This year (2026) my great grandson mentioned playing D&D at school and enjoying it. I wondered if the nice dungeon map tiles and the huge amount of miniatures that come with the D&D Castle Ravenloft board game could possibly be adapted to be played with a Dungeon Master (DM) – to make it seem more like a role-playing or storytelling game. Aimed at younger players, this would leave them free to enjoy the game and inhabit their characters, while a DM could narrate the encounters, role-play the villains and monsters, and handle the mechanics of the monster action scripts, all out of sight of the players.
I ended up writing a rules variant for a very simple DM-guided game, part of which involves the game occasionally dropping out of the usual “turn-by-turn” exploring/fighting mode and into a looser, almost system-less story mode – before returning to turn-based for fighting or further exploration. This would allow a DM to include encounters where (for example) the players have to solve puzzles where brain work and cooperation (rather than fighting strategy) is required in order to proceed with the adventure.
I felt that this story mode would benefit from some custom artwork for the tiles, and so I also developed a way to create my own tiles using a 2D printer and a 3D printer. The tiles are compatible with the various D&D board game boxed sets.
As usual, my digital output ends up in the public domain -so added to my “trove” now, is a package of digital resources for Castle Ravenloft board game customisation, free to download and use as you will.
Rules Variant Package Download (Zipped, .PDFs):
- DM Variant Rules Supplement (7 Pages)
- Appendix: The Play Sequence in Detail (3 pages).
- Appendix: Suggested Adjustments for the Castle Ravenloft specific Problem Cards. (2 pages)
- Appendix: Suggested Adjustments for specific Castle Ravenloft Scenarios (3 pages)
- Appendix: Ideas for running Castle Ravenloft as a Campaign (2 pages).
- Character Sheets.
How to Make Your Own Custom 4” x 4” Dungeon Tiles – Download (Zipped, various files):
- An .STL format file for 3D-printing tile bases with connectors.
- Five A4 sheets (.PDF) including completed artwork for 2D-printing 10 example custom tile designs.
- Detailed, illustrated instructions on how to print and construct the tiles.
- Template file & image assets for Dungeon Painter Studio software.
Alternative art for 2” x 2” Trap Tiles:
- One A4 sheet (.PDF) including alternative artwork for trap tiles (previously published separately).
Peter Vodden 