How to make simple wooden dungeon doors for D&D and pathfinder games DMG

DungeonMasterG shows us how he contructs simple wooden doors for use with modular dungeon tiles made from cardboard and painted. These doors and dungeon terrain can be used in roleplaying games like dungeons and dragons and pathfinder.
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Dungeon tile construction technique was influenced by the 2.5D method created by DMScotty of theDM'sCraft. His videos can be found here: / @thedmscraft
You may wish to also visit the forum dmscraft.proboa... where you will find many crafters who work in similar ways.
Music: "Dominator", under royalty free license from Footage Firm Inc. (from point 1 of the agreement: You may use the Stock Files for nearly any project, including feature films, broadcast, commercial,industrial, and educational video, print projects, multimedia, games, and the internet, as long as the Stock Files have been incorporated into any work with substantial value added by you.)

[@TheDMGinfo]

I love doors. I feel they are the under utilised story elements in most D&D games. I litter the dungeon with all manner of doors of varying types, difficulty and function. I use metal doors, wooden doors, portals, stone doors, secret doors and everything in between. I just posted a blog entry on my website all about how I use doors... they are great organic puzzles

[@dungeondm5849]

I'm so happy I discovered this channel! Awesome work!!

[@TheDMGinfo]

dungeon dm thank you

[@KitMason3]

I'm just getting into D&D and have several maps drawn up that my DM seems to think are great. He used to have a lot of terrain but it was all stolen when he was over seas. we have been trying to find a way to make the dungeons feel more realistic on a budget but, have had no luck... until I came across your videos. I'm only 7 vids in and you've helped me so much. I'll be watching all of them and creating my own very soon. I can't wait to get my abandoned prison into 3D! Thank you!!

[@TheDMGinfo]

Kit Mason my pleasure. Plenty more to see.

[@nosoros]

Your videos have a very nostalgic feel to them, I like it.

[@TheDMGinfo]

+Likidel Kaser thank you

[@SummerGuy3334]

Something I'm still getting used to is remembering that paint doesn't always dry the same color that it goes on. Using the grain of the wooden sticks for natural looking detail is a stroke of genius. That detail makes the piece.

[@gwendlynemarin7181]

These tutorials are fantastic. And your cat is adorable.

[@TheDMGinfo]

+Michelle Arnold thanks, he thinks so too

[@ianfrancis1993]

I love all of these terrain pieces. I am slowly going through each video and I cant wait to build all of these. My Players are going to be so pleased!!

[@TheDMGinfo]

You and they will love it.

[@merry1251]

I'm a huge fan, you're simply the best! Thanks so much for sharing this! That's sooo cool ! Those doors remind me the old Hero Quest board game I used to play when I was young.

[@TheDMGinfo]

Martin Martymay thanks for watching. Plenty more to come

[@cgrisetti87]

Between yourself and DMScotty, I've found a new love of crafting!

[@jacfac9969]

Ive always wanted to get into DnD and this looks like a really cool game board DIY project

[@TheDMGinfo]

You won't be disappointed

[@TheDMGinfo]

Doors make for great opportunities for organic puzzles (lockpicks, finding keys, stuck, rusty hinges, squeeky hinges etc). They also help to provide story choke points. So you can block off an area of the dungeon that only opens once the players have figured out how to get through. There is also the element of surprise, the mystery of what is behind door number 3, etc. I love doors!

[@roblong1088]

Loving the intro music..... I'm not the craftiest guy but I just tried making some dungeon tiles this weekend from watching your videos....they came out ok. Thanks again ...inexpensive and it adds a lot to the game.

[@TheDMGinfo]

+roblong1088 you're very welcome, enjoy

[@robertwilkinson4012]

I'm in stitches, You're fantastic at what you do and to top it off you've got a fantastic humour, Well done man! Keep it up :)

[@TheDMGinfo]

Thanks

[@SummerGuy3334]

That door looks amazing! I was skeptical at first when you added the yellow, but once you did the drybrushing the whole piece really came to life. I'm looking forward to the next videos!

[@ChristianSteinheimer]

When i thought your "create dungeon tiles" videos were awesome, i had no idea that there is more! ...and more! ...AND MORE! Good Job man, i will definitely do this! Subscribed! Top!

[@TheDMGinfo]

Working on several hundred more...

[@johnnywhite1681]

Another awesome video. It's so cool, all the stuff you make with simple supplies! You are an insperation of creativity! Thanks for sharing all your builds!

[@TheDMGinfo]

No problem.

[@Timberella3003]

So I subscribed while watching the first video, chewed through the next six in sequence, and am now saddling up to find as many cardboard boxes around town as I can. Thanks. Thanks a lot. As if I didn't have ENOUGH hobbies to occupy my time ;-)

[@TheDMGinfo]

+Tim Emmerson this is not a hobby... It's a cult! :)

[@carsonchills]

TheDMGinfo lol

[@dungeondm5849]

I made some doors and they look awesome! I got many complements from my group

[@TheDMGinfo]

dungeon dm excellent stuff :)

[@tylereldridge1900]

This is great - I keep watching for reference as I am building my first set of tiles and doors using your method. Thanks a lot!

[@TheDMGinfo]

+Tyler Eldridge thanks. Glad you are enjoying it... plenty more to see!

[@phalenanjel1506]

I've only discovered your channel and I find it fascinating how your craft these things. I'll be sure to watch all of your videos (using my boots of speed). Too bad my mind won't keep up with the visuals .....guess I'll have to re-watch your videos. LOL!

[@TheDMGinfo]

Phalen Anjel Thanks for watching, there are plenty to see and lots more to come

[@dancarter8804]

Awesome video! Started playing DnD and we recently created our own huge tiled map. Always wondered how we could create doors and this method looks superb!

[@TheDMGinfo]

Thank you. It works really well.

[@StrongholdCrafterKev]

I like your design of the dungeon door. I am still working on mine.

[@TheDMGinfo]

+Stronghold Crafter Kev Can't wait to see the results

[@theDMsCraft]

Nice vid man, great to have door options to enhance our 2.5D

[@alexdamado]

awesome use of colors

[@TheDMGinfo]

thanks

[@JohnGunter_Johnprime]

Looks great! Once again another great tutorial!

[@vidajacobson]

Incredible, All of it!!!

[@TheDMGinfo]

Thanks. There will be some more door videos soon.

[@larryreddecliff2284]

They are flat heavy duty storage boxes, they have 2 or 3 sizes, I just grabbed 3 and left. Next time I am there I will get sizes, I think they had 2 sizes. Also have heavy duty double corrugated and then 2 light single corrugated.

[@jasonwilliams4715]

Best channel by far

[@TheDMGinfo]

Thanks

[@arcanarealm6591]

Love your diy vids keep making them

[@TheDMGinfo]

nerdiology Magicalive thanks

[@hieunguyen6544]

Omg i love your tutorials so much ❤️❤️❤️

[@TheDMGinfo]

candy revew thanks :)

[@Beithyr]

oh I hant thought of that ( I usualy only use Large monsters in their natural habitat ( plains forests tunnels ect) or dont use them at all but nice Idea

[@XAndevelX]

Look pretty good that door!! ^_^

[@cgrisetti87]

:) Currently using the collection of your videos to run a Rise of the Runelords campaign.

[@TheDMGinfo]

Excellent, welcome to our world

[@TheDMGinfo]

Standard size, however I prefer larger doors in dungeons as large monsters needed to get down there somehow. Any creature with a 10ft space would not fit through a 5ft door... so how did they get down there and into the room otherwise?

[@harrylawson5991]

I love how u say "boots of speed" lol 😃😝😜😛😀😄😉😁☺️😊

[@TheDMGinfo]

It's what I do

[@TheDMGinfo]

Thank you.

[@CityKanin]

Pro tip: wood glue is the shiz! Also sand paper is handy for an array of things. (Just a friendly message from a carpenter’s daughter xD)

[@TheDMGinfo]

CityKanin takes too long to dry ;)

[@johnbroughton348]

Made some wooden doors, but made one of them look like a barred gate! I will post a pic of it on face book. 2 long sticks and 2 sticks across top then the bottom, repeat for the backside, but u can use toothpicks between the sticks for the bars and BOOM!!! LOL. Instant cell door ;) hope it helps you out!

[@TheDMGinfo]

Excellent...

[@johnbroughton348]

kool

[@TheDMGinfo]

And in German... super kool

[@prodigypigeon5873]

Great video!

[@TheDMGinfo]

Thank you

[@survivorjohnny44]

Well done brother

[@TheDMGinfo]

Thanks

[@TheDodgeman70]

Wow, simply awesome crafting! And cost next to nothing.

[@bonesjackson2]

Great videos! Also, I think your cat is plotting against me.

[@TheDMGinfo]

bonesjackson2 he does that

[@TeiganTulsie]

Going to be making doors and chairs and stuff in batches here soon. What's a good number of basic items to have along with a standard set of tiles? I like how much stuff you put in your dungeon rooms.

[@TheDMGinfo]

Probably around a dozen doors and another half dozen special doors. The furniture 1 or to of each

[@chojimomochi]

I love your cat D&D brother. My cats weird and born with three legs that's all and he's 70 so yep

[@TheDMGinfo]

Doing well at 70! :)

[@yukadoo]

I must say... I like these videos of yours. Very informative. A question: What would you do, to make a prison cell - style door? I'd be curious to see how you would approach this idea. Now, maybe a video already exists on this, but I would like to know what your take would be on it. Looking forward to reading your input on it.

[@TheDMGinfo]

yukadoo here is the video you should watch: kzbin.info/www/bejne/f2KxkodtiL-cgruDbviously this assumes a chamber type cell and not an open wall fenced type cell. I will probably have to do a video on fence type enclosures within a dungeon setting.

[@yukadoo]

TheDMGinfo Just watched it...great way to do it. Can't wait to give it a go! Cheers!

[@TheDMGinfo]

Yeah, it does look a bit poxy, but when it dries it is muted a lot, but you get that aged, sort of rotten look. I am trying to stick to a simple palette everyone can use, rather than going out and spending tonnes of money on miniature paints and hundreds of different browns, etc. That's why I did not use silver for the handle...

[@johnbroughton348]

Just reliazed I need to make more doors for my dungeon..lol

[@TheDMGinfo]

It is alway terrible when you run out of doors

[@yastamon]

Great doors, do you use a different variety for your dungeon?

[@larryreddecliff2284]

Anyone in North America, I u are looking for double heavy duty card board, for $10 I bought 3 heavy duty Home Depot boxes, more than enough brand new card board, double corrugated. So if you have a Home Depot near where you live, I recommend picking up some of their storage boxes.

[@TheDMGinfo]

+Larry Reddecliff what size are they?

[@jasunreynolds5828]

I would imagine that if you could not find double corrugated cardboard that you could two regular peaces of cardboard and glue them together with the corrugation running perpendicular to each other to increase the stability.

[@williampayne8124]

Or you could go to your friendly neighborhood grocery store and see if they have any cereal boxes. If they do not, you could request some and the night stock will save some for you 🙂

[@HolyPoseida]

I'm super excited that I discovered your channel. I've recently become a game master again and I'm running a Pathfinder game for a bunch of friends of mine every Saturday night. We're going to be running it for possibly a year or longer, so I want to make it memorable and fun. I think your modular dungeon tiles and props are just the thing to do that, so today I went out and bought a bunch of the supplies you said to start with. Trouble is my friends mainly use miniatures that they have custom made and glued to Heroclix bases, which are ... roughly 1.5 inches wide (38 mm). And often times my party finds ways to be considered huge category, so a single square width for a hallway doesn't necessarily work. Do you have any recommendations? Edit: Not sure how it got posted on this video. I wrote this post while I was on the video about measuring your squares and laying out the cardboard plans. Oh well. Point stands.

[@TheDMGinfo]

Instead of 10 feet wide the corridors are now 5 feet wide :) Either that or add 50% to all measurements. Thanks for watching and for your comments.

[@johnbrogan1467]

have you made a video on the bone lectern shown in the intro and in the under the tavern series, I would love to see how it is done

[@TheDMGinfo]

+John Brogan it is only on my Season 2 DVD as an extra

[@johnbrogan1467]

+TheDMGinfo OK when I get the DVD I will look for it, thank you

[@GOTHARELLAS_LIFE]

love this...! whered u get the metal rings for the doorknobs? Riot or somewhere?

[@TheDMGinfo]

dollar king or daiso

[@PeteDator]

Aww...kittycat

[@TheDMGinfo]

Ryhänen Petri Meow

[@Brickerbrack]

Kitty disapproves of DMG's malarkey.

[@Beithyr]

What size minitures do you use? Those are AMAZING doors but they seem a bit too big to me.

[@Mavarok284]

Awesome videos! Keep it up! Could you create other type of doors as well in the future? My players are 2 strong for wooden doors:P I need to know how i can make stone, iron, or even steel doors:P Thanks!

[@TheDMGinfo]

Next couple of videos cover stone doors and metal gates

[@Dragonette666]

you could make iron doors with cardboard and use a thumbtack to make the surface look like it has rivets on it....

[@TheDMGinfo]

Cool idea :)

[@Dragonette666]

that is , thin cardboard ...I'll post an example to the Facebook group

[@oscarthebarbarian9673]

nice cat :)

[@grindstone4910]

boots of speed

[@emilm7340]

If I want to play with a grid, do I need to downsize the door a little bit maybe? Since it looks like it takes up 10ft in-game

[@TheDMGinfo]

Always consider how larger monsters traverse the dungeon... how would they get through?

[@sumthingangels]

The rings are called jump rings. There fore jewelry making.

[@TheDMGinfo]

I use a lot of jewelry stuff

[@sumthingangels]

look up fairy houses they use jewelry stuff to make all kinds of things like chandlers etc.

[@sumthingangels]

you could do the same thing to make a fairy door to put in random places in your house.

[@TheDMGinfo]

My wife insists that I make full scale versions at some point for our "dream house"

[@laPapun]

ɷɷɷ Heeey Frienddsss I Have Founddd Workingg Online Hacck Visit : - t.co/28lT64F6Ap

[@hippopotomify]

Hey DMG! i need some help! what are those square sticks called, and where can i get them?? thanks!

[@TheDMGinfo]

Popsicle sticks or tongue depressors. I got a whole bag at our version of a dollar store. You can usually get bthem in craft stores and sometimes at supermarkets

[@SSJKarma]

yikes, still searching that secret passage, dont know what im missing. ended up here thinking maybe th e007 at the end of video 6 was a hint of something. along with the word i found... anyway wanted to tell you that if you activate close captioning, it makes for quite funny wording sometimes... like the word condom at a point and the word brutus at another. the word edges being changed to ages. and you talking about Brown eyes at the beginning of the paint job. really funny stuff !

[@TheDMGinfo]

SSJKarma yeah my accent does not work with voice recognition very well

[@TheDMGinfo]

SSJKarma 007 is the cat, that's his name :) You need to pay attention to 6

[@alexjohnston2734]

Hi DMG I would like to know what brand / model of hot glue gun you use. I have been searching for a better one than my cheapo wired one. Thank you.

[@TheDMGinfo]

Alex Johnston i used to have a 10 watt Ozito (Bunnings Wharehouse brand in Australia) cordless one, but it blew up. Now I use a 200 watt Bosch (a lot more expensive) which is for more commercial/industrial applications. The bosch is great because it does not leak much at all and there are far fewer wisps. I end up wasting a lot less glue sticks.

[@mikeogden6239]

What is the thickness of your popsicle sticks? The ones I picked up, on the cheap at the dollar store, seem too thick for my scissors.. they splinter.

[@TheDMGinfo]

Make sure to hold them at the back of the scissors and not the front, cut slowly and little bits at a time. Mine are about 2mm thick, some are soft and some are hard.

[@Brickerbrack]

Alternatively, just use your craft knife; take your time and gently score the wood. Keep repeating it till it goes through. As long as you use multiple light strokes, the sticks shouldn't splinter.

[@kittyrobinson6112]

why put the jump ring on before you paint it?

[@TheDMGinfo]

+Kitty Robinson to fiddly to apply afterwards. I am not going for high quality detail, but rather table ready and playable

[@CarpeMetus]

I would have thought a white base coat to make the door pop.

[@TheDMGinfo]

Standard 3d painting is from dark to light. The reverse is true if the object is a light source or highly reflective. Essentially this simulates the deeper areas having less light cast upon them. The white/yellow drybrush in this brings out the details of the raised areas as these would be closer to any light source. Try out both techniques and see which you prefer.

[@CarpeMetus]

TheDMGinfo Thanks for the tip. I've been gaming forever, but only recently have I started buying minis, and set pieces. Back in 6th grade it was all pocket change to mark where we were on the grid, if we were even playing with someone rich enough to have construction paper, a pen, and a ruler to make a grid. I've totally gone overboard with buying minis, and set pieces to make up for lost time. Now I have to learn to paint them.

[@zelbarnap]

I am back reviewing the how to. more tiles! MUAHAHAHAAA

[@TheDMGinfo]

That's what they're here for :)

[@Runehammer1]

color skills

[@TheDMGinfo]

+Drunkens & Dragons: Play D&D Like a Badass I normally prefer black and white :)

[@NANONilsWORLD]

2 years old this video... ok, but today we use 3D printer :-) btw: good job! cool

[@TheDMGinfo]

+NANO-Nils hundreds of dollars for the printer and the plastic or cents for the lollipop stick ;)

[@NANONilsWORLD]

haha..okay, but I'm faster with my printer :-)

[@TheDMGinfo]

Faater than 30seconds to construct?

[@NANONilsWORLD]

no ;-) TheDMGinfo

[@TheDMGinfo]

Old school still ahead, for now

[@francescospuntarelli1593]

oh man you are describin my life.... rpg tiles and kitties missin my gf and the child to come.... but stilll the best i had

[@TheDMGinfo]

He thinks so as well :) See crafting with cats...

[@dustingavisk2455]

if your making the doors that way and are using tiles wouldnt the doors be ten feet wide?

[@TheDMGinfo]

It is about representation and not about scale. The chairs I do are 5' square seats so that minis can be placed on them. Functionality and playability is important. Scale and detail being of lesser importance.

[@dustingavisk2455]

I guess I could just make them smaller or try to make double doors

[@TheDMGinfo]

Doule doors are easily done by putting two rigs i the middle and havjng a black line down between them from the top

[@dustingavisk2455]

+TheDMGinfo How would u do a single 5ft door? Im about to use your videos to make a map for a module I wrote I was looking at the dwarven forge tiles but its just too expensive I really like your videos.

[@TheDMGinfo]

Just half the width,everything else remains the same

[@LarryDillon]

recently discovered your videos and also DMscotty's. My son and I have begun crafting our own dungeons and we play every Wednesday night. We have even begun making our own youtube channel call D4 ( kzbin.info/www/bejne/iIXUZmB7iLJjh9k) for gaming, both video and roleplaying. Great stuff. Looking forward in seeing all of your other videos as well.

[@TheDMGinfo]

+Larry Dillon great stuff. Thanks for watching. I will check out your channel.

[@francescospuntarelli1593]

ah ah ah and terminator2

[@TheDMGinfo]

Greatest movie ever made

[@animusrot7353]

so much wasted paint....no need to blacken the doors you just use more paint making it lighter

[@TheDMGinfo]

Animos Rot black undercoat is for darker colours, it aids in things like shadows and areas that may not be covered with the other colours. If you want lighter colours you would use white as it would require less coats to maintain "bright" colours. There is no rule that you have to undercoat things, but it does make a difference

[@animusrot7353]

agreed its all about how you want that piece to look.