Nice video! I feel like the final result is missing the final piece that blends everything together: What you need is colored, cleaned *reindeer moss* for undergrowth. 2-3 toned down variants of green, and maybe some browns and you can blend everything together perfectly at the base (literally!) level. I use this moss in every single encounter and it makes everything look better instantly.
My number one tip for creating battle maps is INTERACTION! What can the PCs/enemies use in this location that's unique? are there vines to pull down to act like a net? can they climb to give themselves extra range? something from fate core I loved: let your party make declarations about what their character sees in the scene BEFORE COMBAT! while you're describing the scene, ask them to join. it gives them more immersion and gives you something to spin off of to make it more vivid
Thank you for the tips. But this video did raise a question. Have you considered going back to some of early work ( the logs for example ) and making them again with any new ideas or methods? Thanks again.
This is cool. For wargamers is a bit more difficult because you also need to think about scenario playability. Area cover, line of sight, rough terrain. For fairness, it needs to be less random than we would wish.
It's been a long time since I've played with a party sane enough to just Dispel a troublesome magic portal instead of trying to blow it up or go through it themselves.
First time I presented my current party with a portal they ran in the other direction. Completely threw me for a loop. To be fair they were pretty new to the game back then.
100% love these videos of "how to use our toys". Seriously, such good food for thought 🤔. I don't mean to be rude, but one tip for verbal clarity of presentation is the phrase things in an affirmative or positive sense rather than a negative sense. For example during your recap at the end, you told us what not to do, but you could have just as easily phrased it in the positive if what we should do. "Cluster your trees in groups of different colors and styles." Your channel is one of my favorites and I'm always inspired by you. Thank you thank you!
Love the video but my problem is, when you go into the woods/forest most trees are very tall and limbs are higher and undergrowth is mostly thickets and fallen logs. It's great to work with what you have tho and you show how to do this so good.
I would say that you really need to think before adding ruins to any wilderness scene, you need to know your players before it and if they lock onto it, it can derail a lot of plans there. Also, one thing you can do to "restrict" a battlemat is to grab an old picture frame and cut it into 4 corner pieces that you can use to frame a scene. That lets you keep it in, relatively, the middle of the table so you don't have players needing to move around to see things.
Great video Garmin! Have you thought of making crystal trees for your forest? Hot water and Borax and you soak your tree form with just the branches in it for 24 hours. BTW how would you go about making lava? I need to make a pool of lava for a build I'm doing for my DM and I don't want to just paint the bottom of the inside orange. Say "Hi!" to Conner for me! LOL.
For lava, it depends upon specifics. What I've found works great is to use cork sheets for the edges, then use filler or similar to blend it to get a more smooth edge, and get some cheap, round beads of differing sizes (Dollar Tree has ones that look like pearls which work really well for it) and mod podge. Glue the beads in place randomly but not many, in the area you want lava to be, then work around the edges of the pool for the boarders of it to seal them with a thin bit of mod podge before putting a heavy layer on that you want to be smooth, but not flat, working to the edges of the beads and enough that they look like bubbles sticking out. In flatter areas, then add a little bit more mod podge when it dries and sprinkle some fine sand (be very sparing there). I would also add some rougher sand over the top of the cork pieces, having torn them for the interior works well for lava rock effect there. I would prime the entire piece in a light grey or white, then for the edges, go with a dark grey or asphalt (Not full black). For the actual lava, start with the brightest yellows you have, then (while it's still wet) work toward the outside and areas that would be cooler with oranges, then reds, and dark reds. In the areas with the little bit of sand, go with a flat black and a very light drybrush along with some at the edges...also while going with the colors, a light drybrush of the banks starting with the oranges but each color later you expand slightly, but not much for a way to infer the lighting from the lava. Just remember that lava, like fire, your colors are reversed from normal shadows...the deeper, hotter parts are the brightest colors and you work darker as you move away from it. If you want lava flows, get a silicone mat and a large high temp glue gun, you can make the flows ontop of it and it comes away so that you can paint it, I add a bit of grit towards the edges and top sprinkled on before it's really started cooling to simulate the way it actually flows with the surface starting to cool and harden as it travels. It also makes the black paints on top easier to do. And doing it on the flat mat means that when you finish it works on pretty much any table or surface.
@@AzraelThanatos Can you give me a fb name or something so I can show you what I'm trying to build? I have pictures from other crafters' versions. It's called The Tomb of Annihilation. Also some of what you outlined I do understand but some I do not! I'm thinking of airbrushing some orange on the inside walls to look like the glow from the lava and I do have 3 different-sized flat-backed beads to look like bubbles!
Unrelated topic, but are you planning on building terrain for Dragons of summer wreck isle? It would be awesome to see you go through it like you did with the lost mines of phandelver. Either way thanks for the motivation for crafting.
This literally comes down to buy/make more terrain. Need more density? Buy more trees. Dont have scatter? Buy some. I think advice on how to go further with less is advice people would prefer. Thinngs like using paint to make trees look unique from each other and how to place things to look real (like you did show in the video). Just my feedback but could be food for thought.
Wait until right before and around Christmas for some really cheap trees that look rather good...though many have some snow dusting, but they're normally, extremely durable. Basic forest scatter is also really easy to make, though the bases can be difficult (I look for the thin, craft plywood pieces at the craft store, while they're more regular in shape and have a little bit of a lip, they work really well for things and you can have based figures stand on them easily enough). I tend to use the patching plaster to make a more natural base shape rather than just flat, and work some (baked) twigs and small, rough stones into it followed by some sand. Get a container and a lot of cheap, green tea from the store and just open the tea bags into your container and you can use it for leaf debris where a pretty big container can be filled and the stuff absorbs thinned white glue extremely well (I tend to paint and use some other things first though). You can also do some plants by going to the hardware store and looking for their cheap paint brushes, the pale bristled ones. You can use them in small clumps snipped off to add bits of other life.
@@AzraelThanatos All great advise and stuff that i do regularly but i wasnt really having issues myself haha. Tbh im not sure how i happened upon this video as a DM of over 10 years at this point lol My comment was more critique on the video not problems i myself was having though all of these tips could and possibly should have been included in a video about "get more stuff", even if in passing and not in great detail.
Nice video! I feel like the final result is missing the final piece that blends everything together: What you need is colored, cleaned *reindeer moss* for undergrowth. 2-3 toned down variants of green, and maybe some browns and you can blend everything together perfectly at the base (literally!) level. I use this moss in every single encounter and it makes everything look better instantly.
Great point! I use it between trees to create clumps of clearly difficult areas and divide areas of the matt.
Good video. Nice to get those little refreshers in there for the basics. Thanks!
My number one tip for creating battle maps is INTERACTION! What can the PCs/enemies use in this location that's unique? are there vines to pull down to act like a net? can they climb to give themselves extra range?
something from fate core I loved: let your party make declarations about what their character sees in the scene BEFORE COMBAT! while you're describing the scene, ask them to join. it gives them more immersion and gives you something to spin off of to make it more vivid
Thank you for the tips. But this video did raise a question. Have you considered going back to some of early work ( the logs for example ) and making them again with any new ideas or methods? Thanks again.
This is cool. For wargamers is a bit more difficult because you also need to think about scenario playability. Area cover, line of sight, rough terrain. For fairness, it needs to be less random than we would wish.
Yeah, but where did you get that mat! Haha, seriously though, great video, thanks again for all your content! :)
It's been a long time since I've played with a party sane enough to just Dispel a troublesome magic portal instead of trying to blow it up or go through it themselves.
LoL. I thought the same thing! But oh the story potential either way.
First time I presented my current party with a portal they ran in the other direction. Completely threw me for a loop. To be fair they were pretty new to the game back then.
Solid tips! Thank you! I'd like to see you run a quick one shot encounter using this or another terrain set up. Maybe future vid?
100% love these videos of "how to use our toys". Seriously, such good food for thought 🤔. I don't mean to be rude, but one tip for verbal clarity of presentation is the phrase things in an affirmative or positive sense rather than a negative sense. For example during your recap at the end, you told us what not to do, but you could have just as easily phrased it in the positive if what we should do. "Cluster your trees in groups of different colors and styles." Your channel is one of my favorites and I'm always inspired by you. Thank you thank you!
Love the video but my problem is, when you go into the woods/forest most trees are very tall and limbs are higher and undergrowth is mostly thickets and fallen logs. It's great to work with what you have tho and you show how to do this so good.
I would say that you really need to think before adding ruins to any wilderness scene, you need to know your players before it and if they lock onto it, it can derail a lot of plans there.
Also, one thing you can do to "restrict" a battlemat is to grab an old picture frame and cut it into 4 corner pieces that you can use to frame a scene. That lets you keep it in, relatively, the middle of the table so you don't have players needing to move around to see things.
We're did u buy that Forrest mat ? Do u know were poor ppl can buy them ?
What this guys said.
Yeah, Garmen, where did you get your battlemat? Who is the maker? What is it called, identified or named? Thanks for your response.
Great video Garmin! Have you thought of making crystal trees for your forest? Hot water and Borax and you soak your tree form with just the branches in it for 24 hours. BTW how would you go about making lava? I need to make a pool of lava for a build I'm doing for my DM and I don't want to just paint the bottom of the inside orange. Say "Hi!" to Conner for me! LOL.
For lava, it depends upon specifics.
What I've found works great is to use cork sheets for the edges, then use filler or similar to blend it to get a more smooth edge, and get some cheap, round beads of differing sizes (Dollar Tree has ones that look like pearls which work really well for it) and mod podge. Glue the beads in place randomly but not many, in the area you want lava to be, then work around the edges of the pool for the boarders of it to seal them with a thin bit of mod podge before putting a heavy layer on that you want to be smooth, but not flat, working to the edges of the beads and enough that they look like bubbles sticking out.
In flatter areas, then add a little bit more mod podge when it dries and sprinkle some fine sand (be very sparing there). I would also add some rougher sand over the top of the cork pieces, having torn them for the interior works well for lava rock effect there.
I would prime the entire piece in a light grey or white, then for the edges, go with a dark grey or asphalt (Not full black). For the actual lava, start with the brightest yellows you have, then (while it's still wet) work toward the outside and areas that would be cooler with oranges, then reds, and dark reds. In the areas with the little bit of sand, go with a flat black and a very light drybrush along with some at the edges...also while going with the colors, a light drybrush of the banks starting with the oranges but each color later you expand slightly, but not much for a way to infer the lighting from the lava.
Just remember that lava, like fire, your colors are reversed from normal shadows...the deeper, hotter parts are the brightest colors and you work darker as you move away from it.
If you want lava flows, get a silicone mat and a large high temp glue gun, you can make the flows ontop of it and it comes away so that you can paint it, I add a bit of grit towards the edges and top sprinkled on before it's really started cooling to simulate the way it actually flows with the surface starting to cool and harden as it travels. It also makes the black paints on top easier to do. And doing it on the flat mat means that when you finish it works on pretty much any table or surface.
@@AzraelThanatos Can you give me a fb name or something so I can show you what I'm trying to build? I have pictures from other crafters' versions. It's called The Tomb of Annihilation. Also some of what you outlined I do understand but some I do not! I'm thinking of airbrushing some orange on the inside walls to look like the glow from the lava and I do have 3 different-sized flat-backed beads to look like bubbles!
Unrelated topic, but are you planning on building terrain for Dragons of summer wreck isle? It would be awesome to see you go through it like you did with the lost mines of phandelver. Either way thanks for the motivation for crafting.
I have no idea what that is but you have my interest! What is it/who makes it? I’m always looking for new campaign material!
@@StorycraftSociety it's the new D&D starter set coming out tomorrow. I loved your videos with the other starter set.
Where are the Ghostly Birds from?
You missed adding the links. Not sure if you needed them for backend data.
Surprised you didn't put the portal into your woodland scene🤷
Getting close to 5000 ...
For tip #1 you may not wish to drape the battle map over the table edge if you have a cat.
This literally comes down to buy/make more terrain. Need more density? Buy more trees. Dont have scatter? Buy some. I think advice on how to go further with less is advice people would prefer. Thinngs like using paint to make trees look unique from each other and how to place things to look real (like you did show in the video). Just my feedback but could be food for thought.
Wait until right before and around Christmas for some really cheap trees that look rather good...though many have some snow dusting, but they're normally, extremely durable.
Basic forest scatter is also really easy to make, though the bases can be difficult (I look for the thin, craft plywood pieces at the craft store, while they're more regular in shape and have a little bit of a lip, they work really well for things and you can have based figures stand on them easily enough). I tend to use the patching plaster to make a more natural base shape rather than just flat, and work some (baked) twigs and small, rough stones into it followed by some sand. Get a container and a lot of cheap, green tea from the store and just open the tea bags into your container and you can use it for leaf debris where a pretty big container can be filled and the stuff absorbs thinned white glue extremely well (I tend to paint and use some other things first though). You can also do some plants by going to the hardware store and looking for their cheap paint brushes, the pale bristled ones. You can use them in small clumps snipped off to add bits of other life.
@@AzraelThanatos All great advise and stuff that i do regularly but i wasnt really having issues myself haha. Tbh im not sure how i happened upon this video as a DM of over 10 years at this point lol My comment was more critique on the video not problems i myself was having though all of these tips could and possibly should have been included in a video about "get more stuff", even if in passing and not in great detail.
Ruins won't ruin it.
T.y.