Dungeon Build Along Project (finished)

At the beginning of the month I announced that, during the course of January, I would be filming a dungeon 'build along' mini-series - with the aim of showing folks how to make a simple dungeon layout using some of the print & paste techniques.

So, if you want to watch the entire series over on YouTube, you can find the complete playlist (containing all six bite-sized episodes) HERE.

And if you're interested to see what can be made with just 4 printouts and a bit of cardboard... well, here's the resulting mini-dungeon:

And it's my hope that this little series will be a good introduction for folks who are new to the idea of using terrain in their games, while at the same time allowing me to re-do a few things that were covered in some of my earlier videos (which haven't aged all that well if I'm totally honest :) ).

Alternatively, if you've been following the regular episodes for a while, but still haven't got around to making anything yet - then this might be an ideal project to get the ball rolling.

Anyway, whether you decide to have a go at making this dungeon or not, here's hoping that the mini-series provided you with a few new ideas and/or reminders, and that it will be a good example to steer people towards when they ask 'what should I make first?' (as a little dungeon is always a good place to begin - right? :) ).

A quick tidy results in some new terrain.

I don't know if any of you have a similar problem, but I have the bad habit of keeping a lot of my offcuts (from the print & paste terrain) - just in case I might need them at a later date :S

Well, I recently decided to have a bit of a clean out, as the amount of junk I was saving was getting silly. And, as you can see in the next picture, there was quite a lot to be thrown away (luckily most of this can go in the recycling bin).

Anyway, I did decide to keep a few things (like a half page containing a 'wood' or a 'stone' texture - as they're always useful), and I also spent a bit of time assembling anything that had enough parts to make it complete ...like the chests, books, and crates that you can see below:

Now, the original plan was to simply throw most of this into a 'bits box' of sorts (for use in future projects/builds) - but as you can probably tell, I didn't stop there, and last weekend I spent a few hours chatting/streaming on Discord while creating a few bits of scatter terrain from some of this junk.

And here's the resulting pieces:

So, as you can see, there's a large treasure hoard, a pile of torches, a huge axe (for a giant or similar), and a bunch of 'supplies.'

And I have to say that it was fun putting it all together - so I guess hoarding all of this junk did kinda pay off in the end (though it's not something I'd recommend ;) ), as I now have a couple of new terrain pieces that don't actually look too bad.

Anyway, it continues to be a busy month - what with the 'build along' project in full swing, online games to prep, maps to be drawn, and 101 other ideas that I want to get started (not to mention getting sidetracked with little projects like this), so I'll leave you with a (crappy phone) picture of something else I've been working on...

...a really old GW model that I rediscovered. This poor fella had been sitting up in a dark attic without any paint splashed on him for many an long year - so I thought I would rectify that!

Better late than never right?

Dungeon Build Along

Hello all ...and happy new year!

With it being the start of a new year, I thought it would be a good time to start work on a little 'build-along' video series ...one that's aimed at getting folks (back?) to the crafting table (i.e. new year's resolutions and all that).

So, if you've been tempted to give the 2.5D dungeon a try - but have never got around to it - then this might be the gentle nudge that you need* ;)

(*because, let's be honest, I've got quite a few videos out now - which is a bit of a double-edged sword - because if you're just discovering the youtube channel for the first time, the sheer number of episodes might be a little bit off-putting/overwhelming).

Anyway, the plan is to release 5 or 6 short videos (around one video a week throughout January) ...thus creating a little stand alone mini-series - one where I build (and encourage folks to build along with me) a dungeon from scratch.

So, in the first part (above) I'll just discuss the tools and materials that you'll need to get started ...then in part two I'll make the first couple of tiles ...and so on.

With any luck some of you guys who've been following the channel for a while might also like to build the dungeon along with me ...as I think it will be a fun little community project.

That being said - this is going to be a rather simple dungeon ...and it will all be built just using the four pages (one printout of each) featured in this (FREE) download...

...and, like I say, whether you're completely new to this kind of thing, or if you're a long time crafter, then I'm hoping that it will be a fun little project to get the year started!