Thoughts On 'Mine' Tiles.

Whenever we head down into the mines in our fantasy games (both as players and as GMs), we often think of sprawling complexes lined with minecart rails reminiscent of those found in the Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom movie (or at least I do).

As an example, here's one of my own maps from not so long ago:

However, from what I've been reading - the whole 'wooden sleepers with iron/steel' rails didn't become commonplace until steam-power took off (as in steam engines) - so they're a little bit out of place in our faux-medieval worlds.

Now, I understand that most folks won't be troubled by things like that (I myself wasn't for the longest of times) - but now that I'm about to start work on some 'mine' textures for the print & paste range, I've been giving it some thought (because I'm a bit weird like that ;) ).

So, while I'm no expert on the matter (far from it), it looks as though something like this might be more fitting:

So, the cart/tub (above) is little more than a box on wheels - with a downwards facing 'pin' that is guided along a couple of planks of wood via a gap between those planks (below) ...kinda like a scalextric/slot-car.

However, I think if I were to draw my tiles to look something like this (and call them 'mine tiles'), most people would be left scratching their head (I know I would have been).

That being said, according to wikipedia, the following picture is a minecart from the 16th century (so probably more renaissance than medieval ...but I think there is some overlap) ...and I think this is more in line with what folks would expect.

So, I was wondering if you could help me out here? What style would you like to see me tackle?

Would you prefer the expected wooden-sleeper/iron-rails kind of thing? Or the plank/slot-car type of set-up? Or something else entirely?

The above picture is a prototype that I did a while back (and it's a bit of a cross between the renaissance example and a modern rail) ...as I think this might be a good middle ground (seeing as how it's still instantly recognisable) - but I'm still not quite sure.

So, please do let me know what you think (or if you have any further insight)!

Rubble Piles (print & paste terrain)

I actually started work on these new textures a while back ...but I managed to break the cable that connected my camcorder to the computer - so I was unable to film any new episodes until the new cable arrived (though I did squeeze in a few 'quick crafts' using the webcam ;) ).

Anyway, if you're a long term follower of the blog, you might remember that I did something similar to this several years ago (i.e. before I started the youtube channel) - but I've refined the process slightly since then ...as you'll (hopefully) see in the video:

I've also uploaded a new pdf file for this specific purpose (which can be downloaded HERE) ...and, as usual, it's a pay-what-you-want product - so pick it up for free OR pay as much/little as you like!

But yeah ...I'm pretty happy with how these have turned out - and already have a few ideas for a 'collapsing dungeon' scenario. So here's hoping you'll be able to put them to use in your own games too :)

Basic Dungeon Tiles: VTT Edition

When I first released my range of Basic Dungeon Tiles, the aim was to provide folks with a whole bunch of (pay-what-you-want) 2D tiles that they could print out on their home printer (for use at the gaming table).

Well, since a lot of us are gaming online nowadays, I thought I would take the time to convert all of these tiles to something more suitable for use with virtual tabletops.

So, with that in mind, I've released the above as a zip file over on DriveThruRPG ...and just like the rest of the range, it's available as a pay-what-you-want download.

So, pick it up for free, or pay as much/little as you like!

Note that all of the tiles have a screen resolution of 72 pixels per inch, and each individual grid square is 140 pixels by 140 pixels in size (i.e. the format recommended by Roll20).

Print & Paste Community Challenge #1

As I said in yesterday's post, I'm trying something a bit different in this next video ...as I thought it would be fun to see if anyone would like to join me in a little 'challenge' of sorts - one where we all take a bunch of random(ish) textures (i.e. those presented in THIS pdf), and see what we can make with them.

Anyway, I really do hope that a few of you will join in (and maybe post some WIP pictures, or discuss ideas over on Discord) ...as I'm sure it will result in some weird and wonderful designs that I never would have thought of myself :)