Comments on: DM Tool: Scrabble Tiles for your Minis & Battlemats

By: 11 Ways to Learn New Games: Guest Post by Johnn Four | UncleBear

11 Ways to Learn New Games: Guest Post by Johnn Four | UncleBear — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 14:36:41 +0000

[...] Check out his new GM Advice blog at CampaignMastery.com. Recent posts include My Campaign Planning Cycle and DM Tool: Scrabble Tiles for Your Minis & Battlemats. [...]

By: Jack Phillips

Jack Phillips — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 05:58:03 +0000

I really like this because, as you point out, Wizards already abbreviates everything by a single letter. I might be digging out my Scrabble board before our next game. Jack Phillips’s last blog post..5 Things All Gamers Should Try

By: Stuart

Stuart — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 22:24:41 +0000

Nice ideas. Thanks! Stuart’s last blog post..All good campaigns must come to an end. . .

By: Johnn

Johnn — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 16:54:50 +0000

@greywulf: Good call on the chess set. Complete with alignments. Nice.

@PrecociousApprentice: It never occurred to me that my magnetic board would also be friendly to dry erase. Must check!

@Mark: I was at Toys ‘R Us the other day looking at a 200 pc. bucket of wooden blocks. Never thought that a craft store might have similar but cheaper. Thanks for the tip.

@Bonemaster: Another good tip. A Google leads me to this link: http://www.sjgames.com/heroes/

What set(s) come with the stands?

@Mike: Neat idea. Are you talking about the static cling plastic wrap? Man, that stuff defies me. As soon as it’s off the roll it’s curled onto itself, or grabbed something else. I think it might be my arch enemy from a previous life.

Cool idea though. When I go shopping at Michaels for wooden blocks I’ll see if they have thin pieces of plastic that I could just lay on top of the cardboard arrangement each time rather than engage my arch nemesis in another battle. I’m thinking something like overhead projector type stuff.

Thanks everyone for dropping by and commenting!

By: Mike Bourke

Mike Bourke — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 15:52:20 +0000

Johnn, your post fired up a neuron that must have been slacking off (as it had nothing to do at the time) and gave me an idea. It might not work and would need to be tried out, but here goes: cut out some generic dungeon tile shapes using thick cardboard. Then get a piece of clingwrap (not sure what it would be called but I’m sure you would have it in your neck of the woods) and use it to cover the battlemap, trimming as necessary. You should then be able to use whiteboard or permanent markers on the clingwrap and then throw the markings away. If it works, the idea could easily be extended to ‘real’ battlemaps. Much cheaper than lamination!

By: Bonemaster

Bonemaster — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 14:35:38 +0000

Good idea. I own a bunch of stands for SJG's Cardboard Heroes, which I've numbered with a Sharpie. I've sometimes also printed my own paper miniatures as well to use with them. Bonemaster’s last blog post..Winged Tiger

By: Mark

Mark — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 13:57:29 +0000

Good idea. I actually bought a few bags of the 3/4″ square wood blocks, and a bag of blank wood tiles, from Michaels when I started DM’ing again last summer. I write on them in pencil what each represents, and put them on the map. If there are multiples of a monster they get labeled Skirmisher1, Skirmisher2, etc.

When all the sides have been written on, I just erase the pencil and re-use them.

By: PrecociousApprentice

PrecociousApprentice — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 03:46:14 +0000

I use a chess set the same way. I hadn’t thought of the magnetic ones. I use a large rollup chessboard. Dry erase markers work on it. The players like the large woden pieces.

By: greywulf

greywulf — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 19:54:36 +0000

Great idea!

I use a chess set in much the same way, with Black Pawns playing the part of Minions and the other monsters selected from the Rooks, Bishops, Knights, King and Queen. Each player chooses one of the white pieces for their character.

We found that a magnetic travel chess set works best – they cost very little, the pieces don’t shift when the dice are rolled, and play can pause mid-game.