Thursday, April 11, 2013

Dwarven Forge crushes Kickstarter Goals!


     The Kickstarter for Dwarven Forge to produce their new "Game Tiles" range of modular dungeon walls is simply off the charts.  For RPG fans the advantages of this project is obvious. For TTG fans- this is your new dungeon/sewer/catacomb table.  Let's look at how further stretch goals are adding even more to your purchase.





    Dwarven Forge has made high-quality resin dungeon sections for nearly twenty years.  I've had a few pieces of theirs in the past for Diorama settings, but unfortunately the cost (and weight!) of having an entire tabletop board of dungeon walls shipped to me made that something of an impossibility.  

     That impossibility has disappeared now with Dungeon Tiles- a Kickstarter to produce high quality, low cost modular dungeon wall and floor sections. Consider it a "pre-fab house" for the subterranean hipster- well formed pieces that will be easily painted and/or modified/converted at will, durable enough to take table flipping when your dice repeatedly make you wonder what you did to deserve this level of gamer karma, and high enough quality to make even the lowliest painted soldierdoll look better.

     I've already gone over the sizes needed for various tables here, so give that a quick read.  In addition, Dwarven Forge has added an add-on pack of diagonal pieces, just right for oddly cutting corridors.  Now, you have to pledge for a minimum of 2 kits to be able to purchase the add-ons, but since you have to pledge for 2 kits to get the unlocked freebies anyway, you really want to be at that pledge level regardless.  The add-on kits come out to $45 for a single diagonal kit, $70 for a pair of them. (That's $20 off the already discounted kickstarter price.)  That pays for 16 diagonal walls and 4 extra floor tiles per add-on set.  A little pricey compared to the basic kit itself as far as number of pieces, but if you want to break up the whole "north then west" with some unexpected "now turn southeast" action, it's the best way to do it.  


     Further, should they reach the $600k stretch goal (which I'm gonna go out on a limb and say is pretty likely), there are MOAR FREEBIEZ! Yup, an additional 2 rounded corner pieces (and accompanying back sections) per kit you've ordered.  That's another 8" of table coverage for free... and who wouldn't want another eight inches?


     If you haven't pledged on this Kickstarter... trust me, you want to.  Having watched the prices on these go up year after year, you're getting a superior product at a fraction of the cost- and even though it's obvious these will be going into production, you're still saving a lot of cash compared to MSRP, even before you consider the slew of freebies that will be included.  Not to mention, while I don't have an inside track at DF or anything, it's a ridiculously safe bet that future releases- both "Dwarvenite" and possibly plastic/resin/restic- will be sized to fit into this new flagship product.  (Hey Stefan & Jeff, how about neat pieces like "Sewer pipe suspended in wall" and "trickle of noxious fluid in the middle of the corridor" kinda pieces?  Yeah, I know, not quite as multi-purpose modular, but a nice addition to a line.)  Personally, I'd love to see DF follow this up with a Futuristic Bulkhead-style series, I think that would play really well to table toppers like myself. Maybe come up with an equally catchy name for it, like "Futurite"...  

     Only 19 days to go as of this publishing, so if you're not pledged in, you best get on it!  I'll see you on the other side of the dungeon.


The Second Class Elitist.  


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