After the jump I've included the instructions and materials list of how you can make your own elevation or depth marker similar to mine. I'll also show you some alternative methods to indicate height or depth if you don't want to go this route. Though these elevation markers are some nice gamer bling that your players will absolutely love.

I don't own one of his products, so I've no direct observational data to provide but reviewers seemed to like them and if I didn't have a restricted budget I would have purchased a few of these myself. Also if you do decide to go for the "golden standard" and pick up one from Walter please go to emerald's emporium's website as other retailers take a "chunk" of Walters profits and we want Walter to continue to do what he's doing!
Now for the tutorial on how to create your own elevation or depth markers or use an alternate method if on a restricted budget like myself...
First lets start off with a few alternate methods for indicating elevation. When I first started playing dnd, we just used d10s to represent elevation changes if at all. As you can see however it can get cluttered around the battleboard in a hurry not to mention one bad role from a wayward die and you're either skyrocketing or plummeting to your death. We used one "large" d10 for the largest unit then a normal "tens" die for the next largest unit, and finally a mini sized d10 for the smallest unit.
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old skewl method (221 units of elevation) |
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using ROYGBIV (I don't have orange dice) wavelength = height or depth you just use one for a generalized indication Red is highest/lowest etc. |
So after awhile we started to use color "tokens" to just give a "generalized" height rather than a specific "to the foot measurement". Being somewhat science geeks we used the standard visible light system for the amounts of elevation, aka ROYGBIV, or Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet. The color indicated height/depth, Red is a longer wavelength than Violet so depending on height or depth your either the highest or the lowest elevation in the game. This is a pretty good system as players tended to hover around the same heights or fight monsters on the same height "plane" most of the time, so you could easily indicate if you were 1 level higher than the dragon, or 2 levels under the dragon if the dragon were set as "yellow" or "green" (if you had all the colors of dice green would be the middle).
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d10s under a mini dice box (221 units) |
Then after acquiring a number of mini dice boxed I played around the idea again using d10s and having the d10s under the box which would be ideal as you could get "specific" if you needed for some reason protect your elevation from changes, and still have the figure look as if its flying and be able to move about the gameboard.
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final height or depth marker (63 units, the thousands, pink and the hundreds, yellow markers left off) |
Then I decided to go one step further and use a similar idea as Walter and go with numbering system on the box itself or better yet a transparency (which you can customize if needed) insert and use the same ROYGBIV system to indicate 1000's, 100's, 10's, and 1's. This method also allows me to place things "inside" the transparency to add to the effect like cotton balls for flying creatures or some colored paper for a water current and you can still read the numbers on the transparency! I then also decided to using either blue tac to secure the figures to the base or this new product I found at tap plastics called gekko dots. Its the same stuff they stick those fake credit cards or membership cards to a letter that you get in the mail, just on steroids, in addition if it gets soiled you can wash it under water and then re-use it, like a wacky wall walker! They're a bit pricey at about .40 cents per disc however so my total cost of my elevation or depth marker would be $1.70 with or $1.30 with out the gekko dots. Blue tac works just the same too.
So here are the materials list in, picture format, on how to create your own elevation or depth markers. Please let me know what your DM/GM uses as a elevation marker in the comments below or if you have any questions about mine.
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Click on image for number template print on transparency at 300dpi (hint practice on real paper first) cost (see below) |
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Dice Game Box, its a little big (this one is 1.25 in x 2in tall) cost 1box @ $1.15 |
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cotton balls or other "stuff" to insert into the cube to create a desired effect.(air/water/fire/etc.) cost 2 cotten balls @ $0.01 |
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used to secure your figure to the dice box cost 1 @ $0.40 |
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color cord, this is a plastic-y type of cord typically found in the kids craft section its somewhat stretchy and used to make friendship bracelets. cost 4 bands @ $0.02 total |
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after printing out the transparency you slightly "score" the lines and then fold them, if you did this correctly they will fit perfectly inside a 1.25 mini dice box that is 2in tall. cost is $0.10 |
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storing the gekko dots into the base when not in use keeps em clean. if they do get dirty just run them under water like those ole wacky wall walkers then you can reuse em! |
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gekko dots hold surprisingly well and leave no residue! |
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After folding just slip the transparency into the dice box. |
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Followed by some cotton balls if the figure is flying if you so choose or leave clear, up to you! You can also print out a water texture or use other things for various effects. |
Thats all there is to it! As you can see you can use a variety of items to indicate elevation if you need to do so, the added gamer bling is always appreciated by the players as long is its not too fussy to use and allows them to better "imagine" the activity involved!
Hope you enjoyed this post and thanks for stopping by!
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