Gaming Terrain, Tiles, and Battlemats

[Mark]

I have sculpted a couple of flames and put them atop the torches.



Next I base the torch holders and the flames black.

(. . .)

I painted the bases brass and painted the flames. I was not crazy about how the flames turned out – so no close-ups.

Ever thought about working some X-Mas lights in as torches?

 

[Xyxox]

Ever thought about working some X-Mas lights in as torches?

LEDs would work better.

 

[Perram]

I keep hearing Hirst Arts come up again and again.

For those of you that use the product, about how long does it take to assemble a good sized basic piece? (Like say a 4x4 corner piece or wall piece?)

 

[Alan Shutko]

The groups I've been in are currently using wet-erase battlemaps most of the time. We had a projector setup in one DM's old place, but neither his new place nor my place have the right spot to mount it. It was really shiny and cool, since the DM did maps in Dundjinni and then did fog of war with Photoshop. When we started Keep on the Shadowfell, we used the big battlemaps that came with it.

For a Tomb of Horrors run, I redid the map in 5" squares using the old-style map symbols and grid, and cut the pieces out to lay them out. That was pretty fiddly but did sort of fit the old-school nature of the game.

I've built a few of the World Works models for a dungeon and village. Those are very cool! I'm almost done with the Maiden, and when I'm done I'm so running a pirate adventure. The 3d boat is absolutely unbelievable and will look even better than the PJ did. The dungeon layout I did wasn't too hot, but it was pretty cool. I didn't have time to build a lot of components so I did one of the easier sets with flat walls, and I had to keep moving the walls around for each room. Chunky Dungeons looks like it would be a better experience, and the new TerrainLinx system looks like a dream, in terms of quickly putting modules together.

At Gencon, I picked up some Fat Dragon EZ Dungeon Sets, which also look like they'd be pretty easy to hook components together. I really like their drop-in traps, where you can build modules for traps that you insert only after the party triggers the traps.

Odds are, I'll continue using a mix of vinyl battlemap and cardstock terrain for my mapping. I'm hoping to build up a backlog of terrain builds I can use components from. Odd random encounters and the like will either be handwaved (I run RCD&D) or done on a battlemap.

 

[Xyxox]

I keep hearing Hirst Arts come up again and again.

For those of you that use the product, about how long does it take to assemble a good sized basic piece? (Like say a 4x4 corner piece or wall piece?)

Building pieces goes quickly if you're just glueing blocks together. The techniques I described earlier are more advanced and take much longer because there's a lot more to it than just the blocks. Putting together a set of dungeon pieces similar to a set of purchased Dwarven Forge stuff would take probably three or four hours to glue together including time to cut out what you're glueing the pieces down to so long as it's card board of extruded polystyrene foam (most commonly used as you can add pits etc. easily). If you use hardboard, it will take more time to prep the bottom.

Then there's casting time. Most Hirst Arts hobbyists get into a groove of spending so many minutes every day casting as it's repetitive and simply takes some time. I've been trying to cast for a minimum of 1 hour daily to build up a supply of blocks. I also have 24 different molds in three major styles (Gothic, Water Cavern, and my favorite which is Fieldstone). I've been concentrating on fieldstone for the time being, with small block as a mold I try to cast at least once daily. I'm also prepping to pour several molds of my own which will speed up some of my processes.

 

[Fu-Man Chu]

Dwarven Forge. The Cadalac of gaming supplies, I would wager. This stuff looks amazing... but comes with an amazing price tag. It isn't out of my reach, however, but I'm worried that it would be hard to customize it or create custom items that worked well with it. My other big worry is that I travel to most of the games I run... and it might be a tad hard to transport regularly.

Anyone have any insights or opinions?

I have to agree that DF is some of the best 3D terrain that is out there. And indeed, it does cost quite a bit - however, many years ago I realized that while there will often new editions of games coming out that could often render useless the mounds of books we have, there's not going to be any new "edition" of DF terrain that will make the previous purchased terrain useless. In fact, the stuff is so durable, that it will last many MANY years of usage.

I also look at DF as artwork - sure, not what most people think about for art, but its certainly very artistic (Stefan himself is an artist "in real life") and whole lot more useable and practical than the stuff that hang's on most people's walls.

Another downside however is that it can be difficult to travel with. However, we (the DF community forums) have recently found a storage unit that doubles fairly well as a travel unit. Since pulling and re-placing the terrain in the original storage boxes takes a fair amount of time, I would often save the DF for just the major encounters. With the Sterilite drawers, it takes 1/5 the time while still giving fairly good protection.

Here's a link to the storage drawers as well as my experience taking my DF with me to my friend's place to game: dwarvenforge.com / Storage drawer

 

[Doc_Klueless]

With my Hirst Arts molds, I do the following:

I get up and go for my morning run. When I return, I grab a cup of coffee and do up a set of molds (usually 4 molds using Merlin's Magic plaster). Then I go grab a shower and get dressed for work. After that, I demold my blocks and pour another set. I putz around on the computer for another 20 minutes or so, then demold that set. Depending on how much time I've been screwin' around, I might get one more set of molds poured. More times than not, I don't have that much time. Still 2 sets of 4 molds every day adds up quickly.

I have 30-ish molds and I make my own (using the instructions right off his website) for floors, roofs, etc.

However, I should add that I just love putting together the buildings and such. Even if I never use them for gaming, I just love to make 'em. That love makes the whole process seem quick and effortless.

 

[Doc_Klueless]

For those who use Hirst Arts and Dwarven Forge, how do you deal with the half square next to the walls?

Once you get into making stuff with the blocks, you find that you can make all kinds of stuff. I have some hallways like those on Hirst Arts with the half-square. Others are narrower; others are wider.

The only reason I can see for not adding that half-square is lack of materials. I find that without it, people have difficulty seeing over the walls and seeing where their tokens or miniatures are. To remedy that, I simply made the walls shorter here and there.

Gives a nice effect, I think.

 

[Perram]

I have to agree that DF is some of the best 3D terrain that is out there. And indeed, it does cost quite a bit - however, many years ago I realized that while there will often new editions of games coming out that could often render useless the mounds of books we have, there's not going to be any new "edition" of DF terrain that will make the previous purchased terrain useless. In fact, the stuff is so durable, that it will last many MANY years of usage.

I also look at DF as artwork - sure, not what most people think about for art, but its certainly very artistic (Stefan himself is an artist "in real life") and whole lot more useable and practical than the stuff that hang's on most people's walls.

Another downside however is that it can be difficult to travel with. However, we (the DF community forums) have recently found a storage unit that doubles fairly well as a travel unit. Since pulling and re-placing the terrain in the original storage boxes takes a fair amount of time, I would often save the DF for just the major encounters. With the Sterilite drawers, it takes 1/5 the time while still giving fairly good protection.

Here's a link to the storage drawers as well as my experience taking my DF with me to my friend's place to game: dwarvenforge.com / Storage drawer

What's the dimensions of those drawers? Those might be the magic bullet.