The evolution of Floorplans for playing Dungeon based RPGs.

For many years we have been using various methods of representing the position of characters relative to each other in an RPG by using figures and some form of floorplan.  Floorplans  provide a useful way of showing where people are in relationship to each other and what places look like.  Some of the 3D floorplans can turn a humdrum game into a visual feast.

Back in the early days, i.e. 1978 when I started, we used paper and pencil or those who were a bit richer has sticky backed plastic covered graph paper and chinagraph pencils or even vinyl mats and water soluble OHP pens.
The Gaming industry spotted that there was a market and started to supply the need.

Card and Paper Plans

Endless Plans.
Published by Endless games these were greyscale plans printed on Cardstock Paper.  They required a lot of preparation as rooms and complexes were made up from many pieces of card overlaid on each other.  They also tried to represent shadows cast by the adventurers light sources.



Games Workshop Floorplans.
Single colour floors and grass printed on Card.  Followed up with Roofs, Water, Caves and other accessories.  Originally produced as Approved for Dungeons & Dragons these came in a pad of card sheets.  Then 4 box sets of Floors, Grass, Trees, Water, Boats, Roofs and Caverns followed.
These were later revamped and printed in full colour and expanded to lairs and rooms.
The actual scale used on these floorplans was 20mm to 5 feet.  But that was OK as the figures back then had smaller bases than now, and anyway, there were no walls so the bases could creep over the edge of the floorplans.

Games Workshop Dungeon Floorplans

3 of the 4 original box sets available


Dungeon Planner sets
Games Workshop expanded on their range of floorplans with two box sets.  Caverns of the Dead and Nightmare in Blackmarsh.  These had a cardstock map of the adventure area, printed using their Dungeon Floorplan layouts,  and a scenario pack.  These could easily be expanded using the Dungeon Floorplan sets.

Dungeon Planner 1: Caverns of the Dead


Heritage Floorplans
Similar to the Games Workshop card ones.  Originally produced on thin card in monochrome, these plans were re-issued as an expanded edition on thick card in colour. They had tables, chairs, beds and some pits and trapdoors.  The scale they used was 50mm to 10 feet.

Heritage Expanded Edition Dungeon Floorplans 


Standard Games Dungeon Accessory Pack
Again Single colour floorplans with floor detail printed on.  Not as detailed as the Games Workshop offering.
Standard Games floorplans from Dungeon Accessory Packs 1 & 2


Using these cardboard plans was fairly simple.  You just cut out rooms of the correct size and placed them on a dark background.

Advantages
  • Light to carry around
  • Simple to use
Disadvantages
  • Finding the right room size
  • Creating odd shaped rooms used lots of bits
  • Easily knocked about

2D and 3D Plaster/Stone Cast Scenery

Ahketon
These were stonecast plaster fortifications, Towers and Castle Walls.  The pieces were cast in modular sections to allow for expansion.  For example the towers could be bought as a Base, Top and as many levels as you wanted.
Ahketon small tower (Base, Level, Crenelated Top)


Otherworld Artifacts
These were dental plaster cast Dungeon Floors, Walls, Fittings with Caverns and specific sets for Towers, Gateways and Temples.  They supplied individual pieces and Boxed sets.  Some boxed sets were just starter sets to enable Dungeons & Caverns to be laid out, others contained all the pieces needed to build specific things.  E.G. A Temple, Fortified Gateway or a Tower.
The Dungeon floor pieces could be used on their own similar to the card floorplans or with the walls to provide a full 3D dungeon effect.
The scale used was 20mm to 5 feet.  So modern figures on their 25mm bases would be a tight fit on these pieces.
Otherworld Artifacts Box Set no 1: Dungeon Levels


Prince August
Better known for making moulds to cast armies of lead soldiers, Prince August created some moulds to cast Dungeon Floors, Walls and Doorways in plaster.  They also created a mould to cast Lead Doors and Trapdoors.  There were only a couple of lengths of wall and dungeons had to be created almost on a grid, but then as most dungeons were drawn out on graph paper this worked well.  The downside was the time spent casting all the wall and floor pieces.  Also, most people used Plaster of Paris, this is a lot weaker than Dental Plaster or the modern casting plasters.




Advantages
  • Very realistic
Disadvantages
  • Required painting (and casting for Prince August)
  • Heavy to carry around
  • Brittle, easily chipped or broken
  • Cramped to fit figures in
  • Expensive
  • Limited in the shape of rooms you could create

Lead Floorplans

Grenadier
Grenadier dabbled with making lead floorplans.  They produced a few sets in their Heavy Metal Dungeon range.  There were corridors and rooms, up to 3x3 inches.  There was a large Dungeon Doorway, a Guard Room and a Well.  These didn't really take off.
The scale was just under 25mm to 5 feet.
Many manufacturers did produce doors, tables and chairs in lead, but Grenadier were the only ones to produce actual floorplans in lead.

Grenadier set 101 The Gateway

Grenadier Set 106 The Well Room

Grenadier Floor pieces


Advantages
  • Looked Realistic
Disadvantages
  • Required Painting
  • Very Heavy
  • Very limited and specific sized pieces
  • Expensive

Resin 2D & 3D floorplans

Fantasy Forge / Grendel
These were 2D floorplans cast in resin.  They also sold several 3D pieces of dungeon dressing like Pillars, Altars, Stairs and Doors.  These all had to be painted before use and came in  a maximum size of 3x3 squares.  The scale used was 25mm to 5 feet.  These were a step up from the card floorplans but almost as easy to use.

Fantasy Forge Dungeon Floors, Doors, Stairs and Pillars


Torchlight
These were supplied as room or corridor sets.  The floor and walls were separate in the pack and had to be glued on.  Again they had to be painted before use but there were empty rooms and specific types of rooms supplied.  They also produced doorways that you simply placed against one of the walls.  Again they were 25mm to 5 feet in scale.

Torchlight Bar room and Corridor


Dwarven Forge (https://dwarvenforge.com/)
Dwarven Forge produced a truly modular set of 3D pieces.  They were mostly in 2x2 pieces at a scale of 25mm to 5 feet.  The doors were metal and really hinged so they could open and close.  They also produced Caverns and various traps and secret doors.  To cap it all off they came ready painted.

Advantages
  • Very realistic
  • Robust enough to take a few knocks
  • Lighter than Plaster
Disadvantages
  • Bulky to carry around and enough to lay out a Dungeon did weigh a lot
  • Could be time consuming to lay out (especially the Dwarven Forge ones)
  • Required a lot to be able to lay out a few rooms
  • Limited and specific sized pieces
  • Expensive
Modern sets
There are still plastic and resin sets available to spice up your floorplans and MDF has arrived on the scene.  Take a look on ebay and you will see proprietary ones and some home built ones for sale.

Hirst Arts Cast your own moulds (https://hirstarts.com/)
And we have the return of the cast your own brands.  The most common is the Hirst Arts moulds.  These can be used to cast either floorplans or full 3D dungeon sections.  the floors are cast in 1 inch tiles that are then mounted onto a base to make rooms and corridors.  Walls are cast separately and usually built up block by block.  The scale is 1 inch (25mm) to 5 feet but there are also 1 1/2 inch tiles available..  The range of moulds is very large and provides many different textures from cavern flooring to paving stones.  The walls are as varied with Egyptian Stone through to rough fieldstone.

Dungeon floorplans built from casts from Hirst Arts Moulds.


Advantages
  • Very realistic
  • Cheap to make
  • Variety of tiles/blocks available
Disadvantages
  • Require Casting, Assembling & Painting
  • Can chip and break
  • Requires a lot of planning to create tiles, buildings and rooms

MDF (https://www.pworkwargames.com/en/)
Various companies provide flat packed laser cut MDF sets for buildings and floorplans.  The detail on them is not as good the resin, plaster or 3d printed floorplans.  They are heavier than card, and cannot easily be cut into smaller pieces.  But they are simple enough to use.

Advantages
  • Light
  • Simple to use
  • Realistic
Disadvantages
  • Set sizes
  • Require Painting
  • Not as detailed as other options

3D Printer STL files or pre-printed sets 
(https://www.printablescenery.com/,  https://www.fatdragongames.com/fdgfiles/)
With the advent of 3D printing there are now companies selling the STL files for various dungeon sets or Sci-fi bases and ships.  These can either be downloaded and printed by you, or bought pre-printed from a printing service.

Advantages
  • Light
  • Simple to use, can be modular
  • Realistic
  • Cheap to print
Disadvantages
  • Set sizes
  • Requires a 3D printer or printing service
  • Require Printing and Painting




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