[Twilight Terrain] Home of Nisk

[grubman]

For my upcoming Twilight campaign (http://www.worldoftwilight.com/index.html ).  I haven’t received my miniatures from oversees yet, so I’ve started on terrain.  By the time the minis arrive, I should have my table ready to go.

The home of Nisk (Fubarnii Engineer)

Nisk’s modest residence hosts a ripe trup garden.  Trups are a sensitive fungus that require a carefully tended 5 season incubation period before becoming edible.  Needless to say, this rare delicacy makes Nisk the envy of his neighbors (and the bane of young Fubarnii who try to sneak into the garden when the Engineer is at work!).  Of course, the trup garden explains the Ubii pen.  The Ubii will eat half of the harvests yield, but since properly grown trups require the droppings of Ubii as fertilizer, it’s a fair trade off.  Of course, fat little Ubii all penned up make a nice target for any Devanu, and Nisk does live on the far border of the Imperial city.  Fortunately the Engineers skills are well regarded by the other Fubarnii, and the militia is more than willing to protect the eccentric…and his trup garden.




Creation Notes:  Did you ever have one of those projects where you get this awesome image of how the finished piece is going to turn out…and then everything seems to go wrong!  Well, this was one of those projects and I seriously felt like scrapping it half way through.

The gift boxes I used for this had a tin foil coating, and despite priming them right away, they still were very slick and nothing wanted to glue properly (If one more thing fell off during creation and handling I was going to throw it in the trash!).

In any case, it came out fairly well.  Not the dramatic scene I had in mind…but functional.  It has a sort of “strange” alien type look to it that I like, but looks just a little too much like a kids science diorama.  Needless to say, the hardcore terrain makers are going to hit me with questions like:  How do the Ubii get in and out of the pen with no gate? But I’ll just shrug off such things.



For the curious, I picked up the gift boxes and plastic dinosaurs at the dollar store (all good terrain projects start with a trip to the dollar store!).  Basswood sticks and washers came from the local hardware store.  The trups and “exploding” tree are bits and pieces of fake flowers my wife asked me to throw away for her.  The whole thing is mounted on a cut piece of hardboard.  The flock, paint, foliage, balsa scraps, paper plate, straw, ect are just things I had laying around already.

Total cost for this project was around $6 (USD).

[cheetor]

By the time the minis arrive, I should have my table ready to go.

A table covered in scenery of that calibre will look great, no question.  I look forward to seeing the whole thing set up

It has a sort of “strange” alien type look to it that I like, but looks just a little too much like a kids science diorama.

It looks fine.  You will probably find your groove as you make more pieces of terrain in the same style and irt will simultaneously start to look more like you originally intended it to and yet find its own character.  Thats what I tend to find at least.

The whole "Twilight" world gives me a kind of Brian Froud does Fraggle Rock feel.  Thats a good thing I think.  I prefer that to *yet another* another darker looking setting in the vein of The Dark Crystal (which was also designed by Brian Froud and the Henson crowd I am pretty sure...).

Anyway, I think that you got that look very well (and I dont mean to offend or trivialise by mentioning Fraggle Rock.  I think that that type of look is appropriate for the setting).

[Dr. The Viking]

I love the plants!!!

[grubman]

The whole "Twilight" world gives me a kind of Brian Froud does Fraggle Rock feel.  Thats a good thing I think.  (and I dont mean to offend or trivialise by mentioning Fraggle Rock. 

I agree...and no offense taken.  I was looking for something decidely un-dark when I went out searching for a new game to play.

I love the plants!!!

I'm trying to make it look "different" without stepping on the designers (of the game world) toes (since the world is still int he development phase).  I'm going for a sort of familiar/alien look with lots of greens and browns, but with a splash of really bright colors here and there.  I'm assuming hte owrld is semi-tropical, or at least hot...even though there are apparentl;y snow covered mountains.

[matakishi]

Great work as always Dave
I'll be following your progress with interest.

[grubman]

Devanu Tower Ruins

When the Fubarnii won their freedom from the fierce Devanu, they destroyed each of their former master’s towers.  These rubble strewn ruins are not considered cursed ground, but rather revered as places of joy and thanksgiving, as they represent the beginning of the Empire and the freedom of the Fubarnii.  Still, one must never forget the suffering of ones ancestors who paid for the price of freedom with their blood.  The most renowned Fubarnii poets write the ballads of each towers falling, and these poems are displayed at the site of each ruin.



Design Notes:  I wanted to represent some spots of “difficult” terrain on the battlefield, and came up with this quick and easy idea.  The rocks are just stuff I went outside and found, and the poem boards are scraps of balsa wood left over from cutting out a bunch of Hexes (had no idea what to do with all those triangles ).  More or less, the whole thing was free and only took about an hour this morning to produce (using the hairdryer to speed up the glue/paint drying…did I mention hat I’m impatient?).

[fourcolorfigs]

Top notch, as always, Grubman!

[Chairface]

Fantastic. Thoroughly impressed.

[Svennn]

Nice and different. You have taken your new project and run with it in a great direction.

[grubman]

Nice and different. You have taken your new project and run with it in a great direction.

It's neat to find a game that is developed enought to play, and a world that is framed up...but still early enough in the development that you can "do your own thing" with it.

[grubman]

Not real happy with my weird trees/forests, I went back and reworked them.  I’m pretty sure everyone will agree that the new one on the right is better than the old one on the left?  Now to redo them all, and the tree next to Nisk’s house.

The Jupa-trea (special thanks to Beastlord (FoD))
The jupa-trea is a regular sight in the wooded lands surrounding most Fubarnii settlements.  This plants tightly wrapped globular foliage holds a pressurized gases and several seedpods.  When the season becomes warm enough, the gas expands and causes the globes to “explode” scattering seeds as far as 20 spans.  Fortunately, the Jupa-trea is only dangerous to the Buzdar, the reptilian bird that feeds on the insects in the branches…and is sometimes in the wrong place at the wrong time!

[Calimero]

I love it! It really give the feel of an alien planet. Real cool!

[Geckilian]

You certainly are a prolific terrain maker, it's good to see several pieces done already!

[Mad Doc Morris]

Never heard of this whole Twilight thing, but it admittedly sounds like fun. Although I don't see myself giving in to another project (yet ), I love its approach and have already a lot of ideas how to use the miniatures in my sci-fi games. So, thanks for the heads up!

You're doing a very good job with your terrain pieces; as far as I can see they perfectly catch the games' atmosphere. Superb! 

[grubman]

prolific

Impatient, you mean   Once I get going on a project I can't stop.  It's like new love calling to me and it's hard to think about anything else...until a new love comes along