Followers

Monday 5 March 2012

Dungeon in a 'Tardis' box

OK, here is the 'Dungeon Box'.


The box measures 22 x 15 x 11 inches, that is 56 x 38 x 28 cm for my European friends.


The box has a number of internal divisions.


The centre row holds all this. Four walled rooms measuring 5 x 5 squares, three walled rooms measuring 10 x 5 squares, a round room measuring 5 x 5 (roughly), a pyramid 5 x 5, fifteen additional floor areas measuring 5 x 5, one with a fish pool and 3 x 3 floor with toothed and horned skull motif.

Every wall has a lift out section in the middle of each 5 square section which can be swapped out for a door.



The open side section of the box holds all the long walled corridors, either 15 x 2 squares or 10 x 2 squares. There are lift out sections for additional doors as desired.


The third section of box has a number of smaller boxes which contain all the smaller bits and pieces, corners etc.


All in all the box holds everything and a wee bit more that you can see in the above picture. The table is 6 x 4 feet. In the immediate foreground are a few boxes holding some of my dungeon figures. These boxes fit neatly inside the 10 x 5 and 5 x 5 rooms for storage. There is still spare capacity for more figures to be stored.

All the walls, floors and doors are made from scrap foamboard (check your local recycling centre) with additional detail made from cardboard. Walls and floors are given a plaster wash and an acrylic paint job before a heavy coat of varnish. The whole setup is made to be handled.

The square grid to which the dungeon is scaled to has 32mm squares. Allowances have to made for lost space when a wall is present down a corridor edge where the squares are a bit smaller. As long as the outside edge of every feature is a multiple of 32mm, usually 160mm or 320mm then everything fits together just fine.

10 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Hi Tim

      My playing group seem to like it. It carries a high aesthetic value which some fantasy role playing games seem to miss out on.

      Jim

      Delete
  2. Oh I definitely like that! That is an excellent idea. Dare I ask how long it took you to put all that together?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi

      It was a good few years ago (maybe twenty) when I made it. I don't recall it taking an awful long time to make so was probably a few months in total.

      It has been used a great many times for my own quests, a few times by some of my friends and I even lent it out to another playing group once.

      Like all good ideas its time will come again and it will get hauled out for yet another quest.

      Jim

      Delete
    2. Nice! How many old projects have you got hiding in that attic of yours?

      Do you ever come across something you've forgotten about?

      Delete
    3. Hello Mr Hodge

      Yes, I do now and again.

      Watch this space, as the saying goes, or more realistically watch me at the club.

      I have some more old goodies that need a freshen up!!

      Jim

      Delete
  3. Great addition to a roleplay game. You are right about the aesthetic, it really adds that extra something and makes the game much more enjoyable.

    Just don't get lost in there Jim :O)

    Darrell.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Darrell

      You're right about not getting lost in the dungeon. I did manage to lose the place during one game I was GMing and I had to hastily alter the master map to correct my error.

      Jim

      Delete
  4. Jim,

    The standard of modelling excellent and the amount of thought that has gone into making this was incredible! Perhaps you should try your hand at some 'How too ...' blog entries as I am sure that people could learn lots from you.

    All the best,

    Bob

    ReplyDelete