Terrain Trays
Greetings Builders! Welcome back to Builder’s Masterclass, where we will show you how to utilize some of our very versatile pieces in various ways to enhance your next epic build!
In class 102, we’ll show you how to add new levels of play to City Builder and Castle Builder layouts (or really any kind of build) with Terrain Trays! You all know our Terrain Trays: sturdy metal sheets with hazardous or thematic textures printed on fabric on either side. We introduced them during our Dungeon of Doom Kickstarter and have added new designs in each set we’ve created since then. Terrain Trays are great for negative space builds; they also make terrific bases on which you can build entire rooms or encounter areas that can easily be carried, allowing you to prep new sections of an adventure ahead of time and then bring them to the table as needed. Finally, they make it simple to create multi-level builds that conceal large hidden areas - a trick we’ll be illustrating here.
A small city area lies adjacent to a castle. The city streets are quiet and the castle’s drawbridge closed. A rogue investigates the cityscape after hearing complaints about mass abductions and kidnappings of the locals. Tipped off by an informant, he enters a suspicious building…
The interior of the stone house is mysteriously bare, with the glow of an arcane serpent orb the only light source in the windowless room. The light illuminates the only other feature of the chamber: a busted open metal grate. Ready to disarm traps and fight whatever monsters lurk ahead, the rogue descends…
The city and castle were built on two 12”x12” terrain trays, which when removed reveal an elaborate underground network of basement, sewers and dungeons. All the pieces used to create this lower level-- and most of DF’s other building-element pieces-- are 2 inches tall, so they work well as supports for terrain trays, allowing you to build out multi-level mazes and adventures or create subterranean networks of dangerous passages that connect spaces above that normally can’t be accessed. Make sure to align the entry points of the layers so they truly feel connected.
The rogue enters the basement of the creepy structure, where a worktable and weapons line the room. A burst wall at the far side leads into the city’s sewers. After sneaking past some sewer rats and slashing away others, he finds a hole that leads into a dungeon filled with prison cages. This is where all the townsfolk are held captive! Now he must investigate who is behind this. He sees a staircase in the corner of the room, and after picking the lock of the prison door from inside, he climbs to find the culprit…
Once the adventurers return to ground level, bring the sections on terrain trays back to where they were to make the spaces feel really interconnected. If some players are still on the lower levels, you can leave the sections right next to each other instead. Here, our rogue investigator finds himself in the Castle. I built the castle wall closest to us on a 4”x8” terrain tray, which I removed as shown so it’s easy to see and play inside the castle.
The rogue finds himself in the castle across the moat. He sees stairs leading up to the tower above, but he also sees that the drawbridge, which was up before, is now down. Although he wasn’t able to catch the culprit, the rogue knows two things: the lord had been capturing his subjects for who knows what, and, alas, he has swiftly gotten away…
So there you go! Here’s the build expanded out, showing what’s on terrain trays, and how the spaces intertwine. We hope that this segment inspires you to create some exciting new builds for adventures of your own. Build away, and see you next issue!