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Dungeon Craft: Build your own battle maps! now on Kickstarter

Do you like using a battle mat and terrain but you are not all that crafty? Perhaps you just do not have a lot of room to store all the cool things you would like to have. If either of these sound like you, you want to check out the Kickstarter for Dungeon Craft by 1985 Games.

We were contacted by them about this Kickstarter and when they sent me a review copy it was exactly what I was looking for. I had recently done an urban encounter and needed something to represent the buildings in town. I had made do with pieces of cut-up paper but I was not really satisfied with what I had used.

Dungeon Craft solved my dilemma. It offers 2-D double-sided objects that fit onto your gaming mat. Everything is gridded for your 1 inch squares. The objects are divided into several categories. In the end of the book there is a page of monsters or enemies. These are great as statues, summons or just monsters if you don’t have anything else.

The first thing I noticed when I flipped through the book was the buildings in a number of sizes. Each building has a top down view on one side with the interior on the other. Since buildings take up a large amount of room I never had any desire to make or purchase buildings but having double sided card stock objects perfect for town settings works perfectly.

They also have dungeon and wilderness objects. Tents on one side and tents on fire on the other. Numerous wilderness and dungeon objects are just some of the options of the more than 1000 objects included in the book. You are left with things you need and things to inspire you to add more detail to your game.

When a player asks, “Is there a barrel or a crate to hide behind?” or when they question if there are any trees you can now easily say yes and toss some on the board. As a Dungeon Master these are the kinds of questions I like to say yes to and having the objects cut, sorted and within easy reach makes it not only easy to say yes but then have the items to put on the board to accurately visualize the battlefield.

The double-sided pieces add an extra layer of use. The campfire lit on one side or put out on the other. The magic sigil one color on one side maybe it looks good, but the evil side does not. Interpret as you will. Your players set up their campsite and pitch a few tents. What do you do when the orcs set them on fire with arrows? In the case of Dungeon Craft you just flip those suckers over and now they are on fire. These tiles not only have their primary uses but as I began to go through them the two sides inspire me with ideas.

Customizable come Hell or Highwater

If the one book was not enough, the Dungeon Craft Kickstarter has two additional books planning for launch in March 2020.

“’Hell’ is our companion book for Descent into Avernus and contains numerous hellscape terrain pieces that allow you to craft and shape your battle maps to look like the first layer of hell. Included in this book will be all new terrain and creature pieces straight out of the river Styx, all of it there to bring your journey into hell to life. “Highwater” is our companion book for Ghosts of Saltmarsh. Included in this book is a large collection of creatures, ships and more. Each piece is chosen to help you run the adventures in Ghosts of Saltmarsh and any other seafaring adventure you choose to have.” — the Dungeon Craft Kickstarter page

And for you dice aficionados they have a custom Aluminum d20 to add to your collection from Level Up Dice. Do yourself a favor and check out the Dungeon Craft Kickstarter and level up your battle mats with these amazing objects you never knew you needed, until now, by Dungeon Craft and 1985 Games.

Thanks for reading, and until next time, stay nerdy