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3 years ago ::
Dec 03, 2010 - 12:28PM
#1
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Date Joined:
Aug 20, 2007
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I've been going crazy with putting 3-d elements in my battlemats. I usually grid off cardboard and draw the maps, but with Eyes In The Forest I made the walls of the ruins out of styrofoam and painted them gray. In Stick in the Mud I had the first level as a typical 2-d map, but I managed to disguise the working trap door by drawing it amongst some rubble and carefully cutting the edges. When the party made the perception roll to find it I lifted it up to reveal 3-d stairs leading down to the dungeon level. By lifting the first level off the box it was sitting on, the second level was revealed.
Anyway, now I'm trying to construct a 3-d gibbet tree for the Hobgoblin Hangmen encounter in Crossroads. To make it really interesting I want to put steps going up the outside of the tree so the players have to fight their way to the topmost gibbet where the thief is. So the gibbet zombies will be on different levels of the tree, and there is the potential for pc's (and hobgoblins) to fall. I'll either need to add a couple of sets of steps and some landings along the way so the fight can spread out a little, and it's not just a one way fight up the tree. Tracking the Raven Swarms in 3d could be pretty tricky so I may leave them out. The Hobgoblin Deathwatcher's Clearing Pike attack could be pretty deadly since it pushes, but the pc's would still get a save to avoid falling or potentially be able to grab one of the arms the gibbets hang off of, or one of the gibbets on the way down. May have to modify the Gibbet Zombie Hazard to do automatic damage to grabbed creatures until they escape. This could be fun!
If I actually get this thing done I'll post some pictures and put the encounter modifications I made in the wiki.
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3 years ago ::
Dec 03, 2010 - 6:08PM
#2
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Date Joined:
Aug 20, 2007
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Okay, here's the almost finished gibbet tree. I'm working on the gibbets to hold the zombies next. I ended up running two sets of steps going clockwise and counter-clockwise around the tree that met up occassionally, so there are plenty of places to move around though creatures can still easily get knocked off. 
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3 years ago ::
Dec 05, 2010 - 5:07AM
#3
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Date Joined:
Sep 18, 2009
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Very cool battle concept. How did it run? Oh, btw, gamingpaper.com and spray on adhesive will save you a ton of time with drawing out the grid on cardboard.
smiles
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3 years ago ::
Dec 06, 2010 - 11:11PM
#4
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Date Joined:
Aug 20, 2007
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Thanks for the tip on the grids. I'm running it tomorrow night. I exchanged one of the hobgoblin deathwatchers for a hobgoblin archer. He can easily move from the outer square on a gibbet arm to one on the other side to fully cover the lower part of the tree. There's only one party member with a good ranged attack so the archer will prevent them from trying to stand back and dink down the hobgoblins. I ended up making the gibbet zombies monsters based on a standard zombie, but ditched slam and made the grab do 5 ongoing as long as the grab remains unbroken. There are 2 sets of steps, so the party can advance 2 ways, but the deathwatchers can hold them off with pikes, and one of them can hold a party member even with a gibbet zombie. Push attacks are going to be vital on this one, and the warlord just picked up a bashing shield last encounter, so hopefully they'll figure that one out. This should be alot of fun. I'll report on how it goes and post a picture of the finalized tree.
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2 years ago ::
Apr 25, 2011 - 2:57PM
#5
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Date Joined:
Sep 16, 2009
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Thanks for the tip on the grids. I'm running it tomorrow night. I exchanged one of the hobgoblin deathwatchers for a hobgoblin archer. He can easily move from the outer square on a gibbet arm to one on the other side to fully cover the lower part of the tree. There's only one party member with a good ranged attack so the archer will prevent them from trying to stand back and dink down the hobgoblins. I ended up making the gibbet zombies monsters based on a standard zombie, but ditched slam and made the grab do 5 ongoing as long as the grab remains unbroken. There are 2 sets of steps, so the party can advance 2 ways, but the deathwatchers can hold them off with pikes, and one of them can hold a party member even with a gibbet zombie. Push attacks are going to be vital on this one, and the warlord just picked up a bashing shield last encounter, so hopefully they'll figure that one out. This should be alot of fun. I'll report on how it goes and post a picture of the finalized tree.
how did the encounter go?
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2 years ago ::
Apr 25, 2011 - 9:39PM
#6
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Date Joined:
Aug 20, 2007
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Pretty well. None of the party made it too far up the tree, but it provided great cover for the hobgoblin archers who kep shifting their positions on the steps and gibbet arms. It also did make the combat more exciting being able to see exactly where your player's mini was in the relation to the zombie that was reaching out through the bars to grab them. The only drawback was people had to get up and move around to get a clear picture of where everybody was in relation to each other.
As cool as that one was the model/playing field for The Brother's Gray was even better. I modified the map some, but I actually made the mine buildings going up the cliff face and had it fixed so I could just lift the walls and roofs off as the players entered each building. I even built the headframe with a a working lift and winding drum. It was insane! Great combat too.
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2 years ago ::
Apr 25, 2011 - 9:44PM
#7
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Date Joined:
Aug 20, 2007
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Here's a link to the photoset with the Brother's Gray model - www.flickr.com/photos/alizaybek/sets/721...
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2 years ago ::
May 07, 2011 - 10:35PM
#8
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Date Joined:
Sep 16, 2009
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Dude. Very well done. Although I hate to ask the time investment.
You should sell it to someone else who wants to run the encounter. I plan to do that with all the maps i've photoshopped over the last few years, and printed out in the full one inch grid scale.
Did you print the grid maps out, then glued them to the cardboard? curious as to your process. Looks very slick.
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2 years ago ::
Jun 21, 2011 - 3:30PM
#9
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Date Joined:
Aug 11, 2005
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These are very cool Scott. I'm going to makes some attempts along these lines too. I've become a terrain nut lately (shoutout to showcaseterrain.com, my favorite product) and these are outstanding.
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