"WorldWorksGames: Shellendrake Manor" Topic

Anyone able to comment on the difficulty of constructing the above?

I am looking to use it as the interior of Torchwood House to game Doctor Who protecting Queen Victoria (Gawd bless ‘er!) from the cult and its werewolf in Tooth and Claw.

Also, any other alternatives?

Alan

The original Shellendrak set is large, and quite complex. If you want to choose options you will need to examine all the pieces and draw up a design, examining the instructions in great detail, and estimating how many component pages you will need. You will probably be returning for more prints anyway. And that's if you don't buy the renovation pack. On the plus side you get a rather large, high-quality house, which, when you dissemble the floors and lay them out like a floorplan, covers most of a table.

The Terrainlinx version is not recommended, as Worldworks' attempt at on-the-fly modularity is too complex and frail to work in the media; in particular those column anchors in the floor pieces, which will probably come off the first time you try to put a column there; the set also requires some more complex cutting of foamcore, and relies on having 1/4" foamcore.

Lord Zsezse Works have a flat T-builder set for an old, big house, allowing you to create your own house map.
In fact, RPGnow/DrivethruRPG have a whole load of maps of manors and mansions; inist upon looking at them first as many of them may be mediaeval rather than 17th-19th century designs, and the textures will reflect this.

In 3d, there is is simpler modular mansion:
link
Much better than Terrainlinx if you have mostly 5mm foamcore.

Thanks for the most helpful reply: much appreciated.

I had a suspicion that this would be the case.

WorldWorks is a mostly defunct company. I would not trust their site to order anymore. Try visiting their forum, to see what I mean. The last update on the Home Page dates to Black Friday, 2016…

If there are sets you really want to get, try ordering one, to see if the system still works, then order the rest of what you want, using PayPal: makes it easy to get your money back, if the system doesn't work. Cheers!

I think I might just go for 2D maps, for reasons of time and economy for nothing else.

That sucks about Worldworks. They made some great stuff. I picked up a couple of their streets of mayhem sets a few years ago and I use them in all my modern gaming.

Denny Unger, owner/founder, posted on the forum that piracy was what caused him to look for other work to make a living. It is a shame, indeed.

Bought several of his sets, including his first set, a castle. Crude, by today's standards, but I still like it very much, and it is still workable/buildable. Bought his Ultimate Castleworks set, but it is so uber-complex… Never built anything from that set. Very disappointing what has happened to WorldWorks. Cheers!

"The Terrainlinx version is not recommended, as Worldworks' attempt at on-the-fly modularity is too complex and frail to work in the media; in particular those column anchors in the floor pieces, which will probably come off the first time you try to put a column there; the set also requires some more complex cutting of foamcore, and relies on having 1/4" foamcore."

I disagree with most of this statement, but stopped caring at all when I got to the "Requires 1/4-inch foamcore…" which was just plain wrong. It actually says '…EITHER 1/4" or 3/16" foamcore…' and that 5mm sheet will work just fine as well…

As for the fiddliness, sure any snap-together sets gonna be flimsier than one you glue together. Honestly, either set (Terrainlinx or the original Shellendrak) will give you a decent build if you take the time to lay it out. Neither is a quick build. For that matter, Stoelzel's Structures aren't quick builds either.

I have all three (Original shellendrak, T-Links Shellendrak, and Stoelzel's Modular Mansion) myself, but I'm a collector, I have gigabytes of papermodel files.

Honestly, in your circumstance, I'd just do floors on black foamcore if time and economy are your issues.

If you do want worldworks models, even though WWG has left the building, their store soldiers on, barely attended, under robotic control.

I don't care what it says, I've tried it with 5mm, which doesn't allow the tile wrappings to fit; I've tried finding foamcore in Imperial sizes and it is uneconomical, plus the simple fact that the things print out in one size so listing a different size is suggesting an improvisation, not recommending a solution.

"As for the fiddliness, sure any snap-together sets gonna be flimsier than one you glue together."

You were going somewhere with this?

If you do want worldworks models, even though WWG has left the building, their store soldiers on, barely attended, under robotic control.

You mean you can still order stuff, and the Hal 9000 running the site will make the files available for download? Because I might consider trying that, assuming they still take Paypal…

Try it, The Angry Piper. PayPal is safe enough, and easy enough, to get your money back, if the Hal 9000 asks, "What are you doing, Dave?…"

Seriously, either it will work, or it won't. Wait a few days for the download link to appear: if it no-show's, file a complaint with PayPal. Cheers!

Many thanks for all the comments. Is there any reason why the "new" Shellendrak cannot be built in the convential manner glued onto foamcore?

I do like the exterior of the building as it would also do for the school in Family of Blood.

Yes, it is not designed to be so. You can get around the floor pieces attaching to the next floor pieces horizontally, but the walls are only designed to slot into columns, not attach to anything else; and the columns are a hollow papercraft structure which is designed to be held onto the floor tiles by a pathetic little paper anchor which delaminates when you try to fold the tabs up to place a column, and won't stay attached to the floor when you put the column in place terribly reliably. That will increase the amount of time for gluing the wall into place, though it can be done.
That said, the original Shellendrak manor kit has joined the ranks of items no longer in the store that we all miss having available, so West Wing is now the only option available.

I have bought stuff from them this year, it does work.

Does anyone have the original Shellendrak Manor files they can send me. I'd get them from the website if they existed of course but that doesn't seem very likely. Thank you.

The Worldworks website is still up and Shellendrak can be downloaded from link

Unfortunately it's only another wing. It's not the manor itself.

I did a google search and found it at
link
Need to create an account and go through a somewhat convoluted checkout procedure. Each numbered step needs to be clicked on to proceed then the red button on the final page needs to be clicked to place the order.

A search of their website shows additional Worldworks items that are no longer available on the Worldworks website including an update to the manor bringing it intothe 19th century

I can confirm that the Worldworks site is still taking payments and allowing downloads. I ordered a couple of sci-fi cars yesterday. The site's internal navigation does not easily reveal everything that is there, particularly the archive kits. But I like wandering the website so I usually manage to find everything. If I feel short on time I use Google as long as I know the kit name.

The Shellendrak West Wing appears to be the two original issues relaunched for Terrainlinx.

"Our two original, best selling Shellendrak terrain sets (Shellendrak Manor and Return to Shellendrak Manor) are being relaunched as fully TerrainlinX compatible offerings, complete with full robocutter compatibility. Meaning complete, on-the-fly design freedom in all dimensions! West Wing contains three different styles of wall, four styles of floor, and both flat and angled roof options, along with a whole host of different ways to put it all together."

I have the old versions and the West Wing illustrations look similar. As williamb says Paizo have Shellendrak, they also have the texture expansion Return to Shellendrak.