I've been role-playing for over 38 years, and making a 3-D set has always been one of the joys of RPG game mastering and if I can make 3-D happen for board games I do that to. So I wanted to share a little wisdom.


The biggest mistake I think game masters do is trying to set out the whole set up every street or dungeon corridor totally makes gaming difficult you need large tables and the players constantly have to move around the table. you also give away too much laying out the whole scene they know where to go and you take away the mystery.

You need to think like Hollywood you make Separate sets for each scene. unless there's an encounter you don't need a set so you can dispense with all the corridors and passageways. Actually one simple passageway usually suffices to place the miniatures in while the story is being told and they're moving along the passageways.Then when they enter an encounter you place that set on the table in front of them. Even if there's an adjoining room that they may or may not enter you keep that set separate. This way there's a stage that all the players (I've had up to six) can sit around comfortably.and see, and the only see what is in front of them.

When I travel to a game I carry a magnetic whiteboard that has been painted black as my gaming stage I elevate the stage by using the props case ( one of those cases they carry a bunch of small plastic trays that you get at a hardware store) I take out the props for that evening encounters and place the stage on top of the case this gives a elevated area so that the players gaming material is not in view only the elevated stage as the focal point. this gives the imagination a greater focal point.

I usually have an opening tile, two-dimensional mat with a few prompts to give some flavor. This could be an opening scene if they're traveling in the wilderness or a dudgeon corridor , or a city street. Just to give the flavor of the setting and to begin the storytelling elements. a 2-D map and a few simple props can really set the mood.

When they begin the encounter I pull out, the encounter set, I tried to set up the scene with it's props prior to beginning the gaming evening and cover it with black cloth somewhere near me. it may take a second to shuffle the props that have slipped but your encounter is usually ready by the time everybody's gone to the popcorn bowl.

I usually have two encounter sets per gaming evening, and sometimes when I feel the story element will be enhanced by 3-D visuals I'll make a mini set like you're in the wizards magic shop or a market seen, or a set of stairs at the end of the corridor .
with my sets I almost always have one wall open like a theater set watching a play.often angling the walls out a bit to make it easy for everyone to see. occasionally there is a top-down with all four walls but I found if you leave the roof and the front wall off and build the scene that it's much more visually pleasing and it brings the players into the scene.

Players that continue to play and learn the DM style will you soon realize that when full 3-D set appears that it is more important to the storyline and they'll spend a little more time in that set.

in summary in a gaming evening you usually only need two small encounters or one large encounter set and maybe a couple small sets to enrich the story.

Hope that was helpful for somebody

I tend to think more of television and plays than movies.

A set is built for areas that are likely to be reused - and a few more generic locations that can be customized by adding a few details.

So, for Steampunk I had Ha'penny Market - an open marketplace that was different every time they went there - stalls and carts rather than permanent buildings, aside from the ones built into the Northeast and Eastern portions.

A science fiction game set on a space station 'five miles long' had some standardized rooms - Ambassadorial Quarters, Zocolo, corridors, and low rent squats.

Another thing to think about is running scenery - if the scenario is something like a chase scene then you can keep the PC miniatures pretty much stationary, relative to the table. Move the scenery as they trample though it.

Another way to think of things:
Theatric is defined by its limits - a stage set for a single scene or series of scenes. If the action takes place in three rooms then you only need those three rooms.

Cinematic is defined by the movement - much like the running chase scenery above.

Panoramic is defined by the big picture - a mass battle, where the PCs are only part of what is going on. (Dins Fford has a decent example, with the mill race.)

Likewise, I tend to set up terrain in a fashion similar to a stage play - with the assumption that there is a PoV inherent, or, alternately, a theater in the round approach.

The Auld Grump

Never realized this before, but I tend to think in terms of the location itself being a significant part of every encounter. Most encounters happen in new locations, which creates opportunities for the location itself to include some surprises (blind spots, unexpected sight lines, easy and hard to access areas, unexpected routes, props that can be used by or against the party, large props (e.g. doors, vehicles, destroyable bridges) that can change the topography, etc.).

Because I treat the scene itself as part of the encounter, I typically layout the major (i.e. obvious) features and only reveal more detail as the characters progress into the scene.

I also prefer to avoid reusing locations - after all, where's the fun once the reveal has been done for that location. The exceptions to this are settings that can be easily and plausibly reconfigured (e.g. warehouses and cargo holds where the cargo/cargo layout is different every time), and locations with interesting layouts (e.g. the labyrinthine sewer lair; the spaceship with multiple corridors and conduits for things to come through; the inn with upstairs rooms, balconies overlooking the main area and several entrances and exits). Where I do reuse a location I always make the party tackle it from a different angle (e.g. the inn: woken from sleep in the upstairs rooms, defending the inn from attack from outside, furtively breaking into the upstairs rooms from the outside).

So in effect I reckon I've been mainly focused on theatrical scenes. Must be time to start including more cinematic encounters, and maybe even a few panoramic ones.

by simply changing the elements different floor different prompts and a few different things on the walls you can use sets over and over again and the players will never notice the similarities.

One of the things I like about 3-D sets is that line of sight is well-defined I have a small laser that is mounted the height of the miniature that removes all arbitrary issues on line of sight issues.

All my wall prompts are magnetically mounted including the doors and windows so that I can change out the room very simply reusing walls to create the basic affect, and then by adding windows doors, pictures, tapestries, furniture I can create the effect of the room. Again Hollywood reuses props very effectively if you've watched any series you'll see the same prop reappearing throughout the season but cleverly disguised by the room affect.

That is why I don't like to build fixed sets but just print off all the elements, so I have walls that are simply walls with no other thing on them, and then I print off and magnetize doors windows bookshelves etc. that stick to those walls and create a new look. floors have the most dramatic effect in changing the look of a room, and furniture and props finish off the effect.

Really interesting thread!

I must admit that I use WWG products for 2 things - skirmish games where I set everthing up, and rpgs where if I'm lucky I grab some ground tiles, stick in some props and we're away!!

I do manage to do the "end level bad guy" with a reasonable amount of detail (I try and make it multi-level, with enough props to feel "real"), mainly as we tend to play episodically. Occasionally, like Grump I manage to have a re-occuring location that can stay made up (if my wife will let me... )

I like the idea of having the magnetic board though. Presumably, you need few enough props to really lavish some time and effort on them