Post by caveman on Jul 16, 2013 22:49:39 GMT -5
Semi-SPOILER ALERT
Hi everyone!
Here's the first of my two works in progress. I'll post updates as I have them.
This is my version of the tile for "The Wreck of the Infernus." I'm going to make the boss battle for this module (The Wormwood Mutinty) take place on this tile, rather than in the grindylow caves. Therefore, I'm beefing up the role of the Infernus and its captain, and I thought the sunken ship, the Infernus, should be bigger than the PC's ship, the Man's Promise. Because the PCs are raking in the experience and will definitely be at least one level ahead of the AP by the time they get to this tile, I felt I should make the tile more interesting than merely leaving the ship sunken on a flat ocean floor, which is how the module presents it.
What follows, I think, is probably a "honeymooner's period" with crafting, because I did go overboard on this tile, and I wonder if I'll have the steam to do it again. There are thirty-two layers of cardboard in the reef, but only layer 32 will be above water at low tide. (That makes this model just about 8" tall.)
To make the model lighter, I hollowed out all the bulky, cylindrical sections, which was way too much cutting for my tastes, and I probably won't be doing that again. (The thing is, I had a janitor job in high school cleaning up after hours at an architectural firm. They had dozens of these bad-ass landform / contour models and I always wanted to make one. So, here I am fellow crafters: living the dream!)
Anyway, nothing but the uppermost layer will be above water when the PCs arrive, and I'm planning to make use of that hole beneath the longer "plateau" for some back and forth action with the underboss monster.
The boss monster is going to be the Infernus's captain, who is undead and chained to the ship… he's cursed to remain with the ship and even though the chain keeps slipping off his rotting leg, he keeps putting it back on… (None of that is in the module, but I think it's going to be cool.)
So part one is the reef. Here's four views of the WIP reef.
Front:
Right side:
Rear:
Left side:
360 view:
Here's the Infernus itself. You can see how much bigger it is than the Man's Promise. The middle section of the ship and the raised aft- and fore-decks have washed away. I'm going to strew some masts and rigging on the finished tile floor and possibly some sails.
Oblique view #1. You can see that I only finished the sections of the wreck that will be visible from above the tile. The wreck will be resting on its side, but the real reason I didn't finish the whole model was because that cladding along the bulkheads was a huge pain the butt to do and I ran out of patience.
Oblique view #2.
All three models together. You can see that the Infernus is nearly 40' tall, so it will almost be out of the water at low tide. I'm hoping it will be tempting enough to lure the PCs into the belly of the ship (muwahaha)…
And finally, my idea of the spatial relationship between the reef and the wreck of the Infernus. Lots and lots of room for the underboss monster to slither around and drag PCs into the deep…
One thing I'd like to ask the board: What do you all think about colors for the reef? I had originally thought of painting it caribbean/calypso blue on the upper levels and then fading to a deep teal blue at the bottom, but my daughter said it might look like a pile of clouds and I think she's right. Now I'm thinking of starting with a burnt orange at the top level and fading to black as it gets deeper. That isn't very realistic with respect to the Hawaiian lava reefs I've seen, but I think the fading to black will give an impression of increasing depth in a way that a more objectively realistic "straight black reef" would fail to do. Anyway, do you folks have any suggestions? (I've already base coated it flat black, BTW.)
Thanks for reading!
Hi everyone!
Here's the first of my two works in progress. I'll post updates as I have them.
This is my version of the tile for "The Wreck of the Infernus." I'm going to make the boss battle for this module (The Wormwood Mutinty) take place on this tile, rather than in the grindylow caves. Therefore, I'm beefing up the role of the Infernus and its captain, and I thought the sunken ship, the Infernus, should be bigger than the PC's ship, the Man's Promise. Because the PCs are raking in the experience and will definitely be at least one level ahead of the AP by the time they get to this tile, I felt I should make the tile more interesting than merely leaving the ship sunken on a flat ocean floor, which is how the module presents it.
What follows, I think, is probably a "honeymooner's period" with crafting, because I did go overboard on this tile, and I wonder if I'll have the steam to do it again. There are thirty-two layers of cardboard in the reef, but only layer 32 will be above water at low tide. (That makes this model just about 8" tall.)
To make the model lighter, I hollowed out all the bulky, cylindrical sections, which was way too much cutting for my tastes, and I probably won't be doing that again. (The thing is, I had a janitor job in high school cleaning up after hours at an architectural firm. They had dozens of these bad-ass landform / contour models and I always wanted to make one. So, here I am fellow crafters: living the dream!)
Anyway, nothing but the uppermost layer will be above water when the PCs arrive, and I'm planning to make use of that hole beneath the longer "plateau" for some back and forth action with the underboss monster.
The boss monster is going to be the Infernus's captain, who is undead and chained to the ship… he's cursed to remain with the ship and even though the chain keeps slipping off his rotting leg, he keeps putting it back on… (None of that is in the module, but I think it's going to be cool.)
So part one is the reef. Here's four views of the WIP reef.
Front:
Right side:
Rear:
Left side:
360 view:
Here's the Infernus itself. You can see how much bigger it is than the Man's Promise. The middle section of the ship and the raised aft- and fore-decks have washed away. I'm going to strew some masts and rigging on the finished tile floor and possibly some sails.
Oblique view #1. You can see that I only finished the sections of the wreck that will be visible from above the tile. The wreck will be resting on its side, but the real reason I didn't finish the whole model was because that cladding along the bulkheads was a huge pain the butt to do and I ran out of patience.
Oblique view #2.
All three models together. You can see that the Infernus is nearly 40' tall, so it will almost be out of the water at low tide. I'm hoping it will be tempting enough to lure the PCs into the belly of the ship (muwahaha)…
And finally, my idea of the spatial relationship between the reef and the wreck of the Infernus. Lots and lots of room for the underboss monster to slither around and drag PCs into the deep…
One thing I'd like to ask the board: What do you all think about colors for the reef? I had originally thought of painting it caribbean/calypso blue on the upper levels and then fading to a deep teal blue at the bottom, but my daughter said it might look like a pile of clouds and I think she's right. Now I'm thinking of starting with a burnt orange at the top level and fading to black as it gets deeper. That isn't very realistic with respect to the Hawaiian lava reefs I've seen, but I think the fading to black will give an impression of increasing depth in a way that a more objectively realistic "straight black reef" would fail to do. Anyway, do you folks have any suggestions? (I've already base coated it flat black, BTW.)
Thanks for reading!