Creating a custom Battle Grid - which materials?

[Kafana]

Hello.

I'm looking into creating my own battle grid. I've been running D&D for about half a year now, and while I have a solid grid (I took the back side of the board for a board game, about 1-1.5mm thick and drew the lines with pen), I need to create a better one for the upcoming summer.

What I had in mind was to take a rather thick cardboard (2-3mm, perhaps), draw the grid with pen on it, cover it in adhesive paper and then use a B2 pencil to draw stuff related to the current scene (walls, trees, debris, etc.).

What I'm looking for is cardboard that is thick enough and resistant to pencil writing (meaning that it won't sink in from light or moderate strokes of a soft pencil).

First of all, is this a good idea? Secondly, which cardboard should I use?

[Talderas]

If you want a good quality grid, get a dry erase board of a size sufficient for your need. Stencil out your grid on the writing surface and use a carpenter knife to etch into the dry erase board.

[Ailowynn]

Get a sheet (or a few taped together) of 1" graph paper and get it laminated. I think it has to be hot laminated or something...? But anyway. Works great and usually less than $20

[ArcturusV]

Well, the one I've used, and served me well, is kinda more expensive but also fairly simple.

Just a pane of glass (Usually use one that you would find being used for a coffee table of the like). Slide my grid paper of whatever sort I need/want under the glass, and use Grease Pens to mark up, and erase, the glass as needed.

Simple, effective, clear. If you ever want to change out the grids (Switching to Hexes from Squares or back again) it makes it pain free as just lifting up one side of the glass and changing out sheets. If you want to have much more detailed maps you can just print off a page and use it as your combo grid/terrain instead of penciling in stuff on the glass.

It's kind of a nifty, simple way to do it, and pretty low on the labor costs. Plus side is the only replacement/repair that you ever have to do for this set up is eventually buying new grease pens as you use them up.

[Grod_The_Giant]

If you want a good quality grid, get a dry erase board of a size sufficient for your need. Stencil out your grid on the writing surface and use a carpenter knife to etch into the dry erase board.
I've got one of these I've used for years. The only downside is that it's a pain in the butt to transport.

If you're willing to spend some money, Pazio (http://paizo.com/products/btpy8oto?GameMastery-FlipMat-Basic)makes pretty nice folding maps for fairly cheap.

[Allanimal]

I got some 1" grid flip chart paper (size per sheet is something like 2' by 3'), laid it down on a large table (mine came from Ikea, and is like 3' x 7'), covered that with clear vinyl from a hardware store and used picnic table clips to hold everything down. makes a huge battle area and dry erase markers work well on it. special maps can easily be slipped under it, as can pre-drawn maps if the DM so desires. since the whole table is covered with plastic, liquid and pizza spills have minimal impact. everything cleans up well, and we can fold up the table legs and store it away between sessions, map still drawn on if needed. leaving it on too long can leave permanent stains, but a new 10' sheet of vinyl is just a euro or two.

[CaladanMoonblad]

Just a pane of glass (Usually use one that you would find being used for a coffee table of the like). Slide my grid paper of whatever sort I need/want under the glass, and use Grease Pens to mark up, and erase, the glass as needed.


We use a set up like this on our coffee table; put a grid under the glass pane, and use dry erase markers to sketch rooms, etc. We also used construction paper and laminating material to make blast radii for 5 ft, 10 ft, 15 ft, etc., as well as cones for 15 ft, 30 ft, etc. Everyone groans when I reach for the bag of blast radii.

[Douglas]

I recommend these (http://www.battlegraph.com/pics.html). Dry erase, easily reusable for a very long time, grid permanently etched in for you in a convenient size, easy to transport and rearrange due to the interlocking tiles setup. Battle running off the edge of the map? No problem, pick up some tiles you don't need any more from the other end and extend it.

They also have a hexagonal version if you prefer that, which is what I've been using, and I'm very satisfied with it.

Unfortunately their order page is apparently down at the moment, but I'm sure they'll fix that.

[Pancritic]

Back when I used miniatures, I made my own grid on a piece of plexiglass. I drew the grid on one side with a sharp edged permanent marker with the help of some grid paper and a long ruler. After the marker had dried, I spray painted the back of the sheet white.

[Mdpoyser]

me and my buddy use one of those cheap plastic picture frames for posters, works with dry erase pens and the grid just sits under the plastic. Ours is like 3'x4.5' so fairly big, but they come in all sizes