For many tabletop roleplaying games, the game master will rely on a dry erase grid and a hefty dose of imagination to generate encounters for their players. But many prefer a more visual approach, employing 28mm-scale terrain in order to set the scene. While this creates a stronger feeling of immersion for the players, terrain pieces can often be pricey, and take up a lot of space to store.
Dungeon in a Box is the company behind Skinny Minis, the wildly popular acrylic standees designed for use with fantasy roleplaying games like Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder. I personally own many myself. These standees are not only affordable, but you can store dozens in a small binder on your bookshelf. Taking that same design philosophy and applying it to terrain, Dungeon in a Box recently launched a Kickstarter campaign for Stonefold Kingdoms: Magnetic Dungeons & Foldable RPG Terrain. They sent me a few prototype samples so that I could some of the terrain in action.
What Is Stonefold Kingdoms: Magnetic Dungeons & Foldable RPG Terrain?
Stonefold Kingdoms: Magnetic Dungeons & Foldable RPG Terrain is an all-in-one terrain solution for fantasy RPG tabletop games. The terrain combines high-density art board and embedded magnets to create dungeons and set pieces quickly. When not in use, the terrain folds up and can be stored within a relatively small amount of space on a shelf.
The Kickstarter campaign launched on November 17th, and as of this writing has taken in over $440,000 in pledges. The campaign will close on this Friday, December 15th. There are multiple pledge levels, each of which provide a certain number of credits which may then be used to acquire different terrain sets. Pledges start at $69 for a Starter Tier which gives the backer 4 credits, and goes up to Tier 4 with 32 credits. Backers of Tier 1 and above receive the unlocked stretch goals as well, which consist of various different terrain pieces.
There are multiple different themes available, each with their unique designs and sets within the themes. These include:
- Dungeon Realm
- Frozen Mountain Realm
- Port City Realm
- Forest Ruins Realm
Additionally, there are a number of different LED lighting elements that can be purchased and used with your Stonefold Kingdoms sets for atmospheric effect, as well as a 5e-compatible 200-page book filled with encounters for every one of the sets. The book is free for backers at Tier 2 and above.
New to Kickstarter? Check out our crowdfunding primer.
Stonefold Kingdoms: Magnetic Dungeons & Foldable RPG Terrain Components
Note: My review is based on a prototype copy, so it is subject to change and may not reflect final component quality.
Dungeon in a Box was able to send me a few different pieces: a set of magnetic dungeon walls with a baseboard, the Dungeon: Vaulted Forge set piece, and part of the Frozen Mountain: Icy Spires set piece. Both of the prototype set pieces they sent came incomplete: each will ship to Kickstarter backers with several more terrain pieces, as you can see on the Stonefold Kingdoms Kickstarter page. All the terrain seen above would total 6 credits to acquire during the campaign, once you added the missing pieces.
Magnetic Dungeon Walls
The baseboard for this set has a tile pattern sized for 28mm miniatures, so that players and game masters can easily calculate distances.
The walls and doors have hidden magnets which firmly attach to the baseboard, which has a hidden metal plate incorporated into the design for that purpose. It’s fast and easy to combine the walls into different layouts.
Dungeon: Vaulted Forge
The Vaulted Forge is one of the big set pieces. It stores flat, taking up very little space:
There are two main pieces, which fold open much like a pop-up book. The top piece attaches magnetically to the larger bottom piece.
Tabbed artboard side walls slot into the main terrain units. These not only give the set a finished appearance, but lock it into place, so that the terrain stays unfolded and stable.
Despite being essentially paper terrain, there’s a great use of levels and art design, which really lends an epic feel to this set piece. When purchased during the Kickstarter campaign, the Vaulted Forge will also come with several scatter terrain pieces.
Frozen Mountain: Icy Spires
As with the Vaulted Forge, the Icy Spires will come with two big pieces which attach magnetically, as well as several pieces of scatter terrain. Unfortunately, I only received the base piece of the Icy Spires.
Also like the Vaulted Forge, the Icy Spires unfolds like the pages from a pop-up book, and is kept open by inserting side walls.
To keep the terrain usable for tactical encounters, there are light blue markings to create the ubiquitous 5-foot squares so common to RPGs.
Even without the upper level attached, the Icy Spires set piece looks great, and dramatically different from the Vaulted Forge. The use of color and shading even gives an illusion of more dimensionality to the terrain than actually exists, as you can see above.
Why You Should Back Stonefold Kingdoms: Magnetic Dungeons & Foldable RPG Terrain
I had previously looked over the Stonefold Kingdoms campaign page online, so I already knew what their terrain looked like. But there’s a difference between seeing something on a computer screen, and actually seeing it on your table. When I first unfolded the Vaulted Forge, I quite literally was wowed. I had said the word epic before, and I meant it: that piece is somewhat reminiscent of the Mines of Moria from Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. The sheer size of that terrain is impressive, as are all the little details. The artwork perfectly captures the feel of the lava flowing down throughout the piece.
And what’s even better is that all the Stonefold Kingdom terrain comes ready to use. Often when you purchase tabletop terrain, it requires gluing, priming, and painting. The Stonefold Kingdoms terrain just requires a quick bit of unfolding, or simply connecting magnetic pieces together. Every bit of terrain in the campaign comes fully illustrated and colored, to great effect.
Not only can you get Stonefold Kingdoms terrain quickly to the table, but it’s priced very affordably. There are other terrain companies out there that provide beautiful, fully three-dimensional terrain. However, a lot of that terrain will cost you a kidney or two to afford, and you will also fill bin after bin in your garage in order to store it. Stonefold Kingdoms: Magnetic Dungeons & Foldable RPG Terrain is lightweight yet sturdy, and will store in a fraction of the space that traditional terrain needs.
If you’re a tabletop RPG fan who’s looking to get some great-looking terrain onto your campaign table, you should definitely take a look at the Stonefold Kingdoms campaign before the campaign ends. Much as they did with Skinny Minis, Dungeon in a Box has come up with a great-looking and affordable option for bringing your fantasy tabletop to life.
For more information or to make a pledge, visit the Stonefold Kingdoms: Magnetic Dungeons & Foldable RPG Terrain Kickstarter page!
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Disclosure: GeekDad received samples of this terrain for review purposes.
