McMeeple's Custom Building Terrain: TMNT Noodle Shop

[Tornado]

Nice.
Those are basic goals as well.
I know you said your buildings are made of wood but others have asked if we could make them 'store flat' and I have worked out an idea for that.

I really want to work on ruins and ruined buildings that are 'opened up' for interior play.

I want to do a parking garage with ramps leading up from level to level that figures can move up with normal movement(that may be tricky as the angle will stretch the hexes).

I have been able to pick up light posts, a park bench, fire hydrants and some other terrain at the local Dollar Tree and I am sure we will have stats for them someday(as Destructible Objects).

japes has been working on skins and urban maps for the base. He even has removable sewer covers. Lots of good stuff to work on for a long time. I imagine that buildings and the whole CityScape aspect of gameplay will be my main focus at C3G for the remainder of my time here.
It took years to get to where we are now which is not far but I think things will pick up in the Danger Room, hopefully.

[Grishnakh]

You know, I'd just like to take a moment and once again thank McMeeple for creating and posting this building based on my building designs.

[Tornado]

You are the man, Grish!

[japes]

Originally Posted by mcmeeple

I have a list of ideas so long it is out of control. I can only imagine what you guys have brewing.

I have pondered:

• DIY kits with lots of artwork in standard sizes
• Modular buildings based on connectable/stackable parts
• Define a standard set of building sizes. Then crank out sets of thematic skins to be used on them. Then you could have a directory of 4x5 hex 1 story buildings and all the skins you can put on it. etc.
• This is not to mention accessories: shipping containers, dumpsters, mailboxes, newstands and so on.
• insert wife sighing at the growing size of your hobby here

If you check out C3G's public terrain area I believe some of those accessories are already there. Pretty sure shipping containers are public and I have made paper versions of the others based on I believe @Cavalier s stuff a few years ago. I love the shipping container and have actually made a warehouse/dock side map that was a printed flat asphalt map with a bunch of shipping containers stacked and arranged. It was a blast.

[mcmeeple]

I have been playing with an idea for the multi building mechanic shop design. Sticking ladders to the sides of the buildings makes good sense, but I also like the idea that you can take the stairs.

Mechanic Shop Preview:


So, I have been pondering something similar to Grishnakh's elevator rules. Basically you use the card below which is in an extremely rough proof-of-concept stage. The numbers would correspond to doors on the buildings. These would be cut out and placed onto the large card. The two hexes represent the stairs. So if your next to door "1", on your turn you can open the door and move onto the stair hexes. Continue using movement points and move up the stairs and out the door indicated. You could, if needed or wanted, end your movement on the stairs. Perhaps each stair hex should count as 2 move? or I could just make the stair hexes 3 or 4 hexes long.

Basically the side card would define the connections between doors on the buildings.

Given the modular buildings you could define what connects where.

Note the largest building has 2 doors (back and opposite side), and the medium/tiny ones have a single door.

I could color code or even number the doors (in the actual artwork) so you can tell which one is which. And then have the marker match.

Finally, I could make the card and qty of door tokens larger in case folks make extra copies of each building. Or for example, you might say there are two paths from a roof building down and out the largest one that has two doors. Then in a way it would abstractly represent moving through a building and out the door. (I hope this makes sense)

Very rough draft of the stair/door mapping:


PLEASE let me know what you guys think of this. I really like the idea of additional paths of movement, but I want it to be easy and manageable. Any and all feedback is welcomed.

EDIT: It also occurs to me that the card used to map stairs to doors could be generic and used as much or frequently as desired. Each building could just come with the needed door markers to place onto it. This could then be used to add stairs to most any building.

[mcmeeple]

Originally Posted by japes

If you check out C3G's public terrain area I believe some of those accessories are already there. Pretty sure shipping containers are public and I have made paper versions of the others based on I believe @Cavalier s stuff a few years ago. I love the shipping container and have actually made a warehouse/dock side map that was a printed flat asphalt map with a bunch of shipping containers stacked and arranged. It was a blast.

I will take a look! Shipping containers are high on my list. I love how they could be combined to create all kinds of nooks and carnies.

Originally Posted by Grishnakh

You know, I'd just like to take a moment and once again thank McMeeple for creating and posting this building based on my building designs.

It is my privilege! Thank you again for all the free material you publish. You are responsible for many hours of other peoples fun!

Originally Posted by Tornado

I know you said your buildings are made of wood but others have asked if we could make them 'store flat' and I have worked out an idea for that.

I imagine wood isn't convenient for most people. Part of it for me is that I simply enjoy doing it. I completely understand the need to store flat. I will be interested to see what you come up with. Hopefully it can be applied to other designs (like mine)

Originally Posted by Tornado

I really want to work on ruins and ruined buildings that are 'opened up' for interior play.

Ruins are an interesting idea. I considered a box based design where you print and mount the four sides and they have a cut line so you basically cut it in half (along a rough edge of some type) and you take the two halves apart. So from one square structure you get TWO sets of ruins. Basically they fit together like a puzzle. Then the two halves cut into four separate corners...this would allow you to place the ruin corners in various rectangular configurations from small to large.

Originally Posted by Tornado

I want to do a parking garage with ramps leading up from level to level that figures can move up with normal movement(that may be tricky as the angle will stretch the hexes).

Oh, that is an interesting idea. I was thinking of having a building on pillars so as to make room for parking under the building. Like an elevated building. Sounds silly, but many buildings in my area are like this. (i assume it is common).

Sloped surfaces with slightly stretched hexes seems like a great idea. I imagine warehouse roofs and ramps like you mentioned. I was wondering if a slope like that could lead up to a loading dock module that could be added to the back of other buildings.

Originally Posted by Tornado

japes has been working on skins and urban maps for the base. He even has removable sewer covers. Lots of good stuff to work on for a long time. I imagine that buildings and the whole CityScape aspect of gameplay will be my main focus at C3G for the remainder of my time here.
It took years to get to where we are now which is not far but I think things will pick up in the Danger Room, hopefully.

I can't wait to check it out! I agree, CityScape is a bottomless pit of fun that has more options then I can imagine.

[Grishnakh]

Originally Posted by mcmeeple

I have been playing with an idea for the multi building mechanic shop design. Sticking ladders to the sides of the buildings makes good sense, but I also like the idea that you can take the stairs.

Mechanic Shop Preview:


So, I have been pondering something similar to Grishnakh's elevator rules. Basically you use the card below which is in an extremely rough proof-of-concept stage. The numbers would correspond to doors on the buildings. These would be cut out and placed onto the large card. The two hexes represent the stairs. So if your next to door "1", on your turn you can open the door and move onto the stair hexes. Continue using movement points and move up the stairs and out the door indicated. You could, if needed or wanted, end your movement on the stairs. Perhaps each stair hex should count as 2 move? or I could just make the stair hexes 3 or 4 hexes long.

Basically the side card would define the connections between doors on the buildings.

Given the modular buildings you could define what connects where.

Note the largest building has 2 doors (back and opposite side), and the medium/tiny ones have a single door.

I could color code or even number the doors (in the actual artwork) so you can tell which one is which. And then have the marker match.

Finally, I could make the card and qty of door tokens larger in case folks make extra copies of each building. Or for example, you might say there are two paths from a roof building down and out the largest one that has two doors. Then in a way it would abstractly represent moving through a building and out the door. (I hope this makes sense)

Very rough draft of the stair/door mapping:


PLEASE let me know what you guys think of this. I really like the idea of additional paths of movement, but I want it to be easy and manageable. Any and all feedback is welcomed.

EDIT: It also occurs to me that the card used to map stairs to doors could be generic and used as much or frequently as desired. Each building could just come with the needed door markers to place onto it. This could then be used to add stairs to most any building.

Dude! You keep pulling me out of my current semi-retirement from this site! But that's a good thing!

A couple of thoughts.

1. When designing the skin of the building you'll need to make sure that the door(s) line up with a specific ground hex. The use of counters really avoids any confusion during a game as to which hex is the entrance hex so it's not entirely necessary. But it just looks better that way!

2. I wouldn't penalize a figures movement by making them stop, and begin their turn adjacent to a door. Think of a ladder, you move two spaces on the ground to reach the ladder, then your remaining movement to start your clamp up the ladder. I'd do the stairs the same way. Movement is time in my book, and how much time would it really take to simply open a door.

Of course you could say some doors are locked at the beginning of a game and it would take an action for a character with super strength to break it down. That would slow a figure down. I'm not sure how you'd handle locked doors for other figures that would be able to pick the lock (say Batman). Perhaps You could just simply make the first figure loose their action?

3. I'd make the stairs different lengths for each story the building Since the building is 6 tiles high I'd make the stairs half that, 3 spaces long. So a two story building would be 12 high, thus 6 spaces worth of stairs.

4. We've had many great fights in elevators in our games. The fact that there are two spaces keeps a figure from camping out inside. Plus you can always attack a figure from the entrance hex that's adjacent to an elevator door. You'll need to do the same with the stairs. So, an entrance hex is considered adjacent to the first hex inside the building. (Another reason the door shouldn't cost anything to open.)

Therefore, a ranged figure standing on the entrance hex outside the building could shoot a figure on the stairs, but if the same ranged figure was a space or two away he could not.

Anyway, good work! I've enjoyed seeing what you've been coming up with using my system of buildings.

[Grishnakh]

Originally Posted by mcmeeple

Sloped surfaces with slightly stretched hexes seems like a great idea. I imagine warehouse roofs and ramps like you mentioned. I was wondering if a slope like that could lead up to a loading dock module that could be added to the back of other buildings.

I'd be very careful with ramps. It will start to break the game. How do you know, for example, what level you are on exactly for adjacency, height advantage, etc. When I create any structure for this game it cannot go against the established main rules of the game. It can have added on rules, but I stay away from anything that alters the rules. Hopefully that makes sense.

[Grishnakh]

And speaking of height on stairs, when you do the art you could put a slight drop shadow on the lower stair, right next to the higher stair. That would indicate visually that each stair is higher than the next.

With that said (and especially if you use the half the height of the building to determine the number of stairs) then each up level on the staircase would be two tile heights tall. That would be a nice way to determine movement and adjacency on the stairs. Just a thought.

[mcmeeple]

Originally Posted by Grishnakh

I'd be very careful with ramps. It will start to break the game. How do you know, for example, what level you are on exactly for adjacency, height advantage, etc. When I create any structure for this game it cannot go against the established main rules of the game. It can have added on rules, but I stay away from anything that alters the rules. Hopefully that makes sense.

Excellent point. Perhaps it isn't as simple as it sounded. This isn't high on my list, but I will keep it in mind if I decide to try and go there.

[mcmeeple]

Originally Posted by Grishnakh

Dude! You keep pulling me out of my current semi-retirement from this site! But that's a good thing!

A couple of thoughts.

1. When designing the skin of the building you'll need to make sure that the door(s) line up with a specific ground hex. The use of counters really avoids any confusion during a game as to which hex is the entrance hex so it's not entirely necessary. But it just looks better that way!

2. I wouldn't penalize a figures movement by making them stop, and begin their turn adjacent to a door. Think of a ladder, you move two spaces on the ground to reach the ladder, then your remaining movement to start your clamp up the ladder. I'd do the stairs the same way. Movement is time in my book, and how much time would it really take to simply open a door.

Of course you could say some doors are locked at the beginning of a game and it would take an action for a character with super strength to break it down. That would slow a figure down. I'm not sure how you'd handle locked doors for other figures that would be able to pick the lock (say Batman). Perhaps You could just simply make the first figure loose their action?

3. I'd make the stairs different lengths for each story the building Since the building is 6 tiles high I'd make the stairs half that, 3 spaces long. So a two story building would be 12 high, thus 6 spaces worth of stairs.

4. We've had many great fights in elevators in our games. The fact that there are two spaces keeps a figure from camping out inside. Plus you can always attack a figure from the entrance hex that's adjacent to an elevator door. You'll need to do the same with the stairs. So, an entrance hex is considered adjacent to the first hex inside the building. (Another reason the door shouldn't cost anything to open.)

Therefore, a ranged figure standing on the entrance hex outside the building could shoot a figure on the stairs, but if the same ranged figure was a space or two away he could not.

Anyway, good work! I've enjoyed seeing what you've been coming up with using my system of buildings.

1) I need to revisit things and make sure my doors align!

2) This makes sense. You basically just move through a door. You could also have an unknown status of a door (locked vs unlocked) and you don't know until you go try it and turn over a marker of some type.

3) using half the height of the building for stairs makes great sense. Its faster then just climbing up the side of the building, which makes sense. And its an easy to follow rule.

4) agreed with this. you can move up and down the stairs fighting your way up. I love it. And the notion that the door blocks ranged attacks seems logical and easy to implement.

And I love the idea that the artwork for the hexes should indicate that one hex is "above" the other so you get height advantage and so on. a simple shadow or staggering slightly of the hexes should make this clear.

I have been thinking about making a generic roof top structure that could represent stairs coming out. A little two hex structure.

My experience with castle sets is that they often create real bottlenecks for battles due to the extreme height. With the buildings I like the idea that there are many paths up and down; ladders, flying, climbing other objects like dumpsters, stairs and elevators.

Thanks for the detailed feedback. I am really likening this idea.

[Grishnakh]

[quote=mcmeeple;2093843]

Originally Posted by Grishnakh

Thanks for the detailed feedback. I am really likening this idea.

Me too. It's a natural extension of what my son and I created for our elevator rules. Good thinking outside of the box! (Or inside of the box, there's a bad pun here somewhere….)