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View Full Version : Battle grid generating



EneecauV
2008-09-19, 09:14 AM
I've recently picked up 4th Edition and enjoyed it to great extent. However I understand that now more than ever the shape and texture of the battlefieild is of essence.

I want to be able to mix difficult terrain with regular, have obstacles that are not the shape of a rubber or pencil walls and still have it clean and fast-pace at the table.

In 3rd ed I've tried to beforehand build whole outdoor stages in Lego to great fun but it is time-consuming and simply not possible to do for every encounter.

Is there any online generator where you could smoothly build-and-print?

Any other idea is more than welcome, of course :smallcool:

Tsotha-lanti
2008-09-19, 09:17 AM
We use wet-erase markers on a sheet of... er, some kind of cloth that's meant for markers, and has a grid on it. It was sold in one of your standard book-and-writing-equipment stores. I don't see a need for 3D terrain that isn't going to be the right height and size anyway.

AslanCross
2008-09-19, 09:42 AM
Although I haven't gotten around to playing 4E yet, in 3.5 I find that a simple old laminated A3 sheet with an inch grid drawn on it works perfectly.

I just draw on it with a whiteboard marker.

valadil
2008-09-19, 10:36 AM
We use a Chessex Battlemat (http://www.chessex.com/mats/Battlemats_Megamats.htm) and write on it with wet erase markers. Our group has a few of these, so the DM will sometimes draw up combat scenes ahead of time if it's going to be a larger map. I've also built cardboard sculptures on occasion, but unless you've got a lot of free time they're often more effort than they're worth. If we had more storage space I'd consider building more and having a nice collection of towers and buildings (hint, if anyone does this you can draw a grid, then pseudo laminate the buildings with clear packing tape so you can draw on them).

We also use pipe cleaners for determining AoEs. They're a little too thick sometimes, but they are very nicely color coded.

Danzaver
2008-09-19, 10:53 AM
I have a large whiteboard-like board I drag out and draw my maps on with a whiteboard marker. It used to be a construction zone sign, so most sheets of white plastic will work to some degree.

I'd really like to have a proper whiteboard like, as the table-top for a table, with a grid already drawn or etched permanently on, so you can draw on the rest.

Another idea might be a grid table-cloth, though it might be harder to be able to draw and erase.

AslanCross
2008-09-19, 05:55 PM
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/20061121t

Wizards has a dungeon tile mapper one can download. Not sure how well it works with printing, though. I've only used it to visualize my dungeons while making my map keys, but I've never printed out the actual grid. (Kinda expensive. D: )

Waspinator
2008-09-19, 05:59 PM
Oh, I was going to link the Wizards thing. Stupid ninja posting!