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Post by algardunraven on Apr 7, 2015 21:58:14 GMT
I have been away from the forums for a while again, but still DMing and working on terrain and such and have decided I would like to craft an adventure involving Giants and their kin. I am toying with the idea of building a Mountain for my players to climb up to get to the quest at hand. It will have a few levels inside it so I will have to either build it, then cut it into 3-4 layers and remove the layers as the players delve deeper into it, or just build the layers individually and then assemble them on top of each other. There will be some kind of a path encircling the mountain possibly with a small cave entrance or two along the way with the main entrance close to the top. I am thinking about a height of 3 feet would be good as far as scale goes (we play with old school Ral Partha D&D figures 18mm (I think)). We play on a 4' x 8' covered sheet of plywood on top of my pool table, so we have a large play area.
Building this is something I have never done before but I feel up to the task. I read this thread and it gave me an idea of how to start building it: dmscraft.proboards.com/thread/1534/2-5d-3d-mountains
I think the cardboard strips and wet glued paper towel is the way I would go, just in case I screw it up and then cost would be minimal. Has anyone built something similar or on this scale? Any input would be appreciated. Thanks
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Post by curufin on Apr 8, 2015 2:14:31 GMT
I think the easiest way to accomplish the 3d mountain that can be delved would be to build a series of plateaus that can be stacked to form the mountain. You could lay down regular tiles or Next walls on the plateaus as the PCs explore.
For the construction, you could use cardboard strips. Although, you may want to try chicken wire (wire mesh). It will allow you to make complex rock formations. You could cover it with glue soaked paper towels, or a cheap cotton fabric (old t-shirts would work) soaked in glue.
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Post by algardunraven on Apr 8, 2015 3:49:42 GMT
I just read the thread from Halloweenville and think I'm gonna try his masking tape and skinning technique for each plateau, but the chicken wire does peak my interest as well. Thanks
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Post by halloweenville on Apr 8, 2015 11:16:12 GMT
Let me Know If you have any questions I'm more than willing to help!
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Post by tauster on Apr 8, 2015 20:38:21 GMT
...or you could change the scale of the miniatures for this adventure: Use regularly-sized minis for the giants and very tiny minis for human-sized creatures*. Then your mountain-build could be considerably smaller.
* The railroad-people have tiny miniatures (1:72, if I remember correctly) that are less than half the size of the 1:28 (?) scale of pathfinder and WotC uses, maybe that's enough. Doesn't has to be mathematically correct, just enough difference in size to give the players an idea.
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Post by daveyjones on Apr 8, 2015 23:25:41 GMT
the size of the 1:28 (?) scale of pathfinder and WotC uses this has confused me in the past as well so i looked it up. the format is: '28mm' (this is a term used in war games like warhammer, i think it corresponds to the average height of a human male) which is equal to 1:45 or so.
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Post by algardunraven on Apr 9, 2015 2:49:32 GMT
I'm still mulling this over as to how large of a build I want to make. I (and my players) probably won't change the minis we play with as everyone has become quite attached to their mini. I will keep you posted as it progresses. I
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Post by michka on Apr 9, 2015 12:35:01 GMT
28mm refers to the distance from the bottom of the foot to eye level. This is a hold over from the historical wargaming days. Soldiers often have different sized hats and helmets, so a reference had to be made to disregard the offending headgear. Traditional miniatures like the classic Ral Partha and Grenadier were 25mm. The newer ones are referred to as 28mm or even 32mm. The actual size is debatable. And I do mean debatable. You can see people arguing about miniature scales on any miniatures forum, at any convention, or even at the Friendly Local Gaming Store.
And if you really want to get confused, try looking into 6mm, 10mm, 15mm, 20mm, 54mm, and a host of other scales that people like to game in. It could drive a person made. And if that doesn't confuse you enough, start looking at Model Railroad gauges.
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Post by algardunraven on Apr 13, 2015 2:28:25 GMT
Thanks for your input. I will update with pics asap.
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Post by Grey Tower Games on Apr 13, 2015 17:06:31 GMT
I have been away from the forums for a while again, but still DMing and working on terrain and such and have decided I would like to craft an adventure involving Giants and their kin. I am toying with the idea of building a Mountain for my players to climb up to get to the quest at hand. It will have a few levels inside it so I will have to either build it, then cut it into 3-4 layers and remove the layers as the players delve deeper into it, or just build the layers individually and then assemble them on top of each other. There will be some kind of a path encircling the mountain possibly with a small cave entrance or two along the way with the main entrance close to the top. I am thinking about a height of 3 feet would be good as far as scale goes (we play with old school Ral Partha D&D figures 18mm (I think)). We play on a 4' x 8' covered sheet of plywood on top of my pool table, so we have a large play area.
Building this is something I have never done before but I feel up to the task. I read this thread and it gave me an idea of how to start building it: dmscraft.proboards.com/thread/1534/2-5d-3d-mountains
I think the cardboard strips and wet glued paper towel is the way I would go, just in case I screw it up and then cost would be minimal. Has anyone built something similar or on this scale? Any input would be appreciated. Thanks
My Pathfinder players love to use minis and dungeon accessories as well however we just had a session where the players (8 of them in total) needed to scale a 60 foot high boulder strewn hill/mountainside to engage a Hill giant on the top who was hurtling boulders down at them. Instead of fabricating a mountainside I created a chart (much easier to do IMHO) to determine the following: 1) - Identifying the next big rock to hide behind 2) - Their chances of success of making it to that rock 3) - To see if the rock they were going to was one level (10') up the hill. To do so I had each player who was trying the scale the hill roll percentile dice. The first 10's digit indicated the size of the bolder and how much cover it would afford and the single number determined how far away the boulder was. This was calculated at 10-the rolled single number. Example, a player rolls a 87. This means that the cover afforded from the bolder ahead would be a +8 AC and the distance to the bolder was (10-7) or 3 away. The player had the option of staying put or trying to make it to the next boulder in a given round. In order to make it to the next boulder the player would roll a 10 sided dice and add his strength or dexterity modifier) whichever was higher to the roll. if he exceeded the distance (3 in our example above) he made it to the boulder which is providing +8 cover in our example. If he tried to make it and didn't succeed he was caught between boulder and considered out in the open (no cover bonus). The Hill giant then would toss a boulder at a random player (more likely targeting ones in the open) After the boulder toss the players that moved would roll a 20 sider and add their strength or constitution modifier to beat a DC 10. if they made it, they advanced 1 level up the hill (6 were needed to crest the top) Players kept track of the current boulder size (if not between boulder) and elevation using dice. It was a lot of fun. 3 players made it to the top but since 2 had been wounded severely the party needed to retreat back down the hill to regroup. That is where the last session ended.
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Post by DnDPaladin on Apr 13, 2015 21:25:01 GMT
or you could simply do what DMScotty did for his mountain side assault.
simply turn it from vertical to horizontal !
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Post by algardunraven on Apr 14, 2015 3:41:03 GMT
Here are the first few cutouts including the base piece (With cleric added for scale). It's approximately 48"x30". Then I have the next couple of levels cut out and will soon start to stuff with paper and masking tape loosely using the Halloweenville method. I will keep you informed of the progress as it comes along. s751.photobucket.com/user/algardunraven/library/?view=recent&page=1
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Post by algardunraven on Apr 15, 2015 3:53:32 GMT
nubaumpalemoon, sounds like fun. I like the way you resolved the climbing. I still haven't figured it out that far ahead yet. I'll keep you posted
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Post by michka on Apr 15, 2015 7:14:32 GMT
nubaumpalemoon, I think you just wrote my next encounter. No matter what game I'm running. Use some yard-rocks to represent the boulders to hide the characters behind. The monsters at the top could be giants with boulders, gangsters with Tommy guns, of Klingons with disruptors. So many ways to play this.
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Post by Grey Tower Games on Apr 17, 2015 12:09:13 GMT
nubaumpalemoon, I think you just wrote my next encounter. No matter what game I'm running. Use some yard-rocks to represent the boulders to hide the characters behind. The monsters at the top could be giants with boulders, gangsters with Tommy guns, of Klingons with disruptors. So many ways to play this. I am glad you liked it. The players had a blast and I am sure your players will like it as well. The one other twist that I did that I forgot to mention in the earlier thread was that the AC used for the players was their Pathfinder Touch AC (for those unfamiliar with PF this means it is just their base AC 10, plus their dexterity bonus (which might be limited by their armor). This was because in my world some chain mail was not going to help you much if a 200 pounder boulder thrown from a hill giant 60 feet above you slams into your chest. I did allow their armor to potentially absorb some of the damage but this also provided a chance that their armor would become damage as well. Good fun though!
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Post by algardunraven on Apr 22, 2015 15:05:35 GMT
Here are photos of the progression of the Mountain project levels so far:
The first two are of the base I'm using (Cleric added for scale).
The next 4 are showing the cutouts for the different levels. These will be individual levels so I can remove them as the party enters the mountain and delves deeper and deeper! The next 3 are the paper stuffing and taping progression using the Halloweenville technique from his Underwater World project.
The next 2 show the second level being added and then stuffed and taping started. I will keep you posted as it progresses! Thanks Halloweenville. I like how this technique is turning out!
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Post by algardunraven on Apr 23, 2015 13:37:24 GMT
Finished taping the 2nd level last night and added the base for the third level. I like how it's turning out so far. My wife calls it a Monstrocity!
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Post by Grey Tower Games on Apr 23, 2015 13:49:28 GMT
<middle school humor>
The correct wise guy response to the wife's comment would be, "that's no monstrosity, now THIS is a monstrosity."
</middle school humor>
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Post by Sleepy Hollow Mike on Apr 24, 2015 17:45:58 GMT
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Post by algardunraven on Apr 28, 2015 12:14:50 GMT
Wow Michaeljohns that is awesome. I can only hope that my finished product will be that cool. I like the texture and the detail is awesome. I've finished taping level three and four and now will begin on the last level (or the peak).
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