This is one of the first big Worldworks set pieces I did back in '07. I didn't have time to fully flesh it out, so it's pretty simplistic compared to what I'm working on now, however, I know Denny mentioned in a post a while back that he was interested in releasing an airship design. I thought I'd post one of my first primative attempts as manual kitbashing (I don't have photoshop or anything, nor do I know how to use it).

This encounter took place in my homebrew setting of Arranus, which incorporates a lot of floating landmasses and airships. This was one of the major combats that took place on an airship that the party was using. I used the ocean tiles from Maiden to simulate a sky setting, and modified the upper deck plans of the Maiden to create a basic deck. I didn't have the time I needed before the game to create a full hull, nor was it particularly relevant to the combat. I didn't have the time to make full foamcore sky/sea tiles either, and had to settle for taping them to the table. Not an ideal solution. Now that I've got Dungeonlinks, I'll probably make some up at some point soon (especially now that some of my player's characters will have access to "fly").

Here you see the top of "The Pelican." I designed it to be a zeppelin-type airship in the vein of Miyazaki's Laputa pirate zeppelin. The group was being pursued by an elvish skyship that launched griffin-mounted rangeriders. This initial combat took place on top of the zeppelin's envelope as the elves tried to criffle the Pelican with set charges. I made the envelope by doubling two bow sections against a midship section. I glued the bow-section's attachment tabs on the reverse side to the foamcore base.



This is a zoomed-back shot showing my poor attempt to tape the "sky" tiles to my table. Please be reassured that everyone drinking the rum was over age (rum... pirates... it's a good mix).



The asteroids around the ship are volcanic rocks, some with stands pushed into them. This is a gnome ship, and I figured that the Laputa steampunk influences would work well in my description. I don't have the means to add propeller units to the sides of the ship. I also don't show the birdshead-like bridge where the ship is piloted from.

They were a field of floatbergs that the Pelican flew into to avoid pursuit from the elvish skyship. I made a full version of the Maiden for the elf vessel, sans masts. It's not pictured here, unfortunately. If I were to fully kitbash the elvish ship, I would place an additional sail on the port and starboard sides.



Here's a closeup of the Pelican's sterncastle. The big yellow blob in the top-left (on top of a clear coke cup) is the boarding longboat that the elves sent into the floatberg field to assault the players.



Here stands the DM in all of his god-like glory. Not pictured in this shot are my player who is tele-gaming from Hong Kong and my player tele-gaming from San Fransisco. We use a combination of Skype's conference calling and Yahoo instant messenger's webcam app. The ability to design and use models, especially ones with gridding, is a huge advantage for my distant players. We tried using standard vinyl mats for a while, but the glare from reflected light would just wash out the image and the grid on the visual almost entirely. This is a wonderful wonderful tool for me for just this reason.



-Steve

Looks great...i truly like it...