Games and Miscellany by Bloodchoke (updated 4/4)

[bloodchoke]

So this is where I'm going to post most of the stuff I make. Since most of the tiles and terrain were made for specific encounters, they roughly chronicle the campaign I'm running. I'll post them in that order then, so you can also kinda follow the campaign, and where I can, I will use in game shots.

For now, this is mostly the same stuff I posted in the miscellany thread on the old forum, just arranged differently and with a few additions. I'll post more as my game progresses.Thanks for looking and for any feed back.


My group and I started learning 4e out of the redbox. This is a watchtower from the second encounter, I believe. It's made from packaging foam.



After finishing the redbox adventure,I steered the party towards the Reavers of the Harkenwold adventure. But first, I adapted the Eyes in the Forest side-trek from Dungeon magazine, and used this piece for the final encounter. The tile is also made from packaging foam, with some flocking for moss. This is just a display photo. Also, grids, eww...

[bloodchoke]

REAVERS OF HARKENWOLD

 After defeating the goblin horde, the PCs ventured into the Harkenwold. I didn't take game pics then, which is too bad, because there were a lot of cool encounters. Anyway, these are all display pieces of the stuff I made for that adventure.


First, Ilyana's House, for the first encounter. The walls for this foamcore, coated in a white glue-corn meal mix. Roof is just individual cardstock tiles. Chimney is construction foam. The scale is pretty bad here, an I wish I had done the windows differently, and made the roofline run the other way. It was a lot of time, so not sure I'll ever make another like this. And if I did, it would certainly set atop a 2.5d tile.




A stone circle used as an Eladrin portal. It's made from pink construction foam, as is the hill it sets on.




This was a quick, experimental piece for the walls around Harken Keep (The Iron Keep). I use it as a DM screen now, though it's not really tall enough.

PCs can also attempt to launch a special action point off a weapons and warriors catapult. If they can land it in the tower, they get to keep their action point.


This is my first 2.5d tile, used for the Desecrated Temple. It's made from foam core and isn't very good, but I still really like the way the smooth stone floor turned out.

[neil]

Great work - Very Cool

[bloodchoke]

NIGHTMARES UNLEASHED

After liberating the Harkenwold, the PCs (except for one who retired to help rebuild the hamlet) left to seek more adventures. Following a strange burst of light in the sky, they walked into the Nightmares Unleased sidetrek from Dungeon Magazine. It was  really fun set of encounters, and has become a big part of my campaign, with the story started here still developing.

The first encounter was a canyon where a group of Kuthriks attack. I made modular rock pieces out of some thick tree bark for these. Sorry for the terrible photo quality. This is an in game pic though.




Here is a stable tile that was used for the final encounter in a small village. It has a thatch roof too, but I don't have a picture with it. Unfortunately not in game pics either. It looked much better with some houses and the the garden from above with it.

[bloodchoke]

STORM TOWER

After defeating Redra's Nightmare, the PCs ventured to Fallcrest. Strange nightmares began to plague the fighter who dealt the demon its death blow, visions of violence and darkness enveloping him. Accepting a job from Lord Wanden Marklehay, the party headed south toward an old watchtower the Warden wanted to reclaim. Along the way, the dreams got more specific, drawing the fighter toward the mysterious Cloakwood Forrest. The others convinced him to stick with the party, however, on the promise that they would all investigate the source of his vile dreams after clearing the Greyskull mercenaries and necromancers from the tower.

Here's the outside of the now ruined tower.



These tiles are pretty bad. They were made hastily and I didn't have texture paint for some. They played just fine though. This is a pretty faithful recreation of the map in Chris Perkin's Storm Tower, from Dungeon Magazine. These are not game pics and most of the accessories are not pictured.








The adventure itself was not my favorite either, but not bad.

[bloodchoke]

The Cloakwood

True to their word, the party then went with the fighter into the strange Cloakwood Forest. His dreams becoming clearer still, the afflicted fighter had visions of a cavern calling him inside, somewhere around the middle of the dense woods. Coming across a couple hunter shacks headed in, the PCs met Harlan, a stout human hunter who relayed to them his worry over two missing friends. The center of the forest would shift at times, he told them, and hunters could easily get lost. They had also been going deeper into the woods, he said, and may have disturbed some kobolds who dwell there. He asks that they keep a look out for the two and relates the bits of geography he knows of the forest.

I used a random encounter chart I made to determine how safely they traveled, dependent on direction and a hazard roll. Bad rolls led to two small encounters before the PCs finally arrived at a cave mouth. A little sore, they found a cave mouth partially concealed by thick vines. As if in a trance, the fighter moved toward the hole. The cave is the same rock pieces I used for the canyon above.



After a quick fight with some vine horrors and twig bights, the fighter rushes into the cave. To everyone's surprise, it seals behind him, leaving only sheer stone and vine behind. The party wizard races over to investigate as more vine horrors attack. Inside, Tok the fighter follows a narrow cave, that drops down twice before opening into a small chamber. A demon snarls inside, blood fresh and dry smeared on the floor, and Tok draws his blade. This is the cave, with a Quaggoth for scale and because it's a cool mini.



After a bloody battle, Tok slays the demon, that dissolves into a sort of black hole in front of him, drawing in the hand that dealt the fatal blow as well. Finally able to free it, Tok discovered his hand burned with pain and now had the appearance of the demon's. Shaken, the party camped for the night. The next morning, they discovered that the woods had indeed shifted as they slept; the stone wall that had been a cave remained
but the surroundings had changed and the paths led in different directions. The next hazard role was just a ploy; they would run into a kobold ambush either way.

Walking along the path, they spot kobolds move in from either side--a sloppy ambush.

Around a bend in the road, the PCs notice another weak attempt at attack, this time a clearly marked pit trap. But as they prepare the cross it, a loud rumbling erupts and a siege weapon with rusty spikes rips through the foliage. The wizard fails to get out of the way and is pinned dying against a large tree.

[bloodchoke]

Still in The Cloakwood

Blowing their load with the huge spiked wagon, the kobolds were easy foes. following the trail forward, the ranger Similaeus is alerted to movement ahead, just as the path opens into a large grove. It becomes immediately apparent that there a group of kobolds with drakes is readied for attack. The underbrush is clear here, and the grove is dominated by three huge trees. As the adventurers move in, a kobold springs down from the trees, attacks, and then bungees back up on the elastic vine to which he is attached. More dive on them as well, attacking and snagging weapons.




Close up of one the trees:


The bungee jumping kobolds were nearly unstoppable, until a couple of gnome spies appeared in the tree tops, firing crossbows and cutting at the vines. With their help, the now battered party kills the last of the kobolds and drakes. The gnomes then explain that they had been following the party since they left the hunter's cottage, watching them to engage their intent. They lead the PCs to their queen in the tree top village (4e gnomes, btw), who explains that they have the missing hunters, imprisoned. She tells them a horrible tale. The hunters, according to her, were captured by some kobolds a couple weeks ago, and then taken to their forest dragon leader. Unamused by their aged bodies and adult personalities, the dragon raged and ate several of his minions. When he then decided to let the rest have the hunters out of remorse, the three interjected that they could bring him younger prey in exchange for their lives. He agreed and let them free, unharmed. Rather than just running away, the hunters hatched a nefarious plan; having friendly relations with the gnomes, the would just capture a couple of them for the dragon. He wouldn't immediately notice the difference, the figured, and he didn't. Now the gnomes had captured two of the three and were going to feed them to fey spitter spiders. The dragon would have to be dealt with though, and so they made some offer (i forget what) for the PCs to slay him. The adventurers were cool with both arrangements.

Approaching the mouth of the dragon's cave, the PCs used a ritual written on a large leaf to shield themselves in invisibility.



I don't have pictures for the entrance to the cave (but you can see it in a few). The followed a wide cave, ignoring smaller side passages, into a chamber. Here they killed a half asleep kobold mage, then solved a version of DM Scotty's dragon puzzle to enter the lower level. Then the came to the lair of the young forest dragon.




In the back ground here you can see the puzzle room. I used color glass beads like DM Scotty in woodsy bowls. The water and treasure didn't turn out so well, but I like the big cave. Made several pieces I didn't use though.

[robagd]

Those are some great looking tiles. One of the reasons I try to make sure mine are fairly generic is for reuse. Our next gaming day is the 4th so we shall see how it works out.

keep up the great work though

-R

[bloodchoke]

**Sorry for all the text. I just wanted to provide some context for those pics. I try to put any crafting discussion right before the pics, so skip whatever you're not interested in.

Here's some randoms stuff.
Woodsy pickle barrels, details added with ink pen.




Woodsy cubes with match sticks.


DMG Style treasure chests.


Table


A campfire.


A 3d Paper shell with 2.5d floor. This is the Restaurant from Dave's Games (David Graffam models). Haven't used this in an encounter,and not sure if i will since it's so small.

Didn't intend of the Ent toy photobomb there. Not sure how I didn't see that when i took the picture...


3d playable tree, DM Scotty Inspired.

[bloodchoke]

Madness at Gardmore Abbey

After a lot of story and roleplay regarding the fighter's demon hand and other matters, the PCs are finally drawn to Winterhaven, where I lead them to Gardmore Abbey. This is an incredible adventure.So many options as written, and so much potential for more. If you plan on running this, send me a PM. It's a tricky adventure to run, and there are a few things I wish I had done differently. I also made some small changes that could be helpful. Anyway, this forum is for crafting, so....

The first task the PCs are given is to map out the grounds of the ancient ruins and try to get an idea of what is going on there. This was all TotM of course, but I did give the players this posterboard map to fill in as they explored.


For whatever reason, I kinda forgot to plan for the PCs entering through the breach in the wall, next to the enchanted watchtower. In hindsight, it was the obvious choice, but I dumbly expected them to go through the front gates. Anyway, I had these towers I was working on for a later encounter, and since I knew they couldn't get inside anyway, I used them to represent the watchtower. It had an impenetrable elastic skin around it, made to mimic the walls of the tower, which was suspended between the physical world and the far realm. There were no doors or windows, and as the PCs slashed to get inside, black ooze bled out, forming small black puddings. After a few rounds of this (and me informing them that each pudding was worth 0 xp), they moved on. Even unfinished, the terrain did it's job.



One way into the ruins is through the main gate. After returning to Winterhaven, and being sent back with missions from both Lord Padraig and Valthrun the Prescient, the PCs entered here. They knew it would be guarded though, and had heard of human mercenaries who worked with the orcs. They put up an add, which was answered a day later by a Tiefling mercenary. Following his instructions, they were allowed through without incidence.
The gatehouse is made of dollar tree foam core, just painted. I was hoping the paper backing would make painting easier. Instead, it just made the paper peel off and have to be glued back on a few times. Wood pieces make the legs to give 3d appearance and for multi-level combat. I had planned to paint a black cloth for each side to look like rock, but never did. Pictures are just display, hence all the shit in the bottom. Next time they pass through  I'll try to get an in-game pic.

ENC 1: Main Gate

The steps weren't painted at the time either...


This is just a ruin I was planning to use for Gardmore Village. It only happens if the PCs are detected moving around the orc campsites, and so far, they have not been.
ENC 2: Gardmore Village

[bloodchoke]

Once through the gate, the PCs entered an overgrown courtyard. Sent to meet with Bakrosh, the chieftan of the orcs, the PCs headed across the courtyard toward the door to the hall he now held. But blocking their way was a huge, two headed humanoid beast, who sat atop a plush patch of thick grass. A roll determined both heads were awake, and after the PCs failed the Ettin's riddle (with a very close guess), the bumbling half-drunk guard attacked with his massive club.

ENC 3: Double Talk



With the Ettin slain, the budge open the huge stone door and enter the soiled hall. Orcs aware of their presents stand only half at guard. Two on the floor hold back wolves, while archers take the upper level. An Orc Storm Shaman greets them as they enter.

ENC. 7: The chief's Retinue


Now there's supposed to be a battle with the folks in this room, but I decided to switch it up a bit. The Storm Shaman hears their story of wanting to work as mercenaries for Bakrosh, and tells them to wait there as she exits through the door behind her. When she comes back, she is accompanied by Bakrosh, his lover Khavara, the Tiefling who suggested they come, and several more archers. The stone doors burst open at the same time, and two large ogres shadow the light of the sun, nearly concealing the dozens of orcs behind them. The PCs were set up.

I wish I had done something different for the upper level on this piece. It needed a bit more elevation to really sell the effect.


A closer look at the dead guy on the table, axe still stuck in his torso.


Fortunately for the PCs, the Orc wanted them alive. Faced with few options, the PCs surrendered, giving up all their gear and allowing their hands to be bound.
the long hall to jail...

didn't really get a good picture of the jail, and isn't too much to see. It's made with my foamcore method, and I think it has a few cracks etched into it.

[bloodchoke]

Now my plan was for the halfling thief the PCs found locked in the dungeon cells with them to help them pick the lock. He also would be able to lead them out a back way that, he thought would be clear. A chase would ensue, but the orcs would be slow to follow into the fey grove. The PCs would lose all their gear though--everything in their bag of holding, their magic weapons, everything they had--and would hate Bakrosh. They would come back later for epic vengeance.

My players had other plans. With some fine planning and miraculously lucky rolls, he managed to free his hands and judo toss the jailer into the cell just as he was being led in. Soon they were all free, the jailers were dead, and the PCs were free. Going through the fanciest door the saw along the hall, they walked right into Bakrosh's chamber. The Teifling was just about leave, and the Chieftan was sure the prisoners were secure, so there were only four guards. Using only the weapons stolen from the orc jailers, the monk's hands, and the wizards less-focused magic, they somehow managed to kill all seven enemies. Quickly, they gathered their stolen things and left out a back window into a garden. In Hindsight: I should have made it harder, haha. It didn't work out the way I planned, but it was still fun.

I just used the map included in the box for this encounter. Wish I had made something more interesting...
ENC 8 (sort of): Orc Chieftan, Tiefling Mercenary.


Escaping out a window, the PCs enter the fey grove.

After facing some deathjump spiders in the Outer Gardens, they came upon the dilapidated remains of the Groundskeepers Cottage. Whiel some of the players were debating what to do about the owlbear inside, the fighter ran toward the rear door and attacked.

ENC 12: Groundskeeper's Cottage. Sorry for the bad picture quality.


Here's a closer look at the floor.


After meeting Berrian Valfaren at the Fount of Ioun, the PCs left to search for the Eladrin's sister Analastara. They found her at an old bell tower, pursued by a pair of displacer beasts. As they come into view, the beasts strike down Analastara and turn to the PCs, leaving her to be drained by the bloodsucking stirges that occupy the belltower.

ENC 11: Bell Tower. Sorry again for bad pics.



closer look at the bell, an xmas decoration repainted.

[Deleted]

Wow, great pics, excellent adventure tales.. I can see all the innovations, tips and tricks being employed and your skill and ambition increasing with every bit of terrain you craft.
Fantastic work!

[DMScotty]

love seeing this man....bravo!

[bloodchoke]

After some story development, the PCs found their way to Vandomer's Tower. Approaching the tower, the could smell fresh flower and taste slow smoked wild hare (which were very large and very prized in this region). But as they came closer, they began to feel an overwhelming sadness, suddenly recalling painful events from the past. They destroyed some sentinel gargoyles as the wizard attempted to enter the tower. Touching a stone from Valtrhun to it, he felt cold water sweep into his boots as the frozen seal melted away. Inside, they found the horrible remains of the Paladin Elaina, grotesquely combined with another body in a heartbreaking and terrifying flesh golem. Though the giant body was bloody and rotting, Elaina's face was pristine, a lost look of misery in her eyes. She slept on the obelisk object in the center of the round tower, with a sheet draped across her. A scroll rested atop the covered, grisly body, and orbs of strange (edlritch) magic surrounded her and the stone monument. she awoke as the Monk Urael removed the scroll.


After slaying the poor creature, the PC head up the steps sprial steps that lead up to a door frozen shut. The fighter Tok rolled much too high on his strength check to open the frozen door, overestimating the force needed to open it and fell onto the next floor on his face.


Falling into the room, he catches the gaze a ghastly figure, clad in all white. Ice cracks on his bones and in his beard as he turns to face the fighter. "Welcome, Visitor..." and he invites them all in to see his collection of figures frozen in ice. Knights of the Abbey, a Barlgura, and a dead orc chief from the invasion were all frozen, as were four bodies resting on the stone tables around the center of the room. The PCs lost their amusement quick, realizing his desire to add them to his collection, and attack the Eldritch warped wizard.




The coldspawn mummies on the table arose as the PCs attack Vandomer.


We used the warped magic tokens from below as dead bodies/puddles since they were all frozen...

[bloodchoke]

Thanks a lot guys! That has me caught up with my game for now, and I don't want to post upcoming pieces before they're played, so I'll post more after the next game. Thanks again to everyone on here who's helped me. I love this forum, get so much for my games from here.

[thedmg]

VERY cool!

[pedrodevaca]

Wow! Such cool stuff, mang. Ancient warriors frozen in ice! Come on. Too many cool things to call them all out.

[monkeywithtacos]

Those are serious impressive and very inspiring, Bloodchoke! Love your work!

[tauster]

The frozen-in-ice idea is friggin' awesome.
Consider it stolen!