The Lost and The Damned › MINIATURES! › Fantasy Painting and Modeling

Some "terrain" from my campaign

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Fenryz –

The first picture is supposed to be this dwarfsmithy, with a big smelterthingie in the middle. The players interrupted a fierce ettin/ogre torturing a dwarf by having him hanged in chains above the opening, threatening to drop him into the molten metal - also, those barred holes in the floor contained prisoners, who could be killed by opening the valves and releasing molten metal into the "cells".
The players managed to kill the ogre and his minions, but he managed to open the valve - and they had to go through this minigame, trying to save the poor dwarves down below. It looked bleak, but the mage remembered having this elemental gem with a captured water elemental, and tossed it into the smelter, stopping the flow enough to save the dwarves.

The next part is this mineshaft, with several levels - not showing are the openings in the walls, and the heavy cargocontainers hanging from chains in the roof - containers that could be moved by using levers and pulleys in the walls. The players moved and released these containers in order to break the platform barely showing in the lowest part, crushing a "boss" who thought he was safe in a magic field. The platform broke and hurtled him into the dark abyss, much to the players rejoicement. Oh, and while they were running around trying to do this, they were hounded by orcs and a large metal golem released by the old "security system".

Ive had lots of fun making simple walls, trees and other stuff, like those barrels showing on the second picture - also, Mr Babbles work can be seen in the first picture ^^
Im hoping to get the time for more of this, learning as I go.

Oh, and I forgot to mention the Ogre/ettin really... He was just this normal boss in the encounter, bit boring, so I wanted to make him something the players remembered - so I made him into this one-headed Ettin, having lost one of his heads years ago in a fight. But since he loved his "headbrother", he forced his shamans (bit brighter and more social than other Ettins) to reanimate the head. He decided to honor his headbrother by putting the head on a big stick and using him as his main weapon. The players really appreciated being battered by this hollering, rotten head, slobbering all over them every chance it got. ^^ Had this idea that it would get stuck with a critical hit, gnawing on until someone managed to pry it loose.

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Scumdog47

Re: Some "terrain" from my campaign

Looks nice!

Oh and I loved that Ettin-idea.
I might just steal it for some future campaign...

Fenryz

Re: Some "terrain" from my campaign

In reply to this post by Fenryz

The campaign Im using is the Kingmaker from Paizo, a really good sandbox, full of goodies - also uses a simple, but very versatile system for building and managing your own little kingdom - building houses, managing the economy, random happenings, etc. I strongly recommend it if someone has an itch to try a sandbox campaign.

It has to be said that some parts are a little "barren", in this case the endfight against the ogre/ettin I mentioned. The fight as constructed in the book generally was about running along a corridor, fighting the odd troll, then facing him in his throneroom - which was pretty much empty, except for his bed, and a throne, none of which actually added to the fight.

Ive grown more and more bored over "hallway" fights and stale battlegrounds with concsists of nothing else but plain, flat ground. I want my players to jump, scamper, crawl, climb and generally behave like small monkeys with weapons when they fight, not just stand toe-to-toe with some big ugly and swing back and forth until someone looses his last wound and falls over.

Im using the Warhammer Fantasy 2nd edition rules, modified with some D&D4 edition stuff - like combatcards, healing surges and personalized combat skills - like giving the Duellist in the group a certain card that makes her able to, once shes dodged an attack, let the attack hit an adjacent opponent instead - like what happens in the movies now and then.

MortiS-the-Lost

Re: Some "terrain" from my campaign

Fenryz wrote

Im using the Warhammer Fantasy 2nd edition rules, modified with some D&D4 edition stuff - like combatcards, healing surges and personalized combat skills - like giving the Duellist in the group a certain card that makes her able to, once shes dodged an attack, let the attack hit an adjacent opponent instead - like what happens in the movies now and then.

Nice! I'd like to see more of these rules some time

Also excellent dungeon work above! what materials are you using? looks like cork-tiles?

are those Talisman 4.5 minis I see in the second picture?

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~The ravings of a single mad Goblin is bad enough, but such a power-hungry, malice-filled creature as Mortis can never hope to be understood~

Fenryz

Re: Some "terrain" from my campaign

In reply to this post by Fenryz

The material is just ordinary..uhm..foam ? That white, standard stuff. Its cheap, and I live just next to a store that sells 60x120 cm sheets (1 cm thick) for next to nothing.

About the rules, well, I just gave the players a couple of Healing Surges they can use - once during each fight, as many as they want after one to gain back wounds. Its about enough to keep them going, instead of having to wait weeks until their wounds have healed.

And the cards - I use a simple Magic Card Editor to insert "my" own pictures and rules - and its mostly improvising, really. I gave the players a couple of skills that give them a little more personality with attacks and spells in fights. I plan to make more of these, and allow them to buy them with xp, just like the other skills in Warhammer.

Yepp, the miniatures are from the "patch" box for Talisman, got 14 plastic miniatures for pretty cheap, thought it was a good bargain.

Billiam Babble

Re: Some "terrain" from my campaign

In reply to this post by Fenryz

Just is just fabulous, Fenryz, it's like looking at a really epic movie set.

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Billiam Babble

Re: Some "terrain" from my campaign

In reply to this post by Fenryz

I've only just noticed some of my own doors.

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Fenryz

Re: Some "terrain" from my campaign

In reply to this post by Fenryz

Thank you Mr Babble, but its not really fabulous, yet ;p I just wanted to provide some 3D "image" to the fights, Ive gotten tired of trying to keep everything in my head and this way the players can also be a little more creative and use tactics/skills a bit more.

The building part isnt impossible for me, whats really hard is the coloring... Getting the right woodcolor on barrels, the grey stone, etc - thats the worst part.

Next plan is to build more reusable parts, stonewalls, furniture (thank you Mr Babble!), boxes, basic floors, etc.
I also have some ideas for simple terrain, like hills and stuff that can easily be rearranged into different setups. Saves a lot of time not having to build new areas for each session. The goal is to have simple terrain so its easy to see how far away opponents are, which areas you can stand in, etc - to save time on discussions on how line-of-sight works through a tree, what it costs to run through bushes and all that.

I was afraid at first that the players would protest and tell me that the new stuff made it too boardgamish, but so far theyve all liked it - as long as I remain flexible as a DM and allow them their little crazy stunts ^^

Marchomer

Re: Some "terrain" from my campaign

In reply to this post by MortiS-the-Lost

I really like the way you make these multi-level tiles! These structures are quite elaborate but it seems this isn't an hindrance for the game play. Well done!
These tiles remind me some dungeons I see in Oblivion video game.

MortiS-the-Lost wrote

I'd like to see more of these rules some time

I'm curious too!

+ Other planes lie beyond the reach Of normal sense and common roads But they are no less real Than what we see or touch or feel. +

Fenryz

Re: Some "terrain" from my campaign

Ive started some work on two other modulesystems now, one for dungeons and one for caves. Hopefully Ill be able to show some of it laterish.. when Ive made more progress.
As Ive written elsewhere, Ive also bought a bunch of miniatures to use, instead of the standard papertokens. The fiddly part of painting them is the really hard part though :/

Yesterday as I was doing some work on the caves, I think I found a really simple and cheap way of making stalagtites ^^
Stalagtites being the pointy rockthings on the ground in caves, being created by mineralwater dripping from the roof.

Take a piece of ordinary household foil, the stuff you use for cooking. Crush it up a bit, press it against a table so one part goes really flat, and just mold the other bit as pointy as you want. Its really easy molding it, and it stays really solid once youve crushed it enough.
After that I just coated it with a mix of plaster and water, to give it a better texture, based it black - and then for the rest of the paints and stuff.

It sure beats trying to sculpt from other materials - but I might experiment a bit with the coating, to make it more durable.

MortiS-the-Lost

Re: Some "terrain" from my campaign

cool I've been wanting to do some caves of my own for a while now, I look forward to seeing what you've come up with.

Fenryz wrote

Yesterday as I was doing some work on the caves, I think I found a really simple and cheap way of making stalagtites ^^
Stalagtites being the pointy rockthings on the ground in caves, being created by mineralwater dripping from the roof.

actually that's Stalagmites - stalactites are the ones on the ceiling of the cave

Fenryz wrote

I might experiment a bit with the coating, to make it more durable.

Maybe try adding some fine (very fine) sand to the plaster mix to give it a bit more texture - also once the plaster is set and dried coat the plaster with watered down PVA glue - not only does this add durability and strength but it also helps when it comes to painting by stopping the plaster from soaking up the paint

-----------------------------------
~The ravings of a single mad Goblin is bad enough, but such a power-hungry, malice-filled creature as Mortis can never hope to be understood~

Fenryz

Re: Some "terrain" from my campaign

In reply to this post by Fenryz

Doh, of course you are right... thats what I get for writing something early in the morning.
Good advice with the glue and sand, that should work :)

I was thinking about using cerniteclay (the modelstuff thats get hardened by heat) first, but that seemed like a waste since I wanted a bunch of them - foil doesnt cost anything, and its really easy to model.
Im hoping to show something soonish ^^

MortiS-the-Lost

Re: Some "terrain" from my campaign

I'm considering using air-drying clay (I this sometimes called DAS) for my cave pieces since I have 2 huge packets of the stuff sitting around unused

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~The ravings of a single mad Goblin is bad enough, but such a power-hungry, malice-filled creature as Mortis can never hope to be understood~

Fenryz

Re: Some "terrain" from my campaign

Sorry for the low picturequality, only camera I have is the mobile one :/
This actually looks better live, except for those small white spots I missed.
Using foil worked out really good, and since its cheap Ill keep on experimenting.

Billiam Babble

Re: Some "terrain" from my campaign

In reply to this post by Fenryz

Very impressive spiky rocky thing.

Aren't you just a little bit tempted to add eyes to make it a "Piercer" ;)

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lukekennedy100

Re: Some "terrain" from my campaign

In reply to this post by Fenryz

Mortis man, thats absolutely beautiful :) Is this for Dungeons and dragons? Which is of what I am sadly not familiar with :(

''The only reason they use crosses on vampires is because vampires are allergic to bullshit''- Richard Pryor

MortiS-the-Lost

Re: Some "terrain" from my campaign

lukekennedy100 wrote

Mortis man, thats absolutely beautiful :) Is this for Dungeons and dragons? Which is of what I am sadly not familiar with :(

This isn't mine Fenryz's - but yes it is very nice!

You can see pictures of my Dungeon Here

-----------------------------------
~The ravings of a single mad Goblin is bad enough, but such a power-hungry, malice-filled creature as Mortis can never hope to be understood~

lukekennedy100