D&D Dungeon Tiles (Pt. 8): Creating the Cave Frame

 Now that I had switched gears, it was time to do some research. 

I had an idea in mind for how I wanted the cave to look (because I’d gotten to take a cave tour on a road trip when I was younger) but I wanted the cave to feel like something out of fantasy rather than a strict reproduction of an actual cave. Elroy wanted a limestone cave with playable floor space

 and (if I could figure out how to make it work) a hidden chamber 

that players would have to do a perception check to find.
 
(Not sure what I’m talking about? 

Check out my D&D Tile series from the beginning. I’ll wait.)
 
Now it was time to find some inspiration images. And boy did I ever.

The Buchan Caves Reserve in Australia is amazing. 

Like high fantasy brought to life. I was especially inspired by the Royal Cave with its clear terraced pools and multiple layers of stalagmites. 

But how to simulate it, especially since I was trying to keep 

each piece as flat as possible for easier storage?

 

I started by drawing out where the cave walls would be. I decided to keep all of the pools to one side of the cave and to place the hidden chamber in one of the corners on the opposite side of the frame. From there I drew out basic shapes for the main stalagmites and used the same process from the

Oasis tile to remove the top few layers of the cake board for the pools. I also used this technique for the hidden chamber to give it room to 

include the floor texture under the lift-away foam lid.  

I had no plans to use any sand on this frame, so I needed to find a way to edge the pools that would look lumpy like the terraces in the Royal Cave. 

I considered cutting narrow foam edges but 

ultimately decided that I had a better solution. Hot glue.

After I made the terraces, I used more hot glue to create a bunch of tiny stalagmites growing around the larger ones. Since the Buchan stalagmites are uneven and blobby like melted wax, I wasn’t too worried about making the little ones perfect. I made small blobs of hot glue, came back to 

add height and used the hot sides of the tip of the glue gun 

to smooth and round anything that looked too funny.

One quick note about the hot glue; it really only sticks to the top layer of the cake board. I found myself needing to reinforce the terrace edges to make sure they stayed stuck down, the smaller stalagmites, too. I either added another row of hot glue or a quick dab of mod podge to re-adhere it.

Once I was happy with that, 

it was onto the next challenge . . . adding the foam.

 

 

 

Next up: Carving the Cave Walls