Review of MasterMaze Rooms and Passages Set

In the long lost yesteryear of my youth, I sat down for the first time and read Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. I loved it. The world, the characters, the quest, all captured my imagination. But one particular part of the trilogy gripped my idle dreamings and has never let go since: Moria. I wondered what fabulous treasures and unimaginable horrors the doomed city of the dwarves hid within its burrows. What was done all those side passageways and wells? How many orcs and trolls lived there? What kind of treasure did the balrog hoard? For this reason, the classic dungeon crawl has always been one of my favorite RPG scenarios. Not that I am a fan of mindless hackfests, mind you (that's what miniatures games are for) but a well wrought dungeon is second to none in my book for suspense, tension, and terror. Now, with the MasterMaze kits from Dwarven Forge, even the most room description challanged, boxed text reading GM can whip out a dungeon that would put even Durin's folk to shame! .

The MasterMaze system is made up of a series of resin pieces that are fitted together using small resin ties. The underside of each piece is covered with felt, making the ties somewhat unnecessary if the dungeon is assembled on a tablecloth. The pieces range from intersections, to corners, to wall and floor pieces that are used to construct chambers. Each piece is handpainted, and the craftsmanship is excellent. I am personally somewhat amazed that Dwarven Forge is able to mass produce such high quality, visually appealling pieces. My collection of dwarven miniatures looks quite at home when arrayed for display in the dungeon I constructed using the pieces. I even found myself breaking out my orcs and setting up little battle dioramas, complete with color commentary from yours truly.

MasterMaze represents every reason why I became a miniatures gamer and RPGer. It is a perfect fusion of my childlike desire to collect cool looking toys and my adult desire to plunk my hard earned dollars down on something that is useful and practical and fun. The price is somewhat steep, but I believe that, considering the quality of the pieces, they are a bargain.

A few suggestions on using the set:

For RPG's

Don't knock yourself out building every single hallway and room that the players enter. If you can wing a room without actually building it, go ahead.

For miniatures battles:

Try to build mazes with a lot of room for maneuver. A big long corridor may look nice, but all of the action will get clogged up at one or two key points. Go with smaller armies. Unless you have a fortune to spend on MasterMaze sets, you'll have a few rooms and lots of corridors. Big armies will tend to swamp the entire maze and just grind into each other.

In summary, MasterMaze gave me the cool feeling I get whenever I see something really new and cool, like the first time I played D&D, or Resident Evil, or Call of Cthulhu, that child-like feeling of wide eyed wonder and gee whiz! amazement. If you are into miniatures gaming, or like using miniatures with fantasy RPGs, MasterMaze is a must have. This is the kind of product that rekindles my dying interest in RPGs.

Style: 5 (Excellent!)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)