Dwarven Forge - Caverns

[izzylobo]

So having finally gotten most of my Dwarven Forge and Dungeonstone Dungeons tiles (including the dungeony stuff from the second Kickstarter for Dwarven Forge), I've started in on my Caverns stuff. 

 

Like some others, I've split the stuff into two groups - a set of tiles for the Underdark, and a set for more surfacey-type caves. The first part I'm working on is the Underdark stuff. 

 

I'm liberally borrowing from Undel's excellent work, but with my own twists on the subject matter. So here are the results so far - these are just proof-of-concept tiles, done primarily to figure out what I was going to do, and how they would/should look - 

 

Before doing drybrushing (round 1)

 

... and after. Now it's time to start calling out details, and such. 

 

 

(I made a set of step-by-step panels for other environs - I'm including them in the spoilers, but be warned, they are Very Large). 

 

 

 

 

[tiniest rhombus]

Neat!

[Florin]

Nice! I have gotten my dungeons and caverns pre-painted, but I might be cheap and get the next DF Kickstarter stuff unpainted and do it myself. Thanks for the inspiration!

[malefactus]

The dark colors look fine for a dungeon, but a natural cavern most often is limestone which is a cream color:

 

 

...the photo is of the Lechuguilla Cave near Carlsbad, NM. Pretty cool looking, eh?!

[Doug Sundseth]

I'm tempted to paint the caverns up like Carlsbad. Not the real colors, but the way everyone sees it.

 

(It helps to know that the lighting at Carlsbad was designed by a theatrical lighting expert, so it's much more interesting than creams and beiges.)

[izzylobo]

The dark colors look fine for a dungeon, but a natural cavern most often is limestone which is a cream color:

 

 

...the photo is of the Lechuguilla Cave near Carlsbad, NM. Pretty cool looking, eh?!

 

Oh, yeah, for certain - the "surface" caverns will be much more in this style - a lot lighter and more sandy-colored. 

 

The set I'm working on right now are for deep caverns, with a more mythical resonance than a realistic look. The homelands of the Dark Elves and the Illithid, Aboleths and other Things Man Was Not Meant To Know, and less "this is where a bear hibernates" sort of caves. 

 

(I've done caving in some of the 'living' caves in central NY, and visited large cave systems in other states, including Mammoth Cave, although I haven't gotten a chance to visit any of the cave systems out west). 

Edited January 28, 2015 by izzylobo

[izzylobo]

When last we left our intrepid deep cave dwellers, they were forced to reside in a fairly cramped chunk of real estate - 

 

But, as we can see, their home turf has expanded somewhat, at least theoretically, as I've gotten quite a bit of base-coating done on the deep caverns section!

(in person, this is a bit more purpley, and a bit less greyish, than my potato's pictures suggest...)

 

And although I still have quite a bit of stuff left to basecoat - 

 

I'm confident that once this is all greyed out (so to speak...) the rest of the project will proceed much more quickly. 

[jscurrier]

Nice stuff!

[izzylobo]

In this posting of Do-it-Yourself Caverns: Things Get Purple!