Save Your Money and Make Terrain the Easy Way

There are quite a few ways to make terrain. I have seen some elaborate and crazy additions to games. I have seen some crappy ones too. These are neither. I have been playing with making terrain for a number of reasons.

It's Fun.

Yep, I'm a nerd at heart and I like doing things with my hands. Needless to say, this was a good match. I have been toying with terrain for years and I find that a lot of mediums will do the job. Working on my own terrain allows me the opportunity to plan out maps and get a birds eye view, since I am the one creating it from the ground up. Plus, since there are so many ways to do it, depending on my artistic mood, I can pick and choose from mediums to work with. The picture that you see here was made with cardboard, rocks that I found while hiking and around my house, glue, paint and some flocking. With just these few tools you can make a variety. You can also cut the cardboard in strips (as seen to the right) so that they can be aligned into however you prefer. You can make a maze going into a castle or just a random row of rocks as a border that makes the map more challenging.

I Like Saving Money

Don't get me wrong, I have no qualms with spending money on a tabletop game, or really any game. I look at it as an investment. However, there does come a time when enough is enough. We are talking terrain here. There is some badass and beautiful options out there and I play a game at least two times a week on an average week with my group that I have been playing with for years. I am no collector though. I like to play. I like to be a part of it. I get my engines revving about content and every now and then a mini will strike my fancy but I can't justify paying upward of 50 to 100.00 for terrain that is going to probably just be used now and then. The image to the left is nearly 40.00 on etsy. Truthfully, it's not bad but I could make it on my own for far less. Plus, personally, I like using the realistic rocks and such. That one has a cheap plastic look to it.

There are low priced options out there, of course. If you don't want to make your own, you are best off piecing the items and finding dollar a piece items or waiting until the holidays. You can usually get trees and other natural items for relatively decent prices at the hobby stores around Christmas.

I Prefer My Own Usually

As I have said, there are some really cool pieces out there that without a way to make a mold or the time to invest in a complete castle setting that it doesn't make sense to make your own RPG terrain. That being said, most of the time I prefer to do it myself. Over the years, I have found that there are so many ways that you can make the terrain and I find that these days, it is relatively easy to make what you want with a bit of effort and knowledge.

Now, don't get me wrong, when I was 13 and I started gaming, I got wide eyed at some of the awesome Warhammer terrains. That stuff was art for sure. I didn't realize that was going to cost me 2K which I didn't have. Making it is an experience though and it slowly became to where this was part of the whole gaming experience. There were plenty of nights that I spent up late with my friends, crafting some awesome landscape while pounding mountain dew. Oddly, we don't actually do that now. I end up making my own and am one of the few of our group that still makes my own. I don't know. I could drop the cash, but I prefer to do the craft. It is one of those things that I share when I can but have no problem doing on my own.

Simple DIY RPG Terrain Instructions

With that in mind, I would like to share one of the ways that I make terrain. When I began writing on Steem, I had planned to do something like this once a week, but things always take longer to get together than you think. I have been sitting on this one for a while and have actually taken pictures over the course of a couple of sessions.

A batch of terrain like this takes about an hour or two of time, including collecting materials and crafting. I am going to explain how I made the ones you see in the images on this blog, but keep in mind that you can use all kinds of other materials to add into the process in order to get terrain looking specifically how you want.

So, first of all, to get started...

Items Needed

When you want to create your own RPG terrain, first you want to go foraging for the things you need or want to include. In my case, I had gone hiking and got quite a few rocks. I find that they work best if you do one about the size of a quarter and no bigger. If you go much larger, the glue won't always hold it down. Here is a list of the main tools that I used.

• Rocks
  • Small pebbles and larger rocks
• Paint
• Glue
  • Elmers for the main areas and sticking things together, superglue or Krazy glue for direct contact.
  • Hot Glue works as well. I just didn't use it this go-around.
• Flocking
• Cut pieces of cardboard (to desired size)

Preparing Your Terrain

The actual process is pretty basic with these. You have a few options. As you can see from the bottom of mine, there is a base that you can see the cardboard. If you don't want to see that, you can get small pieces of fabric or even thick paper, wrap the cardboard and then start placing items on top in the order.

You place the rocks on the base and glue them securely. Allow them some time to dry before placing color or flocking. I usually do a bunch, so by the time I am done designing and placing the rocks, they are done and dry. Sometimes I will put a paperclip or something in them, so the metal sticks out. This not only helps to stabilize, but it can also help with shrubbery or other additions later.

For this one that you see here, I actually tried something I hadn't before. I mixed a bit of paint in with the Elmer's Glue.

In doing this, I was able to darken up the glue and it gave it a nice tar like texture. The game we were playing / using it for was (is) Alternity, which is a modern setting. Tar and rebar are totally possible. I ended up leaving it kind of like this and paining the base. It was a good find and you may have your own ways to use it.

Where it is thick and gloopy looking, the Elmer's does that too but dries clear. But you can probably see why it takes a bit of time to dry.

Once it is all added on there though, you are then able to place any additional decorations. This can be more glue and flocking, paint, or outdoor material to make it look more realistic.

I actually used water color for this one, but you can use accrylic or even cheap finger paints. I have tested and know that works!

Feel free to be creative. Reds that are rust colored work best for blood I think. It dries to a more realistic shade. Greens are good to put flocking on top, it gives it a more life like look and the color pops against natural stone. Here is some blood and a dramatic scene that I did while I was letting it all dry.

The main thing is to use your creativity and have fun! So, tell me what you think or if you make your own, make sure to hit me up so I can check it out :)

Game On Gamers!

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