I have decided what my Christmas project is for this year - a set of geomorphic builds that can be assembled, with the theme of a college of magics.

I have planned out the first few builds, with notes as to what sets are likely to be used:

Theater Magicka - an auditorium or theater in which the art of conjuration is taught. The pieces include the stands from Arena works, and one of the magic circles. Behind this is a lectern, from which a teacher will drone on from his notes.

Chapel - dedicated to the Generic God of Magic and Scholarship, this is the room in which faculty and students gather together in prayer. The school itself is church owned and operated, think along the lines of old Cambridge. Many of the teachers might be multiclassed Wizard/Cleric. (This scene is intended for D&D.)

Thermae - the bathhouse. A heated shallow pool of water with waterfall, used for cleansing the body, and the ritual cleansing of the mind before important rites and ceremonies. The bulk of this room is from the water 'sewers' in Gothic Realms, the expansion in Missing Persons, and the aqueduct kitbash. Open to the public for a small fee at scheduled hours.

Classroom - room with rows of chairs, several long tables and a desk. Students are expected to bring their own slates, chalk, and other writing impedimentia. One wall is almost entirely covered by a single large sheet of slate, and a lectern stands in the middle of the room.

Any other ideas? Ideally I want to have between eight and ten rooms, not including corridors.

The Auld Grump

Refectory - being a wizard is hungry work - Big fireplaces, large tables, food storage and cupboards for the pots and untensils

The master's study - Harbourmaster windows, plus desks and bookcases

Dorm room or Novice cells - bunks, chest and a simple table/desk

Scriptorium - for the tedious copying of spells - desks and a single book shelf, plus one 'master' desk or table for whoever oversees this work

Outhouse - Even a wizard has to go sometime

Why haven't you considered a Library yet?

Sacretis

Alchemy lab

Golem workshop

Are you going to create any new textures or only use availible stuff?

If you create anything:

Strange creature parts, like dragon skeletons and things in jars.

Shelves with scrolls in the library.



Perhaps a bell tower.

The new statues from hellworks would probably be right at home with a little modifing.

As would the dragon from dungeonlinx and the golem missing persons.

Some good stuff so far.

The outhouse is actually planned as a garderobe, most likely along one of the corridors. I think that I will skip having clothing hanging in there though.

Golem lab, hmmm... I have not used the Missing Persons golem, but using pieces from it as parts during assembly might be just the ticket. Arm bits and leg bits on the tables, head on a stand....

The bell tower reminded me that I also want an observatory - a flat topped tower with a telescope, possibly made from a small cannon from Seaworks.

As this is a church sanctioned school I think that I will avoid anything pertaining to the dark arts, such as Goetry or necromancy. Besides, we all know what happens to Defense Against the Dark Arts professors, don't we?

A magical biology/zoology lab might be good, a tattered dragon's wing stretched across one wall. Some of the tables from Shellendrak Manor might fill in for lab tables. I may need to find one of the less gory tables for this.

I may need to take another look at Redhurst Academy, and see what I can crib from it. (Redhurst is a very cool gaming supplement, and can be easily modified for most fantasy RPGs.)

Library is a given, I wonder how I can make one of those wheeled ladders that you find in very old libraries... bookshelves running up the walls, and high Shellendrak Manor windows on one or two of the walls to let in daylight.

I have a figure that I can use as the librarian - one time Grenadier, now from Copplestone Castings. (Copplestone photo follows.)


The dashing young fellow in purple is my librarian. (Though a small orangutan would not be entirely out of place either.) The young apprentice might work well for the school as well.

One of the conceits I am holding to in this construction is that while many of the rooms are double height, but all windows are on the second floor - the first floor is really a basement - the place built down rather than up, with the exception of a few towers. This double height is largely to allow me to create half rooms, where a loft or balcony overlooks the larger room.

The Auld Grump

The wheeled ladder should be very simple to make. Assuming you're not trying to use paper wheels that actually spin.

Simply take any ladder and bend over the top so that the bent top portion is flat against the self top and the rest of the ladder is tilted against the shelf at your prefered angle. If the ladder is long enough you could bend it all the way over the top of the book case and have a tab stick down between the bookcase and the wall. That would keep the ladder parrallel to the shelves when its slidding. The wheels could just be photoshoped in at the ladder bottom.

LOL you know you wanna do this mate...... you gotta do this

Why not take a page from the vatican....how about a Vault with many valuable things?

A Lookout tower with a gigantic gargoyle perched atop. Could be at the entrance of the school. Kitbashing part of the dragon from dungeon linx would work well.

Storeroom of forgotten, broken, defunct equipment and magic things. Pubs and Inns with elements of chunky dungeons and gothic dungeons.

A Greenhouse for herbs, mandrake, and other plants. (ala Harry Potter). A lot of scratch built stuff if you do this one.

A garden of reflection for students and staff to sit in quietly. Hedges, fountain from shellendrak manor.

Ruins of the previous school...which may not have been church sanctioned....maybe pagan....with a long blocked entrance to HELLWORKS!


Hope this helps.

A green house would be very cool. I keep thinking about tryig to make one for Shellendrak.

I finished the first room yesterday, and have already thrown one of the 'rules' I had for their construction out the window....

The intent was to make each room no bigger than seven inches on a side, the Theater Magica is twice that on each side. The extra space was needed for the stands.

Next step is the Chapel.

Also added to the list of rooms is the Ossuary, where the bones of former alumni are interred at their request. Given that my game world has non-evil undead as well as the more typical monster sorts it is quite possibly haunted, but not malignantly. Lichedom is banned by church decree, as it keeps the wizard's soul from Heaven (or Hell)

The Auld Grump

Me too. Trouble is, I have yet to figure out how to do a convincing potted plant for the parlour, let alone an entire conservatory full of 'em.

It might actually be easier to do the conservatory - nested half tubes (round side up) printed with foliage in long troughs. The inner half tube would be printed with a mix of leaves and branches, the outer with leaves and fruit (I am thinking of tomatoes here...).

The Auld Grump

Chapel: Done - I may end up redoing it, the room is... kind of boring, really.
Headmaster's rooms: Done - Shellyduck was used a bit in here.
Golem Lab: Done, kind of nifty
Bathhouse: Done (my favorite... I have no idea why).

Corridors: Some, including garderobe.
Alchemy Lab: Incomplete

Dorm: Not done
Ossuary/Crypts: Not done
Library: Not done
Classroom: Not done

Vault: Planning stages
Grand Hall: Planning, Shellendrak Manor again I think, mostly for the stairs. The room will have a gallery.

Not as far along as I thought.

The Auld Grump

Wow grump, you've been very very busy! Should be an impressive layout. For anyone looking at doing a conservatory, take a look at the current HIRST Arts Design Derby. There is a very impressive "imperial greenhouse". It's plaster, but good for design ideas I think.

Not as busy as it looks - most of the areas are single rooms, single tile builds.

The fact that the exceptions to this rule outnumber the rooms that follow it is beside the point....

The Auld Grump

I don't know why you haven't made a large room with a checkered floor and giant statues depicting knights, knaves, bishops and nobles.

Mostly because I thought that was silly, even in the context of the book. In the movie it was downright pathetic. The school would consider it a waste of valuable classroom space.

When wizards play chess they usually just get out the box, set up the board and play - an exception is in the illusions class, where maintaining the board and pieces while playing the game is an exercise in concentration.

The Auld Grump

Pulled out the near-forgotten box of finished pieces last week after being reminded on these boards, and have added a kitchen (Not entirely happy with this, it does not seem to be quite 'kitcheny' enough, somehow - the lack of ovens is what does it I think...), a dining/great hall, this I am much happier with - I added a gallery, so it is a double height room, two sets of stairs lead up to the gallery, and there is a few doors leading... off the map. (I have no idea there they go, but I wanted a reason for the gallery to be there.)

Two small (1 tile) rooms that only contain stairs. and a two level hallway, with stairs from Pubs & Inns. And the Grand Assembly Room - another room that has a gallery and stairs, a lectern, some tapestries, a single Magic Circle tile, some fireplaces, and nothing else - a big, cold, unfriendly looking room.

The vault has been tabled for the moment - I got distracted mid-project by shiny new computer games...curse you Portal! Curse you!

I am afraid that I cheated, some of the pieces come from companies other than World Works - I scavenge from all sorts of companies.

Next up is finishing the scenario, running it, and shipping the models off as Christmas gifts.

The Auld Grump

I know it's a vain hope.... But I would really love to see what you built.
Any chance your friend would come over with her camera to practice picture taking with your build

Heh, I would ask her, but she has gone off to the British Virgin Islands until after Christmas. This is why she got the camera in the first place, last time she and her girlfriend headed off on vacation together. The weather gets cold, and she heads someplace warm. Then comes back when the weather hits its most wintry.

I am once again considering digital cameras, but I wouldn't get your hopes up too much, at least until after Christmas, if I were you. I gave Santa pretty heavy hints, but you never know if he is listening.... Though given the fuel bills last year, I wouldn't be all that upset to find plenty of coal in my stocking. I was actually planning on being moved by now, but between a tight apartment market and lack of time to go hunting I have had no luck in finding a place to haunt.

I have been trying to keep my building to stuff that I am giving away until after the move - I have had bad luck with cardstock terrain and moving in the past.

The Auld Grump

I just got home about a half hour ago from running the Collegium Magicka game, I did indeed use part of Redhurst Academy. Shipping the stuff out on Monday.

The bad news is that I got home to find a message on my answering machine - they need me into work tomorrow morning at 8 AM. ....

BLAARGH!

The Auld Grump

Ye Cods! Postage has gone insane!

I had planned on mailing them out to folks, but it was going to be over fifty dollars all told! Fifty! To send out six very light boxes! Last year when I did this the postage came to less than twenty dollars. (I want to say less than fifteen.)

So, I am going to wait till I see these folks again before giving them the packages, at least most of them - I doubt that I will be seeing Chris before Christmas, given that he lives all the way across the country now. His, I mailed.

The others will be given at the table, or at other appropriate times, some I will give at the Lovecraft party tomorrow. (A get together for Cthulhu movies, mostly with folks from my games, an ersatz Christmas party.)

I don't know if there will be a camera there or not. Molly was invited, I don't know if she'll come. (She is a non-gamer, but we share a taste in movies and dubious music. )

The Auld Grump

We're counting on you, Molly!

Sorry, no Molly.

I forgot that she was already out to the Virgin Islands for the month. And yes, her camera went with her. The hotel where she is staying does have internet, apparently that is rather expensive out there. She won't be back until mid January, since she is being sent out to a conference after she gets back to the States.

The movies were not quite as much fun as some of the Fun but Bad films from the Hallowe'en party.

The Auld Grump

Four years later, I gave Chris another bit of the Collegium - a dueling arena. Two floors high, with arches supporting an unseen ceiling.

Two mystic circles, ten stands from Arena works, walls, floor, and stairs from Interior Works. I glued the walls and the stands to sheet cardstock, rather than trying to piece it together.

There is something satisfying about finishing a dedicated build.

I gave it to Chris yesterday - he was down from The Other Portland visiting his daughter, who has started taking classes at USM. Chris is actually better at cardstock modeling than I am - he built a model of Gormenghast using CWU. He moved across country after his divorce.

The Auld Grump

As I began reading your saga I didn't realize it had started four whole years ago. Nice that you were able to continue the 'tradition' with additional builds.
Was curious how you finished off the rolling ladders for the library. Was going to suggest using some sewing or hat pins that have the small round metal ball at the end. Cut-down and pushed into the bottom would make a nice detail of round casters. IMO.

Ugh, been four years... If I remember properly, I completely changed how I was going to do it - mounting a track running around the pillars - shaped like a V, bent the tops of the ladders so that they would fit inside the V, hanging the ladder from the rail, so it could be slid around three sides of the room.

The Auld Grump

geta Grump, do you have pictures of this?

LOL. Now, there is a Christmas wish...