I think in general it's a good idea to have one set that you have a ton of tiles for, with lots of flexibility, and then a bunch of smaller sets where you can build a few rooms with some differing flair. It seems counterintuitive, but cut-stone is designed to actually be a little boring, which makes it a perfect set for the large set. It's easy to add flair to the dungeon with a few interesting tiles, or scatter terrain, but your basic set will serve you better if it is more of a plain pallet you can use to build a bunch of different things. The more distinctive it is, the harder it is to use for different game situations. Once you have selected the base set you intend to use, then you can extend it with various tiles, and other, smaller sets to add visual interest, or to make particular areas of your map vary for game reasons.
There is no need to stick to OpenForge for all your tiles. The bases we produce can work with basically any other project's tiles. You just need to cut off 6mm from the base of any other tile system, something that most slicers can do, but can also easily be done in blender with a cube and a boolean difference. Select a connection system, and go with that universally. I love doing openlock + magnetic. Magnets make life way easier when you are quickly building a map at the table. Openlock makes it much easier to build rooms ahead of time that you don't have to worry about getting knocked apart. The combination is great. You'll also want to choose a square size, which is a bit more complicated.
All of our set suggestions below are based on the preference for Magnets + OpenLOCK. You can always swap in what base you prefer. Some people prefer to use our plain bases that have no texture on them so that all the tiles line up perfectly. Some people prefer the bases to carry the texture of the tile all the way through. The bases have a broad variety including magnet, openlock, magnetic + openlock, openlock triplex, infinitylock, infinitylock + magnetic, dragonbite and dragonbite + magnetic.
-
Edges: The midpoint of the side of a square on a tile that is along the border of a tile.
-
Vertices: The border between squares on a tile that is along the border of a tile.
-
magnetic - has holes for 5mm magnets on edges
-
openlock - has openlock clip holes at vertices
-
magnetic.openlock - has openlock clip holes at vertices and holes for 5mm magnets on edges
-
triplex - has openlock clip holes at edges and vertices
-
infinitylock - has infinitylock clip holes at edges and vertices
-
magnetic.infinitylock - has infinitylock clip holes at vertices and holes for 5mm magnets at edges
-
dragonlock - has dragonbite clip holes at vertices
-
magnetic.dragonlock - has dragonbite clip holes at vertices and holes for 5mm magnets at edges
Note: dragonlock currently mostly supports tiles that are divisible by 2. eg. 2x2, 2x4, not 2x3 or 3x3.
Disclosure: I am using Amazon affiliate links here, but I won't link to anything I don't use, and I won't link to a product in Amazon that is inferior to one I know of elsewhere.
There is a seperate page for explaining how our licenses work.
I use and am super happy with Hatchbox Black PLA for printing tiles and bases. Black and White both work, though with black, you will need to be careful that your primer fully coverd it which is harder to see, because the filament is glossy. Turns out, glossy shadows don't look good. For printing clips, do yourself a favor, print your clips in PETG. PLA is rigid and brittle, which means the clips can't flex much without breaking. PETG has much more flex and is also stronger, so perfect for clips. So should you print bases in PETG as well? No. PETG is harder to glue and harder to paint. Keep the clips PETG and that will give you enough flex. I use Overture PETG.
I generally don't print tiles in resin, but I print a lot of accessories in it. Resin is really not great for the clip bays as it tends to have more problems with dimensional accuracy (all resin shrinks as it cures), but also it tends to be brittle. I pretty much universally use Elegoo resin and recommend grey. It comes in normal and 8k. If you prefer water washable, they also have that in normal and 8k. There are a ton of other options as well, but I have not frankly explored them much.
I use Krylon Fusion Black Camo paint. This stuff is amazing, SUPER flat, goes on in thin, even coats. Hell, I use it to prime my miniatures these days. I find it at my local Ace Hardware for about $5 a can. Tabletop Minions has a video covering all the reasons I love this paint. For wooden pieces I'll use the Brown Camo Krylon Fusion
If you can't find the krylon fusion paints, before I used them, I was reasonably happy with Rustoleum Painter's Touch Flat Black, which you can get at places like Lowes or Home Depot. (Despite what amazon says, it's about $4 a can)
For superglue, I have two different recommendations. Loktite Ultragel Control is super easy to use, but a bit pricy. Also you end up needing to use pliars to crank the top as the glue gets used up to actually use all that you are sold. I love this stuff when I need more control for like tight spots and such.
Price wise, Gorilla Super Glue Gel is much cheaper per ounce, and I use it for the bulk of my gluing these days. ($4.84 for 15 grams vs $3.89 for 4 grams)
Historically, there have been two types of magnets regularly used in OpenForge. 5mm spherical magnets, and 3/16" dia. x 1/16" thick cylinders. Since then we all had a pandemic, and supply chains got weird. I designed a new magnetic base that I call flex magnetic, and it can still take the 5mm spherical magnets, but it can also take any of these (much cheaper and easier to find) cylindrical magnets:
- 5mm diameter, 3mm thick (print settings have to be real dialed in, but this is the strongest option)
- 5mm diameter, 2mm thick (Still needs to be pretty dialed in, bit a little less so)
- 4mm diameter, 3mm thick
- 4mm diameter, 2mm thick
- 3/16" diameter, 1/8" thick
I get the 3/16" dia. x 1/16" thick magnets from K&J and my spheres from Dealxtreme. With Dealxtreme, the shipping time is long, and which color of magnet is cheapest changes a lot, so keep an eye on the site, and order early before you run out. You can get them on Amazon as well, but the offers for magnets there seem to appear and disappear a lot. The vast majority of the magnets used are the 5mm spheres. If a set uses the cylinders, I'll call that out specifically. Otherwise, assume that anything using magnets uses the spheres.
For the most part, I use Americana Craft Paint for my terrain. Here's their color chart. There isn't anything super special about my choice here, you can find usable paints with any of the craft lines. Use the color chart I linked to look at other paint lines to get paints that are close. You should not pay more then $2 per paint for these (The prices sometimes change on these links).
- Lamp (Ebony) Black (worth getting in large), Snow (Titanium) White
- Zinc, Neutral Grey, Slate Grey
- Bittersweet Chocolate, Milk Chocolate, Raw Umber, Burnt Umber, Raw Sienna, Burnt Sienna, Honey Brown for wood and a number of other uses
- Desert Sand and Fawn for highlights
- Hauser Light Green, Hauser Medium Green, Hauser Dark Green, Light Avocado for moss/lichen
- Bright Orange for rust
- Ultra Blue Deep, True Blue and Ocean Blue for water.
- Gloss varnish for things like water, metal, etc.
- Matte varnish for everything else
- Various metallics from a variety of craft paint lines for metals.
- Liquitex Matte Medium for making washes or glazes.
- Vallejo Metal Color
You will need paint brushes. For terrain they don't have to be of high wuality, but expect to toss them from time to time. Here's a big set that's wholly sufficient. You will want some wide for dry brushing, and some fine point for detail work. I tend to use Golden Taklon for synthetic brushes. You will also want some paint sponges.
When I want to do water in something like a fountain, I use Woodland Scenics Water Effects.
For filament printing, I presently use the Creality Ender 3, which can normally be found for less than $200. It's a really common printer, so if you have problems, you can pretty easily find help online.
For resin printing, I presently use the Elegoo Saturn (Around $400). I think it's a great printer, and it has served me well, however, if you were getting one today, you might want to consider getting the more modern Elegoo Saturn 2 (Around $560) which has an 8k screen to the 1's 4k screen. If you want something a bit cheaper, the Elegoo Mars 3 (around $220) is the same basic printer, just a smaller build volume, and nothing I produce in openforge that you would resin print needs the larger build space of the Saturn.
You'll want an xacto knife. I prefer one with rubber sides. You'll also want a self healing mat and plenty of blades (a sharp knife is counterintuitively safer then a dull one). Don't be stupid with these, cut away from yourself. I know, I've had 3 bad cuts in the past few years, one of which that did permanent nerve damage to my left pointer finger. Be careful!
Clamps are super useful for holding tiles together when gluing. I like to use both spring clamps and small bar clamps for a variety of ways to hold parts as they glue.
I use the pin vice all the time. Basically it's a mini drill that you turn with your hands that has very tiny bits. For anything that I print that uses filament as a joint or a rivet, having a drill that's a little larger then a 1.75mm piece of filament is super useful, but I find a ton of other uses for it in both 3d printing, and for miniatures. This isn't critical equipment, but it's really pretty useful to have.
Here's a reasonably cheap one and one that has a ton of bits. A variety of bits is really worth it. In fact, I really did actually order the second one from amazon while writing this. Seriously.
Since I originally wrote this, a new device called the Wowstick has hit the market. A USB-C powered pen sized drill. It's fantasic, I pretty much never use my pin vices anymore with one.
Here's a cheap set from amazon. Cheap snips generally are softer, so their blade is more easily destroyed. So long as you only use this on plastic, you can go as cheap as you want.
From time to time, I need a Jewelry Mallet (or from Harbor Freight). Generally it's for getting the cylindrical magnets to sit flush.
I use a standard bic lighter. Best way to get rid of stringing if you have any. Also super useful for making rivets out of filament.
Because I'm making a ton of tiles, I built a simple spray paint booth. What I did was go get some flat cardboard (from say an amazon box), and a plastic crate (like this one). Get rid of the lid, add the cardboard on the bottom, and bam, instant spray booth.
Printing isn't always clean. In many cases, magnet holes will end up with stringing, gunk or other bits of plastic in them. I use a benchtop drill press with a 15/64" or 6mm drill bit. This is not strictly necessary, it's totally nice to have. You don't need anything nice, you can just the cheap-o model from Harbor Freight or Amazon. I find a ton of use for my drill press, unrelated to OpenForge. If you have the space, I recommend one. If not, you can still do this with any drill, it's just easier with a drill press.