Dungeon Accessories: The Well & Pool

 This entry is part of a series wherein I show how to use Hirst Arts molds to make new dungeon accessories for your 3D terrain of choice.  If you don’t have any Hirst Arts molds, that’s no problem.  At the bottom of the article you’ll find a bunch of ways you can use the accessory as the centerpiece for an encounter or story arc; you don’t need the actual accessory to use the ideas.  So feel free to read the whole article, or just zip to the bottom, and get your creative juices jumpstarted!

A well or pool usually seems out of place in a dungeon, and players approach them with caution; for good reason, as you’ll see if you read some of the adventure hooks at the end of this post.  There are instructions on the Hirst Arts site (in the Tips & Tricks) on how to make water features.  I’m not going to duplicate any of them, but rather show you one of the methods I use.

Getting everything together

All you need to make a well and a pool is either floor mold 201 or 202.  If you have mold 45, you can use pieces from that mold, but it’s not necessary.  For the well, you’ll need 4 of the long thin rectangular floor pieces, and 4 of the smallest rectangular pieces.  For the pool, you’ll need 8 of the half size floor pieces, and 4 of the smallest rectangular pieces.  Is that specific enough for you? How about a picture:

You’ll also need something called Water Effects, which you can also see in the picture.  It’s basically really really thick Elmer’s glue – think “whipped cream” thick.  You could also use resin, but I don’t have any experience with it; if you want instructions for resin, you’ll have to check out the Hirst Arts site.  I will say this – resin looks like a lot more work, though the finished effect is probably more water-like.

Assembly

Putting this project together is incredibly simple.  For the well, form two of the short pieces and two of the long pieces into a square.  Then, add another layer, placing the long pieces on top of the short pieces this time.  That’s it.  For the pool, glue two half size floor pieces together for each side, and use the small short pieces for the corners.  Make sure that the smooth sides of the floor pieces are facing inwards.  The pool will be fairly fragile until the water effects have set in it, so don’t go putting too much pressure on the walls.  Let everything dry overnight.

When they’re ready for the water effects, tape some parchment paper to your work surface.  This will keep the water effects from drying to your table. Hold the well (or pool) steady as you fill it with the water effects.  Then, take a toothpick and swirl it around the surface to texture it.  Be sure to get it into all the corners; it may need a little coaxing.  You can see how mine turned out below.

I will note here that the water effects took a LONG time to dry, especially on the pool.  In my dehydrator, over 48 hours.  Hey, I said it was easy, not fast.  Once the water effects was dry, I decided I wanted to have steps leading up to the pool, so I used another of the long and short skinny pieces to do that.  You can see in the pictures that the finished “water” in the pool and well has some air bubbles in it.  For now, that doesn’t bother me, but I may end up painting the surface of the water later.  If I do that, it will be a coat of blue, wash of black, and dry brush in light blue or white.

What can we use these for?

• The water acts as a scrying device, showing the PCs a possible future, or something happening far away.
• There is something at the bottom of the well (that they really want!) and a trap of some sort about half way down.
• Swimming to the bottom reveals an underwater tunnel to a hidden room or cavern.
• Drinking the water does something special: regenerates a daily power, acts as a potion of healing, or perhaps something more…sinister.
• A monster comes out of the water and attacks
• If you throw a coin in, something happens
• The PCs need to figure out a way to drain it
• Something triggers it to overflow and fill the room with water

What would you do with it?