justsix
Cardboard Collector
Posts: 34
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Post by justsix on Jul 17, 2014 16:24:34 GMT
What started as a normal encounter is turning into a major battle due to the actions of my PC's, so I'd like to add to the epic feel by crafting some nice terrain. The battle is brewing in a muddy field that was used as a mass grave. Trenches crisscross the field where necromancers have been excavating skeletons to create an undead horde. Now the PC's are charging onto the scene to blast their way through and onto the tower beyond the field.
I've got the tower covered, but I really want to craft a nice, muddy field covered with bones and ditches. I'll use some blue foam I've got for the field itself, but I'm looking for any ideas people might have about making it look really muddy and gross. What do you guys think would make good mud clods? Any help would be appreciated...
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DM Michael
Paint Manipulator
Preparing for 'In the spider's web' part of LMOP
Posts: 169
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Post by DM Michael on Jul 17, 2014 23:35:08 GMT
I assume those trenches are braced to avoid mudslides. I would make that bracing using some sort of wood, matches, barbeque skewers, tongue depressors, popsicle sticks, tooth picks, flower sticks or balsa wood... I would use some sort of combination like tooth picks for the walls and barbeque skewers for the supporting beams. I would include one or two broken bracers where the trenches are partially collapsed.
Where there is mud, there are also footprints. I would make those footprints in small patches of clay or plasticine. I have been told that you can strengthen plasticine by painting it with thin layers of white glue and paint, but I haven’t tried it myself.
I would try to give the blue foam a mud texture using a soldering iron, to melt the surface. I would do this outside.
I imagine the look you are going for is very similar to a WW1 trench, without the sandbags and the barbed wires. So I might try to duplicate the techniques, used by diorama builders.
EDIT: I meant kebab skewers, not barbeque skewers. Sorry about that, I am Danish.
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Post by Jason on Jul 18, 2014 4:27:43 GMT
That sounds wonderfully gruesome! I think that DM Michael has the right idea. I would look to diorama builders for WWI era stuff. Also I have seen some terrain on the internet that was used for WWI battles in 15mm. There are some things that could really translate to what you are looking for.
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sadric
Paint Manipulator
crafting not enough, not enough time. :-(
Posts: 199
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Post by sadric on Jul 18, 2014 10:32:19 GMT
Let some bones, skulls, old weapons jut out of the mud. You could do the bones with toothpick pieces, a ribcage with wire, skulls with small beads. Think about strategic choke points. A large trenche system with some small bridges, more loose planks. Could the necromancer destroy a bridge before the players reach it? A other idea, a necromancer should animate some skeletons part on the fly. So I would build some trench ground tile with a dozen skeleton arms graspings out of the ground. It could simply hindering movement, or it could make damage. For my catacombs Tile I made some human remains out of beads, toothpicks and wire. Take a look here: dmscraft.proboards.com/thread/756/catacombs-niche-dead-2-5d
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Post by darkslayer on Jul 18, 2014 13:45:47 GMT
I would do something like this video here. you can skip the miliput step, but other than that i think she has a great recipe for mud. All you need is some kind of modeling paste, white glue, sand , brown paint, and some type of shiny clear finish!
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justsix
Cardboard Collector
Posts: 34
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Post by justsix on Jul 18, 2014 15:21:24 GMT
Thanks for the replies, awesome ideas all around. WWI trenches is a great inspiration to go with -- I've even got some wood planks and ladders I can re-use. I can probably craft some shovels and picks too, maybe using toothpicks and thin cardstock.
I love the mud video -- seems like an easy recipe, just what I was looking for. I was thinking about trying to make some mud-like formations using soupy plaster of paris, but this is even better.
Thanks!
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Post by darkslayer on Jul 19, 2014 2:29:20 GMT
Thanks for the replies, awesome ideas all around. WWI trenches is a great inspiration to go with -- I've even got some wood planks and ladders I can re-use. I can probably craft some shovels and picks too, maybe using toothpicks and thin cardstock. I love the mud video -- seems like an easy recipe, just what I was looking for. I was thinking about trying to make some mud-like formations using soupy plaster of paris, but this is even better. Thanks! No prob buddy, please post it when you make it! We all love to see those pics! Sent from my DROID RAZR using proboards
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justsix
Cardboard Collector
Posts: 34
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Post by justsix on Jul 24, 2014 18:29:58 GMT
Work is progressing steadily. No WIP pics, though. I'm scrambling to get this done by Monday night, and I'm only able to work in 1 - 2 hour bursts each day once the kids are asleep. *sigh* To be a teenager again...
Anyway, I've got a nice big 2" thick blue foam sheet and carved out some trenches with a kitchen knife. Took the bigger chunks I removed and glued them around the rims as dirt piles. They looked a bit angluar, so I covered them with DM Scotty's patented TP and glue to fill in the gaps and smooth them out. Last night I mixed up several batches of Plaster of Paris, to about the consistency of softserve ice cream, and dribbled them over the dirt piles and down into the trenches -- as though rain had drenched them and started to erode them away, creating a muddy mess. I'm pretty pleased with the effect so far.
I took an old Warhammer mini plastic shield I had for some reason and traced out about a dozen shovel heads on really thin styrene, cut them out and super glued them to toothpicks. Then I had a pack of skulls (no other bones, unfortunately, and I don't have time to be picky), so I took all the shovels and bones and stuck them into the plaster while it was wet.
Next step is to paint the exposed foam so I can spray it. Then the fun part begins...
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justsix
Cardboard Collector
Posts: 34
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Post by justsix on Jul 31, 2014 22:46:32 GMT
Well, I got everything done in time and unveiled it to my players last Monday. It seemed to go over well. Here are some in-play pics:
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Post by darkslayer on Aug 1, 2014 9:58:43 GMT
that board is awesome. came out very cool
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Post by skunkape on Aug 1, 2014 16:16:16 GMT
Looks really good to me!
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Post by Cyan Wisp on Aug 2, 2014 0:40:15 GMT
Love the depth you got in your rifts. Looks good!
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Post by teazia on Aug 3, 2014 6:23:52 GMT
A bit ex post facto but you could use a modified DMG cavern tile method, then use the Scotty slime method brown mud. But instead of thirds, you could use sixths for the trenches.
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Post by tauster on Aug 3, 2014 7:48:37 GMT
That trench / abyss looks great! I was looking for a way to do this kind of terrain vor quite some time, and this is the best I found so far. thumbs up!
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