This is the first of a five part series of stories on crafting foam castle tiles for RPGs.
When I first became a DM, I was looking for a way to display interior room scenes in RPGs, I was inspired by several other DMs from games I had played and later found online resources that really helped me.
Initial Inspiration
For many years, I had been fortunate to be a player in my cousin Nick’s games. He was a very wise DM and knew the rules like the back of his hand. Nick really brought the adventures to life with colorful verbal descriptions and elaborate puzzles and flat cardboard tiles. His work was truly inspirational to me.
When creating my own adventures as a new DM, I sought out online resources to assist me in creating room tiles. My first online inspiration was DM Scotty, who pioneered a system of cardboard tiles for gaming several years ago.
Please take a look at DM Scotty’s videos which have many fantastic ideas for tiles as well as props and techniques. Most of the techniques I show on this website were inspired by his work. I want to personally thank DM Scotty for his significant contribution to this hobby.
However, personally, I gotta have my grid. This led me to DMG and his DMGInfo channel. I really liked his modular tile approach and the fact that he has a grid provided by how the tiles are made. The initial tiles I made were based on the work of DM Scotty and DMG and I used a 1″ scale.
Issues with Initial Castle Tiles
There was a catch though – I have a large collection of Heroscape miniatures and terrain. (It’s almost complete!) These figures have larger bases than standard miniatures.
In addition, you naturally lose some space at the walls of a room and even standard bases won’t fit in the corners.
I had some problems with using cardboard for the tiles. Since I didn’t have a consistent supply of free double-thick cardboard, there were variations. In addition, the ugly sides of the cardboard showed unless you wrapped the edges with paper.
Luckily, Wyloch came to the rescue! Wyloch’s Armory videos recommended a 1.25″ grid. This lets you have just enough room at the edges for nice looking walls. He also uses foam board which is easily available for $1 a sheet at local dollar stores. This approach solved many of my problems. Thank you Wyloch!
But there are still a few issues. I am lazy and want to print out things on the computer rather than painting and cutting everything. I don’t even want to measure when making tiles if possible. It makes sense to put some time into a neat finish on the walls since that is what you see and makes the biggest impact.
Requirements for Castle Tiles
After thinking about it some more, I had this list of what I wanted in tiles:
- Quick, cheap, and easy to make
- Use computer for some features
- Flexible and reusable – not special purpose for just one scene.
- Readily available material like foam board
- Function over Form. Make the floor be flat so the miniatures are not tippy.
- Smooth floor that you can easily add stuff on top of to get effects.
- Use a 1.25″ grid to solve the miniature base issue
- Can add removable interior walls and other features during play.
Based on the work of the gentlemen I mentioned previously, I came up with my own technique that I want to present here.
With this approach, I glue printed out floor grids to foam board that is cut up to create tiles with a 1.25″ scale. For the walls, I add foam strips using Wyloch’s approach. I use multiple size tiles similar to DMG. For some special rooms, I create the room as one tile similar to DM Scotty.
Before we start crafting we need to know what we need to make. In Designing a Tile Floor, I will show you how to figure out what tiles you need to model a castle room with tiles.
Entire Series of Stories on Making Foam Castle Tiles for Tabletop RPGs
Making Room in Your Life
Designing a Tile Floor
Laying a Foundation
Building a Great Big Beautiful Wall
I See a White Wall and I Want to Paint it Gray
