microtactix - dcd1001 - dirt cheep dungeons - basic set

Designed by Greg K. PoehleinWith additional components by Gary M. Williams

Copyright 2000 MicroTactix Gameswww.microtactix.com

Building Dirt Cheep Dungeons noted, all Glue Tabs fold in towards to the structure.Use a straight-edge and scoring tool to score alongthese lines so they fold easily.

Creating your own massive dungeon complex isnow as easy as building a box. Included in thispackage is the Dungeon Tile Base and eight pagesof walls in various lengths and thicknesses. Alsoincluded are several styles of doors, a pit, stairsgoing up and down, torches for the walls and even afew different chests and trunks to add some flavor tothe dungeons.

Some of the parts are folded into standups. Theseare folded so the two end panels overlap. These twoend panels form the base and are glued together, sothat the final standup is tent shaped, with atriangular cross section.

Dirt Cheep dungeons is created in the 25mmscale, in which a 6 foot tall figure is about one inchtall. This equates to 1/72 scale. The floors aremarked in a block tile pattern that simulates a gridof one-inch squares. These tiles can be used with notonly MicroTactix's own Simply Roleplaying andCompact Combat games, but with any game systemthat uses a one-inch square system for movement.

Disclaimer We have made every effort to makesure that all the parts fit together properly, butsometimes tolerances are tight and mistakes dohappen. Test fit all pieces before applying glue.Some trimming may be required.

Dungeon Tile Base (page 1)Cut out the Base completely, then score and fold

the sides and glue tabs. Unless you are building aplain base with no walls or other accessories, do notglue the sides together - gluing the walls to the baseis easier when the sides are left unglued. Once allother details are glued to the base, glue the four gluetabs inside the sides so the base stands 3/4 inchestall.

To build these dungeons, you must first print orphotocopy the parts to a good heavy card stock. Werecommend at least 65# cover stock, and heavier iseven better if you can find it.

Tools RequiredBesides the printed pages, you will also need the

following tools and supplies: Cut out the four base locks, including the slot inthe center. These are assembled as standups (seeabove) but will have a slot in the center. (SeeFigure 1)

• Scalpel or sharp-bladed hobby knife• Scoring tool (optional) - dead ball point pens work

well, or just turn the knife blade over and scorethe line lightly.

• Metal ruler or straight-edge• Cutting surface - a self-healing cutting mat is just

wonderful, but a sheet of corrugated cardboard oreven heavy poster board will work as well. Figure 1

• Glue - white glue, glue stick or wax stick. Doublesided cellophane tape also works, but may let goafter some time.

General Construction NotesWhite glue contains a good deal of water. Too

much glue will warp the card stock to a point whereit becomes almost unusable. If you use white glue,put a very thin coat on the glue tabs - the thinner thebetter. You can use a cotton swab or your finger tospread the glue thin. Remember to keep a damppaper towel handy to remove any excess glue.

Each part has been marked with a series of GrayLines that are Fold or Score lines. All Tabs whichare to be glued to hold the structures together aremarked with a capital letter "G". Unless otherwise

!

Walls (pages 2-9) To install the pit, cut the center four squares froma tile base and glue pit to the underside of the baseas in figure 5. Pits can also be mounted in otherpositions or anywhere along a corridor tile if youlike. To glue the pit to the edge of a base, cut offone of the top glue tabs and glue the side of the pitto the inside of the side of the tile base.

All walls, no matter how long or wide are builtthe same way. Cut the wall sections from the cardstock, then score and fold along the gray lines. Gluethe tabs inside at the corners to form a simple box.The four tabs on the open side (the bottom) arefolded in and used to glue the walls to the base.Align the walls with the sides of the base. (SeeFigure 2) If two walls will end up touching eachother (as in a corner), apply a layer of glue to theend of the wall which will be against the other wallsection. This will make the walls much stronger.

Figure 5

HINT: If you decide you want a little moresupport for the center of your tiles (i.e. if you havevery heavy metal figures), you can glue the pitunder the center of a tile base without cutting outthe center. The pit is the same height as the tilebase and will act as a pedestal to support the centerof the base. However, this is not usually needed - thebase is actually strong enough to support severalhuman sized metal figures without noticeablesagging.

Figure 2

Torches (page 2)Torches are simply two small standups. Cut and

fold both the torch handle and a flame standup. Onceboth handle and flame are assembled, glue the twobases together. (See figure 3). Glue the torch handleto any wall surface you like.

Blocks (page 5)The blocks are built just like the walls. They can

be used to build up a dais or platform in any positionon a base. If building more than one layer of theblocks, try to stair-step the blocks. Also, be sure toglue the sides of adjacent blocks to each other sothey will be more secure and hold together better.

Chests (pages 6 & 9)Chests are built as any other box. The small chest

is a simple box. The rounded chest folds so that eachpanel of the lid wraps around the glue tabs of thesides. The large cabinet can be glued permanently toa wall or can simply be placed against it - the openside of the cabinet should be to the floor.

Figure 3

Doors (pages 2, 3 & 4)Like the torches, doors are simple standups. Cut

and fold, then glue the ends together to form a base.

Pit (page 4)Stairs (page 8)The pit is built as a box, but is built with the

printed side to the inside. Be sure to glue the gluetabs to the outside of the sides (see figure 4).

There are two different sets of stairs - those goingup and those going down. For steps going up, buildas any other box, except that one fold will beinverse to form the lower step. Steps going up takeup four squares and can be mounted in a room or ina corridor.

Figure 4 Steps going down are built in a similar fashion,but with the printed side to the inside. Cut out a 2x2square from a tile base and glue the stairs to theunderside as with the pit, above. Again, steps goingdown can either be mounted in a room tile or at oneend of a corridor tile.

Creating a Dirt Cheep Dungeon If you want a two inch gap, replace the first 1x2wall (the one glued to the 1x6 wall) with a 1x1 wallas in Figure 9.

Dungeon tiles can be built in many differentconfigurations to form the basic tiles needed toconstruct a dungeon. From the basic tile with nowall, we go to the tile with one wall as in figure 1above. Next, we glue a 1x6 wall along one edge anda 1x5 wall to an adjacent edge to form a corner tile(see figure 6).

Figure 9

HINT: Build a few doorways like figures 7 and 8,and build a few 1x1 wall sections to slip into thegap. These can be used to represent secret panels inthe walls. If you use these doorway panels oftenenough even when there isn't a secret door, yourplayers won't know whether there isn't a secret door,or they just failed to detect one.

Figure 6

Of course, dungeon rooms aren't a lot of goodwithout doorways and doors. This is what the shorterwalls are for. For example, to place a doorway in astraight wall section, build a 1x2 and 1x3 wallsection and mount them to the tile base as in Figure7. If you want a double wide door, use two 1x2 wallsections instead.

Smaller rooms can also be built. If you place two1x6 wall sections along opposite edges of a tile, anda 1x1 and 1x2 wall sections as in figure 10, youhave half of a 4x10 square room. Placing a 1x4 tilein the gap at the front will make a tiny 4x4 room.And, of course, doorways can be placed anywhere atthe center of any wall section as you like. Be sure toalways put the doorways in either (or both) of thecenter two squares of each tile so the hallways willmatch up.

Figure 7

You can also put doorways in a room corner tile.For example, Glue a 1x6 wall to one edge of a tile.On the adjacent edge, glue two 1x2 walls, oneagainst the 1x6 and the other at the other edgeleaving a 1 inch gap between the walls (see Figure8). In use, this can be an open doorway or you canplace a door standup in the gap for a closed door.

Figure 10

Corridors are a matter of using the two inch widewall sections (2x2, 2x4 and 2x6), leaving a two inchgap down the center of the tile (see figure 11).

Figure 8

Figure 11

For a corner, use a 2x6 wall along one edge ofthe tile, then glue a 2x4 wall to the adjacent edge.(see Figure 12a)

On an uncovered tabletop or on a tile floor, the tileswill tend to slide around easily. To hold them toeach other use the locks provided on page 1. Usetwo locks per side, and simply slide the edges ofboth bases into the slot of the lock.

The number of locks needed will depend on thenumber of tiles being used and how you place them.We suggest building a minimum of two locks pertile, but a few extras will come in handy as well.

Figure 12a

Finally, glue a 2x2 wall to the opposite corner, asit figure 12b.

Figure 12b

For three-way intersections (Figure 13), glue a2x6 wall to one edge of the tile, then glue a 2x2wall to each of the remaining two corners.

Figure 13

For a four-way intersection (Figure 14), glue four2x2 walls to the tile, one in each corner.

Figure 14

HINT: Don't forget that you can also glue 1x1wall sections anywhere on one or more room tiles torepresent stone pillars. These make handy obstaclesto provide cover for those trigger-happy dungeondelvers.

Once you have a number of tiles built, it is timeto assemble your Dirt Cheep Dungeon. If you areplacing the tiles on a carpeted floor or on a fabrictablecloth, the tiles will stay in place well enough.

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microtactix - dcd1001 - dirt cheep dungeons - basic set

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