Remnants of the past – Simple Dungeon tiles for DnD

I already mentioned in my Crypt of the Damned tutorial that I also have a collection of simple dungeon tiles. They were my first attempt at dungeon crawl paraphernalia and intended to be used in our DnD sessions.

Initially, I made five rooms, each 6 x 6 tiles which each tile measuring 3cm by 3 cm. Each room features a different tile pattern. I also made some matching corridors, one with a nice mushroom cluster. Finally some L-shaped corner pieces and T- and X-junctions allow for more interesting layouts.

How to get dungeoneering

Materials

• Extruded polystyrene of 1cm thickness.
• A sharp knife (X-acto or carpet knife).
• A sharpened pencil.
• A steel ruler.
• Thick cardboard for the loose tiles.
• Green stuff for mushroom patches.
• Cheap acrylic paint (Grey, brown, black, white, red).
• Something to give the polystyrene a rock like texture. A piece of crumbled tin foil will do.
• Wood glue.
• Fine sand or soil.

Slice and dice -building the tiles

First, cut all the room shapes out of the sheet of polystyrene. The idea is to keep the knife at a rather narrow angle to prevent the polystyrene from ripping or tearing. You want a clean cut.

Using a pencil and the ruler carve the tile pattern into the foam. Add cracks and blemishes, remove some of the foam to depict missing tiles. Any tiles that are loose and protrude over the floor level are now cut out of the thick cardboard and glued in place using wood glue.

Cover all areas showing open ground with wood glue and sprinkle on some sand or soil.

Onwards to painting. I followed my usual routine for the stone floor and the wood. If you use soil, you can leave it at this or add more variation with pigments, just as I did with my Crypt module.

Here we go, some simple dungeon tiles. You can further improve them by adding walls and accessories. Check out the second part to get some ideas.