Some time ago I created "TheDeep: Mine", an Old West dungeon crawl style game through an old Gold Mine that had been corrupted by TheDeep. The game uses 12" x 12" tiles to form the mine as you go, so it's never really the same place. Only the Entry tile stays the same.
(TheDeep, with no space, is the malevolent, evil, maybe-sometimes sentient, force of darkness that creates the horrors' of dungeon like areas. It's corruptive influence spreads out from wherever it has manifested, twisting and darkening things as it goes. Hence the reason there are "hot spots" of evil. Witches, goblins, monsters, etc are often found in some areas, but not others. Where they are, is because of TheDeep. The lack of a space was a typo from waaaaay back when, and now it's an iconic identifier. Or, TheDeep is so evil it doesn't even acknowledge grammar, whichever.)
The game was played, and it worked, but it didn't really work well. It was fun, but not FUN!. Some rules were clunky, it didn't "feel" quite right. It wasn't bad at all, I just knew it could be better. So I re-did the rules into the current version, Version 3.
This version IS fun, it's relatively fast (it's still a miniatures game, not go fish...) and it gives the correct feel. I'm really happy with how it's playing now.
And lastly, I created some "boarded up entry" terrain pieces. I had some of these that my brother made for the pervious version, but they don't work that well. The pieces he created are 3" in width, or slightly less. The tile hallways are all 3" in width. But of course, the 3" piece is far too large for the 3" hallway. . It's vexing, and ridiculous, but that's how it is. So I had to make some new ones, and they had to be adjustable to guarantee they fit in any hall I needed them in.
I started with some skinny craft sticks, and built the above as the basic design for the 6 pieces I needed. In reality, I fumbled around for a bit and made one that's different first before hitting on this design that the remaining 5 share.
It consists of the "cage" piece on the right in the first photo, and the two prong piece on the left. The prong piece is inserted, then a beam connects the two prongs. That keeps it from falling out but allows it to move. Another beam piece is used to sandwich the prongs which keeps it more stable, but also elevates the face to match the stopper beam.
Then it's just a matter of attaching random boards to the thing, being careful to not interfere with the motion ability. And then paint. And then unstick them wen the paint dries and locks them in place. Then touch up. Then...we repeat this part many times....
I started to add signs to them, something that just gives them a little visual punch, but only ended up doing the one. I figure there's really only 2 things you could put on something like that. "Keep out" or "Danger". I figure the fact that the boards are there adequately says to Keep Out, and putting up a Danger sign in TheDeep is redundant.
I like how they came out. And now, I'm virtually done with the game. (weird for me...)
I would still like to make new Cave In markers, but I'm not sue how yet. They have the same ( 3" is not the same as 3") problem, so I need to figure that out.
Comments