My original experiments with 2.5D

[DMScotty]

This is the Kingmaker AP Stag Lord fight. This was my first experimentation with 2.5D.
 

The players had to infiltrate an old monastery that the Stag Lord used as a base.

As you can see I had almost no 3D objects except the minis.

As I progressed with 2.5D I had to decide what parts of the setup would be in 3D. This is a determination every DM has to make. Ease of playability vs 3D elements. I think as I have evolved in my thinking I have come up with a good playable mix.


The Stag Lord is defeated!

[Deleted]

Heh, awesome, quite an involved set up you have there, and its interesting all the other little details you can pick up, as another D&D player... so much of what we do is just things we have thought up and tried out over the years, gotten used to, assumed everyone did the same sort of things.
Then there is other stuff that is new or unusual.. I have never used or seen used, a dice tower, for instance, and the lack of food on the game table is lovely.. I wish I had that.
Then again, my games feature a lot of things crafted on the spot, using plasticine, objects, drawings on bits of paper... I also like to have destructible elements in the game play.. so at the end of my game session, things are torn, squashed, written on.. broken and used.. player characters are not gentle.
Also, look at those lovely little binders your players have for their characters.. is that a clip board? So organised and responsible... *sigh*

Thanks for sharing Scotty!

[dmbrad]

It is cool to see how your game has evolved into what it is today.

[thedmg]

It's like seeing some sort of image of an unborn hybrid!

[skunkape]

Looks really great!

[sgtslag]

Wow! I'd drool at the chance to play on that table set-up...

If you demand (in a nice, but gently forceful way) organization from your players, you will get it. My players all are given a Gazetteer of my game world. It runs 20, or so, pages long (without religion -- that adds a lot more pages).

It gives them a rough, sub-orbital view of my game world (one continent, really), its city-states, and some information on each locale, with hints of things which may crop up in the game (hidden locations; regions of dangerous peoples where all things nefarious can be hired; etc.). I usually have names ready (I keep lists, with free space to make notes as I pick a name for an NPC, so I can remember them later, as well!) for every NPC they encounter -- even beggars, and urchins, on the street! It helps them immerse themselves into the world -- and it encourages them to maintain careful notes on every NPC they encounter, as they often re-appear later, in the game (same session, or even months/years later, in game time's calendar). Just remember, street urchins, and beggars, can become important NPC's for the players, as they may pull a Sherlock Holmes on you, and employ them to be their spies on the street... It all makes for a fun, immersive game which will suck your players right into it all. They won't realize how much they know about your game world until a newbie shows up, and then they realize just how far they have come, which goes well beyond the Gazetteer.

Once your players get immersed this deep, with all of those NPC's on their list of people they know, the storyline will take twists, and turns, at their direction, and your players will do most of the story writing for you. It can be a real trip, for everyone. Cheers!

[algardunraven]

Wow I really like to look to see how things evolve! That would've been cool to play on.

[Luciano]

This set was pretty cool,
I liked the furniture in 2.5D, the horses miniatures in the same style were good too! Great work!
The fact of wooden fences can be used in many ways is also fantástic!

[sgtslag]

Never saw the horses before... Brilliant! May have to look into doing that myself -- would be oh, so convenient to just plop the figures on top of the appropriate mount type, for the game. Thanks for pointing that out, Luciano. Cheers!

[leolad72]

Now THAT'S what I'm talking about! I thought it would be cool for DM Scotty to showcase some of his favorite builds, but this is just as cool. A Darwinian look at The DM's Craft

[Bael]

Looks like absolute mayhem and much bloodshed! It's MY bag, baby.

[voduchyld]

I love the cartoony style of everything. This is the kind of aesthetics I would like for my own games. You have great painting skill, DMScotty.

[Draklith]

dang, dice towers for every player....**sighs**  "I want a dice tower"  

[thedmg]

Mar 9, 2014 23:10:07 GMT Draklith said:

dang, dice towers for every player....**sighs**  "I want a dice tower"  

Make one!