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I've had a very productive week off. I've always liked sculpting little custom minis with Sculpey clay, usually oozes and worms because they're easy.
Anyway, I was online looking at the dungeon furniture on sale at Dwarven Forge and on Ebay and all of it was either too expensive or not what I liked, so I've been making my own. I'm a planner, so I made a list of every common type of dungeon furniture my players are likely to run across. My goal was to have a versatile pack that would be useful in multiple games. I intend to bring each of these things into miniature reality over the next few weeks (months?).
This is the list I made:
6 small dungeon doors
1 big dungeon door
3 small tables
1 big table
5 bookshelves with books and items inside
6 columns
2 coffins
2 stair tiles
2 piles of rubble
1 mage's desk
1 big bed
1 throne
1 altar
1 magic pool/font/well thing
That about covers it, right? If there are any other dungeon must-haves let me know because I am in a crazy sculpting /planning mood.
11/24/2011: I finished the doors, the bookshelves, and the tables!!
Here is everything so far: Blaarg's Minis.
Blaaarg,
Very nice. I've made some furniture with sculpey clay, but I also use other techniques such as craft wood sticks, foam core posterboard, epoxy putty and just stuff I find laying around the house.
I really like your bookshelves and doors. You've inspired me to make some.
Here's a few things I've been making that are in the same vein as your stuff:
wagons
barrels
crates
gravestones
tombs
catapults
cages
stone walls
stairs
chests of drawers
treasure chests
benches
desks
And here are a few things on my list that I intend to make but haven't done yet
bridges
treasure piles
lamp posts
campfires
boats (especially little boats like canoes or rafts)
haystacks, midden heaps or other tactical obstacles
monuments (think of Egyptian obelisks, or Stonehenge...)
Your stuff is much, much more artistic than my stuff though. I've very impressed. My stuff is pretty lame, but it works.
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i have made alot of furniture and bits for my dungeon and terrain ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzqbiLQvVrg
lately i have been working on new types of doors and boat for the numerous pathfinder games that take place on the deck or inside of a ship.
Its late. but if i remember int he morning i will snap some pics of my work in progress.
I am finishing a few pieces for the infernal vault quest that i am planning to run..
i have made alot of furniture and bits for my dungeon and terrain ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzqbiLQvVrg
lately i have been working on new types of doors and boat for the numerous pathfinder games that take place on the deck or inside of a ship.
Its late. but if i remember int he morning i will snap some pics of my work in progress.
I am finishing a few pieces for the infernal vault quest that i am planning to run..
I really like how precise the Hirst stuff looks. Great looking tavern you've got there.
Blaaarg,
Your stuff is much, much more artistic than my stuff though. I've very impressed. My stuff is pretty lame, but it works.
I disagree; I've seen your wood pieces and the thin wood looks a lot more believable than my sculpey. Compare your tables to my fat marshmallow tables. Some of the stuff on your list sounds irresistible and I am adding it to my project list.
Blaaarg, I was thinking about the relative thicknesses of your sculpey items and the things I'm making out of wood.
The wood items I am making are absolutely more "realistic" in terms of thicknesses, and I really like that they are actual wood, which stains pretty nicely, especially since my own ability to make faux wood grain is, well, laughable.
But I think the 1/72 scale throws things off. Just like a typical warrior miniature has a wrist as thick as its neck (or even head), it somehow looks more robust with some things thicker than an actual scale should be.
Looking at Dwarvenforge, Hirst and even Wartorn Worlds stuff, it looks like they understand this since all of their tables and benches are all much closer to your items' thickness than mine.
I was just about to make some bookshelves using my little wooden sticks and I decided instead to make a couple out of sculpey sort of like yours (they are cooking in the oven as I type this). Then I'm going to make some with the thickest wooden craft sticks I have and see how they look.
In the end I think my tables would have looked better with the thicker craft sticks, even if that would mean a foot-thick tabletop if scaled up to real life size. I suspect it will appeal more to the eye than my "realistically scaled" items.
Made some more!
I now have columns, a pair of vampire coffins, and some stair tiles.
All three of these were pretty simple. The columns are the only ones that took more than one step. First, make and bake the round bases, then make a lot of little clay balls the size of peas until you've got a handful of them. Gently roll them together on the table into a cylinder and the balls will press on each other, creating angles that look just like the edges of stone blocks. Stand them up on the bases and bake again. If you made it half the height, they'd make a pretty good rough pedestal or altar. I did all the detailing with just a basic set of clay tools from Hobby Lobby. I have still not used up my first $10.99 brick of Super Sculpey, so this is some really cheap terrain compared to what I've seen online.
Next up: An altar and a scrying pool!
Heh, this is quite the coincidence. I just made some coffins last night myself, and a tomb...
I need to make some stairs, but I've been struggling with making stairs the way they are normally made. You can't put a miniature on the stairs, they just slide off. So I'm thinking of making my stairs with 1 square inch treads, which will look strange, but will allow placement of minis on any height.
I'll try to make some tonight to see how they turn out.
Heh, this is quite the coincidence. I just made some coffins last night myself, and a tomb...
I need to make some stairs, but I've been struggling with making stairs the way they are normally made. You can't put a miniature on the stairs, they just slide off. So I'm thinking of making my stairs with 1 square inch treads, which will look strange, but will allow placement of minis on any height.
I'll try to make some tonight to see how they turn out.
I'd like to see those. Stairs and ramps really are a puzzle; those poor little minis can't have an Errol Flynn swordfight on the stairs. It breaks my heart.
Whew! Just in time. I can't sculpt until next weekend because of work, but I got a lot done over Thanksgiving.
I sculpted and painted an altar, a bed, a desk, a scrying pool, and a throne.
Next up: Walls! I think fifteen 4" wall sections and ten shorter 2" sections should be enough to create playable dungeon rooms.
Something tells me this new hobby may last awhile.
And I dunno why... but a couple canoes... Not fully painted yet.
I've been contemplating making walls... I don't like the thickness of the Hirst or Dwarvenforge walls... uses too much of my game real estate. I've made some prototype stone walls, but haven't done anything yet that can be made into dungeon rooms... that's why I bought the Hydrocal though, so I gotta get off my butt and make some...
Whew! Just in time. I can't sculpt until next weekend because of work, but I got a lot done over Thanksgiving.
I sculpted and painted an altar, a bed, a desk, a scrying pool, and a throne.
Next up: Walls! I think fifteen 4" wall sections and ten shorter 2" sections should be enough to create playable dungeon rooms.
Something tells me this new hobby may last awhile.
Awesome stuff Blaaarg! Again inspiring, I think you'll see some more copies, especially your scrying pool and the throne.
After thinking about the walls overnight and on my way to work in the morning I've decided that my current technique of using foam core poster board for walls is by far the best solution for my purposes. The material is light, strong and can be cut and shaped with exacto knives or even scissors. It's quite easy to make a series of rooms of significant size, and the walls are thin enough that you can still use every square on the game board.
Up until now I've used white and black poster board but haven't done anything to customize them. I am considering printing out brick or stone patterns and glueing that to the poster board before cutting out the walls. That will improve the look dramatically without adding much to the effort.
I'm going to continue to focus on making terrain items which enhance the atmosphere and which can be used as movable tactical elements in the game.
As much as I love the look of the Hirst and Dwarvenforge dungeons, I still just can't see giving up that many usable game board spaces just to have a nice looking dungeon. I need all the space I can get for my encounters.