Custom Islands and Terrain

[Ben]

In this thread we can share tips, tools, and any other aspects of island/terrain creation.  You can see most of my stuff in the last part of my Custom Stuff page.

I was inspired to restart this thread after seeing these creations.

[Ed]

I made 2 3d icebergs made out of foam and i love them but they made me realize that my carry case didn’t have much room for terrain that isn’t flat. Since then I’ve been using any cardboard, cardstock or flat colored piece of trash.

[Ben]

Since then I’ve been using any cardboard, cardstock or flat colored piece of trash.

Interesting!  To make islands, or icebergs?

I agree that custom islands and terrain can be extremely difficult to transport very much, between the size and fragility.  I’ve “traveled” with a separate box of terrain equally as large as the box I use for all the rest of the Pirates stuff.

[Ed]

I have made several fogs(white cardboard) and lots of sargosso with varied green cardboard(my favorite of which is a green river with a croc floating in it…its from the back of a halloween cereal box)

• This reply was modified 5 years, 8 months ago by Ed.

[Ben]

What do you think this could be turned into?

 

I also picked up a piece of aluminum flashing from the hardware store for less than a dollar.  Lots of things I could do with it.

[Fitzroy_McCandless]

I’ve thought about photoshopping a simple water texture, printing it out and glueing it to some cardboard calling it “treacherous waters”. When a ship ends a move action touching treacherous waters roll a D6. 1 nothing happens, 2-3 treat it as a reef, 4-5 treat it as a sargasso sea, 6 treat it as a whirlpool.

[Ed]

I love the treacherous waters idea!

 

And to Ben I would turn that into a fortress I dunno why or how it just screams fortress to me

[Ben]

I think the treacherous waters would make more sense if a roll of 1 meant something bad (as it usually does in this game).   Maybe a 1 roll would be a reef effect with a 5 or 6 being no effect.  The variability is interesting because you could enter it on purpose and try to game the whirlpool effect for an improbable escape.

And to Ben I would turn that into a fortress I dunno why or how it just screams fortress to me

Indeed, that’s one of the main ideas I had in mind.  I think I have 4 cardboard moldings in that shape so I have options as to what I want to make in the future if I use them.

[Ben]

Picked up this thin and flimsy but interesting plastic molding from work today.  That’s the Ville de Paris on a hard card sleeve suspended above the valleys.  It reminds me of the table that was posted on Miniature Trading a while back. (haven’t found the post yet)

SO many options.  I’m thinking about attaching a piece of plexiglass to the top of it, and have it be a small alternate ocean where ships arrive and can send crew down to shipwrecks or something below.  I could also make it more realistic by having the higher parts be reefs or sandbars, with the deeper area the only part where ships can sail safely.  The lower parts could be made to look like a cool underwater area.

I also thought about enclosing the sides to make a “box” and then fill it with water!  Then the plexiglass/etc could go on top and ships could go over it, possibly even dropping custom anchors into the depths.

This could get wild haha.  A flashlight below could illuminate the waters, perhaps signaling the arrival of a deadly beast?  Imagine it over the top of some blue LED lights or something.

As you probably already know, the above cardboard molding turned into a Giant Turtle! 😀

[Ben]

How cool would it be to see Fort Jefferson in the game at the same scale as the ships?  😀

[Author]

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