building terrain suggestions?

[Ensis Ferrae]

So, I have it in my head to build a display/game board that is The Star Theater... beyond the brief outline in the rule book for the interior of the hall, i have no idea what else to do....

Here's my thoughts so far:

The "stage" area should be at least 18 inches (to encompass at least one 6 inch backroom, per the book), i'm thinking of an arched front, though i'm not sure on that front...it would be cool to have an 1800s style "gas lamp" row along the front, with working LEDs.

And because its a vaudeville/burlesque type theater (just judging by collette and her crew), i am thinking of using some actual felt or similar fabric (red, or maroon maybe?)

The walls should probably be either removable, or at least fold down for gaming, so i am curious as to your ideas on 'wallpaper'

Some other issues I am having with this atm: how and what should the organ be made out of? Should it be a pipe or churchey type/organ, or something more contemporary looking?

What should be done for the seating area in front of the stage? Benches, seating like a vegas cabaret show (smallish, round tables for seating a number of people who only have drinks) or should it be open, with some boxes/ tables 'stacked' along the edges? Ideally this shouldn't be set in stone, just for gameplay variety's sake.

This has been a long post, so i'll leave it here for now, and hope you guys have some good ideas out there.

[Dracomax]

With a little wikipedia'ing, I came up with this picture...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1875_Oxford_Music_Hall.jpg

Based on that, the most accurate would be to use a player piano.

If you want to do an organ, I'd go with something very steampunkish, with lots of tubes and pipes and gears. maybe something concievably designed by Bloody Stupid Johnson.

[The Madman]

Check lobostele's thread on his theater

he did some amazing stuff

having played on it multiple times...I would suggest taking STRONG consideration of making it modular like lobostele did... but also to plan for how players will be able to look into the field for LOS judgmentrs and how they will be able to manipulate their models during play

[Omenbringer]

Here's my thoughts so far:

The "stage" area should be at least 18 inches (to encompass at least one 6 inch backroom, per the book), i'm thinking of an arched front, though i'm not sure on that front...it would be cool to have an 1800s style "gas lamp" row along the front, with working LEDs.

Be sure to add lime lights on the actual stage to keep things accurate (White Leds would work perfectly for this btw). Gas Lamps would be appropriate in other areas of the Star though.

Also consider raising the stage (so everyone in the back can see the preformance) and have a playable area beneath it (where sets are stored when not in use and the stage equipment can be operated.

And because its a vaudeville/burlesque type theater (just judging by collette and her crew), i am thinking of using some actual felt or similar fabric (red, or maroon maybe?)

Felt can be a very difficult medium to model with, I would reccomend tissue paper soaked in a watered down white glue (PVA glue).

The walls should probably be either removable, or at least fold down for gaming, so i am curious as to your ideas on 'wallpaper'

Look for craft stores that sell wooden doll houses or supplies, they will usually have appropriate scaled wall paper. Failing that take a look at the scrap booking stores as they definately have suitable stuff.

Some other issues I am having with this atm: how and what should the organ be made out of? Should it be a pipe or churchey type/organ, or something more contemporary looking?

As Dracomax suggests it is really more appropriate to have a stand up piano than pipe organ. There are a number of model train companies that produce white metal scaled minatures to prevent having to scratch build one (be sure to look for O scale stuff as that seems to be the best scale). Perhaps a small orchestra pit as well.

What should be done for the seating area in front of the stage? Benches, seating like a vegas cabaret show (smallish, round tables for seating a number of people who only have drinks) or should it be open, with some boxes/ tables 'stacked' along the edges? Ideally this shouldn't be set in stone, just for gameplay variety's sake.

For game play purposes I would recommend removable round tables vice anything else (also allows for a 1 Interact to flip them up on end and get soft cover from ranged strikes).

Other things to include would be an upper balcony with lighting and "guest" rooms as well as a bar, a counting room and possibly ticket office, of course a few back stage changing rooms (Colette wouldn't share a room with anyone else and neither would Casandra) and costume closets. The last thing I would also include is a storage cellar for liquor with "secret" entrance to the sewers.

Hopefully all that helps a bit.

Edited August 14, 2012 by Omenbringer

[the imp]

If I ever get around to building a Star Theater, my plan is to base it off of Miami Dade College's Prometeo Theater. It has a nice, simple floor plan with a couple useful rooms off to the side to stash objectives and whatnot in. Obviously, I'd be using fewer seats.

:Smug_Puppet2:

[CannonFodder]

Are you looking for a full table, building to put on a table ot a display piece. I think should figure out what you want it to do first. A full high wality table is somethign I love in principle, but rarely worth the effort because its hard to store, hard to leave out (too much space). When I say high quality table I mean a full 3x3 with building and everything on it permanently in place.

I would concider a building that is cut into 2. This way its eaiser to store. And if designed right you can have the 2 pieces be on 2 different shelves of a display case and not be too deep. Then when put together for games makes a full sized building that would fit on a 3x3 board with a couple exterior terrain pieces.

Excuse the quality but I just spent 1 min in paint making the layout.

Wthite is ground floow

Dark blue is stairs

Light bloor are doors

Green would be 1ht platform

yellow would be raised area either 2 to 3ht over looking everything

teh gray line is where to cut it.

In theory I would design it 2x2 when put together, or 1x2 when split in 2.

[Ensis Ferrae]

Well, ideally, I would build it in pieces, for transport and storage, however the "stage proper" would probably be one piece. Maybe the "performing area" and the arch that usually adorns the area as well to be used as a display board, should I need it for any tourneys or what have you. One idea I just had, was to build, essentially a foldable 3x3 "box" so that it can be used as basically any interior location, then the various "set pieces" could/would be added.

I did a google image search for vaudeville stages, and the type of lights I was referring to are apparently (in that sort of theater) referred to as footlights, though, in the 1880s they were powered by various types of gasses, depending on the locale.

Also, I would be using the rule book as the starting point, and according to it, the stage proper is Ht 2 terrain, so naturally this would be raised above the "ground" floor.. As that is about as far into detail as they go, the "scale" I was going for, would be about on par with the theater scene in Clockwork Orange.. But beyond the "orientation" of the stage to ground floor, most all of the rest of the terrain would be moveable almost by necessity.

[Omenbringer]

Well, ideally, I would build it in pieces, for transport and storage, however the "stage proper" would probably be one piece. Maybe the "performing area" and the arch that usually adorns the area as well to be used as a display board, should I need it for any tourneys or what have you. One idea I just had, was to build, essentially a foldable 3x3 "box" so that it can be used as basically any interior location, then the various "set pieces" could/would be added.

That is definately a good idea, just be sure to cut some rather large holes in the bottom so that the "tiles" can be removed easily. Without them it can be a real pain to take them out and rearrange things.

Also if you are planning on doing this I would definately recommend using floor tiles (probably 12" X 12"). this way you know everything is square and standard size.

I did a google image search for vaudeville stages, and the type of lights I was referring to are apparently (in that sort of theater) referred to as footlights, though, in the 1880s they were powered by various types of gasses, depending on the locale.

"lime lights were also pretty popular around that time.

Here is an image of what they looked like

These were the "follow lights" (what we would think of as spot lights today). I know there was a version of them that rested in the stage itself but can not for the life of me find a picture of them (if you have ever seen the the show Connections with James Burke it was the light in the opening title sequence).

Also, I would be using the rule book as the starting point, and according to it, the stage proper is Ht 2 terrain, so naturally this would be raised above the "ground" floor.. As that is about as far into detail as they go, the "scale" I was going for, would be about on par with the theater scene in Clockwork Orange.. But beyond the "orientation" of the stage to ground floor, most all of the rest of the terrain would be moveable almost by necessity.

Ht 2 would be around 4 to 8 feet above the ground floor so seems about right.

I would recommend including either a small barrier or "orchestra pit" in front of the actual stage (about 2-3" out from the stage) so that seated patrons wouldn't have to crane their necks up to watch the show.