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"Top 10 terrain every Fantasy gamer should have" Topic


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25 Sep 2019 8:07 p.m. PST
by Editor in Chief Bill

  • Removed from TMP Poll Suggestions boardCrossposted to Terrain and Scenics board

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Personal logo Parzival Supporting Member of TMP17 Jan 2019 8:29 a.m. PST

Lot of overlap with the A/M poll, but there's additional stuff here, too!

Not necessarily all on the table at the same time, of course!

Large circular hill
Small circular hill
Long ridge hill
Short ridge hill
River
Forked river
Stone bridge
Wood bridge
Low stone wall
Earth rampart
Wood walled fort
Stone walled fort
Wood keep
Stone square keep
Stone round keep
Church/Cathedral
Bog/marsh
Forest
Monastery/Convent/Abbey
Walled monastery/Convent/Abbey
Stone farmhouse/cottage
Wood farmhouse/cottage
Stone henge/shrine
Greek/Roman temple
Pyramid
Sphinx
Ziggurat
Domed temple/mosque
Giant Wooden Horse
Small pond/lake
Large pond/lake
Rocky area
Stone ruins
Evil shrine
Mysterious shrine
Angel statue
Devil/demon statue
Cthulhu statue
Gargoyle statues
Cemetery
Dungeon walls
Torture/sacrifice altar
Dragon's lair
Strange pool
Standing portal
Standing stones
Evil idol
Wizard's tower
Evil wizard's tower
Hobbit hole
Orc hut
Wall of bones
Skull rock
Dragon skeleton (not animated)
Elven tree house
Tomb
Elven tower/fortress
Dwarf fortress/mountain entrance
Evil throne (normal size)
Evil throne (giant size)
Seeing stone/mirror/bowl on pedestal
Derelict spaceship
Derelict time machine
Derelict Coke machine
Catacombs
Evil book on pedestal

All above presented only in the order they popped into my head! Feel free to nominate more!

Frederick Supporting Member of TMP17 Jan 2019 8:54 a.m. PST

Great list

I would add

Wooden fence
Lots of trees/hedges
Stone/wood town hall/store/way station

Andy Skinner Supporting Member of TMP17 Jan 2019 10:01 a.m. PST

Did you start out making a list of 10, and just get carried away? :)

I think a few don't fit the "every fantasy gamer" list, but are still nice.

So if we drop the "top 10" and the "every fantasy gamer" parts, it is a great list!

Maybe farm animals?

andy

robert piepenbrink Supporting Member of TMP17 Jan 2019 11:59 a.m. PST

Portal--though a Stonehenge-style trilithium will do, of course.

Also the huge tree or trees the wood Elves live in--once they've cleared out the Ewoks, of course. (Or maybe that's the other way around?)

Personal logo Sgt Slag Supporting Member of TMP17 Jan 2019 12:09 p.m. PST

Been playing fantasy miniatures games since around 1994… I have some on your list, but it is a looonnnggg list. Frankly, I do not have the storage for all of what you have listed: you will need more than one piece of each item, most requiring upwards of four!

Not every fantasy gamer plays Hobbits -- I do not. I have most of the stock races, but I refuse to play with Hobbits. I love the Tolkien stuff, but not in my games. I play my personal fantasy world -- no Hobbits. ;-)

Good food for discussion, though.

New Tact: How much of this list do you currently have in your collection, ready for the tabletop?…

For me:

Enough stone wall sections to make a city wall more than 9-feet long (played a siege attack on a city wall section, within the past year).

6+ Square Stone Towers.
One Stone Gate for a city/castle wall.

More than a dozen hills, some with cliff faces, making them un-climbable, without magical/mechanical aid.

9(?) Low Stone Wall Sections, including 90-degree turns.

A set-piece, wooden fort (wild west style) adapted to fantasy use.
A modular wooden palisade, which can be built out to over 6-feet by 9-feet, if desired (used it to build a full, scale model, of the Steading of the Hill Giants, per the 1977 module, written by E. Gary Gygax).

Several types of trees, for marking forests.

A short stone bridge.

A cardstock sectional River, made using Fat Dragon Games(?) PDF, mounted on peel-n-stick vinyl floor tile, as its base; up to 9-feet long. This set includes forks.

I've got a number of cardstock models of city/village buildings, including a fantasy temple.

Bog markers aplenty. I use fabric cut-out's to denote the full marsh area, with plastic marsh plants, on bases, placed atop the fabric to pretty it up. I use the same approach for forests, only placing trees of various types, atop the fabric to make it prettier.

I have a modular, 2.75D Dungeon setup, in progress. Similar to what I did for the Steading model. It will allow me to assemble a dungeon, with walls, in any size I choose, as long as I prep more bases, and wall sections (planning to use this to make a full-sized, scale model of the dungeons of Halls of the Fire Giant King, to play out the module in 2.75D terrain, in a couple of years.

You left off ice terrain, for winter adventures in the frozen North! I built modular ice cavern pieces which butt end-to-end, to form the Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl, in full scale, 3D, for 25-28mm figures. I use foam mats, painted in wintery colors and patterns, as a base, setting the ice wall sections, atop them. Works easily, quickly, and it is completely modular. Cheers!

Personal logo Parzival Supporting Member of TMP17 Jan 2019 12:21 p.m. PST

Well, it is a poll suggestion of possible top 10s, not my actual top 10. That's why it's way more than 10 items long. So nominate whatever your top 10s are!

dragon6 Supporting Member of TMP17 Jan 2019 10:44 p.m. PST

Sgt Slag what is 2.75D terrain?
A variant of 3D terrain?
If so then… 2D with 3/4 walls?
Something else?

Personal logo Sgt Slag Supporting Member of TMP18 Jan 2019 8:02 a.m. PST

Here is an example of what I call, 2.75D terrain: Image Link. More photo's can be found here: TMP link. Photo's of my ice caverns can be seen here, as well: TMP link.

It is flat cardboard, stuck into slots in a foam mat (each square is 1-inch, cut into the foam mats using a Table Saw, with the blade at 1/4-inch depth -- the mats are 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick?). It is almost 3D, but not quite. The photo is of my Steading of the Hill Giant Chief AD&D adventure module. I did a full-scale model of the Steading, using this technique. The image shows the Great Hall, with its pillars, and firepit. We played it out using the 1979 1e AD&D RPG rules, with full miniatures, and full terrain. When Gygax designed his dungeon maps, he made no allowance for wall thickness. By using the 2.75D method, I don't have issues with wall thickness reducing the width of hallways -- well, I lose around 2mm, which is negligible. Using 1/4-inch thick walls on both sides, will result in a loss of 1/2-inch in hallway width! Making the model larger, to accommodate the wall thickness, throws everything off, creating a real headache. The 2.75D method works without issue.

My Dungeon Terrain setup is the same: flat, cardboard walls, inserted into pre-cut slots in the foam mat sections. The only challenge is curved walls, and diagonal wall sections… Otherwise, it is completely modular. Cheers!

Personal logo miniMo Supporting Member of TMP18 Jan 2019 8:45 a.m. PST

Arena
Crystal Caves
Encampment
Ferry Boat
Lava Pits
Long Barrow
Marketplace
Giant Mushrooms
Quays/Piers
Giant Spiderwebs
Stables
Tavern/Inn
TIki Huts
Water Well

Personal logo 20thmaine Supporting Member of TMP18 Jan 2019 10:41 a.m. PST

Go on, I'll bite, what does a "Mysterious shrine" look like?

Personal logo Parzival Supporting Member of TMP19 Jan 2019 9:05 a.m. PST

Mysterious, of course! evil grin

Personal logo miniMo Supporting Member of TMP21 Jan 2019 10:51 a.m. PST

Hmm, Google Images thinks they look rather Japanese.

Personal logo etotheipi Sponsoring Member of TMP21 Jan 2019 1:11 p.m. PST

Underwater + everything in the OP
Snow Covered + everything in the OP
everything in the OP + in the clouds

So to really answer the post …

(Before we begin "L" is the length of the longer side of the table on which you intend to play and "W" is the shorter side.)

1) dry erase grid/hex two sided map
2) green ground cloth
3) tan ground cloth
4) white ground cloth
6) 2xL modular river pieces
7) 75% x LxW trees
8) 150% x LxW modular dungeon tiles
9) 150% x LxW modular cave tiles
10) 3 levels of 50% x LxW modular mountain elevation pieces

Lotta gaming in that bit, there.

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