Wood Floor Tavern Tiles For D&D Tutorial (Black Magic Craft Episode 031)

www.blackmagiccraft.ca
Tools & Supplies I use most: blackmagiccraft.wordpress.com...
Support Black Magic Craft on Patreon: / blackmagiccraft
Facebook: Black-Magic-...
This episode of Black Magic Craft I show you an easy, and very affordable, way to make wooden floor tavern tiles for your Dungeons & Dragons game. They can used for taverns, inns, houses, and are also stackable as wooden platforms.
Black Magic Craft intro music by Black Magic Craft
Background music:
Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
creativecommons.org/licenses/b...

[@roamingcelt]

You could also make the tiles more realistic and get your grid by staggering your joints in the planks. Boards 1, 3, and 5 cut at 1in. Then boards 2, 4 and 6 cut at 2in. This gives you a staggered floor and discreetly gives you your grid.

[@GingerHead.]

@Jeremiah Tyson nice double alt job

[@Starolfr]

Nail holes for the subtle grid is GENIUS!

[@BlackMagicCraftOfficial]

It's the little things

[@seangere9698]

You could use push pins as nails for a more realistic look or super small shoe nails railroad track nails for model trains. Edit: what I mean for the pushpins as nails is I mean the cheap metal ones where you can pull the pin off the head. They look like super small nails.

[@WylochsArmory]

Heck of a lot easier than popsicle sticks!

[@BlackMagicCraftOfficial]

yea....I couldn't be bothered with popsicle sticks, lol....they look awesome when you put in the effort to carve them and etch grain....but when people don't, they just look like popsicle sticks.

[@Lowkey-NoPressure]

Do you know where I can see an example of a well done popsicle stick floor?

[@matthewstricklin3687]

Wyloch's Armory

[@OverratedJobber]

Wyloch's Crafting Vids Collab together

[@TheDMGinfo]

heresy

[@theeristicwriter8280]

I've used dry erase tiles for years now and watched this video just to see how the other half lives. I can say without a doubt that I will be making these tiles for my next game. Great work man.

[@Bladeplay]

Been using your basic terrain tile videos to teach my granddaughter and friends kids to make what we need for their first D&D game. Everyone has a part in the process with the 5 year old being the texture guy, he likes rolling the aluminum foil around the tiles. Thank you for doing the basics.

[@salyersbrian]

After watching several of our videos, you've inspired me to start crafting my own tiles. It actually comes at a good time. Having surgery next week and will be off my feet for three months. Now I know how I'll pass the time!

[@Flyetime]

I just tried this tonight. This was my first time and it turned out great! I am not crafty and I can’t draw a stick man if my life depended on it. Thanks for your informative and easy to follow video. Dry brushing is awesome. After I make a set of these tiles I’ll try stone work!

[@triggerhappy522]

playing dnd with you must be amazing

[@WylochsArmory]

I am really excited to try out the Dip. Instant gratification and looks phenomenal.

[@johnjacobjingleheimerschmi9997]

OMG, the thumbs up episode pop up damn near made me blow coffee out my nose. Spot on, Sir.

[@dreadmorg]

The nail hole idea to mark a grid is sheer genius!!

[@BlackMagicCraftOfficial]

I thought so

[@benholthausen6925]

It would also be possible to just rotate the tiles, so the grid becomes visible when using a bunch of them together. Unless you want all of the planks to run in the same direction, that is....

[@CraftyTabletop]

Dude, I just wanted to say a big THANK YOU. I've been watching your videos for the past few hours and they hepled me a lot for the builds that I'm about to do. You have a mind of a true engineer. :)

[@woodymurphy4522]

Had to come back and watch this again. Awesome reference to come back to time and time again. Thanks!

[@stephaniebagley7686]

I really appreciate the time you put into showing how you use both the knife and Hotwire. Saving up for one soon but want to start these asap the instruction helps so much!

[@mszoomy]

I'm really impressed with all your builds. I wish KZbin was around back when I was playing d&d hall we didn't even have internet let alone home computers back then. Your imagination and creativity are inspirational

[@ShePlaysIt]

Man I would love that tool! My boyfriend and I love doing crafty things, and your videos are giving me so many ideas to do with him :)

[@Hirakashii]

at a hot wire table it would be way faster to do 2 cuts one on each side in each tile before shifting the fence that way you could do them all with half as much fence shifting.

[@BlackMagicCraftOfficial]

You are absolutely right. I realized this right after filming, and actually considered filming it again with this method, but decided it wasn't worth it.

[@lvlikenicholson]

I thought about that too, then I realized he was just staying true to his earlier advice of always working from one side... 😆

[@BlackMagicCraftOfficial]

Mike Nicholson yea, let's stick with that

[@harrisonoleary2419]

I was thinking the exactly the same thing

[@DeadFastProductions]

@@BlackMagicCraftOfficial or have pre-cut spacers set the fence at max then remove spacers... maybe?

[@EricWilliams-ms3ro]

Got myself a hot wire table, same as the one you recommended, life with foam became so much easier thanks to you sir.

[@BlackMagicCraftOfficial]

You'll wonder how you ever got by without it.

[@allanhernandez5556]

I've stayed up at 3am,driving home from work and listening to the channel, good stuff sir✌

[@brikabraka9273]

The Bob Ross of miniature crafting. "Happy little wood tiles."

[@sammybaetens9378]

You could also just make a cross mark at 1/3 of a plank and then 2/3 of an other plank etc. for the grid. Would look a bit more like an actual wooden floor I think. Keep up the great work!

[@weariestlion8150]

I know this is an old video, and you're unlikely to see this. But thank you so much for these tutorials. Been playing D&D for years now (along with lots of other TTRPGs) and it's all been theater of the mind. Just spent $200 on a bunch of the supplies you recommend and now I can finally start surprising my players with actual terrain

[@MrBrandyng]

To answer your opening question, YES!!! On days I'm not working because i love this craft and am getting some much needed me time... blasting some Mike Oldfield in the garage.

[@EPICSAWIKI]

I've never made my own stuff before, heck I've only been DMing for about 4-5 months now. But this has been the most helpful channel ever, so I just wanna say thank you. Because of this channel I get to see the look on my players faces when I bring something new to the table.

[@BlackMagicCraftOfficial]

Cheers, I'm sure your players will love all the new cool stuff you make for them.

[@ericsimoneau4818]

your solution for the grid lines is awesome.

[@BlackMagicCraftOfficial]

thanks, I thought so

[@f8nomore]

Great tutorials! I have learned so much from your videos.Thanks for sharing your knowledge!

[@jack0cat]

Been watching for a few years and now that my daughter is getting intrigued with D&D I’ve been making 28 mm figures with my resin printers and I tried to make my own hot wire cutter following “Luke Townsand” the RR diorama guy instructions but I feel that it might be safer to get something that was specifically built for cutting foam like the proxxon and your link with Amazon saved me a bunch. Thanks and keep up your awesome work.

[@OldVelcro]

Nice work dude! Always appreciate your thoughts on the processes and efficiency.

[@BlackMagicCraftOfficial]

Always trying to make things better and easier at the same time.

[@nikolapetrov4929]

Your quality has improved so much recently! Good work man!

[@BlackMagicCraftOfficial]

Thanks I'm always trying to improve the channel

[@1jugglethis]

Love this. Well done, sir.

[@johnbroughton348]

AWESOME VIDEO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'M working with my uncle re-modeling a house and there are lots of left over goodies I get to keep. So far 1 sheet of 1inch pink foam board , 1/2 inch sheet pink foam, and a 1/2 sheet balsa wood type stuff??? So I'm loving all these videos you are bring out!!!! Keep them coming!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@BlackMagicCraftOfficial]

Perfect, free material is even better

[@johnbroughton348]

Amen, and this is just the 1st job and it's not even summer yet..were almost finished and on to the next one!!!! Plus it helps me save money for the wire cutter!!!! (EVIL LAUGH HERE!!!)

[@martinthewarrior5016]

+John Broughton aww, wish it was me getting all the goodies! ;-)

[@Harad_nur]

Double side tiles - great idea)

[@jakepritchard488]

Really a great look and you make it look easy. Nice job.

[@slipknotzim]

best stuff on the net! love everything you do!

[@BlackMagicCraftOfficial]

Thanks :D

[@MiniTerrainDomain]

I love everything about this.

[@BlackMagicCraftOfficial]

:D

[@Engineer.4200]

Wow i never even thought of making my own tiles or anything this i hope will save me some cash

[@kensomething379]

Trying to watch a cat meowing video, and some guy keeps interrupting, talking about something called "tiles" ( I'm a 1:87 HO scale train layout modeler/builder and you wouldn't believe how much your channel has helped me out! Making my way through your channel randomly, I've learned a lot from you. Hopefully you keep at it. I saw the "I quit!" title in suggested videos, had to watch Immediately, I watch a lot of horror movies, but that title scared me the most! Thank you for all I'm learning, keep up the amazing tutorials!

[@DnDBreakfastClub]

This video helped push me over the edge to grab one of the proxnon hot wire cutters. Thanks for all the vids and tips!

[@BlackMagicCraftOfficial]

Awesome, and really I barely showed how great it is here.

[@Xn7000]

My first thought re: implying a grid would be to add board ends 1" in from alternating directions so that you essentially end up with a dashed line where your perpendicular grid lines would be. The edges of the tiles *may* disrupt that a little bit so it doesn't read properly, but I don't think it would be a deal breaker. As always, keep up the great content.

[@andresfeliciano7085]

Sweet, can use this to make my saloon floors for my western.

[@spaceflows]

So, I bought a butt-load of popsicle sticks, measured 'em, cut 'em, was contemplating what to glue them to and how, wondering if I should STAIN them, and then... this video! Fantastic stuff. Also, I just enjoy working with the foam. I'll keep the popsicle sticks for ladders and, well, popsicles. Thanks so much for sharing your techniques.

[@BlackMagicCraftOfficial]

Yea, the thought of prepping enough popsicle sticks to do a bunch of tiles does not appeal to me. Definitely take them and turn them into bridges and ladders!

[@ted-3dotmov]

This is frickin genious. Thank you so much! These videos are gonna make our campaign SO much better!!!!!!!!!!!

[@BlackMagicCraftOfficial]

That's the idea :) Good luck.

[@greglensink5265]

The convenience store coffee in the intro is pure gold.

[@camriedoyen6154]

Literally subscribing for the intro 😂

[@OperativeSurprise]

I've been hovering up your videos during quarantine. I'm a larp plot team writer and have been adapting a large plot line that Covid trashed into a tabletop dnd campaign, and you're making me want to make terrain for it. What do you consider the first essential things to make? Do I start with tiles like this? Key buildings? Ruins? Too many possibilities!

[@amdnable]

Great technique, great vid. Though you forgot to show the end result! a room with a fig or 2 would have been great to conclude the video. keep up the good work!

[@BlackMagicCraftOfficial]

Well, I do show a few photos of them in action at the start.

[@amdnable]

woops, yes, you're right (y)

[@quassisbelltower9408]

Love this video.everything you talked about makes sense. I like how you kept the grid off but used the nails too mark for the grid. Been thinking about using mod pog but haven't made my mind of about it. I'm thinking about it now. I'm glad you put in all the information you do in your videos. I don't put to much info in my video for two reason. 1 my internet is horrible where I live and I try to make my video short because I have had people tell me my video were to long. Some people have no patience. I was thinking about doing affiliate thing with companies like Amazon and some others but I think I may need more subscribers before going that way. Tube buddy seems to help but I still have along way to go. Thanks for the help in the past.

[@BlackMagicCraftOfficial]

Yea, some of my videos are long but I make sure every included moment has valuable info talked about or shown and I cut out everything else. So no "dead air", just useful stuff, that's the trick. Things can be long if it's all valuable. As for affiliate stuff I did the channel for a year and a half and waited until I broke 10k subs to do it, otherwise it would be a lot of work for no reason. Same with patreon, waited until channel was already "successful" to do it.

[@alantira]

Gran bel lavoro! I chiodi sono un dettaglio da intenditore.

[@mm-nt8el]

Cool! I learned something! Thanks!

[@curioscuro]

Yay Tim Horton's! Did not know you were Canadian! I am new to the Subs. Ontario here!

[@Macil2018]

Fantastic video! Just subscribed!

[@christopherthurman5424]

Cool stuff!

[@kobys5435]

Another clever grid option would be to stagger the seams of the planks, seams on the grid lines. This also adds realism, as plank/hardwood floors almost always stagger the seams of the boards.

[@zephy64]

That opening was so Canadian!

[@dumbdog2924]

Lol that text comment isn't a bad idea for me! Limited storage it kinda rough sometimes 😂 the tiles look absolutely fantastic!!!

[@DiceLegenz]

Thanks for the helpful video

[@AzraelThanatos]

Another option for the grid is to have the lines being a 2" from the end and a 1" from the end, alternating with each row. Basically splitting each board into two of them, and using the alternation to have the splits in them. Also for the foam cutter, you can almost double your speed with making the grooves by flipping them around so you have both sides and each step inwards at the same time rather than continuing from one direction

[@haz-mattstudio6074]

The cost reveal was the best part of the video XD

[@dkbibi]

I don't have enough free time and patience to do tons of these but I'll definitely do one big inn-sized tile with this technique. As usual, great vid and technique! Thx!

[@BlackMagicCraftOfficial]

Honestly it doesn't really take longer to make a set of smaller modular tiles. I did a whole set in a few hours.

[@dkbibi]

Well less measuring, less sides. I agree it might be marginal though. If it can saves me 15 min, I'll gladly take it these days lol

[@BlackMagicCraftOfficial]

If time is that important you definitely need a Proxxon. It will save hours each project.

[@dkbibi]

That I can't argue with lol

[@SCDaynight]

Love the tim hortons

[@morbid6six6]

Luke over at boulder creek railroad shows how to make a hot wire cutter, also a static grass applicator.

[@RicksPoker]

If I was doing this, I would use the paint to make the boards slightly different shades of brown. You don't want to go crazy, keep it very subtle. But boards of slightly different colors, and or shades, look much more realistic. You can even put a streak of darker wood along one plank. Warm regards, Rick.

[@seangere9698]

Also with the wire to be even faster you can do it with only setting it four times instead of six times. Do the half inch for the one plank then rotate the tile to the opposite end and do the other half inch then set for the one inch and do both lines rotating the tile from one to the other, then set it to one and a half inch for the middle line, then set to 1/4 or whatever for the face line and do those. And done. Instead of resetting for each half inch line.

[@nicka.9057]

Could you make the tiles dual sided? Having stone on one side and planks on the other.

[@Fnordathoth]

Great video yet again. It's been my experience that Mod Podge is absolutely horrid in high humidity climates. The stuff never dries completely and is always slightly tacky even a year later. I personally suggest a water based brush on matte varnish like Min-Wax Polycrylic or Rustoleum Varathane to prevent projects from being ruined due to humidity or even accidental exposure to water. It's quite a bit more expensive than Mod Podge for sure but well worth it in my opinion for full protection of your pieces. Edit: I wrote this comment before getting to the end of the video where he says to use Minwax to protect your piece, oh well...

[@BlackMagicCraftOfficial]

Yea, high humidity is not something I need to consider where I am. I would think high humidity would also be a problem with other clear coats as well.

[@Fnordathoth]

I've never had a problem with water based polyurethanes not curing properly other than taking maybe an hour or so longer which is why I suggested it. Of course I wouldn't have even commented on a clear coat had I waited to the end of the video and heard you mention it, my bad.

[@junkopotomus]

The hot wire looks cool. In an effort to make it an assembly line like you said, could you cut the first line at 1/2 inch then flip the tile and cut the other edge? Presumably cut the second line in at the 1 inch mark on both sides and so on. Also, maybe set up a jig with a piece of foam and put 3/4 inch tacks pointing up thru the jig tile. You could just press the wood tiles down and put those nail holes in at one shot. Love your content btw.

[@Fizzlefuse]

Awesome. I'm so going to do this;)

[@revanjg]

Love your vids man... inspiration and personality... sub'd

[@GuardianofAllator]

Black Magic Craft: Giving important information My one-track brain that likes to pick up on details and cling to them: Golgari hat haha

[@masonfoster151]

alright ive seen 5 videos, subbed. nice golgari hat btw

[@mahadipickmee8623]

Yes, I am watching this at almost 4am

[@ScaredShitlessable]

“Why do I do this to myself?” Me: Wait what, the staying up until 3am or deciding to have a child? Love the work btw it’s quite fascinating and I intend to watch it all again when I finally get situated and start playing table tops

[@DidgeandDragons]

When you do your tiles with the hot wire you could rotate the tile 180° with every measured distance so you only need to measure 3 times and would be even quicker :)

[@bencoomer2000]

You could halve your work on the hotwire machine by just rotating the piece 180 after every cut.

[@mszoomy]

That's what I was thinking too. But I assume he did it for the same readon he drew the lines from one one side, so that if he was off just a bit the board in the middle didn't look weird. Personally, I wouldn't care, I'd flip them and if the one in the middle wound up being off so what, it would look more real

[@bencoomer2000]

@@mszoomy Makes sense. I just had a similar thing with a woodworking project that really sped up when I though of that.

[@mszoomy]

@@bencoomer2000 I thought the same thing you did when I watched him do it. If the piece was perfectly square it would work otherwise it would be off a little bit in the center. I'm a perfectionist but I also weigh my time against my OCD. sometimes I win sometimes my OCD does. LOL

[@olovskiPL]

You could make the bottom side your standard dungeon tile, a 2 in 1 kinda thing :)

[@olovskiPL]

ups, posted before i finished watching

[@loudnoises213]

my wash left white residue in the crevices, not black like I wanted. had to repaint quite a few tiles. tips? I already decreased the amount of dish soap, so we'll see how that goes. great videos!

[@heyo49]

Love the way you mark the grid. Another way would be to put butt joints on the boards, but that might make it too busy and distracting.

[@BlackMagicCraftOfficial]

I tested that, and thought it looked silly. A wood floor would never be built like that (and as a professional carpenter it bugged me too much)....and yea, also too busy. I think if you really want a 1" grid doing more of a checker pattern, rotating the boards 90deg every second one would work best. Like Wyloch does on his wood tiles.

[@amethystcraft8792]

So good idea! gz :D

[@BlackMagicCraftOfficial]

Thanks :)

[@ImaginationHobbies]

you dont have to shift the fence 5 times to do plank lines. cut, flip, cut, shift, cut, flip, cut, shift, cut. (3 shifts) (your probably already doing this but jic i thought id mention it) (even when doing an assembly line style)

[@BlackMagicCraftOfficial]

Yea, I definitely realized that just after filming, and was too lazy to reshoot, lol.

[@Sammo212]

That wire brush is giving me too many goosebumps >< Just like hearing tinfoil crunched, can't take it! lol

[@BlackMagicCraftOfficial]

like nails on a chalkboard cant take it or ASMR cant take it?

[@johnjamesmyers3964]

I tried making tiles out of sawed up craft sticks. The results are decent enough, but I decided to finish my "warehouse tiles" with the method in this video. (Turns out that working with real wood takes far longer!)

[@TheFlapper666]

I just got my proxxon today xD

[@Scubasgamecorner]

Just sub'd love your vids man a lot of really cool ideas so far. One question though are you only primarily making things for Fantasy, because I would love a tutorial how to do sci fi floor tiles like for inside a spaceship or space station or maybe a futuristic building.

[@BlackMagicCraftOfficial]

Stephen Poulin yea, since this Chanel takes a lot of time to produce, but it's a side thing from my full career, I can only really cover stuff I already make for my own game. And since I play in a fantasy setting that means fantasy projects on the channel. I'd love to do sci if too but the channel will need a lot more support through stuff like patreon to make that happen.

[@Hippie-uh6fv]

the whole thing is , if you got time on your hand, you don't really need the hot plate thing, in self isolation watching all this videos prepping for dnd when our group can get back together

[@shadowops62]

LMAO...Tim Horton's, the Dunkin Donuts of the great white north. Fond memories of my visits to Canada and Ontario.

[@lazersoupe]

My wife made a comment that when you are cutting on the proxon table you can cut down on the measurements for the planks if you rotate the tile 180 degrees to cut from the other side. That way you get two cuts from each measurement.

[@naamahdarling]

I realize this is an older video, so manually adding subs to the back catalog would be a lot of work, but could you please go into settings and enable auto CC? I can get the gist without them, but I'm hard of hearing and even the auto-generated subs are a HUGE help!

[@BlackMagicCraftOfficial]

I actually took a look to see if I could do this, and there is no option. I'm only able to manually add a transcript. I have no idea why this particular video didn't generate auto CC when uploaded, but it wasn't a choice on my end. Sorry about that.

[@clutchbearing]

I'm curious if there is a reason you don't mark the surfaces of larger pieces before cutting them into 3" squares? especially grid lines. I find it faster to work on larger pieces then break them down and touch them up. Thank you for your videos! Amazing work. Excellent clear instruction. Peace.

[@draskang]

Makes me wanna craft mini enviros... and I don't even play tt/pnp anymore

[@MrSpideymeister]

I just tried this a couple of days ago. I used Wyloch's pattern with your technique. I did have one problem though. It seems like my XPS had a natural grain to it. Whenever I took the wire brush (or sometimes even the knife) to it, one direction would be perfectly clean, while the other direction would dig into the foam and cause tears. Any advice?

[@patraspartyof6patras380]

Could you make these two sided with stone on one side and wood on the other?

[@orangemage9522]

On the heat tool, you should only have to move the guard two times after the first cut. All you have to do is make your 1/2" cut, flip the foam, and do it again on the opposite side. Move it to 1", do the same, and 1.5" and do it again.

[@BlackMagicCraftOfficial]

Yea, I realized that right after filming....can't believe I didnt' think of it right away!

[@johncousen345]

Excellent work. I just got a Proxxon and am enjoying learning how to use it. Any more tips would be greatly appreciated.

[@BlackMagicCraftOfficial]

Yea, as the channel progresses and more viewers get them, I will be covering techniques more and more.

[@johncousen345]

Thanks.

[@ninadottir488]

I know I'm 2 years late but whatever😅 When using the hotwire you could just flip the tile to the other side and work your way to the middle from both sides. Then you only have to adjust the length three times 🙂 Everyone probably knows this by now but maybe someone is coming late to the party like me🤷

[@ryancarter6876]

Yes, but if the tile is not perfectly square this would give you a crooked line. He is measuring from the same edge always, but this would certainly be easier assuming it is square! (I don't even have a big saw btw, just a thought, I'm late to the party also.)

[@alexhermann7006]

Have you ever used clear art gesso to create water effects? If so please let me know how it works out. I have used resin for water effects with some good and bad results. Looking for alternative items to use.

[@rickardo5529]

Do your tiles double sided you would get more use out of them and save on space

[@music4note]

Hi I am wondering....how would you build a 1m to 1m wood quest board for D&D? I am running cos and would like to show a quest baord next to the Inn in Vallaki.

[@thePunisher95125]

Another thing to make tavern wooden floor is make the planks of wood different sizes like measuring out to lengths.

[@Alesmai]

Cool tile and great production value. Wish there was a glamour shot in the beginning or end showing some tiles together in action though!

[@BlackMagicCraftOfficial]

Uh there is, watch the first few minutes again. There are like 3 photos shown

[@BlackMagicCraftOfficial]

Actually 4 photos in the first minute of the video

[@Alesmai]

Ah went back and found it. to be fair it was about 10 seconds of a 30 minutes video so it was easy to miss

[@richbuilds_com]

You should pick up some 1-2-3 blocks - makes it simple for lining things up on the proxon. And for general assembly.

[@BlackMagicCraftOfficial]

Man, I have been wanting to get a 123 block for a long time! I just keep forgetting to actually do it.

[@richbuilds_com]

I picked mine up on ebay for £20 for a pair. I have a few other blocks I've picked up at trade fairs too. Great for keeping stuff square while the glue dries :)