sotf
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Post by sotf on Sept 23, 2014 5:14:59 GMT
Another option that might work rather well for normal walls might be to take the wider craft sticks, hot glue on some aquarium gravel and paint it...
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sotf
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Post by sotf on Sept 23, 2014 5:13:28 GMT
For another bit, if you're using cloth for things that's been cut and don't have the skill or desire to stitch in the ends, you can use hot glue over the edges works well for a longer term use in protecting it.
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sotf
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Post by sotf on Sept 23, 2014 4:50:20 GMT
Here is a (WIP) Griflion I'm making with the wings off a Dollar Tree Dragon. Honestly, that looks like something more of a manticore from the wings and shape...griffons tend to have feathered rather than batlike wings
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sotf
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Post by sotf on Sept 20, 2014 8:43:25 GMT
They actually look like the right size and shape that you could use them as control panels for things.
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sotf
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Post by sotf on Sept 20, 2014 8:42:22 GMT
I've got a friend working on either a play surface or tiles (not sure with him) using the cheap metal baking sheets from the dollar stores and using his heavier snips to chop off the sides...not sure if it'll work, or be safe for use if it does considering the edges, but that might be a cheaper option for those without access to the better stuff, or just want a cheaper option
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sotf
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Post by sotf on Sept 19, 2014 23:25:25 GMT
To start this off, a friend of mine had put together a bunch of 2D tiles, using cardstock and mounting it on the sticky floor tiles and then covering the entire thing with a layer of contact paper to seal them...then using 3d pieces ontop of it. The basic idea came from a post somewhere on TMP that they'd initially gotten the idea from.
Now, I tend to prefer the uniform look of the printed tiles compared to having to handle everything and I like AJ's video on it as an option, which led me to a different composite idea.
Namely, mixing the concepts and simply replacing the base cardboard with the floor tile and using cardboard for the walls, at least for the more basic tile types. It seems like it would end up being more durable, and if I edge the cardboard with a bit of hot glue as well as contact papering the printed parts, it also means that there isn't a disaster at the table if someone spills anything...
The floor tiles aren't that expensive (Big box of 250 for $20 at one store nearby), and most seem like they could easily fit several on each before chopping it up...
Anyone else have some thoughts on it?
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sotf
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Post by sotf on Sept 19, 2014 2:14:56 GMT
Another day, another way of making mushrooms: crownhilldaybyday.blogspot.de/2012/01/diy-cement-mushroom.html I'm currently searching for mushrooms colorations, and during the google search all kinds of other stuff turns up. Like this one: Probably the coolest dice I've ever seen. No, scratch that 'probably'. Now I'm itching to sharpen my sculpting skills! Wow. That has got to throw off the balance though. They look awesome enough that it might not matter! If nothing else, the imbalance seems to be towards 1's...though, these would also work well if the void would be filled in with clear resin
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sotf
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Post by sotf on Sept 18, 2014 22:49:22 GMT
There was that magical quiver from one of the 3.5 articles that generated arrows, for a dedicated archer in my groups, I've tended to give them one of those early on rather than deal with the always hunting for arrows while letting them keep track of the various magical arrows or other ammo that they carried.
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sotf
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Post by sotf on Sept 17, 2014 19:18:16 GMT
Would you post some pics of those, sotf? I love to see them. At the moment, they've been lent out for a couple months to my mother for the library at the school she works at, when I get them back I'll post a few pics if I remember.
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sotf
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Post by sotf on Sept 17, 2014 17:53:34 GMT
Great ideas, guys, I think I might have some of that parchment around here somewhere. I wonder if tracing paper would work as well? Tracing paper isn't really the best for wings, it crushes a bit to easily, just make sure that it isn't the parchment used for baking and it works great. I've got a few models I'd put together with it and craft sticks of some of DaVinci's flying machines that have the same basic wing design
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sotf
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Post by sotf on Sept 17, 2014 15:33:13 GMT
I cut the wings off of one of those dragons and replaced them with wings I made out of epoxy putty and the result was quite passable. Certainly a major improvement over the original. Here's a link to my blog with photos. Yeah, that really did come out quite well! I was originally thinking of simply lopping off the wings and making it a rage drake or the like, but my roommate convinced me not to. Once I get some clay or putty I might try some wings on one of the other dragons. You can use the non-greased parchment, wire (even just unfolded paperclips), and hot glue to make some pretty good wings. Just make sure that it isn't the baking style parchment, the hot glue doesn't stick to it that well, but the type sold in some paper stores works wonders and with a thinner paint job combined with using wire for the bones that are thickened by the hot glue along with veined by it, the end result looks rather good and is quite strong.
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sotf
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Post by sotf on Sept 17, 2014 4:06:35 GMT
Flip it so the bulge is facing downwards and put a book ontop of it.
If you used spray paint on the pieces to base paint them, it doesn't warp as much if at all compared to basecoating by brush
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sotf
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Post by sotf on Sept 17, 2014 2:30:55 GMT
It sounds like an heroic try. Sorry it didn't work out. I once printed out a goblin lair map that was 4x6 feet. That meant cutting out and taping together a couple dozen pieces of printed notebook paper, which took days. Then we had the campaign and I realized I'd probably never use the thing again. And I never did. It eventually got thrown out when we moved... Did something similar, though ended up using it a few times, namely the cathedral map that used to be on the WotC map of the week archive, scaled up so that the squares were 1" squares...and attached it to a lot of posterboard I'd gotten from looting old notices from the school walls at the end of the quarter...still have them stashed away, and used them for a rather interesting horror game a while back.
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sotf
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Post by sotf on Sept 16, 2014 23:21:58 GMT
TMP: The Miniatures Page web site for all things gaming miniature-related, all periods, all genres. Located at: theminiaturespage.com. Occasionally, folks will air their dirty laundry on the Message Boards/General Boards/Consumer Affairs Board, and Bill Armintrout, the Editor-in-Chief, will privately contact the vendor to see if they are willing to resolve the matter amicably -- all at no charge. If nothing else, your message will reach a very great many of the vendor's (potential) customers, and it will likely gain the vendor's attention... Cheers! Yep, that's what I meant...assumed that most people doing anything with minis would have heard of them.
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sotf
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Post by sotf on Sept 16, 2014 23:16:03 GMT
If you want to paint something, never use silicone caulk, acryllic is what you want to get
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sotf
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Post by sotf on Sept 16, 2014 4:28:52 GMT
The friend who figured out the candles is in the more crazy obsessive at times in how he does things...he's working on his own 2.5d tiles, though rather than the usual materials, he went in for buying a bunch of the dollar store cookie sheets and got out the snips to make the bases of them out of metal, because he wants to put magnets in his minis...
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sotf
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Post by sotf on Sept 15, 2014 23:45:31 GMT
Would likely be a good idea to post a warning on TMP as well, there's a few things that tend to get solved there pretty quick with problems due to the larger variety of people passing through there that tends to get places to fix issues.
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sotf
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Post by sotf on Sept 15, 2014 21:50:09 GMT
Ended up helping a friend with a project he's been working on, and one of the things he was using seems like it would be useful here as it's a dead simple candle option.
Basically, you just get some insulated single wire, cut to the length you wish to use and then take a pin to push the wire partially through as a wick. If you want it to be a lit candle, take your hot glue gun to the tip of the "wick" and use a tiny bit and pull up. Once dry, you might need to shave it up a bit if you used to much or were a bit slow on the pull up, but it works rather well.
The other one comes from another friend who I'd pointed towards Scotty's buildings combined with 2.5 stuff, as he was wanting to work on a cave system underneath a hill system as a barrow for a skirmish game table he'd been working on.
If you're careful with it, you can judge the way that foam dissolves with droplets of superglue to make hollow hills. Now, this doesn't really weaken the hills all that much as the melted foam is still there and as the glue evaporates and hardens, it is a much stronger layer, though you may need to be careful in other ways as it can be crushed, but it seems to work rather well for giving space to have at least a partial dungeon setup underneath a hill without needing to have precise care about placement.
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sotf
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Post by sotf on Sept 15, 2014 21:37:35 GMT
And the race is on! They've lined up at the gates... chomping at their bits... and they're off!! thedmg through the gate and is pulling ahead by a nose, ladies and gentlemen, but DMScotty@admin is running strong. Who will come in first? Who will take our breath away? Both of these crafters have strong histories and imaginations! This is anybody's race! Stay tuned-in, crafters! Same craft-time, same craft-channel! (cue music: nah-nah, nah-nah, nah-nah, nah-nah, CRAFTMAN!) As long as this doesn't end up DBZ style with them yelling back and forth for weeks without doing anything...
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sotf
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Post by sotf on Sept 14, 2014 18:43:12 GMT
The issue then comes about if the trap works to stop players from using the barbarians lockpick...aka, the adamantine weapon to hack through the wall... Who says they have an adamantium weapon? I love treasure based traps...the dilemna of the players having to choose between their own greed or survival is very classic, but when it comes to treasure, even if its not a deadly trap, there should always be a catch. Knowing my party, they'd remember the location and come back specifically to spite the trap if they didn't, these are players whose reaction to some of the Gygaxian style dungeons was to get their hands on adamantium pick axes and go through the walls, and haul chunks of the dungeon itself away for sale.
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