Who says you have to have Dungeon Tiles, or Dwarven Forge awesomeness to layout some cool environments? I mean, it would be cool of course, but sometimes those things can be a little out of reach when it comes to costs. I have decided recently that I am giving up on the Dwarven Forge dream. I could do it, but it would take me a long time as I would get one set at a time over a long period of time. Instead, I figure I will just stick with what I have been doing… what’s that you ask?
I use cardboard!!! (this is where everyone cheers… at least in my head).
Cardboard: Free!
Yeap, that’s right, cardboard!
I have kept a few plasma/flat screen TV boxes and cut chunks from them as needed. Ahead of time, with a long ruler, I draw out the grid on entire pieces so it’s ready to go when I cut it out. Setting the pieces at various elevations can be a bit tricky, and I used to use DVD’s for this – but see “Clear Card Holders” near the end of this article for the new method.
Paint Swatch Samples: Free!
Go into places that carry a lot of paint such as Home Depot, or Sherwin Williams, etc and you will see a wall of those small 3×5 or so colored cards… TONS of colors. You can grab a bunch of those, free! The store doesn’t care how many you take, they have tons of them. I suggest keeping it within reason of course (don’t take entire stacks of one color, etc), but you can get a number of each of some particular colors for an upcoming layout, etc.
Red for lava, blue for water. You can also cut and grid these for use as effect areas for various powers, etc [photo of what I did].
LED Tealight Candles: Cheap!
These things are awesome! On average they are about $1 each and come in packs of 6 or so. They last 100-ish hours and simply rock for light sources such as fires, etc. Players love these – they really help set the atmosphere. The funny thing is, it might take you a game or two to remember that they will not burn you. Watch for you or your players to reach BETWEEN or AROUND them to avoid being burned. You laugh, but you will laugh harder when you actually see it happen.
Markers: Cheap!
Okay, many of us have markers for our battlemats but I wanted to make a quick suggestion… get them at Walmart if you can. I bought a set of 12 at Staples one time… $9. I was in Walmart the next day with my wife (can I say I hate that store otherwise?) and there were the same type of markers, for $3! And twice as many (24 pack)! Don’t get markers at the office supply places unless they are having some crazy deal. In my case, these two places are only a few stores apart from each other.
Dungeon Props: Costs Vary
Someone linked to the site Naloomi’s Workshop earlier today on Twitter and I saved it as a bookmark to checkout later. Now I forgot who posted it, but I thought I would drop this in here because it seems so cool and I intend on spending a little money here soon. This site has things such as crates, chests, doors etc for your “tile” setups, and the prices seem pretty reasonable.
To give you an example of some stuff they have that interests me, check out their “Accessories” section. For example, you can get a set of 10 “closed barrels” (pictured to the left) for $2.50!
If I grab some stuff from this site I will create a new post about that experience so we’ll see how that goes – but whoever posted it (iirc) had purchased through them before and as such was recommending them.
UPDATE: Ben (@bensrpgpile) said the following of Nal’s Workshop [Feb 5, 2012]… “I can vouch for Naloomi’s Workshop. I have bought from #dnd accessories b4 and met the founder at #gencon. Thumbs up.”
Clear Card Holders: Cheap!
I was actually buying dice a dew days ago and was looking over at some dice in these clear boxes. So, while the guy was ringing me up I asked about them… those are card holders he said. They had various sizes. He showed me the largest (holds 150 cards). “How much?” I asked, “those are $1.29… the next size down is $0.99”. So, I told him I would take one of each.
A few reasons I wanted these…
1) They were clear, so they would be nice to use to demonstrate flying creatures.
2) Each box was the container and a lid – both very close in size (one slides in another) so it was like getting 4 pieces!
3) They could also be used to elevate my cardboard terrain! No more DVD’s!
As an added bonus, these have dimensions that fit the battle grid perfectly. For example, the large box is 4x3x3 inches!
Paper Bags: Free!* (with groceries)
* 2022 Update - Ok fine, grocery bags are no longer really free for the most part but... 10 cents? Not bad ;)
I regularly use paper bags for various things, mostly maps though, to give to my players. Simply take a paper back, and cut down one of the side edges, then across the bottom, and back up the other side. Then, use the INSIDE of the bag for a map, or a list, or a letter, etc.
Here is an example…
That’s it!
That’s it for now. I have a few more ideas but I think I will crash for the night.
Please be sure to follow me on Twitter if this helped you out, or let me know on Twitter if you liked this!
Thanks!
Weem
Wow thanks a lot. So many ideas grab. Especially those maps/letter on paper bags. It’s a pity our local shops still use plastic, but I’ll look for more advanced places. 🙂
Yo Weem! Thanks for the condition cards BTW.
I have used the Pick and Pack foam bricks with success in the past. The blocks are perforated and the individual sections are 1 inch x 1 inch by 2 inches deep. I’ve made stairs, bridges (with some supporting paperclips imbedded), but the most successful application has been buildings. In the photo you can see you remove individual blocks to hold delicate goods. In my world you remove blocks to create exterior walls. A box o’ foam is not cheap, but you can make many dozens of different buildings.
http://www.uline.com/BL_873/Pick-And-Pack-Foam
@Snarls-at-Fleas – Glad you enjoyed it!
@TheWanderer14 – No problem! Great idea about the foam, thanks for sharing!
Great stuff here. I’ve been spending the past little while here trying to build a Dwarven Forge knockoff set with black foamcore and fleckstone (I used to work in an arts/craft store, so I could get all this stuff dirt cheap. I’m going to look into trying out some of these ideas. Thanks for the tips!
Another suggestion:
Hallmark wrapping paper
At the grocery store, I can buy a roll of plain, solid color Hallmark wrapping paper for $2.99. Hallmark wrapping paper has “cutting lines” on the inside. They’re 1″ apart. It’s basically the poor-man’s gamingpaper.
What I like about it is that the lines are a lighter color, so they don’t really stand out from a distance, but when you’re moving a mini, you should be able to see them just fine.
Very good stuff. I’m always all about finding the bargain-parents-basement way of accessorizes for gaming, even if I also do often succomb to slightly more expensive methods, too. Just after the X-Mas holiday period last year, I found myself snatching up rolls of Lemax stuff, especially the large pebble mats, while it was severely reduced at the various craft stores. I’ll get around to using it soon enough. 😉
http://www.lemaxcollection.com/showproducts.aspx?deptID=545
Wow, I love the wrapping paper suggestion. That never occurred to me.
As another tip, if you cruise thrift stores and yard sales you can often find games with half their pieces missing for super-cheap. A lot of those remaining pieces can be really handy as cheap tokens. Also, the game boards are usually sturdier than ordinary cardboard.
Oh yea, that’s a really good idea! Thanks for sharing!
OMG!!!! Finally I have found something on using cardboard for D&D. I am so happy. You see I have three kids and my hubby is the only one that works so we really don’t have much for money but were my hubby works has lots of cardboard for free lol so I thought in my head i can use that for my dungeons and stuff. But you have some good ideas… Thank you so much for shearing (^-^)