Aug 14 min read

The Dynamic Modular Fieldstone Dungeon!

Updated: Aug 5

This blog post has been a very long time coming. The idea behind the design of this set is perhaps a little unconventional. I wanted to create something modular, but I wanted to replace all the 15-20 year old molds of my original fieldstone dungeon that has much larger pieces. Making something modular isn’t unconventional. It may be the only conventional design element.

The First unconventional design element I struggled with was the size of the footprint. I had 3 options. 3”, 2”, and 1 1/2”. More on this unconventional element later…. And Onto another unconventional element; Height. The initial height of the core set is a half inch shorter than the original 1.5” tall walls, at 1” to 1/2” walls. Its a compromise. That might actually be a cop out. Instead of choosing one set height, I chose them all. <grin>. As the basis for my design I used the ruined fieldstone mold from Hirst Arts Fantasy Architecture. By using these well crafted pieces I was able to honor the intent of this overall design by creating walls that rise and fall in wall height from 1” to 0” walls which I handle with expansion pieces to the core set. My reasoning was simple. The majority of players like to be able to see their avatars/minis move around the field of play, and taller walls obstructed this practical need. The primary goal of this set was to create something more dynamic than another set of just 1/2” or 1/4” high walls that require the players to suspend their disbelief that there are walls there. The short walls just look boring to me. Empty. Sorry if you like them. I didn’t, and I wanted something more dynamic. You find I use that term a-lot with this set. I’m very excited about it. These walls must be dynamic, and still create the concrete visual appearance of actual walls!

The Second design element I wanted was versatility and reusability of the pieces to make modularly unique dungeons. This is the Governing design element and it drove the decision about which footprint size I chose. I wanted to be able to create passages, and rooms. But I wanted MORE! I wanted to create rooms that had 5 or 8 corners. I wanted narrow passages, I wanted modular unconventional dungeons and rooms! Quite the opposing principles, eh?!

The Third Design element was it had to be able to recreate the footprint of the original fieldstone dungeon passage pieces. This included 2x2” 2x8” passages, 6x6” corners, the T-intersection and the 4-Way intersection. These were all large pieces, and even larger molds. I was also replacing several molds for room corners and walls, that were all based on a 2x2” scale. I wanted them all to be backwards compatible. And so …now they are!

The Fourth Design element was it needed to work with 2x2, 4x4 & 6x6” basic floor tiles. I wasn't changing the scale so much as redesigning how walls and passages were modularly and dynamically placed in a dungeon crawl to create layouts that otherwise wouldn’t be possible. Often times a lot of planning goes into the latout and flow of a dungeon. Sometimes you’re recreating a map someone else drew. Other times it's a slapdashery of quick, place the next room, and move on to the action! By making the footprint of the basic pieces smaller than the normal 2x2 or larger 3x3 modular designs out there the New Ruined Fieldstone Set meets this design goal.

The ‘Fifth element’ I wanted to be able to create was narrow passages that were defacto 5’ passages, instead of the default 10’ passages that two mini’s can fit into. This makes it easier to layout a dungeon crawl on a smaller table and not lose any depth or playability in your layout!

So, shorter profile dynamic 1” to 1/4” or 0”walls, versatile and unique design and backward compatible. In short, this is a dynamic modular fieldstone dungeon!

Now, Back to the first element and to my surprise this led to a requirement to use a 1.5” footprint for walls and corners, and a new piece I’ve started to call an “inside corner” which still has a 2” footprint, but is designed to seamlessly flow with walls and corners. The corners are 1.5”x1.5”. The walls are 1.5” deep of various lengths;,1”, 2” and 4”. This also had the added benefit of ‘fitting’ more pieces into the actual mold, so they are easier to reproduce! Corners were the most difficult to make, so this was a major design win, since I could now fit 16 corners into a mold. Whereas my original molds were two-piece molds, and only made one corner. With 4 corners to a room…. It became a chore to make corners. These are much faster to produce and they look much better too!

Ok this covers enough material to introduce the ‘core’ set. It includes: 45 pieces.