Tabletop Review: 2e Adventure Tiles: Dungeon Expansion 02

2e Adventure Tiles: Dungeon Expansion 02
Publisher: SkeletonKey Games
Pages:23
Cost: $5.99
Release Date: 07/27/2011
Get it Here: RPGNow.com

Mapping out a detailed dungeon for your players to maneuver their minis on can be a chore. With a good gridded battlemat and a handful of wet erase markers, straight rooms and corridors are easy enough to plot out. Large, detailed circular rooms tend to become simple squared halls. Transitioning over to printed tile sets often gets you the same type of rooms you would comfortably draw freehand.

The second dungeon expansion to SkeletonKey Games’ 2e Adventure Tiles provides the GM with a large 75′ circular room. Two versions of the room are provided: a dragon cult room and a “plain” room. The dragon-themed version has a central dais, a dragon statue, worn floor stencils, and copious amount of litter. The plain version has an additional entrance and support pillars. The plain version is designed such that you could print out one side of the room twice and swap the second copy of the side for the opposite wall, giving you a room with four to eight columns. This tile set also contains two special tiles that make this room transition into some of SkeletonKey’s earlier tile sets.

These tiles run 6″ square, which means there is a lot of white space left on the page after printing. Most tiles from other manufacturers run 8″ square. This means if you take the set out to have professionally printed on cardstock you are getting 56 cents for your printing dollar, compared to other tiles.

At $5.99 this tile set is a bit more expensive than comparable tile sets from other manufacturers. The set’s twenty pages of tiles appear to make only two rooms, the dragon shrine room and the plain room. If you factor in being able to swap portions of each room with each other, as well as combining the corner pieces to make a smaller 35′ round room, the price is much more reasonable.

There are cheaper tiles of similar quality being made by other manufacturers, but if you purchase 2D tiles based only on price you will miss out on a well-designed round room. This particular room fills a void found in many 2D tile offerings.