DM Toolkit: Fantastic Locations, Map Packs, & Dungeon Tiles

When it comes to scenery for miniatures, I couldn't just stop at three different battlemats, Dwarven Forge, and WorldWorks. I have also purchased four Fantastic Locations (Fane of the Drow, Dragondown Grotto, Hellspike Prison, Fields of Ruin), three GameMastery Map Packs (Village, Graveyard, and Countryside), and two sets of Dungeon Tiles (Original and Arcane Corridors).

I love the cartography of the Fantastic Locations series, and they present a really interesting set of backdrops for encounters. They came in quite useful when I was playing D&D Miniatures Skirmish, but I haven't found a good way to work them into the Shackled City or Age of Worms campaigns (with the exception of the King's Road), so they're mostly taking up space at this point. I read through the adventures that came with each, but they don't grab me like those in Dungeon Magazine. The maps are also relatively flimsy, so they need to be laminated or treated with care.

The GameMastery Map Packs are in the same boat. The artwork is excellent, and the selection of tiles is quite good, but I've hardly used them since I picked up the first set at Gen Con 2006. Each piece is relatively small, and doesn't all the same tactical movement that a battlemat does. I remember that the ones on display were taped together to form larger pieces, but it's hard to store them that way. I thought about using some of the Graveyard and Village tiles for scenes in Diamond Lake, but the opportunity did not present itself.

I've only had the Dungeon Tiles for a few weeks, but I've already used them in my game. I really like the selection of large and small pieces. I haven't created any hallways or rooms yet, but the smaller pieces are great ornamentation in combination with Dwarven Forge. The pieces are also quite sturdy, so I don't mind letting my son play with them. I might give them more of a workout in my next session, to see how well they portray a mind flayer's lair. But for the time being it looks like they'll become a regular part of the toolkit.

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