[Review Corner] Dungeons & Dragons Essentials Dungeon Tiles Master Set: The Dungeon

Yes.  That's right.  For all of you fine folks here is a review of the first of 3 D&D Essentials Dungeon Tiles box sets.  This Dungeon Tile set is: THE DUNGEON.

This Dungeon Tile set... CAN MAKE DUNGEONS.

I was worried it would make like, a level for videogame SHMUPS or something.

(Hey, Milton Bradley made a Zaxxon boardgame back in the day!  The cover art OWNED and it was my first experience with hexagons.  I wished I still had it.)

Let's get this party started!

The all new Dracula score is for the best of the best, inspired by a Destructoid podcast who wants to spread the term around.  And as I love me some good Dracula (the 75th Anniversary Edition DVD of the Universal movie RULES outside of the useless secondary commentary track by the doofus responsible for the Mel Brooks Dracula spoof.  Guy wrote a BAD movie and he is basically repeating information that sometimes CONTRADICTS the trivia subtitle track and bashes the superior Spanish cast Dracula?  AW HELL NO.  <3 Lupita Tovar <3 and the awesome chubby Sanitarium guy.) I can get behind this rating for stuff that goes above and beyond the call of duty.

Don't expect to see that rating used very often.  Or what may be its counterpart "Tea Party" which would be used for the suckiest of the suck.  (Destructoid's crazy kids came up with Dracula.  I might as well come up with its goatee wearing counterpart.)

As much as I have ragged on normal 4e on this blog, its really an Ok to Bad game, and certainly not deserving of such a bad score.  The film "Urotsudoji: Legend of the Overfiend" would be a Tea Party level movie, being not only bad, but so offensive to me on nearly every level to make me regret ever having heard of it, much less having such SAN blasting horrors inflicted on me.  On the other side, a game like D6 System Star Wars or the Chaosium version of Call of Cthulhu would be Dracula rated titles.

So its still my core 3 point scale with 2 levels for "Special" recognition.

Hopefully everyone will enjoy this review and as mentioned, I may turn my example map into a full adventure, or close enough of one for you to fit it into the game of your choice!

[Review Corner] Dungeons & Dragons Desert of Athas Dungeon Tiles

As usual, click the picture for a bigger one.  If I keep saying this, maybe some folks will remember.  Yall know who I am talking to.

Of course I probably should have expected the set to miss the point of Dark Sun.  This is 4th edition Dungeons & Dragons.  Completely missing the point of the settings and D&D itself is mostly what 4th edition D&D DOES.

Though we already knew that from 3rd edition D&D as well.  One thing I have seen that a number of folks agree with me on is this about D&D and roleplaying itself:   Its not who your character IS, but WHAT THEY CAN DO MECHANICALLY.  Its always been there to a degree, but 3.0 D&D made it the defacto way to play.   Its not roleplaying or creativity, its making uber character builds and just following the rules to a T.

The design of WOTC D&D products follows this philosophy, and it shows in what they do to the settings and worlds of Dungeons & Dragons.  It misses the point and misses the spirit.

This tileset is just another example sadly.