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For my games I try to use DwarvenForge whenever possible. For a home game (Sunrise Lodge UK) this works fine. Conventions can be a bigger issue. At the first one I carried a suitcase up and down the subway in London. It was our largest suitcase and heavy.
At PaizoCon UK half a year later I thought I had learnt my lesson and arrived with lots of boxes. While it worked a lot better - I only realized well past 1 am in the night that I hadn't left my gaming table for >15 minutes during the last 15 hours as build up and especially stow away did eat up all of my breaks. Luckily I had my wife bringing me food to the table - and gamers bringing me some beer - plus enough DrPepper close by.
So when I planned for Conception - having signed up to GM a total of 9 slots - I felt there had to be a better way.
Therefore for Conception 2011 I created some boards. Just 6.50 pounds for boards and the wooden railing. I did flock the first one but ran out of time to prepare the second one in the same way. This time I used the Den of Evil sets. You will see that the layout is slightly different. Classic DF should be able to build up both of the set-ups. But I'm a little bit more limited in design with the DoE or RotA sets.
So any advice to give?
Doing the boards took approx. 1 hour (without flocking them). I realized my nails were too long - but I just pushed some back if they went through the board. Cutting the strips to lengths was quick and I added them while I had the layout on the board.
Does it work with different DF? I will have to check it out, There are sometimes slight differences in size and I haven't tried yet to build it up using the classic set. Once I do I will report back and see if I did it too tightly.
One advice it - check out the boot of your care. As you can see I did two boards - Blackros Museum public area (Mist of Mwangi, Penumbral Accords) and first level below (Voices in the Void). Unfortunately it seems I never took photos while it was build up. I got lucky as the longer one fitted perfectly in my car (Skoda Octavia) - but an added 5 cm and I would have been out of luck.
You can store them on top of each other - and you just need to add another board on top. Just ensure they can't move sideways - and they are pretty save during transport.
I did transport the boards a total of 7 times back and forward from my car to my gaming table. The extra holes I added are not really necessary for pick-up. Nothing really moves while carrying them. Off course - you still should be careful. An original DF box will survive a lot better if you actually drop such a board.
So all in all - it was some extra work preparing - but it was worth it. It did save me lots of time building up - and especially taking down again. The players loved it - and we had some great games.
Thod
And of course all of this really needs some pictures. Most of the above post I edited from a post at the DwarvenForge boards. There you also can see some photos.
Just as a Spoiler warning - this is the layout of the Blakros Museum. On the other hand - players can ask for a map and should get it as hand out. The photos shouldn't contain more details as the map.
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For my games I try to use DwarvenForge whenever possible. For a home game (Sunrise Lodge UK) this works fine. Conventions can be a bigger issue. At the first one I carried a suitcase up and down the subway in London. It was our largest suitcase and heavy.
At PaizoCon UK half a year later I thought I had learnt my lesson and arrived with lots of boxes. While it worked a lot better - I only realized well past 1 am in the night that I hadn't left my gaming table for >15 minutes during the last 15 hours as build up and especially stow away did eat up all of my breaks. Luckily I had my wife bringing me food to the table - and gamers bringing me some beer - plus enough DrPepper close by.
So when I planned for Conception - having signed up to GM a total of 9 slots - I felt there had to be a better way.Therefore for Conception 2011 I created some boards. Just 6.50 pounds for boards and the wooden railing. I did flock the first one but ran out of time to prepare the second one in the same way. This time I used the Den of Evil sets. You will see that the layout is slightly different. Classic DF should be able to build up both of the set-ups. But I'm a little bit more limited in design with the DoE or RotA sets.
So any advice to give?
Doing the boards took approx. 1 hour (without flocking them). I realized my nails were too long - but I just pushed some back if they went through the board. Cutting the strips to lengths was quick and I added them while I had the layout on the board.
Does it work with different DF? I will have to check it out, There are sometimes slight differences in size and I haven't tried yet to build it up using the classic set. Once I do I will report back and see if I did it too tightly.One advice it - check out the boot of your care. As you can see I did two boards - Blackros Museum public area (Mist of Mwangi, Penumbral Accords) and first level below (Voices in the Void). Unfortunately it seems I never took photos while it was build up. I got lucky as the longer one fitted perfectly...
Wow; that's some real dedication to giving your players a great experience. Kudos!
I've actually thought of using Fat Dragon Games stuff to do something similar, and the museum has an idea layout for it. Plus it would be much easier to transport.
Hmmm...
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FYI - Flip-mat produced for the rearranged Blakros Museum. Not really useable for the original scenarios sadly.
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Impressive work, Thod!
When I travel to cons, I try to use custom terrain that is already assembled rather than modular stuff - while bulkier to pack, it means I'm not spending time setting up during a limited con slot. (I get really grumpy when I don't eat between games.)
I also have been using paper terrain (a mix of Fat Dragon, WorldWorks Games, Lord ZseZse Works, and Dave Graffam stuff, depending on the terrain needed). I have done Hirst Arts terrain, but save it for really big scenes.
For the Blakros, I made custom paper terrain - my first attempt. I glued the paper walls to 1/8" art board walls. There is a 1" high wall attached to the floor, and then the full height (3") walls sit against them. This helps me pack it for travel, but it sets up very quickly and in a pinch I can just leave the high walls off.