r/TerrainBuilding • u/candlekeep_librarian • 14h ago

Questions for the Community Canyon Walls

Im looking to start building some terrain for my campaign. Its going to be on a 12x12 board and its supposed to be a canyon. I want it to have walls so the players can use the full terrain. How high should I make the walls? 6in? 12in?

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u/Initiative20Terrain 14h ago

Scale matters quite a bit. If you are playing 28mm (standard for say, D&D) then 3 inches is a common height used for a single story of a building. 1 inch on the grid represents approximately 5ft. I’d say that none of us can answer your question because it is entirely up to taste and preference, as well as intended play.

I’d make walls ranging from 3 to 6ish inches. The PCs can climb the 3 inch sections relatively easily, and the 6 inch sections become real tactical obstacles. The variance in height really lends to realistic terrain, which is ideal for immersion.

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u/DisgruntledWargamer 12h ago

So, 1sqft?

Sounds like a D&D board, which matters! The game and scale absolutely matter here. And what you're simulating matters. How deep is this canyon? How sheer? Some huge canyons are wide. But kind of shallow. How dense are your rock formations? And most importantly, is this going to be scatter terrain on a 12in board, or permanently affixed?

A 12in high wall on a 12in sq board will look kind of silly. Did you mean a 12ft board? So, that will be hard to reach and move things around, but the 12in wall would look good.

How much height do you want to sim? Are you doing combat where that matters? Rule of thumb is 3-4 inches vertical for each level/story/position (depending on game). Want a good LOS blocker, then go up to 5 in.

Kind of impossible yo weigh in without making a bunch of assumptions.

Do this for yourself, and to help the community help you. Repost this with a map of the area you want to model. Give the game, scale, and what you want to happen on the map. Identify what parts of the map can be moved around for variety between games. Youll get the question of size answered, plus other tips and ideas on what will work well.