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Post by Scott on Nov 24, 2014 12:50:39 GMT -5
I always thought just the floor was the way to go, with the occasional addition. Way back in the day, I once user giant sized sheets of 1" square graph paper and made up full color floor plans for big sections or the ToEE dungeons. One of the more memorable campaigns I've run. I rarely even uses minis these days.
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Post by Scott on Nov 24, 2014 12:51:06 GMT -5
The walls were my biggest problem with the Dwarven Forge stuff. I bought one set, hated it, and sold it to Eric.
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Post by geneweigel on Nov 24, 2014 14:30:07 GMT -5
I think that the sets needs to be more generic. I bought a bag of wood shapes for crafts on a lark back in the late 80's and that went a long way. I also used to have a "Christmas town" roll of brick road from 1991 that someone pocketed at one of my open to the public games. Plain blocks painted grey came in the most handy.
I think leveled areas would be more useful than an atmospheric diorama. Like for instance a floor level "pit" with a 25mm ledge where the upper body is exposed can go a long way.
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Post by geneweigel on Nov 24, 2014 15:12:50 GMT -5
I forgot to say the more generic the more "the fantasy" when you have it all decked out sometimes its too specific.
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Post by GRWelsh on Nov 25, 2014 9:51:34 GMT -5
I agree that what is practical and usable and reusable should be the emphasis. A few specific dioramas would be fun projects. Any suggestions? A few ideas I had are: the Shrine of Evil Chaos in B2, a turreted tower like what Burne and Rufus have in Hommlet, and maybe something like the Green Dragon Inn, in Greyhawk.
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Post by Scott on Nov 25, 2014 11:59:33 GMT -5
Burne's tower and surrounding construction sounds cool. I'd do the Welcome Wench before the GDI. The Moathouse. One of the temples from inside the ToEE: Fire, or the Greater, the Shrine od Evil Chaos or a G series Temple of the EEG, the Maure Castle Iron Golem area.
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Post by GRWelsh on Nov 25, 2014 13:34:25 GMT -5
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Post by geneweigel on Nov 26, 2014 11:23:31 GMT -5
All pretty cool. About that moathouse, I saw that in person and the guy didn't actually build it after I lauded him for constructing it. He said he had ordered it for the event from a place that builds custom miniature layouts. What I noticed was that the ground was made out of interlocking ceiling tiles. The styrofoam castle tops were modular and the popped off and could be replaced by "ruined" pieces.
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Post by Scott on Nov 26, 2014 11:56:40 GMT -5
So there you go, Gary. Sell custom molds for gaming cons.
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Post by Scott on Nov 26, 2014 15:42:02 GMT -5
The description of the Temple is some of my favorite module text. The architecture, the wind pipes that sound like tormented souls, the surroundings, etc. It may be a little much for in game purposes, but it's a good read.
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Post by GRWelsh on Nov 27, 2014 10:27:51 GMT -5
So there you go, Gary. Sell custom molds for gaming cons. The idea is I wish I could find this sort of thing at a gaming con or for sale online but it is hardly ever done. Anyway, I'm not really a gaming con sort of person, and this would be a terrible way to make money. The idea of setting up a booth at a con and selling custom buildings and dioramas doesn't really appeal to me. Lots of people might go "Ooh" and "Aah" but I think few would have enough money or be willing to buy something like a fully built Inn of the Welcome Wench. But, you know, I could be wrong. I would have never thought an idea like Dwarven Forge could be successful and actually make money. How many Brians are out there who really get into it, then drop about $3k on over 20 sets, in the space of a few years? Apparently, A LOT. If Eric would ever set up a booth at a con, for his shop, maybe I'd send some things with him. But putting them on a webpage...That might be a better idea. It would still be a labor of love and not very profitable. It's a very niche audience of people like us, middle-aged and old gamers, with disposable income, exchanging comments of "Yeah, I've always wanted to build something like this myself... but never got around to it!"
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Post by GRWelsh on Nov 27, 2014 10:43:48 GMT -5
The description of the Temple is some of my favorite module text. The architecture, the wind pipes that sound like tormented souls, the surroundings, etc. It may be a little much for in game purposes, but it's a good read. Yeah, I've always loved the descriptive text in T1 and T1-4. The background text for T1, player's description of the Ruins of Elemental Evil, and tidbits like the Pearlescent Room, Temple of Fire, Hall of Verdigris, and Prince Thrommel, are among my favorite things EGG ever wrote. I always thought he was at his best writing these sorts of descriptive texts, as well as Notes for the Dungeon Master.
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Post by GRWelsh on Jul 15, 2016 10:13:38 GMT -5
Anyone doing anything with fantasy architecture or miniatures? I like the caverns here: www.4botindustries.com/And the new medieval building stuff from Hirst Arts: www.hirstarts.com/tips34/tips34.htmlNeed some new paints... I love all the options that are available these days, even if they are expensive. Eric and I were talking about this yesterday, and how if you really wanted to, you could make everything yourself at home for free with enough form core and popsicle sticks...
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Post by GRWelsh on Apr 8, 2019 18:35:20 GMT -5
I was just drawing out blueprints for the entry gatehouse and drawbridge flanked by towers from the KEEP ON THE BORDERLANDS. It is a surprisingly complex little set up, but I think I'm finally ready to tackle it. I'm drawing out each floor first. Some of the challenges are putting in the murder holes, arrow slits, connecting the round towers to the straight walls. Here is an image of some fieldstone dungeon I created with Hirst Arts. I got around the wall problem by simply not gluing them to the floor sections; the walls are wide enough to stand on their own.
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Post by Scott on Apr 9, 2019 17:24:11 GMT -5
Looks good, Gary.
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Post by geneweigel on Apr 11, 2019 12:24:59 GMT -5
Sorry, I overlooked this (past couple of days... Doozies). It looks good for sure. What are you saying? Hommletize (moathouse cutaway) the Keep?
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Post by GRWelsh on Apr 11, 2019 18:41:00 GMT -5
Yep. Modular pieces that can be re-assembled in different ways. And hey, the gatehouse can always double as a DM screen!
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Post by GRWelsh on Jan 30, 2020 12:15:18 GMT -5
I just had two other fantasy architecture ideas: using Hirst Arts build "Castle Branzoll" (Blackmoor) and "Castle Bodenburg" (Greyhawk) to scale with modern miniatures. It is interesting to me that the Castle Branzoll model by Kibri is based upon a real castle in Tyrol, the "German part" of northern Italy. That was the model used by Dave Arneson to represent Castle Blackmoor for his players in the fantasy scenarios they played before D&D even existed! So, in a very vague sense, Blackmoor and hence D&D has roots in an actual, real world place! Of course, now I want to go there... SIEGE OF BODENBURG was played at GEN CON I, and the Elastolin model of the castle was later used by EGG to represent his own Castle Greyhawk as the upper works characters would see before descending into the dungeons... And when you look at it, there some rather obvious similarities also to the moathouse from T1 and the Keep on the Borderlands from B2.
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Post by GRWelsh on Jan 31, 2020 9:51:11 GMT -5
I just ordered the Kibri "Castle Branzoll" from Reynauld's Euro Imports. At around $50 plus only $10 shipping that seemed like a good deal. Although, I'm sure I will think it is tiny when I get it! Then I can decide if I want to build a bigger version or use as is for "upper works" of a dungeon. Maybe this could be the castle of a Cairn Hills fiefdom that was once a rival to the Landgraf of Castle Greyhawk...
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Post by Scott on Jan 31, 2020 13:48:31 GMT -5
Just make it Blackmoor, or a newly discovered mystery castle in one of the hilly areas near the coast in the Bright Desert
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