely. If we were going to be entering an area that was fairly elaborate, he would build it before we arrived and cover it with a sheet or cardboard box. We used to love the unveiling... what a blast. The stuff is expensive, but if I had the money I'd buy it in a heartbeat. My old DM had gotten his over 50% off at a FLGS that I believe was going out of business or something.

This stuff is too rocking for words, but I agree with Jeff and droog. I would totally play in a game with that dioramas, but I can't be bothered with setting that up.