More Trees than Tears in Flannessia...

I do a lot of solo RPG gaming.
Almost entirely.
Mostly because I haven't found a group consistent and committed enough in my immediate area for any form of regular play. And so I build a lot of terrain for that specifically, that can be used modularly to help generate a better idea of the imaginative world in which I am playing the game. Of all the terrain I make, trees are by far my favorite. I never feel as if I can have too many.

Sometimes a small encounter is perfect though, and for that, a bit of extra foliage and even just a small scene-scape can be ideal. Not only can it add to a greater forest diversity when used in with larger terrain, but on it's own it stands as a unique scene. For this use I created a small scene with only two small aspen trees, a small base, and a few natural stone accents with surrounding foliage.

I started with two strands of small wires, and banded these together with simple electrical tape. From the tops of that I added actual wood strands in smalls tick like branches, gluing each individual stick onto another to get just the right natural look.

Once I had the sticks 'bound' together and the basic tree form assembled, I added more masking tape, winding it up and around the trunks before adding a cream-white colored paint (rather thick) to the masking tape itself, allowing the lines of the masking tape to show through just a bit to give the look of bark and natural wood grain. 

This was followed with a  charcoal colored paint dabbed in varying sizes to give the aspen-like illusion of knots and divers in the natural wood-the 'spots' look. A very light dry-brushing of a softer tan over putter edges of the branches mirrored well the changing look of the flocking added to the tree tops too.

Instead of going with completely green as I have done in the past, I added in flecks of lighter almost, burnt, coloring to give the look of changing leaves, or maybe a bit of natural tree fungus, disease, parasite, etc.


The base was made with my go-to material: thick foam-core in black with paper-backed edging (called Gator board in the Design/Advertising world), and carved first with a simple hobby knife for texture and stone, then flocked with a mixture of green foliage made from a combination of pencil shavings, standard pva glue, green paint, and light bits of green food coloring.
Applied over a thin layer of painted-on pva glue and allowed to dry before drilling the tree holes allows the flocking to run right up to the base of each tree trunk.




Finally, I added a few small natural stone accents (to give the base weight0 and surrounded the tree trunks with standard hobby-shop floral lichen.

Finally, once completed, the stone edging of the foam board was painted in three layers of alternating gray:
1: A darker, deep gray in vertical strokes only.
2: A lighter stone gray in sideways lightly applied strokes, allowing both the black of the foam core and the gray of the previous layer to show through ever-so-slightly.
3: a dry brushed layer of light, almost white-gray over the top giving highlights of natural granite.

The result is a small little grove, single forested encounter piece, or modular tree stand for use alone or in conjunction with additional tree pieces.

As Cavalier Elrik once said, "There are more trees in Flannessia than tears. Pray it will always be so."

Stonework Steeps!

I know I know....."modular modular modular."
I preach that all the time.

But the versatility, storability, mobility, and playability of modular pieces is just SO much fun, and they are a constant challenge to create.
Plus, when your imagination varies from a love of all things D&D to the carnage of Warhammer 40K, having pieces that can work for both saves a bit in the "Gaming Terrain Finance" department too.

So this weeks project was creating a sense of muddler stone columns, but made to look like natural rock. I wanted these to be able to be used in various forms of terrain. anything from mountain to forest to underground cavern settings (although the end result, while nice, does slightly limit  the potential use (in my own opinion) to underground cavern settings).

I started with my standard building material, hardened, paper-backed foam core or gator board (see the previous Creative Dungeoneering post on the Battle board made from this here:
http://creativedungeoneering.blogspot.com/2018/01/battle-board.html)

I shaped these with a thick and rough pair of scissors and then smoothed the edges with a soft sanding block, before gluing them together in equal-sized stacks with standard pva glue.

Once done, I added layers of paint over the black foam core and paper backing in the following order:

• Primer gray-standard gray primer spray
• light gunmetal gray: any med-to dark shade of stone gray would work (or red, brown, etc).
• soft gray: I used a softer, almost white gray here, dry brushed over the top to create edge highlights and give the stone a worn texture. The same would apply here though for other shades of red, browns and whites.  

Once the stone work was completed I added a thin layer of pva glue to the top, and created a flocked top layer using standard flocking materials. Green hobby store grass material (think train building sets or model diorama terrain) works well, but I also use a mature of old pencil shavings, pva glue, and a light dab of green food coloring and paint and mix until dry. This gives some texture and depth too (more on this in the next post on Aspen trees and natural terrain).

   

Simple. Pretty fast, and these were made almost entirely in an evening-about 2 hours +/-. 

Effective for use in wargaming or table-top roleplaying as added terrain features, archways, gateways, columns, pillars, or even over-water type features.

There are a ton fo add-ons that could be done to these too:

• Stalagmites/stalactites from some fo the small overhanging rock edges, then done in purple (Underdark or crystal-type) hues or even painted with snow flocking to represent ice or winter terrain. 
• Extra foliage or moss on the edges
• Water-spray, or bases of hot glue and water-type features giving them the look of being suspended in or above water. 

Just great simple little pieces with a lot of creative potential. 

As for cave terrain, I intended originally to make these modular to where they could be used for an Underdark campaign as well. But I am a huge fan of the more purple-gray hues that are found in the Wizards of the Coast and Gale-Force 9 Caverns of the Underdark sets that I currently use and match terrain too (see some of the previous Creative Dungeoneering posts on these in our archives...) so it was tough to justify the purple hues needed with the green flocking. 

As much as I love modular terrain, I love making it match even more. Thus, these are primarily for "above-ground" use. 

Lost in the 40K Universe...Again...

FINALLY!!!
After a LOOOONG delay and some intricate and nefariously complicated IT web-browsing proportions more akin to the chaotic evil of Lolth's demonic pits, I am finally able to once-more delve into the depths of the Dungeoneering blog and resurrect the Creative Dungeoneering blog!
(Thank you Googole Chrome!)

NOW....in the 41st millennium there is still only war, even since the late 80's...and it's glorious!!!
After a long break from the Warhammer hobby, I have returned to Games Workshop and the wonderful world of Warhammer 40K.

Now typically I am a hard-core D&D'er, and have always been more akin to playing classic, vintage, old-school fantasy role-playing than techy-sci-fi RPG's or wargames, although I did dabble with a small Space marines and Chaos space Marines unit back in the late 80's/early 90's (Khorne of course...BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!)

And despite a deep and reverent love for all things Star Wars more closely associated with religion than fandom, my tastes have always been more of the fantasy variety than sci-fi, especially in the terrain and crafting realm. So I was surprised when I first walked into my local Warhammer store, and felt immediately drawn again to not Age of Sigmar, the more "fantasy" styled version of Warhammer Fantasy Battle, but to Warhammer 40,000, the Sci-Fi based wargame....but here's why:

The Black Templars:
Ever since first learning of the Black Templars some years back, I felt a close kinship to their kind, not only for their crusading lore, but for the ties to their medieval nomenclature, the style of their almost knightly armor and weapons, and use of bladed power swords and symbology, but to their idealogy as well.

Now at the risk of dabbling into the political realm, which I vehemently forbid in the Creative Dungeoneering world, I wont get into my own personal feelings on Crusader history other than to say I am a long time reader and passionate medieval historian of crusader and medieval religious orders. I have read every historical non-fiction work I can find on the Religious Orders and on the Crusades spanning from the first crusade of 1096 until the fall of Acre in roughly 1291. Of all the religious orders, the Templars of course have always been the nearest and dearest to my heart. Both for their mystery and esoteric history but also for the contributions to history and their religious ideologies that I personally find applicable in my own life to this day.

 An opportunity for me to craft, assemble, paint, and bring-to-life an entire army built around this favorite of my Military orders albeit with a sci-fi twist was far too good to pass up, especially with a Warhammer store now in my very own backyard.

A quick note on the Warhammer the District store as well, located in South Jordan Utah:

Check them out on Facebook here:

https://www.facebook.com/WarhammerTheDistrict/

                           

Scott, the Manager of the Warhammer store at the District is, in my over 33 years of gaming, is EASILY one of the, if not THE best game store manager I have ever met.
He welcomed me into the store from my very first step as a friend and with the wave of his hand has made me feel at home every day since.

Since this is the first post we've had here in a while, there is a LOT to catch up on!

• We have new Sci-Fi terrain in the works for some new Warhammer terrain, 
• New painting techniques
• New gaming stories to tell
• New projects to share. 
• A whole new fantasy series in the works; Through Cenowulf's Throat - all based around Cenowulfs mile, the great bridge spanning the Riversweep canyon leading the the Furond city of Sohlnorus. Which, for anyone who's followed the Creative Dungeoneering blog for a while knows, is the seat of power for the Kingdom of Furond and the location of the High senate. This of course means we will be seeing a bit more of Pellinia Te'Surk and her vile dabbling with Alzur and Abraxus. And we learn a bit more from the perspective of a character that only received a bit of mention in the first Flannessian book, Elerin of Kelrik.  

Stay with us! We may have dissapered into the depths of the interwebs demon pits for a while, but were back from the underearth and have survived the udnerdark to fight another day!

Three levels of Adequacy

Adequacy.

Something that works...well...adequately. 

And when it comes to gaming terrain, and the fact that I am primarily a solo RPG'er, adequacy goes a long way. 

I don't have a "huge" space for gaming. I hope to, one day, turn the lower level of the Ursus Templari into a traditional gaming area. But until a suitable group of gamers can be found, (I am skeptical of that ever happening, as my "ideal" requirements for a solid group would likely be so out of touch with reality that I doubt any players possess such specific creative requirements) the "Tower" or the upstairs portion, serves as the primary small gaming area. 

One of my favorite pastimes above and beyond even the actual "gaming" portion of table top RPG's is the setting up, creating, crafting, and building of miniature terrain and 28mm worlds.  But in a small space, that can prove challenging. 

Add to this that I have additional, more expensive hobbies, and the allotted space gets even smaller. But again, it's perfectly "adequate"for solo RPG's and for even small 1 to 2 player games. But the key here is "levels."

This shows the 4-level campaign world for the next build, each "level;" going deeper and deeper. This could be replicated onto a larger tabletop, but with no real solid group of players, it works "adequately" for solo RPG's in a pre-set 3D Terrain world.                                                                                                                            Our storyline for this world starts with the adventurers having hired a wagon and horses from the nearby town, where they are traveling towards the ancient tomb lands and the ruins  of a once fabled kingdom, now long-forgotten and believed to be little other than a scattered set of forest ruins.  

Across the old King's Bridge lies the forest of Andulüth, where once sat the Elvish fortress of Tar Avinon. The bridge, crossing over a meandering bog, fills the distant woodland with a thick mist, the ruined walls barely visible beyond the damaged cobblestone and crumbling borders. 

The forest tabletop was made from an actual table piece, where I have utilized the underside of a flat black tabletop (again, the emphasis on saving space) as a forest-colored surface. This was done by creating a textured spray layer onto the underside and then hand painting with a  forest colored mixture giving the surface a generic green, brown, and forest mottled texture. 

While this works, it's nice to sometimes just use standard grass matt, sized and cut to the shape of the inside of the table, as pictured here. Accessories are hand made and also include elements made by 

War Torn Worlds (one of my all-time favorite war game terrain companies: http://wartornworldsstore.myshopify.com

They're customer service is amazing, shipping is solid, fast, and friendly, and their prices aren't bad. and the terrain is just bombproof and very, very nice looking. Just can not say enough good things about these guys. 

Ok, so back to the story...err...adventure:
So over the small pond and looking west into the forest are signs of the once great kingdoms downfall. The distant spires of natural rock, and the two Elven trees, now burnt and black with foul magic from the wizardry of the Goblin cults.

So I LOVE trees. LOVE THEM!! Every adventure in my world starts, ends, or passes through a forest. Not sure why. And of all trees, pines and high mountain evergreens are my favorite. But getting these to look just right by hand-making is tough. Mine often end up looking more like eucalyptus trees, or at best, lodge pole pines. Not bad, but not very "lush."
At my local hobby store, I can purchase a cheap pack of snowy Christmas style trees for $1.99. I soak these in warm water for several hours, sometimes overnight, and the snow dissolves away, leaving a very "blue-green" pipe cleaner in return.
So to combat this, I spray them with a nice matte forest green spray paint, but don't add any additional flocking. I then put these on sculpted foam core bases, and add stone accents and coloring, and have been pretty happy with the result. To add weight, throwing a glued pebble or dollar-store rock onto the base help stabilize the weight too.

The pond is actually a small terrarium lizard pool, filled with hot glue, painted, and then sealed with a thick layer of Minwax Polyeurethane to give it a greenish gloss. Notice the actual stones added at the base and edges too. These come from a simple dollar store bag of flower arrangement rocks. I added bits of foliage to the edges, and used cropped pieces of plastic IKEA grass for reeds. Cutting the reeds at different lengths gave them a more natural look and feel too, and allowing them to slip and slide a bit when glueing them into the sealant also helped, creating ripples within the drying sealant over the dried hot glue. 

INTO THE DUNGEON....

For the second level, underneath the forest floor and through a cavern rock piece above, the characters enter the large cavern dungeon down a winding set of stone pillars on the left. 

The majority of the enjoyment with creating these pr-designed layouts is imagining the stories to be had at every twist and turn.

A combination of hand-crafted and Dwarven Forge brand cavern terrain is used together, along with accents from war Torn worlds. 

Of course everyone knows Dwarven Forge, and as much as I love War Torn Worlds, Dwarven Forge is just epic. Albeit, pricey.....

DEATHCAP MUSHROOMS......

Wizards of the Coast makes a fantastic pre-painted miniature for the Death Cap Mushroom

And I have even made hand-made versions of these to match previously. But I wanted some that were larger. FAR larger. At my local Hobby Lobby I found a set of 4 mushrooms, actually designed to be a mushroom table and chairs set, in the garden and floral section.  these were perfect for large, overgrown mushrooms, and with a  bit of paint and a nice brown stain, they look the part for an overgrown mushroom forest.

 

From the far side of the cavern can be seen the magic door to the lower levels, and the winding stairway leading from the central dungeon chamber to its wide balcony. Both of these were made from foam core, sprayed in a stone texture spray paint, and then added with bits of green and especially, purple, to match the Gale Force 9 Dungeons & Dragons caverns of the Underdark adventure set. This allows hand crafted pieces top match seamlessly with the pre-generated pieces. 

  

                                                 

The third-level layer is another small modular table reached by a bridges and is not yet complete, but allows the dungeon to grow even larger, or to be broken down into small areas of specific adventuring sections. This will likely be surfaced with a  textured matt beneath, giving the illusion of a stone floor to the upper caverns, and emphasizing a structured city or ruined temple at the very lowest depths. Perhaps even a Draw city. 

Modular dungeons, for group, and especially, solo play can be fun, and also challenging,. If for no other reason alone, it allows us, as Dungeon Masters, to use our own creative juices to generate potential storylines, plot twists, and side adventures for our players and add to the rich and growing story that every game group brings to their own particular realm. 

BUT FOR OUR ADVENTURING PARTY, THERE IS YET STILL MORE TO COME...

Bubble, Bubble, Boil & Trouble!

So I am a huge fan of The DM's Craft YouTube videos and the DM Scotty Crafts n Games
Facebook group, and can't say enough good things about the folks you'll run into over there.
What an amazing group of talented, inspiring, and sincerely uplifting people. Go check them out here:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/dmscottyscraftsngames/

And subscribe to The DM's Craft, Scotty's fantastic tutorials, found here:
https://www.youtube.com/user/theDMsCraft








So one thing I've heard DM scotty say that I really like, is to have terrain focused on "playability." Here at Creative Dungeoneering, I love creating other worlds even more than playability, but for some pieces, they both work wonders.
And such is the sad, creepy, and quite bubblingly-terrific tale of our recent acid pool creation!

Now...to be fair, this was created a while ago, but it was perfected  this past week with one of my very favorite forms of Craft Alchemy (I should copyright that name!!!)...

                              

NO! Those aren't dice you see in his hand (actually they are....), but the perfect blend of bubbling, acidic, character-eating (in the game only) froth can be achieved with the double-whammy power of the following components:

 

Hot Glue and Gorilla Glue! The perfect chemical mix to create frothing, bubble effects that both accept paint and resist collapse.              

Now I've done a tutorial on these two before (see the post on Gelatinous cubes and the nostalgia of the Water Weird http://creativedungeoneering.blogspot.com/2015/03/gelatinous-cubes-and-nostalgia-of-water.html 

BUT, I have never really used them in a painted scheme before, so this was a new attempt at creating texture and versatility. 

After creating the tile from standard black foam core (this was done by carving into the paper backing of the foam core but leaving the paper intact on the top), I sprayed the surface with a standard textured spray paint (stone gray) and proceeded to fill the pre-carved pool cavity with plain, clear hot glue. 

The pool itself was carved into the foam, but not all the way through, leaving a thin but sturdy layer of foam beneath to support the weight of the hot glue. I also ran hot glue along a few of the pre-carved cracks to give the impression that the acid in this dungeon tile was bubbling through. I also added over the final dry stone texture, small read of purple. 

Why purple? 

Because I am a huge fan of modular, and mostly, "store-able" terrain. I don't have a ton of storage space devoted to my gaming area, and since I own two sets of the fantastic, Gale force 9, Dungeons & Dragons Caverns of the Underdark 3D Adventure Set terrain, I wanted this piece to go with it. 

The Stalagmites for the Underdark set come in a pre-painted purplish hue, with the tips and the adjoining pools and crystals done in a magnificent amethyst tone. By adding a small bit of "cave alge" to the edges of my tile, I could easily transition from one area of the cavern to the next, and maintain a sense of visual flow and realistic geological coloring. 

Once the glue was set into the pool, I immediately set to adding gorilla glue. This CAN NOT be overstated enough. I use High-Temperature glue most of the time, but have found that all temperature glue works well too. But before that glue dries, and while it is still warm, add drops of Gorilla glue over the top in a nice clear and thick layer. More Gorilla glue for more bubbles, less, for less. You will not see this foam up right away. In fact, it takes far longer than one would think. But over many minutes, and usually a day, the foaming action can grow to almost out-of-control proportions. If it does, however, it cuts away easily with a simple exact knife when dry too.

The final effect, after painting, is a very textured, and foaming consistency. One very crucial key here though is sealant. 

To keep the bubbles formed, and keep the paint glossy and nasty (in this case) looking, I use a small bit of basic sealant. 

NOT spray sealant, which seems to have a horrible effect for some reason, deteriorating and dissolving the consistency of the texture and paint, but actual brush on sealant by Minwax. I prefer the small can of fast-drying Polyurethane, in the clear gloss, as I use this primarily for wet surfaces and moist looking areas. This also tends to leave, when added in heavy amounts, a bit of a greenish film to it, adding only more to the look of charred, melted toxins bubbling and frothing about. 

Stay tuned to Creative Dungeoneering for some amazing new highlights we have coming up! 

We will soon be opening our official Creative Dungeoneering Etsy shop, our YouTube channel with all kinds of random fantasy, craft, and geek related posts, and of course, 

the Creative Dungeoneering Facebook page! 

As always, you can email us direct at creativedungeoneering@gmail.com.

Fold out Dice Tower Dungeon Tomb of Doom part 2

Wondering about shading at 4 am is terrible.
Wondering about accenting fake rocks at 4 am is just as bad. And wanting to finish a project more than sleep is even worse. But sometimes worth it!
Presenting

The Fold-out Dice Tower Dungeon Tomb of Doom!!! Final! Part 2!

So after a fitful few hours sleep I returned to the project to finish this up today. Or last night, er...early today.

I started with finishing the stonework for the outside top portion of the tomb, which was set over a small patch of pre-molded static grass. I opted to make these a bit lighter than I originally intended. Sometimes my 'world' seems pretty dark, and I wanted this to almost have a starker, whiter, high-mountain granite look in contrast to the green grass, so a bit of gray acrylic over the foam, followed by a black wash, and a dry-brush of lighter moonlight gray gave them a nice alpine look. 

I then moved onto highlighting the stonework on the outside lower portion of the tomb, along with designing the doorway, or appearance of a doorway when the lid is closed. I went with a simple stone looking black line, followed by a couple of "semi-glowing" blue runes, but I have mixed feelings about these in their final stage.                     

Moving to the inside, additional shading and stonework was done to the interior cavern walls, entrance for the dice drop, and on the crumbling cavern stairs. For the interior summoning circle I used the same blue lines, but the simple black scar of a circle looks a little less impressive than I was hoping for. 

 

This photo is pre-sealing, so the color will likely pop just a bit with a bit of gloss varnish over the runic letters, highlighting the "glowing ethereal power" summoning something from the dark cavern beyond. 

For the dice tower effect, I tested out the placement of the circle first, because I really wanted to create the effect that the dice were "appearing" in the summoning circle. 

I also looked into creating two different options for the rear "tunnel:" A portal complete with swirling magic, or a simple dark, black, cavern stretching off into the imagination.  In an attempt to always use space as wisely as possible, I opted to leave this as a black cavernous hole. It leaves infinite possibilities and can serve either as an addition to cavern terrain or some form of dark portal. Adding additional features to such a small space seemed to clutter it up a bit.            

Testing out the dice drop proved fantastic. WAY more than I expected! 

Apparently writing "MAY ALL YOUR DICE ROLLS BE ADVANTAGEOUS" in runes did the trick on the first officially completed "test roll:" Natural 20. 

Lastly, adding terrain and scenery additions to the top portion when the box is closed works as a great additional wilderness terrain or even as a simple start entrance to anything as mundane as a single tomb, or as deadly as...I dunno...this tomb.....

Fold out Dice Tower Dungeon Tomb of Doom part 1

So my wife and I have a problem: We are what we refer to as 'industrious.' This definition, at least to us meaning, we work...all the time. If were not actually "at" work then we are at home....working.

It's sorta pathetic really.

So as a result, winter is the perfect time for us to work on the inside of the house since its usually so bloody cold and nasty outside, and it's the perfect time when my creative juices really get flowing too.  I've written about that before on Creative Dungeoneering. There is just something in the air in winter.

The reason this is relevant, is that my wife is re-doing her office at the moment. Like REALLY re-doing it! As in throwing out tons of stuff.
And like me, she has more creativity than time, so that means, junk for me to turn into more cool junk that I'll eventually have to decide what to do with, just like she's having to do with her junk...right now. But like most things I create and write about on this blog, they'll eventually lose their luster too.

And that brings us to the college fold-out book project. See in addition to being amazingly creative, my wife was a dang good student. And she'd create these amazing books instead of just writing a traditional papers while in college. But the nostalgia has passed, and she threw it to me to do something with.

Enter...the Fold-out Dice Tower Dungeon Tomb of Doom!

So this small thread covered box folded out and laid flat. My first thought was two rooms, entered from the center hallway. Just about perfect for 28mm. 

Then I realized, if I placed a set of stone steps made from pink foam in the center, cut out a small tomb door behind it, and folded one side up vertically with carved stone texture on the outside.....

...the stairs become a form of "ramp" and the tomb entrance, now sitting vertical above, becomes the dice hole for a small, little compact dice tower. 

The dice roll perfectly down the top-centered tomb entrance and over the stairs into the main portion of the box. 

I adhered the pink carved foam with standard white (Elmers) glue and then began to build up some stonework on the inside upper wall behind the stairs too. 

The ahh crap moment...

So in every project there is a moment when things take a slightly different turn. I actually wanted this to function as both a portal and a pool when the box was laid flat. The problem was that as I added foam and glue to texture the cave walls t the back, it added weight. 

That weight prevented the box from sitting upright (as seen here) and functioning as a dice tower. So I needed to either prop up the back (which would prevent it from laying flat anyways) or adhere the stone steps to the back wall and give up on the pool. 

Ultimately, the portal/cave entrance won out and the dice tower remained. Gluing the steps to the back wall also meant less surface area to cover, less interference when the box closed, and a nice strong support for the lid/back of the box. 

I added more foam stonework to the back, making sure to not overlap the top of the stone steps where I had used a hot stereo cutter to sculpt and shape both the stonework and the runes (not yet visible) in the steps. This gave a nice arched feel to the stonework on the back wall. Could be used as a portal, or maybe even just a  visual representation of "more caverns" further back. 

The door was a bit trickier. For the simple square opening, I created a foam frame that looked to be made from the same 'stone pattern' as the rest of the otter pieces done to hide the brown edges of the box. This allowed a bit more depth to the entrance and the creation of stalactites hanging from the entrance. 

While this doesn't matter at this point since the box can't be laid flat, it will look great once the box is closed. 

The last step for the initial phase was to attach the outdoor top. 

I wanted the "top" of the box to serve as a piece of scenery too, so I attached a cut piece of basic model grass (train set style roll) and carved some small rocks which will go on top.

Since I am opting to not have the box lay flat, a bit of height on the top wont matter. And with the stone stairway attached to the back, the box sits up vertically fine now, allowing the dice tower to function properly. One thing of note here, completely unrelated to the design at all, is the lack of really high-stacked terrain on top. The reason for this is one of more practicality and pack-ability than scenery. 

When this is loaded into my gaming bag, I didn't want a lot of stuff sticking out that would potentially just break off anyways, so I skipped ideas of 'standing stones' or ruins on top. Were this to never be intended for travel, however, that could very easily be added, making this an even more diverse piece for terrain use as well as functioning as a working dice tower and mini/dice storage. 

Next came the hardest part thus far: painting the stonework. And this is the problem with all the small carved details I added too. Getting the base gray stone color into all the small nooks and crannies before I do a black shadow wash and a dry brush of lighter stone gray was tough! It required a few very tough, and very small, brushes. I was not completely confident in just spraying the whole thing primer gray or even black, as I did not want to overly deteriorate the foam. As a result, each crack and crevice in the stonework was painted in it's depth by hand. 

                    

Decisions decisions, decisions.....

This is also where the fun part starts. Finishing the portal/tunnel/cave? 

I had originally intended this to be a portal, the dice sort of "coming out of the portal" as they roll out from the top and down the steps. But the more I looked at the way the arch and the stone behind it sat, the more it felt like it gave the flat part of the box "depth." And there is something just terribly "old-school cool" about a classic Tomb/Cavern that says D&D to me. Something about the empty potential of gaping black holes I guess...err...maybe not.....

NEXT: black wash, dry brushing stonework, and the SUMMONING CIRCLE!!