Tag: Dungeons and Dragons

Conventions, Dungeons and Dragons, Role Playing Games, Star Trek

Prepping for SaltCON End-of-Summer 2024

Written by TardisCaptain August 27, 2024

I’ve been doing more than just participating in the #RPGaDAY2024 challenge this month. I’ve been prepping for the SaltCON End-of-Summer gaming convention that happens at the end of every August. One of the first things that is different is that I’m planning to attend a couple of panels this time around. I don’t recall if there were panels at the past SaltCONs that I’ve attended. But I’ve signed up to listen to “Game Mastering Tips from One Shots to Multi-Year Campaigns” and “Sharing Your Gaming Experience Through Blogging & Podcasting” (hmm… I wonder why this last one sounds interesting). There is also a panel about horror gaming but the system wouldn’t let me “snag a ticket” for it because it conflicted with a game that will be ending up just as the panel starts. So hopefully I’ll be able to check that out as well as horror gaming confuses me a little bit. I don’t know how I’d get scared sitting comfortably at a table with friends?

This time around I’m not going to the convention alone. I signed up to run some extra games so that I could get an extra ticket to the event. So a member of my family will be joining me this weekend for some of the games. You can read about my past adventures at SaltCON in my past blog entries. I will be packing my Convention Backpack that I have documented in a previous blog post.

I’ve signed up to run three games for the end-of-summer event. I had a lot of good responses to my last Basic Fantasy one-shot, so I’ve lined up another one on Friday. According to the scheduling system almost all of the slots are gone. On Saturday I’ll be running a Star Trek Adventures 2nd Edition one-shot. The players will be members of the USS Challenger crew. And finally on Sunday I’m running an experiment. I go to these conventions to try out new games. That doesn’t mean that I can’t try running something new as well. So, I’m going to run a “Lets Learn” session where I bring a game that both the GM and players can try out for the first time. For this convention I’ve selected the comedy RPG Ork! 2nd Edition. The players will see if their un-named Orks can survive the gunk pit and sent on a mission against the squishy mans. There are still slots open for these last two games.

Of the games that I’ve signed up to play they include Savage Worlds Deadlands. The GM is the person who gave me a quick demo at the SaltCON Summer and I’m interested to see how it works out at the table. There is also a D&D 5th edition game that has a cat in it, so the person coming with me wanted to play in that game. They also wanted to play Fallout with me so we will be at that table on Saturday.

I know it doesn’t sound like many games. But SaltCON End-of-Summer is only three days instead of the spring event which has four. But, I’m looking forward to sitting down with some friends (or soon-to-be new friends) and throwing some dice. I wonder if I’ll find any RPG bargains in the game swap? Look for the after-action report soon.

What should I be on the look out for? Any recommendations for the games I’m going to be playing? This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com with any comments.

Dungeons and Dragons, Role Playing Games, Star Trek, Star Wars

RPGaDAY2024 Day 27: Marvelous Miniature

Written by TardisCaptain August 27, 2024August 26, 2024

And here we are on Day 27 of the RPGaDAY 2024 Challenge and we’ve been asked to talk about Marvelous Miniatures. OK, confession time. I love playing around the table with a battle mat spread out a hand-drawn map and miniatures or standees representing our characters and the bad-guys we were thumping. However I’ve never been a big collector of the miniatures. I’ve got a few that I’ll show photos of in this blog post, but when it came to running a game for my daughter and her friends or GMing at SaltCON, I borrowed the collection of plastic miniatures that my DM friend has been slowly gathering for years. I’m very grateful that he’s been willing to let me use them on an odd-weekend. Another friend who participates in a few Star Trek Adventures games has a done the same thing with various Star Trek miniatures. I really need to get a better collection of my own if I’m going to GM more even if they are used for another genre than what they were created for. There were a few times that the stormtrooper minis stood in for the orcs we were fighting in our past D&D 3.5 campaign.

So for this blog entry I pulled out the two boxes of miniatures that I still had in my collection after many, many moves. I had realized when I was taking the pictures that I hadn’t opened up these boxes in years (and possibly even more than a decade). So it was interesting to look these over and handle the metal pieces again. I don’t think I painted these. I just don’t have the patience or the setup to even attempt painting. But I do admire a very well painted miniature when I see one.

Hmmm… I’m sensing a theme here with these two boxes. Both FASA and West End Games had a large number of miniatures for their respective games. The boxes are battered, but are still intact and not splitting in the corners.

Here are some of the minis that were inside the Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan boxed set. It primarily focused on the Regular 1 space station crew. It included both characters and computers. None of them were painted.

When I opened the Star Wars box, I found this miniature still in it’s package. The plastic is brittle and cracked along the top, but still connected to the backing. I believe that I was intending to use this to represent a character in a past Dungeons and Dragons game.

In the Star Wars Bounty Hunters boxed set was these miniatures. As I mentioned above, I don’t think I painted these minis with how shaded some of them are. The big guy with the spikes (in the middle) is obviously from another set and I think the guy in gold and green is also from another manufacturer. All of the figures are loose, but I have them wrapped up in some foamy paper.

If I expand my collection of miniatures to a usable set, I’ll be sure to post about it here. Are there miniatures that you remember from your gaming sessions? Tell me about it. This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com with any comments.

Reviews, Role Playing Games

RPGaDAY2024 Day 26: Superb Screen

Written by TardisCaptain August 26, 2024August 25, 2024

I’ve been looking forward to Day 26 of the RPGaDAY 2024 Challenge. I’m going to be reviewing a Superb Screen for the topic. I’ve had this for a while and I’ve been meaning to post a review of it. I had picked it up for a session at a past SaltCON. When I was running Basic Fantasy for my daughter and her 5e playing friends I had to use a Star Trek RPG screen that I had with some Basic Fantasy inserts clipped on it. So when I was looking for a screen on Amazon, I was looking for a screen that I could slip inserts into. I found one with the Stratagem “The Master’s Tome” 4-panel customizable GM screen. These included several inserts that could be used for both Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition or Pathfinder 1st Edition. But I used the Basic Fantasy inserts since I was running several Basic Fantasy one-shots for SaltCON. If I run another game, I can swap out the inserts for more appropriate ones. I’ve heard that too much use could cause some of the plastic ends could split or break off, but I haven’t experienced it so far. But I also only use them for the one shots. I’ll keep an eye on this as I continue to use this. My photos are posted below.

Feedback from readers: both LexTenebris and Pulp Tickertape on Mastodon reminded me that the GM should also be having fun as well. This is in response to my Acclaimed Advice entry. I went back and re-read my entry and I realized that I had left that part out (while it was floating around in my head). So let me also re-state, everyone should be having fun and that the GM should be a part of that fun. Thanks guys for tapping me on the shoulder with that one.

Do you have a GM’s screen that you prefer? Tell me about it. This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com with any comments.

Role Playing Games

RPGaDAY2024 Day 22: Notable Non-Player Character

Written by TardisCaptain August 22, 2024August 20, 2024

When I saw the topic for Day 22 of the RPGaDAY 2024 Challenge, Notable Non-Player Character, I wasn’t certain where I was going to take this. We’ve played against various NPCs in past games. Some NPCs have helped us. But none really pop-out as “notable”.

So I think I’m going to talk about some tools that will help GMs make NPCs for their games that I haven’t mentioned in previous blog posts. Some of these are PDFs published by different companies. Some of these are online tools that I have used in the past. They are in no particular order. This list is also just a sample of what tools are out there.

Basic Fantasy Tools– This website is a list of links to different tools that will help quickly generate various NPCs (as well as maps, treasure lists, HP box generators and more).

Fantasy Name Generators– Tired of Bob the Blacksmith, Bob the Guard, Bob the Milkmaid, Bob the Evil Warlock? Here is a website that will help GMs come up with various names based upon cultures and races. I’ve used this site in the past when making characters for the Character Creation Challenge.

Lazy DM’s Companion– This PDF was created by Michael E. Shea and contains both an NPC Generator and a Villain Generator among other things that may help DMs.

Frontier Space Referee’s Handbook– Like most GM handbooks, there are sections on NPCs. This particular book has quite a few pages dedicated to generating a Master Villain. This includes origins, type, motivations, power base, henchmen and more.

The Adventurer’s Guide to Non-Player Characters– This was primarily written for the RPG “For Gold & Glory” but it could be adapted for any OSR style game (or more). This actually treats NPCs like classes. So there are Arcanists, Aristocrats, Commoners, Soldiers, etc. It also talks about wages, personality and appearance.

The last thing I wanted to talk about was using illustrations to represent your NPCs. There are plenty of stock and historical illustrations that can be used that you don’t need to bother with AI image generators. I’ve tried these image generators in the past and honestly they just suck. I’ve talked about how plasticy they make everything seem. Just skip those all together.

What tools would you use to help generate NPCs? Are there any memorable NPCs that you recall from past games? Tell me about it. This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com with any comments.

Dungeons and Dragons, Role Playing Games, Star Trek

RPGaDAY2024 Day 21: Classic Campaign

Written by TardisCaptain August 21, 2024August 19, 2024

On Day 21 of the RPGaDAY 2024 Challenge and our subject is Classic Campaign. There are campaigns that I’ve played in as a player and run as a GM.

As a player I think the most classic campaign was the Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 campaign that I’ve talked about before with Tovark the Sun Elf Wizard with Xon his toad familiar. I think one of the things that made it a classic campaign is how well the DM ran it. We were wondering between sessions on how we were going to handle our situation. I remember trying to make sure I had the excel character sheet up to date and added links to all of the different feats, spells so I could quickly look them up.

As a GM I think the most classic campaign was the Star Trek Roleplaying Game by Decipher. I still have players reminding me of what happened in the different sessions. I had assembled a schedule of self-made and published adventures from different sources leading to a final “bad guy” situation that the players would have to overcome. The only thing I wish is that we would have been able to complete the campaign to it’s conclusion (schedules and players moving away prevented this).

What classic campaigns did you play or GM in? What made it a classic? Tell me about it. This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com with any comments.

Dungeons and Dragons, Role Playing Games

RPGaDAY2024 Day 20: Amazing Adventure

Written by TardisCaptain August 20, 2024August 19, 2024

OK, so we are asked to talk about an Amazing Adventure for Day 19 of the RPGaDAY 2024 Challenge. I had a chance to talk about the FASA Star Trek adventure “Demand of Honor” and the B/X Dungeons and Dragons Adventure “The Keep on the Borderlands” in a past RPGaDAY Challenge post. So let’s look at my collection and see if I have another that I’d like to point out as an amazing adventure.

I think I’m going to talk about an adventure that I saw, but never had the chance to play or GM. S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks for Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 1st Edition. It was also covered in the Original Adventures Reincarnated #3 by Goodman Games when they had the license to publish these.

I’ve always been a science fiction fan, so when I saw that my friend had a SF module for Dungeons and Dragons, I went a little crazy. Spells and rayguns? What sorcery was this? From what I understand it was something that was being conceived before TSR released Gamma World. I had inquired if we could play it, but alas, we were never able to get around to it. Apparently this adventure had enough of an impact for Goodman Games to give it the OAR treatment. Could this be a future game that I’d have to run? I don’t know as I’d really like to be a player at the table for this one.

Reader Feedback: LexTenebris on Mastodon posted this to me in response to Sensational Sessions. “It occurs to me that another great game that fits the mold of having a secondary even tertiary characters, which allows you to stay in play is Follow, which as a free version.”

Do you have an amazing adventure that you’d like to talk about? Tell me about it. This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com with any comments.

Dungeons and Dragons, Role Playing Games

RPGaDAY2024 Day 14: Compelling Characters

Written by TardisCaptain August 14, 2024August 16, 2024

Here on Day 14 of the RPGaDAY 2024 Challenge we will be talking about Compelling Characters. At first I thought that I’d talk about some of the many characters that I had created in the past Character Creation Challenges. But then I remembered a series of articles that I had been posting with scans of old character sheets that I had saved from past games.

So a little bit of a background. In 2021 I was going through some old boxes and found a three-ringed binder full of old character sheets. So one of the things I thought I’d do is scan them and post them here in this blog. In my previous character sheet entries I posted characters from Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 1st edition, and a second AD&D 1st edition character, the FASA Doctor Who RPG, Shadowrun, Cyberpunk, Vampire: The Masquerade, WEG Star Wars the Star Trek RPG by FASA, GURPS, Marvel Superheroes, Warhammer Fantasy, Star Ace and Fantasy Hero.

I’ve talked about one of my favorite Dungeon Masters and good friend, Jeff Sullivan and the recent multi-year Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 campaign that we completed in 2019. Years before that he had run another campaign using the same system. I think it was sometime between 2003, 04 or 05. While going through the three-ringed binder full of character sheets I found that first character. I remember playing with Andrew, Gibby and a few other friends. This campaign didn’t last as long as the one I blogged about above.

I don’t recall too much of the background, but I remember being really excited to play Tirik. He was a Ranger, but the DM had a special sub-class that he allowed called The Archer. I think I may still have the Archer write up somewhere in my many boxes of stuff that I need to go through. Besides having the weapons specialization with the bow, he had some ranger spells as well. Looking at some of the notes that I had jotted down on the sheet, someone was casting bless spells on us. Somehow we had a magical weapon glow (I don’t recall if this allowed us to see magical weapons, or if they glowed that way because of their magical nature). For some reason I had “8th Season of the Virgin” written on the side. I’ll have to ask Jeff about that one. Besides having a kickass bow and trick arrows, Tirik also had a +1 magical sword that does other stuff (that I’m sure I would have found out while using it in game) and a dagger called Lumina. This dagger has an adamanite (spelling?) blade with a deer horn handle. I remember Gibby getting his Belt of Giant Strength with Jeff describing how it was made (using the tendon of a giant we had just slain). This was also the first game where I was introduced to carob roots. These were roots we could chew on to regain a small number of hit points (a d4s worth IIRC).

I just realized that in both games the character’s name started with the letter “T”. I’m going to have to send Jeff a link to this blog post to see if he remembers this campaign. Here are scans of the character sheet that we had downloaded from the Mad Irishman website.

More reader feedback: Phil Hatfield on MeWe responded to my Well Supported Campaign post. He let me know that one of his favorites was the Star Wars Lords of the Expanse from West End Games. And while he didn’t love the system, he really enjoyed the material for Twilight Imperium: Embers of Imperium. I’m going to have to check those out.

Do you have a compelling character from past games? Tell me about it. This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com with any comments.

Dungeons and Dragons, Role Playing Games, Star Trek

RPGaDAY2024 Day 3: Most often played RPG

Written by TardisCaptain August 3, 2024August 19, 2024

The topic for Day 3 of the RPGaDAY 2024 Challenge is “Most often played RPG”.

Spoiler alert: It’s Dungeons and Dragons version 3.5. There was a very long campaign that my friend, Jeff Sullivan, ran for me and my friends for several years. I have talked about this campaign previously in past RPGaDAY posts that talk about my favorite character, most memorable character demise and scariest game you’ve played.

So I’m going to tilt this subject on it’s side slightly. Most often RPG that I’ve GMed. Back in the mid 2000’s. The Star Trek Roleplaying Game by Decipher was the first Star Trek RPG that I played with my local Star Trek club. I was even able to GM a few sessions. I had a group of young Ensigns (the player characters) lead by an NPC Lieutenant as the CO, head to a shipyard to recover the USS Crockett for refitting just after the end of the Dominion War. Starfleet needed to pull some older, but still serviceable ships out of mothballs to rebuild the fleet and get back to the primary duty of exploring. Because the PCs got kicked off the station managing the shipyard, the team left with the Crockett before making sure the ship was ready to go. There was a very large nest of Talarian Hook Spiders that woke up from hibernation when the environmentals warmed up. As the crew tried to re-take back the ship, one of the PCs accidentally set the Lieutenant on fire who then fell in the turboshaft that they were traversing through. Luckily he survived despite being very injured. After the players recovered the ship and got to their destination, the poor Lieutenant was placed on a medical leave and eventually retired somewhere far away from the PCs. The Ensigns were assigned to the USS Crockett to investigate an unknown signal coming from an unexplored sector of space. There they encountered a band of rogue Kzintis, a planet of robots and more. One of the PCs being diplomatic with a Gorn captain gave him the impression that the word “Dude” was a universal greeting in the Human language.

What is the RPG that you’ve played the most? Was there a game that you GMed for quite a while? Tell me about it. This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com with any comments.

Collecting, Comic Books, Community Service, Conventions, Cosplay, Dungeons and Dragons, Fan Club, Friends, Star Trek

Ogden-Con 2024 After-Action Report

Written by TardisCaptain July 12, 2024July 12, 2024

If you’ve never heard of Ogden-Con, don’t freak out. Two months ago I had never heard of this event either. I was walking out of one of my local gaming stores, I noticed a flyer posted in the window. Curious, I went back in and talked with the owner. He told me that this was the second Ogden-Con after they had successfully run one last year. This came as a little bit of a shock to me as I’m usually aware of the geek events happening in Utah. But wanting to support a convention closer to my neck of the woods, I checked out the Facebook page.

Ogden-Con was organized by Rudy Entertainment Company and would be a charity convention. A raffle would be held that would benefit St. Jude Children’s Hospital. Most of all, the admission fee (according to the flyer) is “ONE LOUSY DOLLAR!” It was held at the Comfort Suites just off of I-15 in Ogden.

I talked with my local Star Trek club about this event. I also talked with a few other fans of geeky things and it peaked an interest in attending. So, how did it go?

Well due to a scheduling conflict, we didn’t get there until after 1:00pm. I noticed attendees walking out of the convention center carrying their newly painted dragon figures from the figure painting class. The convention was held in a large room that had dealers tables on one end and a mini-wrestling ring on the other. The bulk of the dealer tables were comic vendors. As you can see from my loot photo above, I picked up a few comics that I didn’t have in my collection. There were also several dice vendors, a 3D printing vendor, a video-game vendor and a few artists promoting their own work. This include a young child (under the age of 10 I believe) who was selling their own hand-drawn comics.

Not having an interest in wrestling, I mostly stuck with the vendor tables talking with several different vendors. I also had a chance to meet the organizer of the convention. I introduced myself, gave him a business card, and asked “What is your vision for the convention” before offering to help. While I won’t chair a convention again, I’m more than willing to help or advise. He asked if we could get together for dinner at a later time because he wanted Ogden-Con to grow, but stay as a fan-run convention. So it will never be as big as the large scale comic conventions, but that’s a good thing. It was a relaxing place to visit and geek out. I met up with a friend and also compared notes with some other friends later.

My wife and youngest attended with me. My youngest came in cosplay for an online animated series that they liked and got excited when someone recognized the character. There was a couple of other cosplays present, one of which caused a little bit of excitement.

Talking with some friends who had been in attendance earlier in the day, they told me about a cosplayer that showed up in full tactical gear (including helmet and gas mask) that had been altered to look like a post-apocalyptic warrior. Someone outside of the hotel had seen someone enter the building with the gas mask and helmet and black gear and thought something dangerous was happening. So they called the police. Law enforcement had showed up and talked with the cosplayer to confirm that nothing bad was happening. In a way, I’m grateful that the effort was made to check in this day and age. Making sure is better than not doing enough if a really dangerous situation was unfolding.

The organizer told me that he wanted to add a costume contest to future Ogden-Cons. He is planning to hold another event in February at the same hotel, but wants to do another summer event at the Union Station in downtown Ogden. Not only would this get in more foot-traffic, but it is also right next to the Ogden Frontrunner station. So attendees could show up from other parts of the Salt Lake metro area. There are also more food options downtown than just off of I-15. I’m really looking forward to having a sit down with this gentleman to see what is plans are. Once I know that, I’ll know what I can offer. It could be help with contacting the local fandom groups in Utah, getting in contact with gaming organizers or just fans in general. This could very easily become a relaxa-con.

My wife told me that she loved going to a local event that wasn’t high pressure or over-crowded. A co-worker had told me that she was able to talk her sister into going since the admission price was very reasonable. A friend I met at the event told me that he had seen more comic dealers at this event than he had at larger conventions. And the members of the USS Ticonderoga who were in attendance had a lot of good things to say about it at our meeting last Wednesday. It will be interesting to see how this starts small and organically grows to a fan-run charity convention. I’ll keep you posted on any future involvement. Even if that involvement is just attending and having fun.

Have you recently attended a smaller convention? What is the best way to let you know of local events. This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com or click on my social media links with any comments.

Character Creation Challenge, Dungeons and Dragons, Reviews, Role Playing Games

Review of three RPG battle mats/tiles

Written by TardisCaptain June 19, 2024

Wiz Dice on the left, Role 4 Initiative in the middle and Chessex on the right.

As I was preparing for SaltCON-Summer 2024, I realized that I had not done my review of the three RPG battle mats/tiles that I currently own. So as I was preparing for the con, I had my daughter help me set these out and take some photos for a review. I’ve owned two of these maps for a few years and purchased the gaming tiles last year after I saw them in use at SaltCON-Spring 2023.

So the first battlemat that I had purchased was the Chessex double-sided 26.x23.5 battlemat. The DM for my Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 campaign that ran for several years used a larger version of this product. When my nephew had asked me to run an introduction to Dungeons and Dragons game, I realized that I didn’t have a mat to use. So I slipped into one of my local gaming shops and picked this one up. It has square grids on one side and hexagons on the other. Eagle-eyed readers may spot this map as the background to some of the photos I used for the various Character Creation Challenge entries. Besides the game with my nephew, I was able to use it in a few other games. The surface is a little rough, but I think this is both a good thing and a bad thing. The mat itself is thick and feels solid. However when I drew on it with dry-erase or wet-erase markers, it could sometimes leave the image behind. While I was experimenting with the map for this article, my daughter discovered that using the Mr. Clean MagicEraser would remove the older drawings without (as it seemed) to damage the map. While I could still see some of the older set-in markings, it is a lot clearer than it use to be. Because this map is rolled, I have to use heavy objects to hold the corners down.

Just a couple of years ago I had the opportunity to run a OSR game for my daughter and several of her friends who had been playing in a D&D 5e campaign. I had created the adventure myself (and later used it at SaltCON-Spring 2024) and realized that the map I had found on the internet, was too large to use on the Chessex mat that I already owned. So I found the Wiz Dice 48×36 gaming mat on Amazon. It is also a reversible map with hexagons on the other side. For the purpose of the one-shot, I was able to use the map with a dry-erase marker. However, after the event, I really wished that I hadn’t purchased this mat. First, it’s really thin and flimsy. While taking these photos for the article my daughter mentioned that it was like having a shower curtain on the table. While the Chessex surface felt rough, but durable, this map was wrinkly, sticky and felt like it was going to rip if I wasn’t careful. When I attempted to use it at SaltCON-Spring 2024, I discovered that the markers I had brought would not write on the map properly, so we ended up using graph paper instead. Like the Chessex, the MagicEraser product was handy in removing stubborn markings from the map. The other issue that I had with this map is the poor quality of the printing. As you can see in the photo below, there were parts where the grid had misprints in it or were missing. As a rolled mat, it also had to be weighed down at the corners.

Just one example of misprints on the Wiz Dice mat

Had there been one issue, I probably would have been OK with the map. But with both the misprints and the flimsy/thin quality, I really wish that I had spent my money on a larger Chessex mat.

When I saw how handy these game tiles were at SaltCON, I had to order a set myself. I picked up the Dry-Erase Hexagon Game Tiles from Role 4 Initiative. While preparing for the latest SaltCON, I decided that I wanted to get all of the tiles out to make sure that they could handle the adventure map I was planning to use. The kewl thing is that you can start out with a small section, then add the sections as needed depending upon where the players elect to go. While these are double sided, they have hexagons on both sides. One side is solid hexagons with broken hexagons on the reverse side. There is a grid version of the tiles available from the same manufacturer that I’ll have to pick up sooner or later. Where the Chessex surface is rough and the Wiz Dice surface was sticky, these tiles were very slick. While it made marking the tiles easy, you could easily smudge a dry-erase marking if you were not careful. There are thirty-three 1/8″ thick tiles that are six inches across in the box. This makes the box a little heavy compared to a rolled up mat. But I was able to store my dry-erase markers in the extra space the box provided. When we were drawing the full map of the planned adventure, my daughter commented that it was like assembling a map puzzle. Here are some various photos.

The solid and broken hex sides of the tiles

We did a timed test with some markings and it erased with no problem after 30 minutes

All of the tiles assembled in a square like fashion with 28 inches across

Conclusion:

The rolled up mats are lighter than the tiles. But the tiles offer greater flexibility for the GM. The costs are about the same (Dice Wiz is lower compared to the same sized Chessex mat). If you are going to stick with a rolled up mat, buy the Chessex for the quality. But my overall advice is take the flexibility of the Role 4 Initiative tiles. They also marked and erased easier.

Have you used any of these three products? If so, what were your thoughts on them? Are there other mats/tiles that I should look into? Tell me about it. This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com or click on my social media links with any comments.