After almost a decade of being out of print, the modular, wet or dry erase gaming mats have returned through a Kickstarter campaign.
Setting up a tactical map for tabletop RPGs or miniatures games can quickly become a huge headache for GMs. Official dungeon tile sets restrict the shape and size of your rooms, and large maps drawn on several sheets of printer paper are flimsy and hard to keep together. Revealing one room at a time on a huge gaming mat can be just as frustrating, especially when your players deduce the location of the secret room just from the areas the GM keeps covered (not that I’m bitter). Tact-Tiles promises to save you from that headache.
BC Products’ Tact-Tiles are rigid plastic squares that snap together. The tiles are available with a 1-inch square grid or as blank tiles, to support games with more abstract movement systems. You use wet or dry-erase markers with the tiles, so that as older tiles become no longer relevant you can erase the details, move them to a new part of the map, and draw in the next part of the dungeon. The tiles are an eighth of an inch thick and measure 10.5″ on each side. The Kickstarter campaign, launched July 17, runs until August 26. As of writing, the campaign has raised $26,631, almost 30% of its $90,000 goal.
Tact-Tiles have been unavailable for purchase since at least 2007, after reportedly losing a crucial supplier. BC Products has partnered with Void Star Studios to bring the tiles back into production. The Kickstarter campaign will allow BC Products to manufacture the tiles at a reasonable price by producing a large volume of tiles.
The original modular gaming grids has been well-loved by many, including fantasy author R.A. Salvatore, best known as the creator of dark elf Drizzt Do’Urden, and tabletop game designer Monte Cook. The new Tact-Tiles are compatible with the original production run, though the original tiles cannot be used with wet-erase markers. The smallest set, consisting of six blank tiles, is available at the $65 pledge tier. For tabletop gamers, like me, who live outside the US, be prepared to pay significantly more to cover shipping. Or, you can gently encourage your local games shop to back at the $2 retailer interest level.
Source: Tact-Tiles on Kickstarter
