Battle grid + Picture frame in plexiglass

[Marchomer]

This simply is a battle grid into a plexiglass picture frame. I (and maybe 36000000 other people) use it with a set of coloured erasable marker pens, to easily represent combat situations in D&D.
I see on the web that a lot of players use a modified whiteboard, but I think this is a better solution.
I don't think is a good idea use this grid with heroquest-like games, because in my opinion a dungeon crawling game needs a well-worked and accurate set of modular boards/tiles.
But I assure you that for combats/situations representations, small dungeons is very fast and comfortable to use.

[MarkRG]

I like the idea mate, i wonder if it comes in a grey.

[MortiS-the-Lost]

Putting the battle grid into a plexiglass picture-frame is a good idea.
I've played (and GM'd) on an Erasable Vinyl Battle-Mat with Krippie and Screaming-Mad-George's group while I was out in The Netherlands, I found we had sometimes had trouble keeping the Battle-Mat flat on the table, the glass picture-frame seems like the ideal solution to this problem, adding much needed weight and rigidity to the Mat/Grid.

Marchomer wrote

I don't think is a good idea use this grid with heroquest-like games, because in my opinion a dungeon crawling game needs a well-worked and accurate set of modular boards/tiles.

I'd say IMHO that each method of representing a dungeon on the table top has it's own advantages and drawbacks.
In my experience, the Erasable Battle Mat/Grid, although not the most visually pleasing is certainly the most flexible method as you can draw out whatever room-layout, furniture or other features you need without having to worry about having enough of the right miniatures, tiles or markers to represent what you want. I also found being able to write which rooms had been Looted or checked for Secret Doors directly onto the dungeon made the game run a little smoother.    



^ Playing a HeroQuest based game on a Chessex Irregular Battle-Matt in The Netherlands

[SamuelF]

Looks fun!

Are those red dice with skulls on them from Heroscape perchance?

[MortiS-the-Lost]

The Red Combat Dice are from a lesser-known GW/MB collaboration called 'Battle-Masters', a unit-based fantasy battle game (although strictly speaking these particular ones are from the Dutch translation 'Ridderstrijd')
the red dice have 3 'Skulls', 1 'Shield' and 2 blank sides.

Krippie and George use them for their home-brew version HeroQuest because they were unable to get hold of a set of the white HeroQuest dice, because the dice only have 1 shield armour is less effective in their games.

In my own games home brew dungeon games (dubbed 'MortiS QuesT' by my group) I use Battle-Masters dice to represent weaker or less protective types of armour such as Leather Armour or Chainmail-Bikinis (so you may be able to spot a few scattered across my own table too)

[Billiam Babble]

This is a really great idea!
(Why haven't I posted on this thread)
You've also demonstrated the big difference using a ruler makes.
I love the lava chasm room, as well, it demonstrates how effective a few colours can be.
I can see this appealing to old school pen and paper players because they get to use the map Legend codes which are designed for quick map making (like "S" for secret door, an "X" for a pit trap and so on.)
Excellent.