Early Access: Crafting Better Cave Tiles for D&D!

Hi guys!

Got there - Just about...

So a full week of photography and editing later, and I'm ready to release this video

I've already dropped a preview of what it contains, so I'll just including the pinned comment detailed in this post like last time so you guys have access to them before I release it publicly. The formatting is a little messed up for some reason, but it's still readable :)

I'm really happy with how these turned out, and I hope you guys get a lot of use out of them! I know I will...caves pop up constantly...

Pinned comment details:

Some tricks for working with spreading casting plaster:

• I mixed small amounts at a time so it didnt set on me too quickly.
• For the first layer I used a 2:1 mix of plaster to water, both to make it tougher and a bit thicker initally for filling up all the tin foil gaps.
• When I went back with the      second layer I used a 1:1 mixture, pretty watery because it'll set faster      when contacting the layer underneath. This doesn't need as much brushing, it'll flow into the texture pretty      well on its own, the main goal is just to make sure it doesn't pool      anywhere.
• It can sometimes separate a      bit when left to sit while you brush a bit on, so it's worth stirring the      pot each time you get a fresh bit on your brush.
• Lather it over the tin foil      as quickly as you can, thick as you like, and use the brush to spread it      across the stalagmite until both the tin foil is covered and you can see      the texture beneath.
• Cleaning and drying the brush      with a FRESH water pot after every few brushfuls is important, or the      leftover plaster in the water seems to cause the new plaster to dry near      instantly. This also stops the plaster from setting IN the brush. You only      need a fresh pot every time you mix up a new batch, but you could use a      new pot each time you wash the brush by having a row of plastic cups with      fresh water in each - it can only help :)
• Bear in mind that the second      coat will set faster than the first because it's going over other plaster,      so keeping the mix thin and working quickly is advised. Don't worry too      much about preserving the texture completely once in the second stage, it      will get lumpy and covered in places, but that's part of the stalagmite      look, don't worry about it.

Is this a bit fiddly to work with? Yes. But it gives awesome results. You can use BMCs caulking mix from his recent underdark terrain video, but I found I didn't like the texture as much, and honestly I found it fiddly in other ways. Like trying to get a thick enough protective layer without either leaving brush strokes or leaving it a formless blob. It's good stuff, but I personally didn't like working with it, at least without more time to experiment with its features. Props to BMC for the creation though, it's definitely interesting.

More details on how to make bridge/edge pieces:

• To make these I cut some      shapes from foam, and trimmed them down to 3/8" thick with the hot      wire table, so they line up with a floor tile.
• For the corners I took some      3" wide foam, and sketched on a rough semicircle that doesn’t stick      out too much, which I hoped would line up when connected to the tile at      the top…
• For the bridge I just took a      6" long, 3" wide piece of foam and cut wibbles into the edges.
• For all of the wibbly edges I      took an exacto knife and cut the underside down a bit, just like I did for      the other cave tiles but more so.
• Once that was done I used      them as a stencil to draw and cut out two chipboard pieces to fit the      bottom, cut a 1" wide, 1/2" deep slot out of the flat edge of      one of them (on both sides, for the bridge), and tacky glued that to the      bottom, with the other stencilled bit on top. Then you just need to trim      the card down with a sharp knife.
• I textured the flat tops with      the caveman technique, and used tin foil on the underhanging bits of foam      to make the cuts look more rounded and natural.
• Finally I made more      stalactites for the bottom, hot glued them in place firmly and used      modelling compound to cover the card and hot glue on the undersides, and      then casting plaster to cover the stalactites.

They're pretty much a weird shaped floor tile with stalactites on the bottom, but hopefully this detail helps if you wanted to make them yourself and had questions :)

Details on the leopard spot technique:

In general:

• Make sure the mix is thin and      watery, you want the colour to be faded. This way you can dab over bits      you;ve already painted for stronger colour. It's easy to add paint,      impossible to take it off…
• Cast up some text pieces,      whether that’s plaster rocks or lumps of tin foil covered in plaster to      test your mixes on before using them on your main piece. These mixes can      be a bit like cooking, and you want to check you're happy with the result      before using on your hard work!

On the rocks:

• I used a 50/50 yellow ochre      to tan mix to get the base colour of more sandy stone, which is dulled      down by the final colour and I used in fairly large patches on the less      sharp rocks that looked more sedimentary.
• I used some burnt umber ( a      reddish brown) in the cracks of the sharper rocks, I was trying to imitate      seams of iron or other minerals. This one I thinned down about half as      much to get a much richer colour.
• I coated the whole thing in a      mix of 50/50 black and tan, over both of the other colours to blend, shade      and tone them down, as well as across the rest of the piece that wasn’t      yet painted.

On the stalagmite

• I used a 3:1 tan to yellow      ochre mix for the whole thing.
• I then gave the whole thing a      wash of 1:1:2 black to tan to medium grey, which I layered on a few times      at the bottom to blend it better into the tile.
• I changed up the mixture here      because the casting plaster seemed to get different colours (more brown)      when layered over tin foil, so I adapted a bit. It still came out more      yellow thanI would have liked, if I was going to do it again I might drop      the yellow ochre completely and just do a layer of thinned down tan.

Details on adding dirt to mountainblocks:

• I generally tried here to      sprinkle it into cracks from an above angle for the square blocks, and for      the sloped blocks, at an angle from above that more or less worked whether      it was on its side or standing upright. This is just personal taste!

Matt varnish:

• This won't seal in a thicker      layer of dirt, but for the dusting I did it works well and darkened down      the dirt and blended it a bit better too.
• I would use some newspaper to      cover the plaster bits, my rocks seemed to frost up quite badly, possibly      something to do with how cold they are.
• I just held up some newspaper      curved around them for later pieces and sprayed piece by piece, which      solved the problem. The paint is soaked into the plaster anyway, so it      doesn't need a varnish in the same way.