Halloween Special (
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- čas přidán 17. 07. 2024
- In this (bonus) episode I'll be talking about a short Halloween adventure I've put together, and showing how to make some of the terrain to go along with it.
As always, you can download the (pay-what-you-want) pdf file here (it's also an affiliate link)...
www.drivethrurpg.com/product/...
...and the modifications/requests pdf can be found over on google drive:
drive.google.com/file/d/17tUU...
* * SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS * *
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* * MERCH & AFFILIATES * *
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Ko-fi: ko-fi.com/csp_kris
* * OTHER LINKS * *
Note that the entire 'print & paste' range can be found here:
www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/p...
You can also follow me in all the usual places:
Blog: www.crookedstaff.co.uk
Facebook: / crookedstaff
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Instagram: / cspkris
BlueSky: @cspkris.bsky.social - Hry
IMPORTANT NOTE: one of the things I forgot to include in this episode is an image that shows how each individual dungeon tile is laid out to. However, you can find that image in this 'community' post here on CZcams: czcams.com/channels/1cnHiqtsuMk9NwJNj8SmpA.htmlcommunity?lb=Ugkxiov3GEjhRC9AI4DrBr9PwiQEODU8-EMp
It's criminal that you don't have many, many more subscribers.
There's a few things that I could do to help with that... like silly face thumbnails, face to camera intro's, and more of a set schedule (rather than random uploads) - but that's not really me 😅
Hopefully folks will continue to find the channel though... and (hopefully) stick around if they find some of this stuff useful 🙂
@@CrookedStaffTerrainWe all appreciate that, or at least I do. Have you ever thought about doing a collaboration with someone like Jeremy from BMC? He just used a lot of printouts for his most recent horror diarama. Bill from Wyloch’s Armory has used printouts lately too.
I think it would be fun to watch you do a collaboration with one of those guys, and see them do a challenge where they need to do a build in your style, or maybe see you make one of their builds with your print method. It might benefit your channel, but mostly I’d just like to see the video.
@@CrookedStaffTerrain Please never do silly face thumbnails. I know I'm in a minority here (approximately 5-15% of people) but silly faces make me not want to see the video, and there's been more than a couple of YTbers I've stopped watching solely because of that. I understand the meta, your long viewer subscribers will watch you anyways, but you can fish children's random views with silly faces, but the whole meta leaves poor taste in my mouth. Besides, I could understand people making silly faces for action packed game videos, but for DYIs, Jesus Christ have mercy.
Instead, try jumping into shorts, especially with the trick to not automatically send it out to your already existing subscribers. I think your style of DYIs could be trimmed for shorts without losing essence of the craft at all, making it perfect for branching out.
Thanks for the videos btw, I've been playing TTRPGs for half a decade and have printed numerous A3 and A4 battle maps over the years (costing me a small fortune) and have always wanted to make my own stuff but every other tutorial needs to you to have a garage filled with already existing stuff, colors, washes, foams and stuff. Not to mention actually learning how to paint. With your stuff I've finally started doing my own terrain, having my own printer and fishing cardboard from trash drops the costs significantly.
Is there any particular thing one looks for in their gluesticks though? Because I've bought 2-3 so far and they've all done terrible job at keeping the paper properly glued on the cardboard (especially when shorter cuts are required, the paper often just unglues itself and the texture slides off) when working with the knife. It works fine with bigger, longer pieces, but I've found myself often just using the glue gun for the paper too.
@@MrMrtvozornik As I say... the whole silly face thumbnail and clickbait title isn't really my kind of thing (I fully understand why folks do them... and good luck to them if/when they do... it's just not the route I want to take).
With regard to 'shorts' - I have done a few of them, and they've done OK views-wise... but again, I don't want to just re-hash old content - I'd much rather it be something new and useful (hence the two 'dungeon shorts' I did last year - which were an alternative assembly method and came with their own pdf :) ).
And gluesticks... this is the brand that I'm currently using (it's just a UK ebay link): www.ebay.co.uk/itm/355394276980?hash=item52bf264e74:g:1J4AAOSw1wtlqpar ...and I've been having good results with those.
@@CrookedStaffTerrain A friend of mine suggested alternative modular walls system. Instead of gluing pieces of walls on top of the already existing cardboard room, he suggested to make walls separate, but 2 double cardboards tall, then use toothpicks to hold them in place/pinch them into the base of the tile cardboard. This would make walls also modular. What do you think about this system, have you tried it?
It's always impressive how much the simple papercraft transforms from "oh it's just a bit of paper on a drinking straw that doesn't look too great" to a perfectly readable defaced statue of a cleric after you get the little toothpick shapes and robe draped over it to break that silhouette of the straw. Really great work Kris.
That kind of hiding of the original shape is really important in miniature terrain stuff, there are some usual hobby supplies that we "terrain crafters" use like styrofoam, xps foam, ice cream sticks, knitting mesh and such and it's always a little bummer to see some of those elements and recognize it instantly.
I think that's part of the fun for me... the whole 'seeing what's possible with very limited materials' kinda thing (and trying to disguise the fact that it is just a straw or a bit or cardboard or whatever :) ). Anyway, glad you enjoyed it! :) :) :)
Thank you Kris... I love the idea of making creating quests/one shots with your terrain. I can also see setting it up the statue so that the head could be removable, while starting with the zombie head, but trying to find the correct head to add to the statue, and with two or three heads to pick and choose from, and possibly a different effect for each could be interesting. Of course, being Halloween themed, a pumpkin head could always be an interesting piece to add.
Yeah... I think that's why I like to do the 'build along' episodes (they contain everything you need to run the suggested encounters). However they are a ton of work to get done (as was this one)... but I think/hope they're worth it in the end :)
Kris - awesome! A wonderful combo of your paper-crafting, 2.5d skills PLUS a short adventure? Are you kidding me? This is totally inspiring! Please do more like this.
Glad you liked it. I would like to do more stuff like this (perhaps something more system neutral though) - but it takes too much time for it to be a regular feature I'm afraid.
@@CrookedStaffTerrain Totally fair.
Ah yes, the 'simple idea' trap. So many times I start with simple idea and as I get into it I'm like "hey, I should x ... and what about xx ..." cut to three weeks later with a game coming up in an hour and I'm still furiously working on my simple idea. Thank you for doing the hard work and making my crafting prep much more focused and easier.
No probs :) ...and yeah... at first I was like - "I'll post some pic's on social media" ...then it was "I could turn this into a blog article." ...and now, here it is, one of my longest videos on CZcams 😅
A little rail roading to get them to the point(s) of interest (cough, cough)
As a slightly neurotic perfectionist, I find great comfort in your 'not to worry's. They give me the confidence to try this stuff out 😅
At the end of the day, the players will probably love any terrain or props that you provide for them (assuming you like to use that kind of thing in your games that is :) ).
Your creativity and generosity in sharing it, is greatly appreciated. Thank you!
:) No probs!
New 2.5 dungeon pieces and an adventure? OH YEAH!
Already bought, paid and downloaded....now to find my hot glue gun...
Here's hoping you like it!
Kris you never fail to inspire!👍
This is great as always! I’d love to see a play though of the dungeon as that would be really cool as well. :)
I doubt I'll ever be an actual play kinda channel - it's not really my thing. I'd love to see someone else do that though :)
This was great. Having a premade adventure, or even a little side quest, with matching tiles and terrain would be awesome every so often...
Yeah - that's what I try to do with the 'build along' series - I just need to figure out how to do that kind of stuff faster (as it currently takes me waaaaay too long :) ).
You're designs are amazing and such simple builds for a great end result. Look forward to running this adventure for my group over the Halloween weekend.
If you do run it, I'd love to hear how it goes!
Thanks for the video! What a fun one-shot idea!
No probs... hope you can put a few of the ideas to use in some fashion :)
I like that you designed the dungeon to reuse the tiles. Space is always at a premium for traveling GMs. Thanks aga8n, Kris.
Yeah - that was one of the main aims of this one - to make as much as possible out of just a few sheets (plus I think the tiles themselves will be a great start for someone wanting to make a whole modular set).
Purchased the PDF for this, phenomenal adventure! Modified it (barely) and ran it for a new party as a Halloween one-shot/ campaign intro. Very cool of you to put this as "pay what you want" for those that legitimately can't afford a $5 module at the time.
Thanks for the kind words (I assume you are the same person that left a review over on DriveThru as well - so thanks for that also :) ).
Glad to hear that you and your players had a good time with this one :) :) :)
Twas me! I watched your video because I was seeking inspiration for a Halloween one-shot and I couldn't help myself but buy it. Next time I'll pay a little more, and get a texture pack from ya, because I definitely underpaid compared to what it was worth to me. (Payday is tomorrow and cash was short so I did $1)
@@TypicalDM Thanks again!
And $1 is plenty to be honest - please don't feel obliged to go back and pay any more (I'm just glad that you enjoyed it :) ).
@@CrookedStaffTerrainI've volunteered to run three adventures at a convention, and I was planning on running my version of this adventure as one of them, and letting my players know where the adventure came from. I'll probably just use a dungeon map, and not use any of the terrain textures etc. I was wondering if that would be okay, considering that would technically be for commercial use. (I'm not making any money on the games, and the entire two day convention has a $25 entrance fee, with a total of 200 tickets. It's a small convention)
Edit: I might use the terrain, or make my own. But I won't use the adventure or terrain without permission.
@@TypicalDM Of course that's OK (it would actually be good to know how it goes 😀👍 ).
The whole 'personal use only' is mainly there to clarify that the terrain textures aren't to be re-used/re-sold as 'textures' for other projects (so while folks can download them for free, they can't then re-use/re-purpose them in their own commercial products without permission - i.e. they're not royalty free art assets).
(unfortunately, I've had to include that line of text because, in the past, I had someone take some of my artwork, alter it slightly to make their own dungeon tiles, and tried to pass it off as their own work 🙄).
Great stuff as always!
And a nice edition with the added scenario!
Thanks (hope you can find a use for said scenario :) ).
This is fabulous! Definitely going to include some of this in my next session! By the way - One of the things I did was take some of the border and cut them to the size of the gap, and I slot them in when the room doesn't have a door there. It makes the room much more versatile. I really love that the tiles do double duty in the one-shot.
I've done something similar with 2" long wall sections too (though that had the slight downside of the players reading too much into it and thinking that I'm trying to conceal a secret door 🤣). The drain has a similar effect too I suppose 😅
I know you don't really have an interest in doing an actual play, but would love to see a "session story" video where you walk us through what happened in the game with visuals of miniatures on the terrain! Definitely a bunch of work so only do it if it seems fun to you. Thank you as always for the great stuff!
I think I'd probably do something like that as a blog article - possibly when/if I do some more solo play experimentation 🤔
This is great. Please keep them coming. I really liked how you got arround using fog of war and this came with an adventure. 🎉
Yeah... laying dungeon tiles out a few at a time (and reusing them) is something I've always done (not only for fog of war reasons - it's also been due to lack of available table space :) )
Happy Halloween Christian!
I love this.
I adore the, if you'll forgive the phrasing, 'old school' paper craft building when 3d printing, which is of course amazing and readily available, but not always practical or within reach for a lot of people for various reasons.
Yeah... I also find it kinda fun to just sit down and make something with my own hands (something that doesn't then need to be painted - which is a huge bonus for me :) ).
Great video, Kris. I love the idea of inserts for existing tiles so you don't waste time making a tile you only use once.
And I love the bloodied runes texture for the ritual circle and statue pillar. Maybe do some up in other colors? Could make for an interesting puzzle of matching detached heads to the correct statue.
I have a different idea that I want to try out for the next puzzle episode... now it's just finding the time to squeeze it in 🙄
@@CrookedStaffTerrain I know exactly what you mean. I'm frequently having to choose between prep work for my DnD campaign, crafting stuff for DnD or Frostgrave, or painting minis. Annnnnd Skyrim or Fallout win again LMAO
Just finished building the statue and some of the dungeon tiles for this. My usual D&D group doesn't have time to be able to commit to a regular thing, so instead I'm going to run this one shot with them soon. I'm beyond grateful and stoked to have found this channel. Once I have more money coming in, I plan on buying all the material that you've been so gracious to offer for free. Thank you so much for all you do! Happy gaming!
Hope it goes well if you do manage to run it (also, if you do, I'd love to hear how it goes!) :)
@@CrookedStaffTerrain I’ll definitely let you know!
@@CrookedStaffTerrain I also had a quick question: do you think I could use regular PVA glue in place of glue stick to apply the dungeon tile terrain to chipboard, or have you noticed warping doing that? I’m putting heavy books on top of them either way after while they dry, but I ran out of glue stick haha
@@macgruber1920 I've not tried PVA - but you sometimes have to be careful not to get the printouts too wet (if using an inkjet printer) - as that can cause the colours to change somewhat if it seeps through to the other side (if using cheap/thin paper that is).
@@CrookedStaffTerrain ah gotcha! I’ll just wait till tomorrow and go pick up another glue stick then haha. Thanks for replying and helping me out ❤️❤️❤️
Happy Halloween! Each of your videos is very inspiring and your explanations make everything easy to understand.
Thanks Kris. This was a great video.
Thank you for the video and the one-shot adventure. I picked up the adventure and will run it this weekend for my players. Have a great Halloween.
If you do get to run it, if you get chance, I'd love to see how it goes.
Very nice video.
Something different from time to time is refreshing, at least people say so. In this case I agree.
Glad you enjoyed it :)
Great video as always! I also happen to know that it is a really fun adventure 😉
Even though you guys kinda broke the final encounter? 😅
Glad you liked it though 😁
Great video as always. I'm trying to get back in to d&d with my sons and this could be a good start
Thanks :) (and good luck)
Very nicely done 😊. Very inspiring.
:) Thanks :)
Great resource. Thanks.
Simple, yet effective. ;-)
I've been called worse 🤣
Seriously though, thanks. Glad you liked it!
gracias , como siempre
so cool! thanks for this!
No probs. Glad you liked it :) :) :)
Perfect.
:)
Thank you
:) no problem.
So cool
Thanks :)
Not related to this (or indeed any) particular video, but I’d be very interested in seeing how you go about making the various textures for your pieces.
That's probably a channel's worth of material all of it's own I'm afraid. It really is just a matter of spending time sketching things out, then figuring out the 'engineering' side of things (i.e. how best to put it all together) with various prototypes etc., and then hour upon hour of creating the 'artwork' (which is 'drawn' from scratch, albeit digitally - usually in a mixture of inkscape and photoshop). And it's not always the same process unfortunately.
They're not for the same project... but here's some pics:
i.imgur.com/5u7WQKt.jpg
i.imgur.com/hNkpq6U.jpg
i.imgur.com/HbFqJaw.mp4
i.imgur.com/Qrf222z.jpg
i.imgur.com/3HOwIgI.jpg
@@CrookedStaffTerrainThanks a lot for answering! It's easy to forget how much behind-the-scenes work goes into these!
I'm probably going to try making some printed dungeon tiles, but unfortunately I need a more dilapidated modern building sort of feel, so I'll have to make at least a large part my own textures, and that turned out to be harder than I thought (even just trying to adapt free textures found online), so I was hoping there might be an easier way! But I guess as always I'll just have to learn to do it properly some way or other. (I may be headed down a massive rabbit-hole here, starting with an idea of a boss encounter, then thinking I'll make a huge dungeon and now I'm watching substance designer tutorials.... :) )
First off, I have made and used your terrain quite a bit. Love the stuff!! Quick question for ya: Do you have your dungeon floor plans in a non-gridded format somewhere? My son and I are diving back into Mage Knight Dungeons, and I'd like to use your terrain but with a 1.5 inch grid.
There is a stone floor pattern in the lava tiles that might be of use: czcams.com/video/7K3AwRhhbZg/video.html
Alternatively, you could print out one of the regular floor tile patterns at 150%, and that should give you 1.5" grids :)
@@CrookedStaffTerrain awesome!! Thanks for thst idea!
Ahh, it's tragic how "real life" so often gets in the way. Have you considered quiting your paying job and just giving us more videos? ROFLMAO
Another great vidwo, Kris. 🍻
What is this 'real life' that you speak of? :)
(thanks BTW)
@@CrookedStaffTerrain Mwahahahahahahahaha! 😈
How do you store all of your terrain?
Most of the larger bits and pieces (like the tiles, ruins, buildings, etc.) get stored in various shoe/amazon boxes: i.imgur.com/pSNKY6m.jpg
And the smaller stuff gets put into little tool/craft storage containers (I used to be able to get these for £1 each): i.imgur.com/CIg3afh.jpg
So, when heading out to a game, I'll usually try to take one large box and one or two of the smaller containers with me (for one or two of the set pieces that I'm pretty sure will be happening that session). That doesn't always work out - but it's the best I can manage 😅