D&D General Strahd Castle Ravenloft in 3d glory!

EN World member shoak1 created this awesome 3D model of Castle Ravenloft -- "Just about to start my Ravenloft campaign, and here is the castle I built to use. It's a playable surface, room numbers are shown with white tags for reference (1 square=1 inch=5 feet). I had to keep it to half height to preserve building materials, so its only 160' tall sans dungeon levels, 32" tall."

View attachment 76536
View from top


View attachment 76537
entryway


View attachment 76538
chapel, K15


View attachment 76539
main floor, map 3


View attachment 76540
court of the count, 2nd story, map 4


View attachment 76541
Rooms of weeping, 3rd floor, map 5
(maps 6-10 are in towers and playable surfaces/decorated, but I didn't take pics of them


View attachment 76542
Larders of ill omen, dungeon level 1, map 11


View attachment 76543
Bottom floor dungeon/catacombs, map 12​

 

[Jester David]

Who cares about Ravenloft's height vs. mundane castles? One is in fantasy, the others are not. One has magic to call upon to build and reinforce, the others do not. Fantasy... Fiction... Imagination!

It's a pet peeve. I despise the "a wizard did it" excuse.
Magic in fantasy works if it's done on purpose. The season in Westeros and the Wall are magic, because that was intended. It adds wonder. Having an enchanting river flow backwards because it runs through a unicorn's forest is special. It adds something to the world and the story.
But just dropping "ummm... Magic?" as an excuse from adding a river that runs uphill is just lazy at best.

Its a justification for not doing the homework. And having a magic castle that doesn't actually do anything magical (beyond Strahd's dark will) doesn't add anything to the story.
At least in Curse of Strah they have the castle explicitly magically created. Prior, it wasn't even that...

 

[MechaPilot]

@OP:

Very cool. I once created a two-floor battlemat for a 4e adventure using Legos to make the pillars holding up the second floor, and the stairs that led up to it. It doesn't compare in scale to what you've accomplished. Frankly, it doesn't compare in quality either: the Legos were unpainted and the grid for the upper floor was drawn on a cardboard box I snatched from the trash at my job.

shoak1 - this is fantastic! Please ignore all petty snipes by previous posters ("I don't have time"/"it costs too much"). It's a f*ing labor of love and devotion and free whim. You even got the decor--an eye for detail. What a delight! My eyes water at how fun that looks, and how it's not feasible for me to join you at that table (yet). I wish I could split myself in two and send one of myselves to play with you!

I'm striving to make a world where everyone has plenty of time and means to devote to play, including D&D play. Play is a kind of recuperation and healing. And I strive to extend the imaginal worlds, such as the D&D Multiverse, to serve as pathways of nigh-spiritual devotion and transformation.

Thank you for sharing this. It's art. You are a cardstock craftsman!

I agree with you that it's clearly both a work of art and a labor of love, but I don't think "petty snipes" is an accurate way of characterizing comments about not having the time or funds to make something like that. We'd all love to do certain things if we had enough time and money to do them.

 

[shoak1]

It's a pet peeve. I despise the "a wizard did it" excuse.
Magic in fantasy works if it's done on purpose. The season in Westeros and the Wall are magic, because that was intended. It adds wonder. Having an enchanting river flow backwards because it runs through a unicorn's forest is special. It adds something to the world and the story.
But just dropping "ummm... Magic?" as an excuse from adding a river that runs uphill is just lazy at best.

Its a justification for not doing the homework. And having a magic castle that doesn't actually do anything magical (beyond Strahd's dark will) doesn't add anything to the story.
At least in Curse of Strah they have the castle explicitly magically created. Prior, it wasn't even that...

When I did my planning stage of building this castle, I was bummed that because of the height specified in the published adventure, I would have to cut the height in half if I didn't want to run out of building materials. But then when I actually built it, the dimensions looked right. So I guess I would agree the castle as written is freakishly tall.

I partially agree w/the idea that "a wizard did it" is a poor excuse for not doing the homework. I usually try to have a basic purpose/thought behind why/how/when etc something was built. But a limited number of unexplained "I wonder why some guy built THAT?!?!" is kind of a cool thing in a magical D and D world. Maybe he was crazy, maybe it was "art" lol. So if I have building or time/research limitations and need to rely on the "a wizard did it" excuse occasionally, I am ok w/that too. I can daydream with my players about all the reasons why it may have been built that way.

 

[reidonly]

A few commenters have spoken of TerraClips in the past tense. Aren't the products still being made and available?

 

[EthanSental]

I did the Google search then clicked the images as you mentioned.....very nice creations for the players to take part in....nicely done! it also sent me searching again for more terraclips on eBay and Amazon

 

[EthanSental]

A few commenters have spoken of TerraClips in the past tense. Aren't the products still being made and available?

Unfortunately it is past tense for most of the terraclips line. The dungeon essentials, prison and vault sets are no longer made. Not sure if the Malifaux lines are being made still and if so, by whom.

 

[shoak1]

Yes, and the sharks are out there charging some crazy prices for them now. Remember you will generally need multiple sets to have enough to make a decent village or dungeon level. And you have to buy the connecter clips which have similar (in)availability.

 

[pjrichert]

Is this using the old Ravenloft modules, or the newer 5e "Curse of Strahd" version? Looking at the calculations from the stairs etc, to the top of the spires is 140ft unless I'm missing something. I may not be adding in the size of the top of the spire. Not sure. (that's without the dungeons). The curtain walls for the Castle are 90ft tall by the text. (which is pretty insane).

 

[knasser]

That is remarkable. Lovely piece of work. I would imagine the phrase you most fear in the world is "Do you mind if we play at mine, this evening?"

As regards the height, I think it's fine that Ravenloft is so much taller than any real world castle. It is a fantasy. Who knows but that they have better building materials or pulled an Orthanc when they made it. And no real-world king had to deal with attacking giants so extra tall walls sound good to me. You don't want your castle to fall just because a Frost Giant gave his brother a shoulder-ride!

 

[Satyrn]

That is remarkable. Lovely piece of work. I would imagine the phrase you most fear in the world is "Do you mind if we play at mine, this evening?"

But what player would ever say that to [MENTION=54380]shoak1[/MENTION]?