First off, hello, "the new guy," I hope you enjoy it here
Yeah, using the RTP with 2k3 is only okay. I use the tilesets from FSM (First Seed Material, their style's just awesome), but I may revisit those good ol' chipsets for you. It's mostly trial and error, putting together what looks nice and leaving out what doesn't, but that can be time consuming & painful getting something to look good. I'll be out of town for the next few days, but I think I'll get to work on something when I get back.