One of the things I enjoyed about playing back in the day was my DM drawing out complex maps for the players and building paper mache maps for the important boss fights. This was the 80s, so it wasn't all that especially detailed, but it was enough for us to feel like we were actually in the game rather than just in a theater of the mind. After seeing that Matt did the same on Critical Role, I decided that my players needed to live that kind of fantasy too!
Most of my maps are just printed on cardstock and then glued to a sheet of foam core with enemies being cardstock minis glued onto washers and slightly decorated. However, my boss fights are meant to hit the wow button of my players.
My first was a forest map that I didn't really know what I was actually doing. I used pink foam insulation and a bunch of model railroad landscape. It's not sealed or anything and was made before I found a bunch of helpful videos. Also, it was done in about 5 hours the day before the campaign began. It looks absolutely terrible, so I'll just skip it.
The one below is my first actual map. It took me about a week in total to make. It's the Bugbear room in the Cragmaw Cave from Lost Mines of Phandelver. The water pool is slightly stained yellow because, well, you can probably guess and the fire has a flickering "tea candle" light under it. Please tell me what you think. More coming as they are made!
Practice makes perfect. I watch a number of youtube videos to learn the skills and then try them out. I started with Black Magic Craft, followed it to Wyloch's Armory, and now have 5 or 6 that I found (one of which is a WWII diorama maker).
Yeah, Black Magic Craft is pretty great. I don't really make any terrain (Even though I watch a bunch of his videos, lol) but his miniature painting videos are really helpful.
Starting in on a new project. Because I don't know where my party will be going first, I have to build two boss fights at the same time. The first is the Dragon's Tower in the Ruins of Thundertree and the other is the King's Quarters in Cragmaw Castle.
Cragmaw is fun. I have the rocks there on one side and some cracks on the floor tiles. The doors are both maps and the table, chairs, fire pit, and bedroll are in to make the map fully realized. The Dragon's Tower has a couple of the pieces of furniture done, but I want to build one more. The stairs are foam core board layered.
Tomorrow, I'll be finishing up the building (you can see the glue under the rocks is still wet) and starting on the painting. More pictures to follow!
One of the things I enjoyed about playing back in the day was my DM drawing out complex maps for the players and building paper mache maps for the important boss fights. This was the 80s, so it wasn't all that especially detailed, but it was enough for us to feel like we were actually in the game rather than just in a theater of the mind. After seeing that Matt did the same on Critical Role, I decided that my players needed to live that kind of fantasy too!
Most of my maps are just printed on cardstock and then glued to a sheet of foam core with enemies being cardstock minis glued onto washers and slightly decorated. However, my boss fights are meant to hit the wow button of my players.
My first was a forest map that I didn't really know what I was actually doing. I used pink foam insulation and a bunch of model railroad landscape. It's not sealed or anything and was made before I found a bunch of helpful videos. Also, it was done in about 5 hours the day before the campaign began. It looks absolutely terrible, so I'll just skip it.
The one below is my first actual map. It took me about a week in total to make. It's the Bugbear room in the Cragmaw Cave from Lost Mines of Phandelver. The water pool is slightly stained yellow because, well, you can probably guess and the fire has a flickering "tea candle" light under it. Please tell me what you think. More coming as they are made!
Had the battle last night. Full team of 6 players. They were blown away by the map. Looks like I'll be stepping up my game for the next map.
Looks awesome! Any tips/tricks?
Whoa! That's super rad! Keep up the great work.
Practice makes perfect. I watch a number of youtube videos to learn the skills and then try them out. I started with Black Magic Craft, followed it to Wyloch's Armory, and now have 5 or 6 that I found (one of which is a WWII diorama maker).
Yeah, Black Magic Craft is pretty great. I don't really make any terrain (Even though I watch a bunch of his videos, lol) but his miniature painting videos are really helpful.
Starting in on a new project. Because I don't know where my party will be going first, I have to build two boss fights at the same time. The first is the Dragon's Tower in the Ruins of Thundertree and the other is the King's Quarters in Cragmaw Castle.
Cragmaw is fun. I have the rocks there on one side and some cracks on the floor tiles. The doors are both maps and the table, chairs, fire pit, and bedroll are in to make the map fully realized. The Dragon's Tower has a couple of the pieces of furniture done, but I want to build one more. The stairs are foam core board layered.
Tomorrow, I'll be finishing up the building (you can see the glue under the rocks is still wet) and starting on the painting. More pictures to follow!
These are great, thank you for sharing. I love Wyloch's videos.