The Harbinger 3D Terrain System was designed by Jeff Irving to accompany the Vrahode Game System. The goal is simple: augment play by creating more immersive and exciting adventures both for us as designers but also for our content creator backers and fans.
Harbinger consists of a series of room tiles, hallway tiles, stairs, and stair risers. The rooms and hallways come with a universal rail system underneath for connecting them and full-color artwork that is affixed to the tops so that no painting is required. For accurate movement, a 1” grid is present in the artwork for accurate movement. Additionally, each room and hallway has a unique alphanumeric code for easy construction for quests we have created or for designing your own underground complexes. It is NOT designed to stack because no one wants to have to reach in between levels to try and move miniatures around. It IS designed to sprawl out on the table.
Setting Up Harbinger
At its core, the Harbinger System is a tool for creating dungeon maps within the Vrahode Game System. To use it, you will need to use at least one of the included 18×18 inch maps. You can then use multiple maps together to create a larger complex.
There are ten maps available, labeled 10A through 14B, which can be combined and rotated to create a variety of different layouts. These maps feature an entrance on each side, allowing you to easily connect them together to create expansive, multi-level dungeons.
When creating the second level of the dungeon, you must start with a stair unit. You will plug the stair unit into two stair “treads.” These are platforms that support a miniature with a 1″ base so that the stair unit becomes functional for miniature movement between the levels of the dungeon.
The rest of the second level is constructed of room and hallway tiles connected by m/m keys (the most important piece in the system). This is supported by 2″ height pegs which create a stable and level platform to place miniatures, terrain pieces, doors, and more. Rubber socks are provided for peg bottoms to prevent slipping. Even a couple of rubber socks can keep an entire level stable! Pegs are not required on every corner of every room and hallway to create stability.
Making 3+ Level Dungeons
In order to create level three of a dungeon, you would simply trade out the 2” pegs for 4” pegs. This would also require stairs to be on risers if coming up from level one.
The Harbinger System also comes with a 4-piece Dungeon Riser. This 4-piece component, when combined with and supported by either 2” or 4” pegs, elevates and supports an 18X18” encounter map to the desired height, essentially making it a level two or level three encounter map!
To create levels four and five of a dungeon using the Harbinger System, you will need to use elevated maps in the same way you did for levels two and three. The process for building these levels is the same as the one you used for the lower levels. Rubber socks may be applied to the bottoms of selected pegs to prevent sliding.
Artwork for the rooms and hallways differs for the core box and each expansion so that they can be used to create a dungeon with a specific color scheme. You can also mix and match to create a multicolored dungeon if desired as well.
In order to prevent players from having to reach between or under levels when placing higher levels on top of other lower levels, there are a number of blocked hallway tokens to block off areas that are underneath.
The Harbinger System is NOT designed to replace flat dungeons – only to augment them and create more visual interest and excitement!
When you are moving along a hallway on level five of an enormous dungeon complex, you will understand what we mean! It feels like your hero could fall to their death at any time which definitely heightens the tension!
It is important to note that while the Harbinger System is not designed to stack, but rather sprawl, it is possible – with a bit of planning and creativity – to have things cross and overlap a bit without creating spots that are too hard to reach. The sky is the limit with this amazing system!
