Given the long gap between the previous 2e Adventure Tiles set and this one, Dungeon Encounter 01 turns out to be a little disappointing. Ed Bourelle’s artwork is as good as always, and the tiles should prove useful, but I can’t describe them as exciting or inspiring. Basically, this set gives you an 8x8 room that serves as a kind of crossroads or connector to various other SKG sets/layouts. With three different tiles in each of four different positions, you can get a good bit of variety from them. Nothing really suggests any story ideas or nifty terrain features, however.

Today I'm also drooling just a little over Skeleton Key Games's 2e Adventure Tiles: Dungeon Encounter 01 They're a good-quality easy-to-use set (no fiddly layers) - good value for $3.

The art is clear, textured, detailed with just a hint of a tribal magic design and yet generic enough to resemble a part of any dungeon setting. Since the 80s I've always preferred floor plans where the grid is actually part of the flagstone design - it always made the environment more "immersive" visually speaking - which is exactly what we have here. The 6-inch tiles, with wide margins, should print well on any printer without any need for rescaling.

The individual tile layout is specific -usually an entrance on one side and an open area on two sides- so that a large room area is always created with four tiles- but tessellations mean that many compelling layouts are possible. The inclusion of stairs and transitions between levels is a nice touch. Perfect as an encounter environment or "just-passing-through" on your dungeon crawl.

Nice work. Very professional. Good value.

Billiam B. bit.ly/rpgblog

This expansion set, done SKG’s new “2e” style (with stone walls instead of thick black lines, for example), focuses on a large circular chamber about 60 feet in diameter (on a square grid, at 5 ft. per square). It takes nine tiles to build a circle using these layouts; there are ten different “side” tiles, two different center tiles, and eight different “corner” tiles (although there are two pairs of “corner” tiles in which the differences are so minimal that they make no difference). With the number of variations given, you can create a wide variety of circular chambers. Four of the “corner” tiles and four of the “side” tiles include exit points. One of the “side” tiles features a dragon statue (?) on a pedestal, and one of the “center” tiles features a kind of altar or something with dragonic motifs. The tiles are well done, as usual for SKG, and it’s a good addition to your SKG library.

I like them, but they don't seem to be dark enough or vibrant enough. The road size is good for the 1/64 scale cars I'm using for Car Wars.

Yes oh, yes, oh YES!

How on EARTH have I missed out on these sets? I LOVE the canal tiles, and the "sample" tiles included here are great!

My FAVORITE feature about these sets is UNIFORMITY! I LOVE that each tile is 6x6. In a game where you randomly "flip" tiles (like a deck of cards) this format is PERFECT!

Oh, and this set is FREE! I am sure I will be collecting MANY more of Skeleton Key's work!

A beautiful set of tiles for post-apoc adventures. This set includes several road sections (two curves in four sections each, three straight sections, and one each of a T-section and crossroad) and three open ground sections (one with giant boulders, and two without). All are littered with debris, some with larger items (a stop sign, barricade, etc.), and one of the curved sections has a portion of a ruined building on it.

These would be perfect for using minis in Gamma World, Deadlands: Hell on Earth, Mutant Future, or any post-apoc RPG or minis game.

This is my first Master Tiles purchase, so I cannot compare it to the others in the series. What I find amazing is the functionality of the layers used in Acrobat. You can add and subtract elements with ease, allowing complete customization. I will definitely be using this in my campaign.

Originally Posted at: http://diehardgamefan.com/2012/02/27/tabletop-review-2e-adventure-tiles-dungeon-expansion-02/

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.

These are nice maps. Computer generated maps with simple black walls with textured floors and color objects. Includes untagged maps for printout or good for klooge, maptool or battle grounds, however, they include the secret doors, which is a major design flaw. Secret doors should be skipped on an untagged map. The giant S kind of might be a clue to the players.

When I was running a Freeport adventure that featured a battle in a throne room, there weren't a lot of map tiles available. I bought these dungeon details specifically for the throne room, and in that regard it doesn't disappoint. It features three thrones flanked by a pair of tiles that run the length of a light blue, two-space wide path. The rest of the tiles branch out to either side in curious directions, with rooms sectioned off by angular walls. These rooms feature: hookahs, tables and chairs, shelves of books, a star pattern in the floor (for summoning monsters?), a huge pile of bones that are curiously incongruous with the throne room nearby, a Lovecraftian squid head complete with bloody manacles and a gushing sewer drain, some barracks, a rickety bridge over a bottomless pit, and a treasure room.

It's hard not to love this set. Although I bought it for the throne room, the squid head features, the pit, and the treasure room really seal the deal.

I picked up these tiles to flesh out a snake temple from a Freeport adventure (I DMed a lot of Freeport adventures). The set features the borders of a temple which consist of steps, pillars, and a combination between the two. Some of the steps are partially submerged, while others feature walls and doors. What's odd about this set is that there is no tile that fits in the center – you essentially can only make a temple by using the walls created by the various tiles put together. Some of these walls are placed in positions that are unique to this set, like the edges of a tile, which makes it difficult to use with other sets. I made the mistake of printing every tile and discovered that they don't all fit together neatly.

Like Ed Bourelle's Wizard's Tower set, this set features similar quadrants, with ground level entrance, stairs, stables, and storage. The higher levels include stairs, armory, murder holes, gate winch, meeting area, upper storage, food storage, dining, kitchen, barracks, sergeant's quarters, noble's quarters, and servant's quarters. There's also an entrance to the roof levels and some dungeon tiles.

Although on the surface this set might seem compatible with the Wizard's Tower, it's got limited compatibility because the wall features don't all match up. Without that other set, these maps are for humanoids only.

This workmanlike set of maps by Ed Bourelle is what it says on the tin: flooded tunnels. Most of the set is interchangeable tiles, but a few terminate in stone tiles. The stone tiles are the connection to other underground sets. The submerged tiles are well-done and look like they're several feet underwater. The downside to these sets is that the water is uniformly green. This makes the water look fairly brackish. These are not clear water-filled tunnels – it's more the nasty stuff associated with sewers. But if you're looking for flooded tiles for a typical dungeon, this will do nicely.

Just about every villain has a showdown in his tower lair, but there are surprisingly few tower maps. This is partially due to the fact that there's simply not a lot of room for a map. Towers tend to be spiral death traps. The other problem is that they're not very interesting for cartographers. Fortunately, Ed is up to the task.

I bought this set for use with the Freeport series and it performed well. The biggest problem in matching a tower map to an adventure is the entrance and exit between each level. Some characters will climb the steps, others will clamber up and down ladders, still others will pop up through trap doors, and the high level guys fly through the windows. Despite the fact that towers aren't necessarily all that exciting in their presentation, there's actually quite a bit of variance in how players might interact with them.

This means that tower maps tend towards a specific function. Ed's map features a wizard's tower, which is probably the only tower anybody's interested in. It features cockatrices at the entrance, animal cages (for guardian monsters, natch), a balcony, stairwell, lounge and balcony, summoning and scrying chambers, alchemy lab, library, bedrooms for the wizard and his minions, and a study. The tower segments are divided into quadrants which allow limited mixing and matching; the dungeon segments are different from the rest of the tower.

Overall this is an excellent set, but it's also very specific to a wizard's tower. It's easier to build an encounter around the maps than use it for a published adventure.

Tiles are great i've used them in my latest adventure. The players like the way they look. Keep up the good work. Richard