Design! Terrain, Playing Table, etc. - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Design! Terrain, Playing Table, etc.

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
Calar-Gaia
Nov 21, 2010 14:33:51 So I've looked around the forums searching for the proper place to post this, if there is a spot more catered to the visual part of D&D please point me that way.

Me and my group have been playing for roughly 5 months or so. To say the least, we like to be as creative as possible. We started with just a simple table, random miniatures for our player characters and monsters, etc. Since then, we've been realizing how much the visual aspect of the game effects how much fun it is. Don't get me wrong, playing with odd miniatures and a rather plain setting was still amazing. But soon after we started we all got our own personal miniatures, a rather large set of actual monster miniatures, our own sets of dice, and a dry erase gaming board that's actually functional.

But now we want to kick it up another notch, so to speak. We just bought a 8' x 4' table and the same size piece of plexiglass to cover it with (dry erase markers ftw), and are trying to think of some cool ideas to implement. So far I've made some custom miniature trees arts-and-crafts style, and we just finished installing cup holders in the table (we drink a lot of coffee). Can anyone toss around some ideas, both for the terrain and for the table? It would be appreciated!
#2
mathius78
Nov 22, 2010 17:33:20 Since you would seam to have a large budget (for a gamer) you can go into almost any gameing store and ask for terrain help from the miniatures section. The difficult part will be adding grid lines. Posting maps and pictures on the walls can be nice as well. A dry earse board on the wall for tracking iniative is very helpful. I also have note take with small board who trackes monster HP an status effects. Heroscape has good cheap minis that you use. If you will be drawing most battle maps then I would print out one inch graph paper and tape enough together so you can put it under the plexiglass. You can go on-line and get music channels with emotional theams for you games. Try Pandora. You can print stuff out on cardstock and make stadie mines with pictures. Dimer switches on the lights or candles can be nice. If you have laptop and can find a way to project an image you can cast visuals on a wall. Hope this helps.

Mathius
#3
603
Nov 23, 2010 6:58:49 Hirst Fantasy Arts, if one of you is a hardcore miniatures junkie and doesn't mind being OCD enough to cast all those baJILLIONS of pieces to assemble buildings and modular dungeon pieces.
#4
pitchblende
Nov 23, 2010 12:57:37 The plexiglass table is a great idea! My group was considering constructing a gaming table, but we weren't sure what all to do with it. The old vinyl battlemat is getting a bit cumbersome for us.

Like Mathius said, you can get terrain from any gaming shop or many hobby stores. As for grid lines, perhaps you could use a projector to shine a grid on your terrain and trace it with some black acrylic or even sharpie?

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Calar-Gaia Nov 21, 2010 14:33:51	So I've looked around the forums searching for the proper place to post this, if there is a spot more catered to the visual part of D&D please point me that way. Me and my group have been playing for roughly 5 months or so. To say the least, we like to be as creative as possible. We started with just a simple table, random miniatures for our player characters and monsters, etc. Since then, we've been realizing how much the visual aspect of the game effects how much fun it is. Don't get me wrong, playing with odd miniatures and a rather plain setting was still amazing. But soon after we started we all got our own personal miniatures, a rather large set of actual monster miniatures, our own sets of dice, and a dry erase gaming board that's actually functional. But now we want to kick it up another notch, so to speak. We just bought a 8' x 4' table and the same size piece of plexiglass to cover it with (dry erase markers ftw), and are trying to think of some cool ideas to implement. So far I've made some custom miniature trees arts-and-crafts style, and we just finished installing cup holders in the table (we drink a lot of coffee). Can anyone toss around some ideas, both for the terrain and for the table? It would be appreciated!
#2 mathius78 Nov 22, 2010 17:33:20	Since you would seam to have a large budget (for a gamer) you can go into almost any gameing store and ask for terrain help from the miniatures section. The difficult part will be adding grid lines. Posting maps and pictures on the walls can be nice as well. A dry earse board on the wall for tracking iniative is very helpful. I also have note take with small board who trackes monster HP an status effects. Heroscape has good cheap minis that you use. If you will be drawing most battle maps then I would print out one inch graph paper and tape enough together so you can put it under the plexiglass. You can go on-line and get music channels with emotional theams for you games. Try Pandora. You can print stuff out on cardstock and make stadie mines with pictures. Dimer switches on the lights or candles can be nice. If you have laptop and can find a way to project an image you can cast visuals on a wall. Hope this helps. Mathius
#3 603 Nov 23, 2010 6:58:49	Hirst Fantasy Arts, if one of you is a hardcore miniatures junkie and doesn't mind being OCD enough to cast all those baJILLIONS of pieces to assemble buildings and modular dungeon pieces.
#4 pitchblende Nov 23, 2010 12:57:37	The plexiglass table is a great idea! My group was considering constructing a gaming table, but we weren't sure what all to do with it. The old vinyl battlemat is getting a bit cumbersome for us. Like Mathius said, you can get terrain from any gaming shop or many hobby stores. As for grid lines, perhaps you could use a projector to shine a grid on your terrain and trace it with some black acrylic or even sharpie?