Silverhex Scenery (Updated 3/13/16)

[Pippin]

So, not too long ago, I was GMing a table of Pathfinder's Silverhex Chronicles at a convention called GameCon.  I had a plain map on which I'd drawn with marker and I had my minis ready to go.  Meantime, two tables down from me, there was a fellow who had props of Sphinx-like statues, statues of Horus, 3-D buildings, a multilevel building, and generally, a while lot more than just a map.

I stood there (I'm one of those standing GMs) waiting for people to come play while he relaxed and watched everyone who came by at least look over his table and his table had filled up and started a good half hour before I had my first player.

Decision time came.  I need props!  Terrain pieces, to be specific.  The Silverhex Chronicles start in a cemetery, so that's how I started.  The first shot will show all the pieces I made yesterday.  Following this, we have close-ups of the 3 burial plots, the tree (I was going for a baby Womping Willow) and the sarcophagus that opens, the 4 fence posts, and then a random crate that isn't actually part of this, but something that can come in handy as a terrain piece.  I'll still be doing some smoothing and sanding on it which I think will give it more of a "used" look.

I'll be using Green Stuff to add more embellishment to the sarcophagus and possibly the tombstones.  I'll also use my mold-making stuff to create additional fence posts and burial plots.

Enjoy the photos and feel free to offer compliments, comments, and critiques.

 

EDIT:  Just glanced over the pictures and realized how lopsided the fence posts look.  They're on my daughter's hoodie (the red background) and I guess it wasn't sitting level.  They do sit flat  :=)

Edited March 14, 2016 by Pippin

[Chaoswolf]

They look good!

 

What did you use to make them?

 

I'm not to sure about the crate; maybe it's the angle, but it looks too 'puffy', almost as if it was made out of something besides wood.

[Pippin]

Yeah, the crate does look poofy.  In person, it doesn't look quite as bad, but the photo (being close up) really brings it out.  I'm planning to curb some of that with the sanding and filing.  Sanding down the middles and just roughing up the ends with my crafting knife or something.

 

I used Sculpey to make them.  It's my go-to for terrain pieces.  However, I'm thinking of venturing into the world of foam board for some buildings and/or partial walls.

 

Thanks for the feedback and I'm glad you like them!

[Chaoswolf]

Sanding and filing will probably do a lot to fix it up, I'm sure.

 

Keep up the good work!

[malefactus]

LOOKIN' GOOD! The Tree & the Gravestones are especially nicely done. Keep up the GREAT WORK!

[Pippin]

Thanks, Malefactus!  I'm glad you like it.  The tree made me rather happy.  Amusingly, I only planned to do the burial mounds, then just got rolling and spent another (inserts random made up number of hours here) creating the rest of it.  The tree kept me up beyond what the wife had deemed to be bedtime.  About an hour beyond.  Now I'm building myself a terrain piece of a dog house to be in...

Seriously, though, I'm looking forward to getting these pieces painted up and shown in their full glory (regardless of how full that actually is).  I'm thinking of using toothpicks to make the fence rails for the fence posts.  I actually saw that idea somewhere on this forum, but I can't remember exactly whose idea it was nor do I seem to be able to find it.  Thank you, mystery idea person, whoever you are.

 

EDIT:  I found it!  The toothpick fence idea was sappet102 in the Gloomholde city section 2 thread.  Thanks, sappet 102, for the great idea and for all the headaches that carving up toothpicks will cause me  :=)

Edited January 18, 2016 by Pippin

[Glitterwolf]

Great stuff!

[Pippin]

Thanks for the encouragement, Xherman1964!  Hopefully next time is GM at a con, people will be stopping and gawking at my table  :=)

[BLZeebub]

That tree is worthy of emulation, I'll give you that.  Been looking (for years) for good trees to make or good ways to make trees.

[Pippin]

Wow, thanks for the arbor-based praise  :=)  The tree was quite fun.  A good bit of armature and lots of little bits of Sculpey to emulate bark,  Of course, I don't think it would be something I could mold and cast.  At least, not without becoming a terrain lumberjack. 

However, as to ways to make trees, I think the tiny strips for bark and ensuring somewhat of a deliberately haphazard layout always makes me feel that they're more effective (he says as the veteran of having made two whole trees).

[malefactus]

...  I'm thinking of using toothpicks to make the fence rails for the fence posts.  I actually saw that idea somewhere on this forum, but I can't remember exactly whose idea it was nor do I seem to be able to find it.  Thank you, mystery idea person, whoever you are.

 

EDIT:  I found it!  The toothpick fence idea was sappet102 in the Gloomholde city section 2 thread.  Thanks, sappet 102, for the great idea and for all the headaches that carving up toothpicks will cause me  :=)

 

I've used tooth picks as spiked bars for a few gates, barred window, & the armature for some of my Mushrooms. They are super useful thingies.

[Pippin]

I made four more scenery pieces.  The first shots will show them together, then they each get more specific attention.

The first piece I made was a tree stump, then a larger tree.  I showed them with the two trees I'd already made.

Then, I made a barrel and a table.  I have a shot of those with the crate (which has been sanded and smoothed a bit to eliminate the weird "poofy" look it had).  I figure these pieces will be handy any time the PCs find themselves in a tavern, which in Pathfinder, is days that end in "y."

Following these, I have a couple of shots to show the embellishment I added to the sarcophagus.  The  family crest for the family whose tomb you're raiding in the Silverhex Chronicles includes a badger, so I did a shield in the middle with the semblance of a badger face on it and then badger paws on either side of it.

The final shots have the pieces I've made this month together with a couple of pieces I'd made last year to flesh out a cemetery scene.

Hope you enjoy it!  Compliments and critiques are always welcome  :=)

[malefactus]

GREAT WORK! They are all SPLENDID pieces, but I really like the trees & stump.

You may have noticed by now that scenery making is addictive; i.e., after awhile you need to make more.

[Pippin]

Yeah, terrain building is pretty much outstanding.  Not gonna lie.  I've definitely caught the terrain bug.  I even got some sheets of foam board the other day.  Initially, it's going to be useful in making boxes to create molds for the burial mounds, but then...houses, walls, bridges, staircases, cliff faces...FUN!

[Pippin]

Not really a proper update so much as just a first go at using foam board, and I was fairly happy with the result.  I was actually just putting together pieces to make a foam board box to cast one piece molds for the burial mounds (which is going quite well, thank you).   However, I thought I'd try a couple of goes at brick and cobblestone first.  The brick went pretty darn well (other than a line towards the top getting a bit slanted.  The cobblestone was just eh, so I'm not sharing it  :=)

 

My first building will be a mausoleum.  I'm thinking I'll sketch it out in plain paper and then use that for templates.

 

As always, compliments, comments, and critiques are always welcome.