Dwarven Forge: Castle Preview Part 1
We finally got our Dwarven Forge castle set plus some other bits and stretch goal stuff last week. It's pretty easy to paint so we got the entire castle part done in a day (we're gradually working on the ladders, barrels, statues, etc).
Since you can't buy castle sets yet (and I have no idea when you'll be able to), think of this more like a heads up as to what you get/what it can do, and if that interests you just keep an eye on their store (there's also another Kickstarter going on if you want a lot of awesome dungeon stuff).
First off, here's a bird's eye view of the standard Castle set (as in the Castle pledge level):
And I pulled the walls back here so you can better see just how much real estate you get:
Here's the gatehouse with some minis for scale:
Gatehouse with the LED torches lit up:
If you get torches unpainted (like we did) the whole piece glows: you have to paint over the parts that are supposed to be metal if you don't want them to do that (I didn't take a picture before I painted it, so just imagine the entire thing glowing).
They're attached using these sockets, so if you get other LED socket pieces (like rune stones or orbs) you can swap them out.
As a minor nitpick, the default floor of the gatehouse is this big-ass trapdoor thing. It falls out pretty easily and the pull tab in front keeps tiles from properly lining up next to it.
You can easily get around this by arranging four 2 x 2 tiles in a square, or using a 4 x 4 tile (such as a stone house floor tile), so again really just a nitpick.
I guess you could use the big-ass trapdoor tile for something else, like in an upper level of a house or dungeon but again the wooden part can fall out pretty easily and the tab can prevent things from lining up properly.
The castle walls are either 1 x 4 blocks or L-shaped corner blocks with one or two walls stuck to them by magnets, with a thin platform tile slapped on top (that in the case of corner walls helps keep them in place):
Here's a corner wall without the platform:
And here's the wall with the platform (and more minis):
They're made of what feels like a more rigid and lighter material than standard Dungeon Forge tiles (the Dwarvenite stuff, not the older resin sets), so you can pick up an entire wall or corner section without them falling apart.
Price-wise the Castle set ran us $300 unpainted. I'm assuming that's an at least slightly discounted Kickstarter price so no idea what it'll cost when it goes up in the store, or exactly what it will come with, though.
Dungeons & Delvers: Black Book is out! It's our own take on a D&Dish/d20 game that features (among other things) simple-yet-flexible classes, unassumed magic and magical healing, a complete lack of pseudo-Vancian magic, and more mythologically accurate monsters.
Dwarven Vault is our sixth 10+ Treasures volume. If you're interested in thirty dwarven magic items (including an eye that lets you shoot lasers) and nearly a dozen new bits of dungeon gear, check it out!
Just released our second adventure for A Sundered World, The Golden Spiral. If a snail-themed dungeon crawl is your oddly-specific thing, check it out!
By fan demand, we've mashed all of our 10+ Treasure volumes into one big magic item book, making it cheaper and more convenient to buy in print (which you can now do).
Since you can't buy castle sets yet (and I have no idea when you'll be able to), think of this more like a heads up as to what you get/what it can do, and if that interests you just keep an eye on their store (there's also another Kickstarter going on if you want a lot of awesome dungeon stuff).
First off, here's a bird's eye view of the standard Castle set (as in the Castle pledge level):
And I pulled the walls back here so you can better see just how much real estate you get:
Here's the gatehouse with some minis for scale:
Gatehouse with the LED torches lit up:
If you get torches unpainted (like we did) the whole piece glows: you have to paint over the parts that are supposed to be metal if you don't want them to do that (I didn't take a picture before I painted it, so just imagine the entire thing glowing).
They're attached using these sockets, so if you get other LED socket pieces (like rune stones or orbs) you can swap them out.
As a minor nitpick, the default floor of the gatehouse is this big-ass trapdoor thing. It falls out pretty easily and the pull tab in front keeps tiles from properly lining up next to it.
You can easily get around this by arranging four 2 x 2 tiles in a square, or using a 4 x 4 tile (such as a stone house floor tile), so again really just a nitpick.
I guess you could use the big-ass trapdoor tile for something else, like in an upper level of a house or dungeon but again the wooden part can fall out pretty easily and the tab can prevent things from lining up properly.
The castle walls are either 1 x 4 blocks or L-shaped corner blocks with one or two walls stuck to them by magnets, with a thin platform tile slapped on top (that in the case of corner walls helps keep them in place):
Here's a corner wall without the platform:
And here's the wall with the platform (and more minis):
They're made of what feels like a more rigid and lighter material than standard Dungeon Forge tiles (the Dwarvenite stuff, not the older resin sets), so you can pick up an entire wall or corner section without them falling apart.
Price-wise the Castle set ran us $300 unpainted. I'm assuming that's an at least slightly discounted Kickstarter price so no idea what it'll cost when it goes up in the store, or exactly what it will come with, though.
Announcements
Dungeons & Delvers: Black Book is out! It's our own take on a D&Dish/d20 game that features (among other things) simple-yet-flexible classes, unassumed magic and magical healing, a complete lack of pseudo-Vancian magic, and more mythologically accurate monsters.Dwarven Vault is our sixth 10+ Treasures volume. If you're interested in thirty dwarven magic items (including an eye that lets you shoot lasers) and nearly a dozen new bits of dungeon gear, check it out!
Just released our second adventure for A Sundered World, The Golden Spiral. If a snail-themed dungeon crawl is your oddly-specific thing, check it out!
By fan demand, we've mashed all of our 10+ Treasure volumes into one big magic item book, making it cheaper and more convenient to buy in print (which you can now do).
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