I Craft EASY Protective Storage for Modular Dungeon Tiles!

Modular dungeon tiles are great but storage for them kinda sucks. Especially when you want to make dungeon tiles with details that won't get flattened by being stacked. Proper storage fixes this problem, but not everyone is comfortable or able to whip out power tools to make things from wood.
So, I put together a design to make cheap, accessible but sturdy storage for modular dungeon tiles. I've been wanting to make something like this for D&D for ages, and with this to store and carry it better I really can't wait to get my next set of modular tiles out in a video!
Or play a game of D&D without the risk of dropping stuff…
⚔️ SUPPORT BY JOINING THE ARCHIVE ON PATREON: / rparchive
🛠️ SUPPORT BY BUYING EQUIPMENT AND MATERIALS: bit.ly/RPEquipment
🔔 Subscribe and click the bell for more D&D terrain!
👍 If you found this helpful, help me out and like the video up there!
Check out my modular terrain systems: bit.ly/RPArchiv...
Follow the channel to catch new videos and previews of upcoming content:
Facebook: bit.ly/RPArchiveFB
Instagram: bit.ly/RPArchiv...
For any metric users who aren't comfortable with using the inches side of the ruler, I've linked a conversion calculator here: www.rapidtable...
#Rparchive #Archivemodularterrain #Archivewildtiles

[@RPArchiveOfficial]

So what do you guys think? If you play around with wood you could probably make something sturdier no doubt, but is this something you might make/use if you don't have power tool access? Box piece measurements - Outdoor tile storage: 2 side pieces/1 door piece - 12 and 1/2" wide by 16" tall 1 back piece - 12 and 1/4" wide by 16" tall As many as you need of shelf/roof/bottom pieces - 12 and 1/4" square You can make these as tall as you want, but they need to be this wide/deep if they're going to fit 12" tiles into them nicely. Box piece measurements - Dungeon/building tile storage: 2 side pieces - 12 and 1/2" wide by 16" tall 1 door piece - 10 and 1/2" wide by 16" tall 1 back piece - 10 and 1/4" wide by 16" tall As many as you need of shelf/roof/bottom pieces - 10 and 1/4" wide by 12 and 1/4" deep I made these boxes thinner mainly to accommodate my shelves. You could make them 3 and 1/2" wider and slot another column of drawers in. Shelf heights I used (including the thickness of the foam shelf in each): For outdoor tiles: 2" - low raised features/flat tiles 3 and 1/2" - medium raised features For dungeon tiles 3.5" - enough space to fit drawers in smoothly and not scrape the tiles against the shelf above. Drawer measurements: Bottom - 3" wide by 12" long Side walls - 2 and 1/2" tall by 12" long. 1/2" tab along the long edge. Back/front walls - 3" wide by 2 and 1/2" tall. 1/2" tabs on one 3" edge and both 2 and 1/2" edges. All these tabs I scored before folding by gently drawing my knife along the fold line, but not cutting, on the outside of the way I was planning to fold it. Ask if you have any questions :)

[@Gauldame]

"what do you guys think?" *Stares at my scatter trees plates and how jank the storage is* Yeah...new project... Seriously though, currently I use the foldable totes for weird shaped scatter, it isn't perfect but I think I can make this one work better than my current.

[@RPArchiveOfficial]

Happy to help :) I have some interesting plans for trees in the future actually, but that's neither here nor there...

[@Forinsyther25]

The bird mosh pit caught me off guard 😂 hilarious 🤣

[@RPArchiveOfficial]

Caught me off guard when it happened haha

[@OccupyArnhem]

I think it's great how this video actually represents 'The Archive'.

[@RPArchiveOfficial]

I did think that 😅 Got to be honest I love the little drawers...

[@aaronbono4688]

When you're putting in the shelves and hot gluing them in place, I'd recommend cutting a spacer that's the exact perfect height and then setting the shelf on the spacers as you glue. You can then use these spacers on every subsequent shelf making sure the spacing is perfect as you go up. You'll probably have to put some wax paper around the spacer to prevent it from being glued to the side as well. This is something I learned in woodworking.

[@RPArchiveOfficial]

That's a solid idea.

[@photogfrank2146]

This is a really good video, Matt! Everything I make goes to my daughter's house since she & my son-in-law host our game and he's our DM. But they've been complaining about lack of space since their dining room & table is where they play! Your storage ideas just might be what they need! I wish that I could help support the channel but I'm living on disability and it barely pays the rent. My wife has to work to take care of the rest of our needs and our landlord just raised the rent by $150 a month! But you guys all say "Like and subscribe and leave comments and that will help the channel!" So that is what I do! Later my friend!

[@RPArchiveOfficial]

You do what you can man :) glad it's helping!

[@tiny-grimes]

Sweet build, mate! The only thing that I would change is made railings, so shelves can be rearranged depending on what you put inside. Also to give more space for the magnet, you can cut a tiny cube out of spare xps foam glue it on the side of the wall, and insert the magnet into the cube.

[@RPArchiveOfficial]

Interesting points, and ones I considered but I found that both took up extra space in the tight formats (where you're storing lots of thin, wide tiles) , that might collide with details on tiles when you use them 😕 The initial prototype actually had something similar but I tore it off after it crushed some of the grass at the edge of the tiles when stored overnight :) I'm tempted to keep developing the idea though, so if I work in a workaround, I'll mention it in a video to let you know!

[@duacot6633]

Loved the nature scene with the metal soundtrack!

[@Man-At-Arms46]

Thank you so much for the inspiration! Your video jogged some ideas for a storage solution that I needed for minis otherwise tossed into a box. I adapted your project to be a cardboard frame with 3 foamcore shelves/drawers, edge banded banded carboard drawer fronts , and carved XPS foam drawer pulls. ModPodge & acrylics to finish it off. Thank you so much for your admirable crafting skills and accessible teaching style.

[@RPArchiveOfficial]

Glad I could help Scott!

[@itilimp3776]

I love that this is a simple glue gun project for those of us without power tools. You’ve just made me look at my box style shelving in a new way. The contents will be relocated for a couple of these terrain storage boxes which will free up some much needed space. Thanks for the inspiration :)

[@RPArchiveOfficial]

Happy to help :)

[@mvallen60]

This is really fantastic. Excellent thought and design. This is my next project.

[@RPArchiveOfficial]

Awesome :) better storage = more terrain haha!

[@lexzbuddy]

I live in Scotland, I agree with you completely about the high costs over here. I try to get stuff off Ebay to mitigate the costs. Big board of foam, paint and so on. I bought a proxon hot wire cutter off Ebay for £20 as it was broken. 20 minutes of TLC and it was working like new. I now the happy owner of one perfectly working, near new proxon :) I generally buy broken stuff or old stuff all the time and fix it. I'm good at it. It's a great way to mitigate the costs. I have a 3D printer and I have modeled and made a static grass applicator. It takes a 9V battery or 12V mains supply. I just realised I couldn't find my resistors so I'm waiting for them to arrive on the slow boat from China but, once they arrive, I will have a great new tool. It's only cost me the price of a few electrical components and some PLA. Less than a tenner all in. I'm already contemplating a mark 2 version that will be better with variable power. I'm also 3D modelling dungeon tiles and then 3D printing them. Printablescenery makes nice ones but that get expensive pretty fast. 3D model stuff and save a fortune. They say necessity is the mother of invention. Needs must and all that. So I try to find ways to counteract the costs of living here in the UK. I really want a cheap storage system for dungeon tiles. So, I may have a go and see what I come up with. Good video, thanks :)

[@JohnDlugosz]

A few years ago, I volunteered to help build sets for a local theater. The set was a monistary with walls of stone blocks, and this was simulated using XPS foam for the block veneer. What they actually used was wall insulation from Home Depot, sold in 4x8 foot sheets and 1" thick IIRC. It was dinged up a bit, which was fine for us because we were going to carve the stone texture anyway; but for more precise cuts you would get a lot from avoiding the irregular spots when cutting up the original sheet. I think this could be a cheap source of crafting foam if you don't mind milling your own stock, so to speak. Imagine making wall modules like yours... but *full scale* !

[@RPArchiveOfficial]

That's something I actually kinda wanted to do for my d&d room at some point 😅

[@jakthemaniac]

Excellent thought and execution. I found that pinning the pieces together with small, cheap sewing pins before hot gluing helped make it stronger and made assembly MUCH easier.

[@Rinhammer]

Totally needed this. Thanks man.

[@RPArchiveOfficial]

Glad I could help :) thanks for commenting and feeding the algorithm!

[@coreyburge8663]

I just got my proxxon and I plan to give these a shot soon to store grasslands tiles. Grasslands and hills are going to be my first project! Thanks for the inspiration

[@MegaKemper]

Amazing.... as usual!!!!

[@RPArchiveOfficial]

Thanks!

[@Gauldame]

Wait...our cheap foam costs 3 times as much for you guys? Well that explains a lot of videos I got from European crafters.

[@RPArchiveOfficial]

Correct. It's why I haven't been done any foam core videos before. We can't even get the easy peel stuff here, we'd need to import it... Which is also expensive :)

[@viciousyeen6644]

@@RPArchiveOfficial there are Arts&Craft stores that sell similar foamcore and even foamcore without paper here tho, but they’re still relatively pricey

[@mrbigphil22]

its not the same stuff@@viciousyeen6644

[@ManuellaMalk]

and here in Brazil we are like "oh well, maybe our used delivery packages will work" 😂, these foams are super expensive in here

[@CardboardCleric]

trying to organize my workshop right now and I think I need to make some of those! Thank You

[@RPArchiveOfficial]

Glad I could help!

[@MattJames5627]

Fuck yeah ... Matts back :D And with a nice, clean build and great video. Thanks for the awesome content.

[@RPArchiveOfficial]

Thank you as always for commenting Matt :)

[@donlloyd1297]

The Dollar Tree stuff is the "Redi-board" brand where the paper is thin and peels off easily. It's great for projects that lend themselves to having the paper removed, but where you want the reinforcement of that paper lining (with stronger paper that's less likely to peel off on its own over time) you end up spending around $3 a sheet... so the price isn't too different as long as you're comparing similar products.

[@RPArchiveOfficial]

That's good to know, from what I could see dollar tree sold black foamboard too at the same price, which from what I understand is more like the stuff I used here? Being in the UK there's no real way for me to check 😅

[@donlloyd1297]

The easy-peel stuff from Dollar Tree is usually lined with black paper, though now that I think about it they have occasionally had the same brand with white lining. As for whether it's comparable to what you can get I'm not sure - the primary difference between the two tiers of it that I can get locally is the quality of the paper and adhesive.

[@RPArchiveOfficial]

Interesting to know, thanks man :)

[@3Canibus]

I have 3 boys that have a tendency to destroy everything, so this, to me, is 100% foolproof. Cheap, easy, and by what i just saw, Stylish, in all black. Also I agree with functionality and practicality. I love the idea and I will go out of my way to get cereal that has visually appealing graphics on it lol.

[@RPArchiveOfficial]

Haha, yeah there is that 😅

[@Dracule0117]

Great stuff, man. I love Jeremy at BMC, but as he moves into more minis and wargaming (not knocking that by any means, it's just not my main area of interest) you're quickly becoming my go-to for D&D crafting builds and ideas.

[@RPArchiveOfficial]

Awesome to hear man :)

[@christopherblomsalmonsen9983]

You must eat sooo much cereal man.. Great videos! Just found your channel and I'm starting from one end crafting my own modular collection from your awesome system until I'm up to date. Keep up the great work and thanks for inspiring.

[@RPArchiveOfficial]

Glad you like it Chris, I will do! And its my Fiance who eats the cereal for me 😄

[@JohnDlugosz]

Have you heard of the "Incra" line of measuring products? They are known for precision router table (or whatever) adjustable fences, but also make rulers and other small items. They have steel rulers with perforated holes that take a 0.5mm pencil lead, with the holes spaced precisely so you can easily mark an exact position using a slot that's just as wide as the pencil tip so it makes a perfect line; or a single dot. They also have the same concept with a T-square end attached, so you put the pencil into the right dot and run the T along the edge of the board, to get a perfectly measured line.

[@RPArchiveOfficial]

They look awesome, though maybe a bit large scale for what we do? Just took a brief look :)

[@LostWhits]

I just checked local supplier in Australia for foam core. A1 size sheet is $6.63usd or £5.43. we definitely don't have stores like dollar tree, dollarama or Poundland here.

[@RPArchiveOfficial]

Yeah we don't either, but mine was like £2-3 per sheet when bought in bulk? Otherwise, now I order corrugated card boxes in the same dimensions, cut off all but one of the 'doors' and use them as the first shelves :) Problem is minimum purchase was like, 20. But you could split them with other crafters and ship them on?

[@roguemind5061]

You should do a session of you and your friends playing D&D using the terrain.

[@RPArchiveOfficial]

That takes a ton of equipment, it'd be a huge investment so not anytime soon haha

[@Forinsyther25]

@@RPArchiveOfficial Shame, that would be awesome to see 😊

[@tonysmoot3712]

First off, I love the channel man. I've made several builds, and I love them all! Second, I have a curiosity and couldn't find an answer in my scouring of the channel comments, and the storage video seemed a good spot to ask lol How do you store your little magnetic bits for putting on tables, safely? I've got a couple ideas on how I could, but really wanted to know how you store them

[@RPArchiveOfficial]

Do you mean like the little table accessories and non-tile bits? I mainly keep them on a piece of magnetic strip (think fridge magnets, but as a wider sheet) I bought some time ago as an experiment (that failed). I'm actually going to be working on a new storage solution for them because I have magnetic upgrades for all cocktail stick accessories coming soon to patreon as a bonus optional upgrade :)

[@tonysmoot3712]

@@RPArchiveOfficial Yeah, all the little things like candles, plates of food, etc. A sheet of fridge magnet would be a lot cheaper than what I was thinking 😅 Thanks for the speedy reply and keep up the great work Matt!

[@piesandhiking4943]

Fuck me that bird scene slayed me 🤣

[@RPArchiveOfficial]

Glad it got someone 😂 I worried I over reached a little with that one

[@TheBlackFrog79]

Useful! Thanks!

[@DokuroHeartvore]

Can polystyrene foam work too? Is more common in my area

[@regwirth3004]

Instead of laying your measured points out with a pencil, try marking them with a pin. Then when you place the rule down to cut your line, you can use the pins as stops for the rule.

[@RPArchiveOfficial]

That's a really useful tip, thanks reg!

[@Rinhammer]

Well, I made my first cabnet. Made three drawers and ran out of cardboard. LOL It works awesome!

[@RPArchiveOfficial]

Haha awesome! And I know that feeling, I value every Wheatos box saved at this point, they're bigger so better for making drawers 😅

[@SailorIda3]

playwood could be used instead right? Its quiet thin so it doesnt requier a powertool(It might be helpfull thought) so perhaps it could be interchanged? All yu would need is a hammer and nails I belive (Im a beginner at this so no idea but im asking to kinda get confirmation :)

[@RPArchiveOfficial]

Gonna admit, I'm pretty inexperienced with woodworking, but plywood from what I know would be both thicker and heavier, giving less storage space. Thin MDF could be used, though again would be heavier, but not as thick. More expensive than foam core though :)

[@SailorIda3]

@@RPArchiveOfficial ah I see :) thanks for the fast reply

[@johnjenkins8471]

I loveeeee itttttt

[@alcovitch]

What is the overhead light you are using?

[@Reboot153]

This is one of those things where I understand what you did but I dont quite get why you did it. There are so many easier, cheaper and faster options that will last longer. I can get a 12"x12"x16" cardboard moving box for a little over a dollar (US). That right there is is going to be faster to set up, stronger and costs less than just the foam core board. Buy a second box and I can cut that one up to act as shelves in the first box (it's already almost the right size!). It's an interesting build. I just think that there are better ways to go about doing this that would save time, money and result in a much better end product.

[@RPArchiveOfficial]

The problem is, the interior needs to be just over 12", 12 and a half or so, in order to fit 12" of tiles smoothly - 12" is too tight for most tiles and makes it not work as well, at least in my experience. Add to that finding the right box size, in the UK at least, was near impossible, even if 12" would work fine :) So there was a reason, and if you can link me to a 13x13x16 cardboard box, I will adjust accordingly and mention it in a video :)

[@Reboot153]

@@RPArchiveOfficial Just did a quick Google search on "13 x 13 x 16 cardboard boxes" and came up with a number of companies that sell boxes in that size. I can provide links to what I've found but everything is going to be local for me (USA) and may not apply for you. One note about the search I did is that it does require purchasing in bundles of 10 or 25 boxes so there's an initial up-front cost that's higher than it seems like it wants to be. However, the cost of each box still comes out between $1.60 to $2.60 USD. Even if you only need 5 boxes, you'll still have others to use for making the inner boxes, shelves and for alternate projects as well. The materials are out there.

[@RPArchiveOfficial]

I just searched similar things in the uk and not so much, a much more limited selection :/ I'll keep searching, because obviously this would be ideal!

[@MiddletonJeff]

You could use 3mm MDF. It's cuttable with a box cutter.

[@RPArchiveOfficial]

These days I've found a good source of custom order corrugated card boxes that are PERFECT for these. Best bought with someone else and split though, minimum order and all :) Mdf could easy work though.

[@coreyburge8663]

How does this build work with corrugated boxes? I found some 13x13 that could work

[@RPArchiveOfficial]

I ordered some custom sized, with the 'opening' on the front/back. Cut 3 flaps off the front and use the 4th as a door :)

[@Micsma]

Gods I wish I had a house and not a shitty 900 square foot apartment.

[@andywolf3205]

Schoolchildren's crafts. Once accidentally dropped - That's all ...

[@RPArchiveOfficial]

They're not designed to be resilient. They're designed so people without power tools can build something at their kitchen table. Mainly for in house storage. Insults hardly required, but whatever man...

[@TheYoutubsucks]

So what foam do you actually use? I can only find the cathedral stuff on amazon, which has this annoying sticky paper on it. And even if you peel it off, it's not exactly pva foam. In this video you seem to use precisely those, but if I wanted to make a bigger terrain piece, where I might need to do some sculpting. I just can't find big enough pieces. In germany, you can only buy them in thick chunks from a construction store and I can't cut out large and thin enough pieces on my foam cutter. Great video btw, will totally do that!

[@RPArchiveOfficial]

I use the cathedral foam core for this build, but for everything else I use xps insulation foam, not foam core :) There's a guide on where to find it in my equipment list in the description