Galactus help me... I may be getting into Dwarven Forge.
You are officially damned
I'm actually painting figures again and having some of my players over to the palazzo on Friday nights for grilling and painting (can't paint without beef in the stomach it's a Texas law). So I'm seriously considering picking up Dwarven Forge stuff in the very near future.
I'd like to hear any and all opinions on where to start?
Because I like running sandbox campaign I want to build things on the fly. After getting in on several of their dwarvenite kickstarters, their current offering break down into two categories. Modular Stuff you can build on the fly with and stuff you build dioramas with. The Diorama sets require to preassemble something set it aside and then pull it out complete when you want to use it. While technically modular, the assembly process is such you can't assemble it in a reasonable amount of time during a session like you can the modular kit.
This show the result of using a modular set which I could (and have) built on the fly without bogging down the session. You have to be organized and have practiced before hand.
This is the one diorama style set I got the Dwarvenite City. I was disappointed as it didn't work out well for how I use Dwarven Forge. But if prebuilding stuff works with your style then it is very good. Because of this when I had the opportunity I bought two more Resin Medieval building sets which are better for modular builds. The slowdown is a result of using pegs into a base then sliding walls in between. I will say if you have the $$$ the result can be spectacular and eminently usable during a session. As long as you prebuild it.
ModularDungeon (Dwarvenite or Resin)
Cavern (Dwarvenite or Resin)
Medieval Building Kit (Resin only)
DioramasCity (Dwarvenite)
Castles (Dwarvenite)
Painted or unpainted?
I went with unpainted for the Dungeon, and painted for the Caverns. It is straightforward work but a lot of it. I recommend using the paints they sell. You get a lot paint in a bottle, it applies wells, and holds up.
Storage?
Ah you come to the master. What you need is the below. A tote with sterilite containers. I have three of them that contain all my dwarven and I can transport them anywhere I game.
One set I used with the Dwarvenite City Stuff.
Should I buy used?
Sure especially if was prepainted from Dwarven Forge.
Any issues I need to know about?
So if you opt to build on the fly with the modular sets then have to practice to get a feel for the grain. When you draw a dungeon on a piece of graph paper, the walls fall equally on either side of the grid line. This is not the case with Dwarven Forge. The walls are on one side. For different sets you need to practice assembly them so when different section line up you don't get a discontinuity in the wall. It is not hard to learn it more of a side effect that most are not immediately aware of.
If your dungeon are all rooms and passages and not a compact maze then this won't be an issue. In general caverns are just rooms and passageways so this is not an issue with the cavern sets.
Next I think prebuilt layout with cloth covering the unexplored area are for the birds. In general I build out as the players explore tearing down stuff as they leave an area.
I have a wooden yardstick I use to shove a section over to keep building. Mind you not the entire layout just the section behind the part. Also note I describe while I am building so while their is additional time, I am not stupidly doubling what it takes to setup an area.
My current plan is to pick up two sets of the Cavern Core megapacks then build from there. Once I have enough for all the underground crawling I'll start working on the Dungeon and Wilderness then City stuff in that order.
Sure if caverns are more common adventuring local then that sounds good. If you do what I do you will find you only need enough for a) to build out the party area of awareness and b) variety of pieces to handle what you want to depict.
Hope this is helps. And here are some additional pics from my blog.
While I don't use this box any more this give you a sense of how I nest things in a tote.
A compact maze built using Dwarven Forge. This was after the session as I built this on the fly. The place was small enough that I ruled that the party didn't lose situational awareness of the layout so I didn't tear anything down.