Pimp My Battle Mat

[FlumphPaladin]

The next chapter in the "craft a game session my wife will love" saga is here.

When driving past the local tabletop gaming shop, a conversation began in which she said that she didn't quite get the game, particularly the part about it being all in the imagination, with "nothing in front of you." I immediately thought of the difference between the way she's seen my old crew play (somewhat more Spartan and "low-church" than we did in the old days, I might add) and the way it was played on The Big Bang Theory, which she said looked like fun: Miniatures! Maps! Props! Feelies! Tiny treasure chests! Crafts for the craft god! Sculpey for the Sculpey throne!

Right now, I've got a battle map that I made myself about six years ago (30x30 squares on clear plastic, drawn with purple marker), a single pack of miniatures (frost zombies, kuo-toas, a Halfling rogue, and a monitor lizard), and a bunch of glass pebbles and half-inch washers to use as tokens. I'd say it's a good start for an initial session, at least!

So, fellow gamers, how do YOU trick out your tabletops?

[TheThan]

A new battle mat sounds like a decent idea. There are tons of options. I have a small chessex one. But there’s plenty more options. The internet is your best friend here.
Another option are adjustable dungeon tiles. These are pieces of cardboard that fit together like a jigsaw puzzle so you can lay them out in the shape of your dungeon as you go along. Wizards used to put out their own set I dunno if they still are. But I’ve had good luck with pilfering them from board games, primarily my copy of Decent: journeys in the Dark.

For miniatures you have two basic options. The first is prepainted minis, which will be slightly harder to find. Just make sure you are buying the same scale.

The other will be unpainted minis. There are plenty of companies to choose from. You’ll need multiples to represent several of the same kind of monster obviously. I like Reaper minis for one-off models, but other companies can work. Games workshop for example, has a ton of options available in their warhammer fantasy game. Elves, goblins, orcs, humans, dwarves, undead of various kinds, ogers, trolls, knights in shining armor, war machines like cannons and catapults etc. Google them up and take a look. Keep in mind you have to assemble and paint them. Also they’re not cheap. Glancing at their website, it looks like they’ve finally started releasing a new edition of their game (that means new models as well).

You can also get terrain and other features in miniature form (chests etc), again the internet is your friend here as there’s a lot of companies making them. But a great option if you’re crafty is to create your own terrain. I do this for miniatures all the time (last one I created was a steampunk factory). It’s not hard as long as you’re creative. I’d you tube “tabletop terrain” and see what you can come up with. Another option I’ve used is miniature railroad terrain. It is usually the right size and looks great; some of it however is not very durable (like trees) but it’s a good option for premade buildings and NPCs (albeit more modern ones).

For props you can easily buy or make your own. Children’s toys are a good option for sword, hammers and the like. For scrolls you can die some paper with tea and get a parchment look. All sorts of things, just look around. don’t be afraid to be creative.

the primary thing to remember is that all this takes money, so if you're gaming on a budget, you might want to take careful look at options.

[BootStrapTommy]

In times of need, graph paper, a styrofoam mat, and pins and needles...

[The Random NPC]

I've always wanted to get something from Dwarven Forge.

[Knaight]

I'm not big on battlemats. With that said, if your trying to get things set up for people who are there are some seriously impressive papercraft resources. Some cardstock, a good color printer, and being half decent with scissors can get you some fancy tiles, some 3d models, and with only a few more materials (e.g. string) you can get full scenes that look pretty good.

[TheThan]

Now if the sky is the limit for cost, you could get yourself a projector, ceiling mount it pointing down. Plug it into a laptop and superimpose a grid over your playing surface. This way you can lay 3d terrain down and still have a grid on top of it.

They also make touch screen tables you could buy and use. in fact, I’ve seen programs designed for RPGs that utilize this. When you place a mini on the table you can attach a stat block to it that moves when you move the mini around. Totally cool but once again, cost is sky high.


Buahaha

(personally I'd go with the projector. I imagine a laptop is infinitely more upgradeable than those expensive touch screen tables. if you have one, well you just need a projector and mount, a few hundred bucks, and you're set. )

[FlumphPaladin]

I've always wanted to get something from Dwarven Forge.

Dwarven Forge is boss, that's for sure.

The paper-craft option sound very good for our budget; if this takes, I suspect I could get more elaborate. The remarkable thing is that before the conversation that led me to post this thread, I had been planning a more roleplaying-heavy adventure! Seeing the magic she works with coupons, I think she could be a real power-gamer!

That said, what kind of setup do you guys use yourselves? What do your players like best?

[The Random NPC]

That said, what kind of setup do you guys use yourselves? What do your players like best?

Well, my group doesn't use a mat, I've tried getting them to, but they either forget to bring one, or just decide to not use it. I personally don't like that though. I need something physical to evaluate, or I forget what's going on. I usually just end up telling my GM that my character attacks the nearest/most damaged enemy, or that I position my AoE is such a way that it only hits the enemies.

I've also run into problems where the GM forgets where the enemies are, or even how many there are. I usually keep it to myself if it looks like we can defeat them as that would lead to free exp.

[Jacob.Tyr]

I stick with papercraft, 2.5D or 3d card stock. Fat Dragon had some great stuff for sale if you have a printer.
http://www.fatdragongames.com/

I also use paper minis ftom iheartprintandplay. On phone and don't remember the address sadly.

[The Random NPC]

I stick with papercraft, 2.5D or 3d card stock. Fat Dragon had some great stuff for sale if you have a printer.
http://www.fatdragongames.com/

I also use paper minis ftom iheartprintandplay. On phone and don't remember the address sadly.

Looks like it's iheartprintandplay.com

[Dexam]

One game I'm in doesn't use a battle mat - just "Theatre of the Mind" and the DM keeping rough track of positions on a sheet of paper.

Most other games I'm in (or have run), we use a Chessex battle mat with WotC D&D Minatures (I believe you can get sizeable collections of common D&D mini's fairly cheaply on ebay), and draw terrain in with Crayola washable markers (which I've found to be much easier to clean off the mat than other markers, and the fat tips make the lines much more visible).

For scrolls you can die some paper with tea and get a parchment look.

A fairly quick and effective method for the "weathered parchment" look is buy some parchment-coloured or yellowish paper from your local office supplies place and print whatever you want on it (i.e. treasure map, letters from NPC's in appropriate calligraphy-style fonts, wanted posters, etc.), but leave a fairly wide margin. Then roughly tear about 1 cm (or half inch) off all four edges. If you can, get a brown ink stamp-pad from an arts & craft shop, or you could use water-based brown paint, or some instant coffee and a little water. Using a chunk of sponge dipped in your brown ink/paint/coffee-water, lightly brush the torn edges - it looks fantastic, and really resembles parchment that has been heavily handled and stained with time. My wife and I had a medieval-style wedding, and we made our own wedding invitations using this method.

[goto124]

What classes did you and your wife/fiancee go as? Did a BBEG disrupt your wedding?

[FlumphPaladin]

iheartprintandplay

Never heard of that before, but it looks great. Is it affiliated with the Giant in any way, or just coincidentally similar?

medieval-style wedding

All of the yes.

[Lord Torath]

Looks like it's iheartprintandplay.com

Never heard of that before, but it looks great. Is it affiliated with the Giant in any way, or just coincidentally similar?

It started in the Arts and Crafts section of the forum sometime after the Giant's first "A Monster for Every Season" was released. There are several threads there with OotS-style monsters/characters., including one specifically for IHeartPrintandPlay.

[Steampunkette]

Artwork.

Not my own. I couldn't draw a straight line with a guide edge.

I find images that evoke the feeling I'm going for online. Whether it's setting, character, or otherwise, the art is then placed so that everyone has a clear view of it and access to it at all times (clearly labeled as to what it is).

It really helps people get an idea of what the world is like. And has the added bonus that a glance at a picture can jog someone's memory about what happened, making weekly recaps a ton easier.