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TOPIC: How'd they do that?

How'd they do that? 19 years 3 months ago #1

Hello True Dungeon forum members!

I've decided to start writing a weekly "How'd they do that?" thread. I'll pick a prop or group of props and write on how it was built (if I know - otherwise I'll try to pry the info out of the appropriate person).

Right now I'm thinking of the following props:

General Dungeon Construction
Sarcophagus Skeleton Animatronic
Rogue Traps
Tavern Ceiling
Tavern Bar
Tavern Fireplace
Various Tavern Props - Probably written up by Jenn - she built most of them
"Octagon Room" (This was replaced by the Library in So Cal)
The Spider Web

Lots of people put a lot of hard work into elements of the dungeon, these are only some of the many items that were made that I am somewhat comfortable describing the construction of. Other elements, like "Rodney" the Imp will need to be described by someone else, as I am unaware of what tools were used in it's production.


Note that we may elect to not share everything - we've got to keep some secrets, don't we? But I'll try to share as much as possible.

Does anyone have any specific requests ore questions to start off? Right now I'm tentatively planning on a write-up on the Sarcophagus Skeleton next week.

-Lance
True Dungeon BlueHand Director
Lance Lamont

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How'd they do that? 19 years 3 months ago #2

Personally, I would like to start with general dungeon construction as the general nuts and bolts would seem a logical starting point or foundation to begin talks...but the Inn being a starting ground would work also.

I am not sure how many dungeon explorers noticed how the walls were attached or what certain items were made of, but I for one, thrived on the real vs the sureal-ness of the experience. The bookshelf out of cardboard was pulled off, but then we stepped into the altar room where the altar was nothing short of Old Globe quality...those drama geeks or maybe Jenn will know what I mean.

Where-ever you start I am all ears.
Gary
Gary aka: Grimwood, Cleric of the Western Woods CLERIC for life - I have the character card to prove it! Former owner of a Ring of Three Wishes and Jeff's finger!

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How'd they do that? 19 years 3 months ago #3

Sounds like a great idea to me! A lot of interesting things I would like know more about. I like the idea of writing about how you choose to build the dungeon in the space given. I know you would have to consider "backstage" corridors for bluehands. Are there special Death passage ways to lead players out? (One might label them Paths of the Dead.) Are there safety considerations you build in? Is there a blueprint you can share?

Some other topics of interest:
Building the spider
Genie jar- Unfortunately it wasn't working when I tried pulling the top off (but this still didn't stop the genie from attacking us)
Building the fire monster
Sneak peeks at the next dungeon props- There was one photo that was just a 2"x4" wood frame for some prop in module 2, what was it?
How were the two-way mirrors setup for the fountain room?
Practice room- Do I remember that cement was used for the table?
Inside of the altar- What were those plastic things that attached to people's arms?
How did you build the floating cubes?
How do you protect against smoke detectors going off? I would think that things like fog effects and the genie smoke could set certain kinds off.

Slightly off topic, I would like also to see a picture of the oracle room and the library because I didn't get to see them. Also, was there a different method used for detect magic in SoCal? I wasn't sure from some of the posts I have been reading.

Thanks!
David
"Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." Abe Lincoln

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How'd they do that? 19 years 3 months ago #4

A couple of other topics I thought of.

1) The paladin's detect evil.

2) Module 1 puzzles.

Thanks again.
David
"Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." Abe Lincoln

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How'd they do that? 19 years 3 months ago #5

I don't remember the Indy dungeon having any exposed cardboard props (although decorating the boxes to look like wooden crates was cool). I think in SoCal, they were limited by the quantity of stuff they could actually ship that far, so out of necessity, some props were left behind. I think that's the main reason the Library replaced the Fountain. Also, I heard that the 10' poles were cut to 8' because of the size of the shipping crate (not sure if that's true). Some of the boxes that were used to ship the decorations actually ended up being used in the Dungeon themselves. The pedestal in the Chasm room was just a cardboard box wrapped with the shimmery-pink stretch-wrap that they had used to wrap the pallets for shipping.

The big question that I have for Lance (or other TD personnel):
Where do you buy all your groovy supplies?

The blacklight flashlights, the UV pens, the torches, the light-up golf balls and cubes, the icky rubber stuff in the altar of the handbook room, the UV-reactive silly string, Efreeti and flame-boxes, gaff tape, etc.

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How'd they do that? 19 years 3 months ago #6

Arcbat is right. We had to improvise a lot of the props for SoCal due to shipping limitations. The 'wooden' shelves (cardboard boxes) were actually a last minute idea that some of the volunteers had at Indy. I thought they looked pretty cool...

Many of the items we make ourselves, but the other things like the golf balls, UV lights, silly string etc comes from various novelty catalogs. Some things like the glowing cubes we used last year come from wedding supply catalogs. Jeff has the catalogs at the office so he can give you the names if your interested.

Lee
bur BUR bur BUR<br /><br />PS I can't spell, don't be suprised when you read my posts...<br /><br />Head D.I.N.O.

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How'd they do that? 19 years 3 months ago #7

Gary, Beowulf, Arcbat, Lee, Thank you for the comments...

Gary, I like the idea of starting with a "General Construction" write-up. I'll prepare that for sometime this week.

Thanks for the ideas - if anyone has more requests, let me know.

(Sorry, tired right now, I'll respond to more questions in a future message)
Lance Lamont

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How'd they do that? 19 years 3 months ago #8

A couple of other topics I thought of.

1) The paladin's detect evil.

2) Module 1 puzzles.

Thanks again.
David


We will NEVER reveal the magic of the paladin pouches! Hee hee.
Token Conjurer
Geek Dreamweaver
Nerdomancer
Author of the never-to-be-released "The Secret of Trees"

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How'd they do that? 19 years 3 months ago #9

A couple of other topics I thought of.

1) The paladin's detect evil.

2) Module 1 puzzles.

Thanks again.
David


We will NEVER reveal the magic of the paladin pouches! Hee hee.


ugh.. I think I know what it is already.. and you can find them in most sex shops! :P

LJR - the wise

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How'd they do that? 19 years 3 months ago #10

That was a good one...I could just imagine the Paladin putting the pouch in his/her pocket...

I did not get a close look at the Paladin's detect magic toy...I looked to be something about the size of one of the glow-cubes.

I would guess it was some sort of resturant pager device what would be triggered by party number or something as such.

I can her the GM now...calling it in..." Party 136 is in the room, please have their pager triggered - their evil dungeon experience is about to begin."

Gary
Gary aka: Grimwood, Cleric of the Western Woods CLERIC for life - I have the character card to prove it! Former owner of a Ring of Three Wishes and Jeff's finger!

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How'd they do that? 19 years 3 months ago #11

I don't know what was IN the pouches, but the room's DM controlled the vibrations with a remote. That way it could go off if you pointed at a specific thing. As you scanned around the room it would buzz for evil things, and not buzz for non-evil surroundings. So it wasn't just an 'evil' room, you could specifically tell that the Efreet was evil, while the stuff on the table was fine.

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How'd they do that? 19 years 3 months ago #12

I suggest placing the Paladin pouch in the Rodney doll and turning him into a Detect Evil Imp.
"Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." Abe Lincoln

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