Tiles and floorplans... how to decorate?

[wedgeski]

This is a question to DM's out there who use products such as WotC's Dungeon Tiles or similar things from other vendors.

These accessories are absolutely great for stacking together a generic corridor, room, or outside scene, but how do you decorate these floor-plans with the things that make them unique?

The stack of rubbish in the corner under which a pile of rabid rats are hiding... the pool of glowing crystal shards over which the demon is being tortured... the smashed coffins that once housed the undead you're now fighting... all these are encounter specific and would be short-changed by using the (albeit very handy) set of generic furniture supplied with the actual floorplans as stand-ins.

Drawing these things beforehand on clear sheets seems to be one solution, but it's difficult to get them to "pop" when the artwork from underneath is visible.

What obvious ideas am I missing?

 

[Matrix Sorcica]

Scan your tiles and use Photoshop/GIMP.

Not really useful considering you don't get to use your actual tiles, I know. But maybe useful for when decorating is necessary. Or, you could scan and photoshop and cut out the pices you need and place on top on the real tiles?

 

[hutchback]

Most of the Dungeon Tile sets come with smaller tiles that contain exactly the type of details you describe (at least the ones I have recently purchased). One can simply place them on top of the main floor plan and hold them in place with some low-tack poster putty.

I did this recently when I built a tavern setting and used tiles containing crowds of people from another set. In this case I did not tack the crowd tiles down because I wanted them moving through the space, granting cover and creating difficult terrain.

 

[wedgeski]

Most of the Dungeon Tile sets come with smaller tiles that contain exactly the type of details you describe (at least the ones I have recently purchased). One can simply place them on top of the main floor plan and hold them in place with some low-tack poster putty.

Yup, but it's the more unusual features of the area that I'm wondering about. There's only so many rooms that I want to populate with chests, 2x2 magical glyphs, and wooden crates.

 

[Matrix Sorcica]

Yup, but it's the more unusual features of the area that I'm wondering about. There's only so many rooms that I want to populate with chests, 2x2 magical glyphs, and wooden crates.

In that case, go to Dundjinni's forums. There's thousands of various items, pieces and gimmicks and other things like you describe created by the users for free download.

Come to think of it, The Dundjinni forums have been down for weeks now. You could try Cartographers' Guild - The Front Page instead. The absolutely best spot on the net for maps and thingies to add to maps.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Aquarium decorations or HO scale train landscape items work well but also make some things on my own.

See:
Printed cardstock molds for resin-casting geometric bits | BoardGameGeek | BoardGameGeek

 

[Gilladian]

I make "doo-dads" out of polymer clay and bake it. Here's an old picture of some of the stuff I've made. I really need to take more pics!


DnD Minis - a set on Flickr

I think I'm proudest of the archery tree.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Also, you can find Card Stock builings on the Net!

for the do-it-yourselver Brian's Wargame Pages: Card Buildings

or to buy...

EN World PDF Store - 3-D Buildings/Terrain | 3-D Gebäude/Gelände | Construction 3-D/Terrain | Edificios/Terreno en 3-D - RPG PDF downloads

 

[Klaus]

Fiery Dragon's BattleBox comes, among other things, with three sheets full of dungeon dressing counters:

 

[Rel]

When in doubt I do a quick Google search for something appropriate, print it off and cut it out.

This also reminds me frequently that I have Safe Search set to OFF.