Friday 28 April 2017

More Furniture for the 2.5D dungeon

A couple of days ago I posted a new pdf file that contained a bunch of wooden textures that you could print out and glue to bits of cardboard to make simple balconies/stairs/etc. for your dungeons (though you could also use the main texture for wooden floored dungeon tiles too).

Well, I've also been experimenting with a few new furniture pieces recently - and this is what I've come up with...

- a collection of round tables, stools, and simple cots -

...and if you want to make a few of your own here's how to do it:

The very first thing you'll need to do is download and print out THIS new texture - which is a bit darker than the last one, for a bit of variety (though it can also double as an alternative floor tile texture if you wish)

MAKING THE TABLES AND STOOLS


STEP 1
Glue a section of the main texture to a piece of thin card, and draw out a few circular shapes to represent the table top and stool tops (in this example I've drawn around a coin that is roughly 1" in diameter, and a small washer that is roughly ½" in diameter).

Next glue a section of the plain wood texture around a drinking straw (a 1" length should be more than enough).

STEP 2
Cut out the table and stool tops (note that I've also cut little 'v' shapes along the edges where the planks meet - for a more rustic look), and cut the straw into a ½" length for the table 'leg' and a ¼" length for each of  the stools.

STEP 3
Glue a 2x2 section of whatever floor pattern you are using to a piece of thin card and cut it to size (note that I've actually used some of the slightly smaller 2x2 sections that I've provided in some of the other furniture downloads). Next, hot-glue the table leg to the centre of the tile, and the stool legs nearer to the edges.

STEP 4
Finally, simply hot-glue the table and stool tops to their legs.


MAKING THE COTS


STEP 1
Glue a piece of the plain wood texture to a piece of thin card, and cut out two lengths roughly 1½" long by slightly less than ¼" inch wide, and 4 pieces approximately 1" x ¼" (note that you can also cut these last pieces from the gridded wood texture if you have lots of that left over).

You'll also need to cut four ¼" lengths of textured drinking straw (made in the same way as described above), and a roughly 1" x 2" piece of the sackcloth texture from the previous Barrels & Sacks download (note that I've distressed the edges of this last piece by making little 'v' shaped cuts with a pair of scissors).

STEP 2
Hot glue the 2 pieces of the drinking straw to the underside of the 1½" planks, and then glue them down to a suitable floor tile (note that I've also made a stool to go beside the side of this one - so ignore that).

And while the glue is setting, crumple and unfold the 'sackcloth' texture a couple of times to make it nice and creased, and then scrunch it up to look somewhat like it does in the picture.

STEP 3
Glue the smaller planks across the two larger beams (note that you don't have to be too neat and tidy with these).

STEP 4
Then, for the final step, hot-glue the crumpled paper on top of the bed to make it look like worn/tattered sheets.

* * *

And that, as they say, is that!

Now, it's worth keeping in mind that these aren't going to stand up to a ton of abuse - but they are pretty quick and easy (not to mention cheap) to make ...and ideal for adding a bit of interest to the dungeon.

So, if you decide to make a few of these (or any of the bits & pieces from my 2.5D collection), then I'd love to hear about it!

Thursday 27 April 2017

April's Patreon Roundup

Here's a quick roundup of all the Patreon funded maps I've drawn this month...

So, during April I've added 16 more of the basic (small) geomophs to the library, along with a couple of medium sized ruined/flooded areas at the request of one of my patrons (Lastlaugh70).


And because I had no further requests/submissions this month, I've also gone ahead and drawn the large tile (pictured on the right) on the behalf of patrons Craig Clark, Rich neves, and The one who Wasps.

For this last map I've attempted to draw an area of the dungeon that's been taken over by a group of evil cultists (or similar) -  with a makeshift library set up in the main hall, a bunch of prison cells (for their sacrificial victims) in the NE corner, and a circular 'summoning' chamber where they practice their despicable blood magic.

Obviously you could use the tile for something else entirely (and I've provided an empty version of the map too) - but I thought I'd share what was going through my mind when I was drawing it ...just in case that's ever of interest :)

Anyway, that's it for another month of maps (though I hope to be posting some more stuff for the 2.5D dungeon in the next couple of days), and all that's left to say is that you can find all of these maps (plus all the ones I've drawn since the beginning of the year) in THIS ALBUM -or- over on GOOGLE DRIVE (where they are slightly better organised).

Monday 17 April 2017

Balconies and walkways for the 2.5D dungeon

A few years back I started to make some bits and pieces for a 2.5D dungeon system - inspired by the likes of DM Scotty and the DMGinfo (just do a google image search for 2.5D dungeons to see the kind of thing I'm talking about).

However, instead of making a bunch of tiles and then painting them, I opted to make a few printable textures that I could glue to the cardboard - thus enabling me to make  a bunch of tiles quickly and easily (and if you're interested to see what I've done previously, simply click the 2.5D tag at the end of this post).

Anyway, since a recent delivery came in a nice big (double corrugated) box, I thought I would revisit the 2.5D dungeon, and turn this packaging into a few wooden walkways and/or balconies - thus giving the dungeon a multilevel feel (and allowing the players and monsters to take advantage of elevated positions).

So, with that in mind, here's what I've come up with...



And if you're interested in making some of these bits and pieces yourself, here's how to do it...

First of all, you'll need to print off the pages of THIS PDF file.

However, before we go any further, it's worth noting that I've drawn the textures so that the distance between each individual 'horizontal plank' is one quarter of an inch - so you should be able to cut along the lines without the need to do much measuring :)

MAKING THE STEPS

For the stairs, you'll want to glue the top two textures on page one of the pdf to some thick cardboard, and then cut them out (with a box cutter) to the desired shape (which will depend on how large you want to make your steps).



For my own steps I've chosen to make them 2" wide and three steps high (with the distance between each step being half an inch). I have therefore cut the 'plank' texture into three 2" X 1" sections to represent the steps, and the side texture into the shapes pictured above.

Once that's done, it's a simple matter of gluing them together with a hot glue gun (note that I like to have the steps overhang the sides ever so slightly).



MAKING THE RAISED SECTIONS

For the walkways/balconies you'll need to glue the wooden floor texture (on page 2) to some thick cardboard, and cut it to the desired shape. Once that's done you'll need to make the support pillars in exactly the same way as the stone pillars SHOWN PREVIOUSLY - except that you'll use the plain wooden texture on page one. Furthermore, you might also like to make a simple base for each of the pillars (using the same plain texture glued to some thin cardboard) to make the whole thing a little more stable.



And once again, it's then just a matter of hot-gluing it all together.



And that's all there is to it! Obviously you could take a little more time than I have and wrap the wooden textures around the edges of the cardboard - but once you've laid several pieces down on the table, you hardly notice the exposed edges.


* * * 

So that's what I've been up to this holiday weekend :) ...and if you have a go at making a few of these yourself (or any other 2.5D stuff) I'd love to hear how you get on.