Good luck Frank, and if the desire to build hits you strongly enough, all you have to do is convince those friends you are staying with to build with you

Arabin

Shellendrak Manor is now on the WorldWorks product list on EnWorld.org, and available to review.

http://www.enworld.org/reviews.php?do=p ... tid=189948

Okay, wonderful, beautiful, great work. Just spent the last hour looking at files and I can hardly wait to start building. One item that jumped right out at me begging for a kitbash is a balcony - probably over the main entrance, but might be useable on a back or side depending on your layout. The main door could be used again, and a balcony built up sticking out an inch or so, or as an alternate to the roof over the car port. Possibly the roof tower could cover it or perhaps an awning, but that would make an interesting addition. Now to reink that cartridge....

While thinking of revues and such, I think Boardgamegeek doesnt have a catagory for terrain, but having the game included might open a path there for a review and details. Since I dont do the RPGs that much, other places that deal more with minis and other games might be a good place to help spread the word. I'll have to look at that.

Sorry to reply to myself, but I had a thought. I recall in (I think it was) Robbys thread about SM, someone had mentioned putting outside walls on all of the rooms. I'm thinking for a completely modular build, this would make up in flexibility what it lacks in economics or aesthetics. Of course, certain rooms just couldn't get this kind of treatment simply because of their nature (such as the grand hall). I realise this would take a HECK of a lot more printing, but since I'm getting ink really cheap on eBay, I'm not too worried about price. Think this would work?

It could work. It wouldn't be as visually stunning as a build that was expressly laid out with a fixed floorplan, and I think you would probably skip a roof. Also, the doors connecting rooms would obviously not be permanent but fold-overs that you put in place once you have arranged the rooms to your liking.

And yes, special rooms like the grand hall with a two-story open-air feel and sweeping stairways, those would require a different treatment.

But otherwise, I don't see why you couldn't make separate stand-alone rooms with exterior walls all around, so that no matter how you placed them next to each other, the "outside" of the building still showed.

That is a bunch more ink though.

Steve

I seriously considered building a totally module Shellendrak, and may still at some point. However, as I look at the mass of terrain I've built over the last few years, I realize that I mostly use set pieces. The modular stuff gets occasional use, but I find building specific set pieces does three things:

1) Forces me to think about the actual issues (practical and asthetic) of whatever it is I'm building - a spaceship, a manor house, etc., even if its just a generic one. When I build modularly, I'm just building the pieces, and I don't think about it.

2) Provides more kitbash opportunities. When I built modularly, I rarely see reasons to kitbash. Stands to reason. But when I'm building a piece, I go "hmm, need this kind of wall here, must kitbash it", or "gotta have a roof that works like this, must kitbash it".

3) Actually gets used. It might be backwards logic, but I find reasons to use set pieces in my games. I build scenarios around them. They're memorable. I will use my modular pieces occasionally as it suits me, but I don't find myself building adventures around them. Might just be a character flaw.



I also find with modular building that I have to overbuild, just to make sure I have the right pieces for whatever I might want to do with it. I know with my first sewer I didn't build enough corners at one point, and then when I built those, I didn't have enough T sections ... and so on.

That is sound reasoning all around robby! I never really thought about it before, but this is at the heart of why I have no generic models too. Not that I have any large set-pieces yet.

I want to build a shopping mall, but building a bunch of interchangable stores just didn't feel right, so I went off in search of a floorplan to start from/adapt. Same for the manor. In both cases, I ended up picking up some extremely detailed and now my head is swimming with ideas. Taking those as a beginning, I'm working with graph paper to create a reasonably good sized build "on paper" that will fit my gaming table needs.

It's a lot more prep work trying to design the entire mall (or manor) first, but when the design work is done, the building should be much easier, and as you said, it will be "purpose-built" and thus get used.

Steve

Well, for a truely wacky idea that would NEVER WORK I must admit that right after I prowled through the various textures and properly drooled because everything looked so cool, I had this crazy idea. To model the Disney Haunted Mansion ride, cobble together my own rules, and turn it into a "something goes terribly wrong at Disney Land" game night, where the ride breaks down and the monsters are real.

Then I came to my senses.

Another idea, if you've ever seen either of the Laura Croft movies, you will see that she lives in a mansion. She has been attacked there on at least one occasion. One well skilled and a couple of her aids against a team of intruders?

How about one of those "theme" Las Vegas Casinos? Monte Carlo Mansion ... build a huge open area filled with games, and a back room where all the loot is held, and the Ocean's 11/12 crew (or 3,000 miles to Graceland crew) need to get to and rob.

Steve