Dwarven Forge makes me cry…
Number of Views :3639
Click for a larger image
Every few months or so, I go onto DwarvenForge.com, look over all the terrain, and cry a little bit inside. Gabe from Penny Arcade sometimes shows photos of his games where he employs the Dwarven Forge stuff.
It’s all so beautiful. And so, so expensive.
For those of you who have no idea what Dwarven Forge is, and you should, it is a company who makes prepainted 3D terrain for your RPGs. They’ve got quite a few sets now, including Sci-fi, cavern, dungeon and tavern sets, with new stuff being added all the time.
Now, I mentioned expensive. How expensive, you ask?
A starter set of the dungeons, it’s $99. And that’s not going to make you an entire dungeon at all.
Now, the Sci-Fi sets are a little cheaper at $49, so if you’re playing Traveller or Star Wars, you’re in luck.
If anyone knows of any other companies who make this type of terrain MUCH CHEAPER, let me know. I would love to pick up some terrain like this.
Click for a larger view
Totally agree … I’ve looked at this stuff for years and years and felt an inner sadness. Indeed this was the kind of D&D I wanted to play as a small boy, reading those old 1980s era Dragon magazine articles. Looking at the crazy Ral Partha figure clad boards of doom … scratch built Inns, encounters with running water, etc. Sort of like the GI Joe commercials which somehow made the figures always seem ten times cooler. Sadly the only type of D&D I’ve ever played has been the wet erase mat with (for an ambitious campaign) painted figs and the odd painted barrel or pile of boxes. A hodgepodge of plastic pre-painted figs blended in with figures from other ranges (Games Workshop WHFB figs for example). That is standard D&D … the dwarven forge stuff is a fable … the kind of thing someone could only do if they owned a hobby shop or were truly independently wealthy. For the average gamer out there such an undertaking would likely get him a frying pan to the back of the head (my wife is very indulgent … but dwarven forge is way past such indulgence … I think a hot french mistress would be a little more realistic to be honest).
.-= The Lord of Excess´s last blog ..Potpouri O’ RPG … look at the hot girl with dice … woot … random … SPAM SPAM =-.
These pictures made my poor Third World eyes cry.
($99 is a king’s ransom in Philippine currency.)
.-= Matthew Arcilla´s last blog ..Review: Player’s Handbook Races: Dragonborn =-.
I’ve been drooling over these for years, but I have two problems with them, one of which is the price. The other is the time it takes to set them up. I just don’t have that much free time. Additionally, I might not have the right pieces to match the adventure at hand. They wouldn’t help with an encounter on a skybridge in Sharn or on an airship. Additionally, they’re great for D&D, but not so great for any modern games. That’s a lot of money for such limited use.
The other option is to use WorldWorks Games’ printable terrain, but that makes my printer cry and still takes time to set up.
The problem with both products is storage and transportation, which is why I use MapTool for my face-to-face games. Hook it up to a large screen TV as a secondary display, open up a player’s view, and off you go. You can draw or import any map from any source, you can set up all your encounters in advance anywhere you have a computer, you can save your encounter (including initiative order) right in the middle of a cliffhanger and pull it all back up at the beginning of the next session, and there’s no clean up or reassembly – just hit Save!
.-= Kristian´s last blog ..Gods’ Game 1.4: Big Dogs =-.
look out for dungeon castings made in the uk they allways have a link after dwarvern forge on e bay .pretty good but you will need a paint brush
You could try buying a couple of copies of Descent and using the tiles from there.
.-= Gary´s last blog ..The Wretched Earth Part 3 : Rat Race =-.
the dungeon castings stuff i bought was ok for looks but only plaster made and will fall apart easily .look for bargins on ebay ,they do happen but normaly you get 2 bidders with bidding feaver which ruins it
I looked at Dwarven forge when I wanted to start my own D&D campaign, but yea its stupid expensive. If you are willing to take the time, you can do something like I did, buy molds and make your own. Check out my blog for some pictures and ideas, I only just started it so its kind of short.
http://dragoncorednd.weblog.com/
James´s last [type] ..Dungeon 2
I used dwaven forge for a while but now I found a website selling models for dungeons. They sell on ebay user name skater_blind as well as a web site dungeoncastings.co.uk. The goods they produce look great when assembled. I have bought from them a number of time and you cn not fault the customer servie. I hope this might be useful to some one.
I just use an erasable map and draw a blue print for my dungeons
Hey Guys, I just happened here by Google. But as a fellow gamer, I couldn’t click on without letting you know there is a MUCH more affordable and spiffy option than buying Dwarven Forge. It’s not that they are bad, but man are they expensive, and what you get is limited. Plus, resin is just plastic with a heavy nature.
I found this company, Hirst Arts, and have a number of their molds. The quality is over the top good, and the quantity is now up to you! I use dental plaster because it paints easily and has nice weight and durability. Don’t use plaster as it’s too soft, but the dental plaster they link to is like making rocks.
http://www.hirstarts.com
They have an insane number of molds, but the ones I went with are pretty much off this page:
http://www.hirstarts.com/molds/moldsgoth.html
Start small and basic, and build whatever you want with a little glue. It’s like legos for gamers.
Anyway, it was a breath of freedom of desire for me, and turned the hobby from what I want back to “wow what I can make!” By the way, it doesn’t take an artist to do this. If you can paint a mini, you can mold a wall. Plus the owner has very helpful videos taking you step by step.
Cheers,
-Rolf.
Hello.
I saw your comments regarding Dwarven Forge and the expense of their sets and wanted to let you know of an alternative.
http://www.dungeonstone.com
Our products are compatible with the DF line and are designed to give game masters a more affordable option for creating a 3D gaming environment.
So hopefully… no more tears ; )
I am a DF collector. I started small. I bought a couple of sets so that I could form a small dungeon that would fit in to a regular evenings game and I slowly built up. Now I can make a decent size dungeon that might last multiple gaming sessions. Think of it this way – if you played golf as religiously as your rpg’d you would have a very expensive set of clubs. This is cheaper in the long run and it will last a lifetime.
I’ve often heard the argument – it takes too long to set up. Sure if your going for the huge multiple session expansive dungeons. But I find that having a DF set-up already set up saves from pauses at the table while I have to draw. Also, I could throw together a 6 room dungeon in about 15 minutes – surely that isn’t too long!