Somebody got them for me for my birthday and my review is: they rule.
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| Yes, that's a real frog. 1$ on Ebay plus shipping from Guatemala. |
Each one is a little cube, scaled for a D&D-scale 5' square, apparently filled with bits of magnetic sand or ball-bearings, so they stick to whichever other block or blocks is/are next to them.
The pack I got had both those grey stone-looking boxes and the wooden-crate looking ones. If you want to get all magical-girl their website has all kinds of Disney-colored blocks for actual children as well which I might pick up.
In addition to all the obvious uses, I also just like:
-Being able to grab a short stack to indicate a character is levitating or whatever
-Quickly snapping-together a little pencil-holder or dice corral or something on my desk
-Using the different-colored blocks or the different pattern-sides to subtly indicate that one block is where a trap or hidden feature is, even though it just looks like I threw a thing together.
The only non-obvious limitation on them is that if you have a block not supported directly from below, it's not strong enough to support a metal miniature--though it might hold a plastic or paper one.
As long as we're here I also want to give a shout-out to just like blocks. Like regular block-blocks. I Ebayed a pack of A-to-Z for like twelve bucks and they're infinitely useful.
I like neat dungeon scenery as much as the next guy--including all the cool walls and stairs and stuff that Dwarven Forge or whatever makes--but the thing is they can be a struggle to keep adapting to situations that come up and crucially, they usually don't stack well.
Regular old kids' building blocks are at least kind of useful for nearly any situation. Plus they're strong, durable, cheap, less fiddly than Legos, and can be used to teach your players basic shapes and common animals.
In most dungeons I like to use the blocks themselves to indicate a corridor rather than the more model-builder way of using the blocks to build walls and indicate the corridor using the space in-between. It's easier to see them and saves time and blocks.
Also, here's a review of using a real dead giant isopod to represent a giant isopod: freaks players out and works every time.
Also recommended: this wooden prison, sold as a D&D "dice jail" that I picked up at the Ren Faire. The doors slide up and down, so its very serviceable as a dungeon cell---like twenty-five bucks.
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