I’ve only DM’d for ~3 times so far, and only once in person (this past weekend). I was introducing two friends to the game, and we’re all excited to continue.
Originally planned for a one-off (we’re doing Mines of Phandelver. I aimed for it to be more introductory but the PCs are interested in continuing with what we have!)
So, with the second session booked, I’d like to scale up my setup to help be more immersive. I have a lot of work ahead (reading, notes) so I’m in a better position. I’ve discussed with a DM friend of mine with decades of experience, and I’d love to hear what people suggest.
Currently, I am aiming to purchase:
- “wet” battle map (dry-erase)
- tokens for characters/creatures (hoping to find dry-erase ones here, too)
- basic ‘tiles’ set for when the the scenery is more generic (optional)
- figurines for the PCs (optional)
I was thinking the figurines would be unpainted, and I’d love to find a company that sells them individual, with generic designs for race/class, that I can go back to again and again as my campaigns diversify.
Am I heading down the right path? Any other suggestions?
I didn’t want to invest in figurines, as there’s always some new monster I want to use and would be frustrated not to have a figurine for. So, what I picked tools that lean on everyone’s imagination:
- Acrylic character tokens from https://www.c4labs.com/product/set-of-three-gigantic-monster-character-tokens-for-rpg-and-tabletop-games-color-options/ . These are fairly cheap, and you can write on them with wet/dry markers to differentiate characters.
- A blank gaming mat from https://meleemats.com/ and a bunch of markers. I draw fast/simple environments to battle on instead of worrying about printing something with amazing detail, or buying a bunch of models.
Hope this helps!
Yea, I figured tokens were best for creatures, etc, but I wanted to get figurines for the 3 PCs that are in this campaign. Moreso as a gift for the players, but also to distinguish them more clearly from the rest of the action.
Thanks for those suggestions!
Dungeon Craft Volume 1 could be a great start. It’s a huge selection of terrain, and even has some monsters in there. The biggest downside is that you have to cut out the pieces.
I also love Arcknight’s flat plastic miniatures
So if you don’t mind me doing some self-promotion – for a few years I made my own tokens and now I’m selling them online. I can recommend “abstract enemies” for reusable enemy sets, and “customize!” for tokens for your players with the names printed on. I’m actually planning to do some reorganization of the site a little later today; the custom names for player tokens is a new thing and not too well-represented on the site currently. If you want those but can’t figure it out on the current site reach out + I can hook you up.
For the rest of it, I would agree about Chessex mats + either dry or wet erase markers (dry erase markers are honestly fine for most situations in my experience and a little easier to clean up). I never used the terrain tiles or anything, just drew on the mat; I think it’s up to you – the only thing I’d add is that for certain spells you may want to get some circular overlays to represent areas of darkness / spherical area effect spells since that one comes up frequently.
