I had another idea recently and I thought it would be fun to see if you guys thought it would work or guage the interest in such a venture. Here goes:
A miniature scale 3-D layout of Greyhawk City. It would have to be housed in its own building but I can't figure out how big the final product would be. Some of GHC's buildings would have to be super detailed so you could actually open them up and look inside...just in case the DM had an encounter there of course. I figure the whole thing would have to break into 4-6 sections in order to make it easier to access the central part of the city. This would be a massive undertaking involving lots of different craftsmen and loads of cash. Imagine the final product, a spectacle worthy of an annual trip to be placed on display at GenCon.
I know, it's late. I'm delerious. Still, any thoughts?
I guess people respond better to gossip and rumors ;)
Okay here goes:
I heard another rumor recently and I thought it would share it with everyone.
Apparently the WotC is commisioning a miniature scale 3-D layout of Greyhawk City. Some of GHC's buildings will be super detailed so you could actually open them up and look inside...just in case the DM had an encounter there of course. The whole thing will break into 4-6 sections in order to make it easier to access the central part of the city. This would be a massive undertaking involving lots of different craftsmen and loads of cash. WotC is running a contest to choose the sculptors and artists that will be chosen to build the city. It will be placed on display at GenCon and similar events. It will be used in miniatures based gaming events and an extra fee will be charged for the privilege of using the set.
Just kidding of course but wouldn't this be as cool as Nerul's Realm? Come on people!
I saw a miniature Mos Eisley done from scrap styrofoam and train parts and other knick-knacks. It looked pretty amazing and it sold for like 300+ dollars on Ebay about a year ago. Sure it was about the size of a pool table and GH City would be much more massive (like 6 pool tables at least) but still it could be done rather cheaply if you had a good eye for picking up trash and turning it into treasure like this guy did.
I wish I could remember the sale number of the Mos Eisley miniature town but can't and ebay probably dropped the auction file months ago.
Anyway, If I hit the powerball this is going in my list of things to do with the money. I think it is a great idea and there would surely be hundreds of jealous greyhawk fans everywhere wanting to see it and maybe even play an adventure in it.
If I still had money left over I'd create a professional gaming center, where people could rent rooms to play D&D. The rooms would be equipped with sound and lighting effects, and all the bells and whistles you'd want in a gaming room. They could also play in games run by professional DMs(ie me) in a living type campaign. There would of course be a full size tavern to hang out in and run interactives, and an arena for those who want to bash each other with foam weapons.
This endeavour would bleed money of course, but I'm a millionaire right? It'd be fun while it lasted.
If I had unlimited funds I would of course buy hasbro and wreste the Greyhawk licence from them. Then everyone the boards could complaign about how I'm ruining the setting!
Like I always told my mom: "I'm rolling dice, not joints."
I wish I had this one up my sleeve when i was a few years younger. My mom and dad never got on me about D&D but a few people at church did. I would have loved to send that line their way.
You should get that made into shirts and sell them Valkaun, I know I would buy one. And if you don't want to go through the hassle of making them i may have one printed at a t-shirt store myself. I like having t-shirts with random phrases on them. I am currently wearing a shirt that says, "Taste the sound of Bamboo Shoots."
Also great idea above about a cottage inside keep walls. I think I would like that better and the heating bill would be more manageable (sp).
And the open area inside the keep walls would leave plenty of room for the catapults.
I wish I had this one up my sleeve when i was a few years younger. My mom and dad never got on me about D&D but a few people at church did. I would have loved to send that line their way.
You should get that made into shirts and sell them Valkaun, I know I would buy one. And if you don't want to go through the hassle of making them i may have one printed at a t-shirt store myself. I like having t-shirts with random phrases on them. I am currently wearing a shirt that says, "Taste the sound of Bamboo Shoots."
Also great idea above about a cottage inside keep walls. I think I would like that better and the heating bill would be more manageable (sp).
That's a good idea.
Speaking of church, my buddy and I were going to play a little D&D in Junior High (mid 80's) during a "lock-in" at my church. My Pastor "caught" us in the Fellowship Hall's storage closet getting our books and dice out. We got a lecture about the devil and how satanic D&D was. I think it was the first time we'd ever heard that and we were baffled. We told him we disagreed and we thought it was harmless and fun. Needless to say we didn't play any D&D and I think we were lucky to get out of church the next morning with all of our stuff. My pastor thought I was doing drugs when I started confirmation classes and nothing could have been further from the truth so he was kinda clueless.
My mom's issue was that I could have been doing more socializing in normal activities. I played varsity soccer, I dated quite a few girls, not a lot but I was rarely without a girlfriend in high school. I just like getting caught up in that Greyhawk Fantasy.
I like the castle and cottage idea too and I guess maybe that was what I had in mind: a four walled keep with four towers, a towered gate with drawbridge and portcullis, moat and some structure within.
Of course there would be an expansive dungeon below the cottage via secret door.
And the open area inside the keep walls would leave plenty of room for the catapults.
I like the dungeon idea. Lots of caves around here along the bluffs. I'll need room for a trebuchet in the keep and ballista on the towers. Armed security with chainmail, longswords and crossbows.
It goes in phases. Pay off current house. Buy land. Build cottage. Retire and move into cottage. Spend retirement building castle walls and other crazy stuff.
I'm 33 now, so this is a 40 year plan. There are a few variables that could alter my plan in that time span(kids, jobs, war, famine, etc), but it's still in the back of my mind.
As for the miniature model of Greyhawk city, that's more a matter of time than money. You could make it out of cardstock for a few hundred bucks. The Worldworks model sets would get you 90% of the way there. It would just take a really long time to put it together.
I'll have to buy some land too, lots of limestone bluffs around here. I could build it out of flagstone and clay mud. It'd look more like the Gobi Desert end of the Great Wall of China though.
I still haven't gotten an idea of how big this thing would be, I'm not real good with math. Anybody care to take a guess? Let's say the whole diorama would encompass an area up to the edges of the most recent city map. I'm thinking it would need to be in a high school gymnasium sized room.
Greyhawk is about 3 by 2 miles in area. To represent that in mini's scale (1 inch = 5 ft), you'd be talking about 264 by 176 ft, about a football field
I don't think the official map is quite that big, but yeah, a gymnasium would probably be about right.
Using your calculations for the 2 by 3 mile scenario though that would be a massive undertaking wouldn't it? This changes everything. At that size the biggest streets in the city would be just big enough for us to walk down. I must win the Powerball.
Now that I'm home, I'm pulling out my City of Greyhawk boxed set map.
Drat, no scale on the map! However there is a scale on the map of the grand citadel, so doing some extrapolation...
I'm getting about about 1" = 750 feet, which would make the whole poster map (~16" by 21") = 2.27 by 3 miles, pretty close to my guess from the other map.
Using the boxed set would be great, there are plenty of buildings to make without it getting insane. About 200 structures should cover it.
Definitely a project for retirement, or the lotto. Though personally I think any bucks spent on the lotto would be better applied to Greyhawk pdfs.