Green Devil Face 3D Printed

This feature is LEGENDARY in the infamous S1 Tomb of Horrors by Gary Gygax.  Now you can print (a version of) it for your own game.  Derived from OpenForge, it is compatible with Dwarven Forge and other tabletop tile systems. 

Enjoy!

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1380984

PHB Cover Idol WIP

So, I want to make a version of this --

To scale for my game table.  I posted about it here.  

I needed to have space for the wiring, so I made an internal structure out of a paint lid and a dog food bowl --

I'm going to build the body around this.  The head (when it is done) will fit on top.  I may mold it as a separate piece to facilitate the wiring.  We'll see...

Here's the body so far.  I decided to build it from the arms up; mostly neglecting the legs.  I may use a tealight for the cauldron once I get there.  We'll see how it turns out. 

Front (incomplete)

Back (mostly complete).  There's a tube that keeps a hole open, in case I want to make any wiring external.  Now that I think about the size of the interior, that's probably not necessary.  :)

More to come!

PHB Cover Idol

Previous post here.

So I'd like to build a version of the PHB Idol for use in my D&D games.  I've already done the Green Devil Face, so why not?  :)

I drew up this sketch to highlight (and help me remember) what I'd like to accomplish --

First, I'd like for it to actually be terrain, not just some ornamentation.  I want to have four distinct "levels" where minis can be placed without fear of them falling off the thing.  I'll probably make some of the features flatter as a result.

Second, I'd like some "magical" effects in the form of LEDs.  One switch will cause the gem eyes to light up.  Another will cause an LED in the cauldron to flicker.

I think I'll need to build some kind of armature with all the wiring attached so that this can be embedded into the model.  I'm thinking that tubes or pipes for the wire might be best.  I can leave the leads exposed and then solder the LEDs on and pull the wires back to the control box.

I believe that 3V should be enough to run 3 LEDs.  I'll double check that, but intuitively it makes sense.  I'll get a box like this for the batteries --

-- and an enclosure for it.  I'll mount two switches to the top.

I'll let you know how it goes!

My Next Project...

Some pictures for me to study...

Tomb of Horrors Face Finished (2 of 2)

Previous posts here and here.

So, I made one face out of Model Magic "foam" material.  It turned out pretty good, but not perfect.  It's light and I think it will hold up well in use.

I made another Green Devil Face using some terracotta clay I purchased at Hobby Lobby.   It's heavier and I think it is probably much more fragile.  Since it was actual clay, I was able to use tools to carve and shape it.

I think this one turned out much, much better.  You be the judge.

 The wall and floor are textured with flexible modeling paste.

 The Face is painted in dark green and then drybrushed with light green and highlights of bright yellow.

"Crom says get in the mouth or I will throw you in myself!"

 I actually think it looks better in person than in these pictures.  :)

Since it is made out of clay, not foam, it is A LOT heavier.  It was also a little bit too easy to tip backward.  I added a "foot" on the back and I went ahead and built the base up in four layers of thin cardboard.

Who's this Guy?

That's a rhetorical question.  I know EXACTLY who it is.  I've known for 35 years or so.  Ever since one of my first DM's referred to him by name --

"Jubilex"

Kinda like Jujubes.  Jubilex.

I'm sorry to say that I've been WRONG all these years.  Its name is Juiblex.  I just double-checked my Monster Manual.

J U I B L E X

Like Jwee blex.  Jweeeeeeeee!

I just discovered my mistake as I was reading through the Adventures Dark and Deep Bestiary.

Thank you Mr. Bloch for your attention to detail.

I salute you!

Tomb of Horrors Face Finished (1 of 2)

Previous post here

So I made a wall section.  I settled on 4"x4" for the floor to give it some stability and to make it fit with my Dwarven Forge Game Tiles.

In the picture below, you can see that I reinforced the back -- gluing a smaller piece of cardboard cross-grain with the larger piece of cardboard.  The wall in the back ended up being about 5" tall.  I added 3 extra strips of cardboard to the bottom to have plenty of surface area for my hot glue.

The bottom is made of two layers of thin cardboard, glued cross-grain to make the base extra sturdy.

The Model Magic/foam Devil Face is extremely light.  I glued it on with white glue.  The white stuff is flexible modeling paste.  I applied it to fill in some tiny gaps and to give the model a little bit of texture.  The Model Magic foam is a little too smooth for my aesthetic taste.  :)

"What foul devilry is this?"

I think the cleric is contemplating throwing the henchman into the mouth of the Green Devil Face.  The paladin stands ready to stop him...

Here you see the finished product.  I painted the whole Devil Face in metallic green, then I came back in and drybrushed a bit with olive green and some bright yellow.  The "mouth hole" is painted in flat black.

I textured the wall and the floor with flexible modeling paste and I did a black wash to bring out the cracks.  It doesn't quite match the Dwarven Forge but so what.  :)  I think the scale and the effect are both good.

Dwarven Forge Game Tiles are quite thick, so I cut a set of 4x4 and 4x6 "inserts" out of some thin plywood I had lying around.  This brings the thin cardboard base up to the level of the Tiles.

Tomb of Horrors Face WIP

For those of you that don't know the reference -- here's a link

Over on G+ a very talented sculptor (I can't find his post!!) made an absolutely beautiful Green Devil Face.  Once I saw it, I knew I had to add one to my terrain collection!

I'm nowhere near done yet, but I wanted to post.

My first attempt was using Model Magic.  I think it turned out OK - and it is certainly light - but the sponginess of the foam made it a bit hard to mold well.

Here are a couple of pics -- 

I started off with this as a base.  

This is more finalized -- except the paint.  I needed to add an upper lip, eyes, horns and a little ridge detail on his head.  

I decided to try "real clay" -- not that I have ANY EXPERIENCE outside of elementary school with clay -- to make a more detailed face.  

I bought a box of terracotta air-dry clay at Hobby Lobby for $5.18 with their 40% off coupon!  10 pounds of clay!!

Here's the WIP of my "real clay" devil face --

I'm much happier with this one.  There's good detail.  The clay was "formable" and I was able to use tools to make marks and so forth.  

I'll get these painted up and mounted to wall sections and then I'll post again!

Some Doodles...

My Mom kept a lot of my old papers, notebooks, etc. from when I was a kid.

I was digging through some of it tonight and I saw this -

definately grate speling doofus...  :)

Impressive huh?  Not really.  It does remind me of my junior high science teacher (Thanks Mrs. DuPont!) but otherwise, not too interesting.  

I did discover a date on another page -- 10/2 of 1981 (I think). 

Here are a couple other pages that should be familiar to the grognards among us --

So that's when I visited the Peaks...  :)

Daffy Duck on the Borderlands

If you haven't already seen this, watch it now:  (hat tip to Dr. Rotwang!)

Near the end of the video, Daffy is flying on a dragon over a keep.  Here's a pic of the keep:

click to embiggen

Does that castle/keep layout look familiar to anyone else?

How about now?

Dungeonland and the Magic Mirror

When I was running my Queston campaign in the late 80's for my high school friends and college buddies, I used parts of DUNGEONLAND to fill out the mythical continent of (this is a mouthful) Mythophantarealean (!)

I used the Smilodon Cat, the Mad Hatter and the Caterpillar atop the mushroom to great effect.

I have no experience with BEYOND THE MAGIC MIRROR, but it looks like it comes from a similar vein and could be of great use in any madhouse dungeon.

Gary Gygax must have used these (or similar) in Castle Greyhawk.  Here's part of the introduction from MAGIC MIRROR:

ENTERING THE LAND BEYOND THE MAGIC MIRROR

The entry point for The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror will be

shown on the proper level of the Greyhawk Castle Dungeon

series when it is finally done. As that is likely to be years from

now, it is probable that you will be inserting this module into

your existing campaign.

I don't know if he ever reference these modules in Castle Greyhawk (or elsewhere).

DOWNLOAD BOTH MODULES HERE BEFORE THEY ARE GONE!