hey guys data from tested I am in
Wellington New Zealand at my friends the
Wetty workshop alongside my scent our
friend here now you may remember the
last time I was here we covered wet at
workshops sculptors Johnny Fraser
Allen's personal project personal
passion project of making the labyrinth
from labyrinth hand sculpting every
piece of it so that he could make it at
a miniature size well he got a
tremendous amount of positive response
for that video when we posted it and it
was inspiring to him just as we were
inspired by his build and he's made a
tremendous amount of progress in the
intervening 18 months let's check out
what he's done
alright Johnny I'm a little overwhelmed
but I think it can speak last time we
saw you what we saw was this unfinished
you know and now it's 8 meters long yeah
16 feet okay no as I said get a bit
carried away with it but I was I was so
flattered with so many of the comments
and stuff on the last video I thought
well I'm gonna put a bit of serious time
into finishing so you're telling me that
the YouTube comments
you actually read the youtube comment
which I named a terrible idea and they
were all really positive I think it may
be the most positive collection of
YouTube comments in one place their
enemy you know but it really just made
me feel rich I felt like I wasn't just
doing this as some geek with a hobby it
made me want to finish it but I imitated
you were vindicated in your and your in
your passion about I'm doing it for me
anyway and I finished it because it's
taken long enough and I want to play on
it you know ok so this is actually a
gaming platform yes what it started off
with me kind of fooling around with just
wanting to have a little section of a
labyrinth that I could also use for
other games that I play like Hero Quest
and stuff so I built something that
could work completely modular but I'd I
wanted all the sculpting to be really
and depth and stuff so there's times
when I can actually even find right but
you can't even see which ones are the
moveable walls yeah and that's awesome
and so you know if you're role-playing
if you've got other people playing a
game because when you're in a labyrinth
the idea is you can't figure your way
around or in a dungeon or something like
that but um whoever's in control of it
can fool the people into being able to
pull out a wall and so they don't
automatically from a bird's-eye view go
on doing the ear untie you know right
and I could change and and then you know
all of this is compiled Wow
modular and this walls everywhere and
stuff like that but then can we walk
from one end to the other of course yeah
we talk how this all goes so one well
you saw some of this forest last time
but I'm just not there's not really
there's not really that many realistic
tabletop trees on the market and for me
one of the things I love most about
fantasy or quests or adventures there's
always in the forest
yeah it's Robin Hood or its you know the
Ewoks this the stuff as a kid that I got
really loved building treehouses and
stuff probably always been fascinated
with trees and I've also been working I
Ella straight on my own books through
sculpture and one of the stories I'm
telling is one called the wandering
woods which is where every single thing
in the forest is cognizant like for
example you saw this before this is a
that's a tree Sara tops
he's a sentient tree and it's just a
hell that so so the idea that I love the
idea that you could be in a small forest
that you'll never find your way out of
because it's always kind of lumbering
around you and the forest knows that
you're there and is
yeah altering your perception and it's
not necessarily harmful but because I
love the idea of a forest being able to
protect itself from from you know me and
cutting down the forest and everything
like that so all of this is modular and
all of these you know trees oh my god
but I've done them in a way that you can
put them anywhere and they blend in to
see it you know well I mean every time I
look down and put my head down it's like
we have an entirely believable world
here and so it starts off here with this
some wizards cottage and so I wanted to
I wanted a visual narrative through this
that you could also play an entire
campaign through okay but also you can
just mix it up and match yeah and
whatever your story's done and then you
go through this kind of ruined Towery
dungeon maze here and then we get to
these swamps where I've made these some
modular ruins no way and so it's same
with this so you've got a dungeon there
now you can use you can use that dungeon
just on your tabletop as a piece of as a
piece of dungeon yes and you can see
inside that like that and then or you
just stick it was really important to me
that this was just place and play you
don't have to click a whole bunch of
wall sections together because that way
it's seamless but ya know just when you
put lots of wall sections together like
a lot of products do you have some
slightly oh you have so much playability
but you visually you're always kind of
aware that it's a place it you can build
up or you can build out right yeah but
and I wanted something that once you
just easily set it up on your table
you're ready to go game wise but also it
visually looks like a film set yeah it
really does and it I had no idea these
were that these were that Margit and
these are both the same part yeah so if
you so this is these are the two ruins
so this this is um that's seven pieces
yeah if you um if you 3d print another
piece of this which you're going to be
able to do you stick it on on top of
this because what I've been able to do
oh it's and there's all the way up it
goes all the way up and so you can have
this necromancer at the top or some big
kind of sword fight you know but it's
also completely playable who you are you
a pirate Robin in the oven toyou can do
there all the way exactly right but also
you can see just want you don't need the
dungeon base to make the ruins work you
can just stick them straight on to the
ground
I just found this guy look at that
everyone's a creature yeah so I've
littered the swamp with tree creatures
so this is a stag oh my god this is a
this guy's my favorite this is the tree
Rick's you've given him bigger arms were
jealous yeah exactly this guy can
actually make the vehicle urges well it
looks like a tree from one angle man you
go around and you know this is kind of
this one's a bore because visually when
I was making this it was important like
I wanted to capture all the things that
inspire me and one thing so look the
movies of like miyazaki movies Jim
Henson movies I wanted to kick it was
important that this still felt like
sculpture so it's highly detailed but I
want to broad just I want it to feel
like a like a sculpted kind of felt it
hip it goes anywhere I know they're all
made to last and so it's a tree dragon
and stuff like that and then this moves
up into um it's all of these hills are
individually modular as well they all
you know so you can set this up any way
you want you know just once you're done
you can just sprinkle it with stones I
use these um you cut these off aquarium
scenery and just plug them in any get
yeah and so it looks like it's a full
fully made thing every time yeah but you
have the modular option to make it
whatever you want when you play it and
then we get to these guys so there's
some so this this is the real so this
entire set is called Hagel thorn Hollow
and the whole idea behind it is that for
minimal pieces you can create a
different world every time so you've got
this tower here and so you've got the
stitch world that could be Conan's you
know an Colonia or barbarians or Vikings
and stuff but now you can also you know
go up market to it completely different
town oh my god revisit a town you've
visited
there's many years are near this scene
and I'm but if you if you don't want
that's kind of a watchtower but if you'd
like it to be more of a Wizards Tower
than you describe one of these that goes
on there and then we've we've done
something extra with this where um I
just get some space yeah if you grab one
of these dungeon bases or ruins down you
stick that there okay so now I'm you can
this is a fetched hut that can just go
on the ground like there yeah or you can
get kind of a bit of a uterus horseman
yeah look to it and you can stick it on
there like there or you could use it on
this house here and put it like there or
that can go on yeah this can go on there
like this
and this can go on this like this and
and so suddenly what was the local
tavern is now the chieftains right or
the Thrones Hut and then if you want to
go up market again and so it works this
way as well so the idea is you can you
can remake your town every single time
without it feeling like ah we're going
to the same town right
so if you're playing if you're playing
like a role-playing quest and you're
dm's
you know it's like you'll need to go out
of town for this information or
something yeah you can
with the same pieces that he can
immediately set this up and it's not
something you've seen before you because
I understand something different and
that way you're maximizing on the time
you put into painting these things and
so we've scanned all of these with you
know high-tech film quality technology
and well they've actually in color as
well and so every single one of these is
now fully 3d printable and we're
launching it very soon on on Kickstarter
just basically because I'm I made this
for myself anyway but we found a way to
UM but anyone can really affordably do
this so you go through if you brought
that at a shop it might be $80 but you
know I don't know it's like 80 cents to
a couple of dollars material if you
print it yourself at home yeah and then
you know you can see our lightweight
it's gonna be and you can have so much
fun painting this you have to paint it
in any way that you want and I painted
this with house paints I mean I you know
you go to a Home Depot and there's all
the the color range that was my favorite
part of this process was choosing a
consistent color palette for head north
on hollow okay
right that's tiles that's walls that's
bricks and I went up with these cards
and I got for $5.00 a pot I just said
most me a test pot of that and all of
this is painted with house paint and
then I put wood stain wash over it which
ages are and and you know I mean my wife
and some friends would sit at home with
Netflix on the background and begin to
paint the individual bricks every floor
every fifth brick can you just paint now
and then also I've got some pieces over
here I love that you painted it with
house paint that's really good and was
so affordable and it's so durable it's
not going to scratch off no because if I
did it with model paint a you know super
brand I imagine yeah it probably cost me
forty five dollars over painting exactly
and again if you if you want this wall
to work for a thick because you can
completely separate fetch there's a town
to tile mm-hmm or what you can do is
show that there's a class system in your
town right so you've already paid a
little behind the wall and the peasants
have to live close to the Haunted swamp
without protection or something other
but you know if you want this to be for
that great if you don't you just stick
one of those on it and now it's more
ancient and rustic and stuff like that
mm-hm and so yeah everyone I do also the
way I've Scott sculpted them as well
get in there like that button inside of
it I've tried to make sure every single
angle looks like a different house so
when you print out foreign stuck them on
a table it doesn't just look like a
black that's what because I got to scope
them as large objects as opposed to just
modular kind of pieces you clip together
I was able to tackle what I really
wanted to see in this range which was a
lot of Assam cemetery and a lot of
really leaning over walls and kind of
broken or like I wanted it to feel
ancient but at the same time I avoided
putting anything like chewed or beams
and because I wanted you to be able to
play this whatever fantasy campaign and
feel like it's predates the 14th century
or something like that right like YUM I
mentioned so this could be if you're a
Lord of the Rings gamer this could be
brie or Rohan or it could be anything
that's in your pathfinder campaign and
so forth it was the idea I mean it's
like you you created a system that
allows the the messiness
of the natural world to be put into
buildings you can assemble them and they
in the same way that the trees all look
exactly like they belong there each
building looks exactly like it belongs
there no matter how would you put it
together it's right and and um wait that
goes there as well yeah and or on this
tower over here so if you want to wear
this this some tower somewhere it goes
so I tried to make short here it is this
one I'm getting lost myself and these
are all the just that these are the
prototypes you know we're we're
sharpening them up even more for the for
a product and stuff but as I say it was
it was just as a project of of love so
that I could have a broad range of stuff
to play with because I work in a place
with lots of Technology with being able
to use the highest and scanning
available yeah and then like you said
what modular wise is a follow-up to the
labyrinth thing all I've got to do here
is plug out the forest here or there and
there's huggles gate oh right right in a
minute again it's still just modular and
you can see how I've made but so I went
to some
- if everything is hand sculpted in
plasticine yeah um cuz I really wanted
it to feel sculptural and I also really
wanted to get that detailing and I
wanted to avoid a lot of the 3d terrain
that's made in ZBrush that just has kind
of a stamp I wanted every brick to be
considered and have a gravity and to be
weighing in on the next one yeah because
I'm a glutton for punishment
and so we molded and cast and so this is
gonna be the hedge maze and this is the
wise man's butt here but in case you do
fall into the boob Lia I've made that
removable there and this is the tunnel
where the cleaners go through but in
this box there's some I thought you'd
get a kick out of this because this is
you know if this sum is a feasible thing
and people are into it yeah we'll do
further further products campaign stuff
so I've been I couldn't wait to start
the next one and so I've already started
working on a modular castle system that
you can put together as a dungeon or you
can stay in different ways like that but
if you put this down like that I'm also
working it away because I want to do a
campaign we get a Smuggler's Cove but I
want to replay the legacy Star Wars
trilogy but and medieval fantasy so I'm
building a castle version of the
Millennium Falcon so like Chewbacca is
gonna be a Viking enhancer pirates and
this can be wooden walkways and like a
tree growing out here that's the cockpit
and stuff like that oddly oh my god cuz
it's already a medieval fantasy there's
just a purple ray gums you just have to
pencil me in I'm gonna buy one of those
I'll send you one gotta go please that's
amazing I'm a Millennium Falcon obsessed
yeah me too
it's the greatest shit my second
favorite ship is the one in the admin
pirates movie that's just cobbled
together at other shows it's beautiful I
also love the actually I love the pirate
ship from Time Bandits yeah yeah yeah
yeah that's a cosplay for you someday
yeah yeah when I gained a lot fun as
part of doing the costume right are just
even lots of pasta yeah pasta as you
would say yeah testa Johnnie distill it
I'm gobsmacked as you would say I'm just
really happy this year it's so inspiring
makes me just seeing this makes me want
to cast and sculpt and paint well you
won't need to do the sculpting part
because all you've got to do is press
print now oh my gosh well I you know the
files are going to be accessible this
year and as soon as those go up we will
trumpet them on test it I'll put them
out through my Twitter feed I I'm like I
so love supporting exactly this kind of
thing and you really like you've opened
it up so that gamers could have a
different adventure every single time
but it's so much fun it's just anything
that kind of gets I love storytelling
you know and and but I'm also I really
admire anyone that can sit there on a
role-playing campaign with just pen and
paper and do it in their heads I've done
that and I loved it as well but I'm also
a model maker and a sculptor and stuff
and I've seen those campaigns and every
time they say you go into the tavern and
that you know the bartender guys just
really look you say I could make that
wouldn't it be better if we were playing
with it so I'm very tactile yeah and
yeah so I start so I started making one
building which became four buildings
which became much of the buildings and
yeah Johnny thank you so much for
showing me and giving me this window
literally into an entirely different
world that could be different every
single time thank you
I I can't really share with you I can't
wait to see how much more you expand it
it's probably I've got the bug now you
know and this was meant to be a little
bit of labyrinth in one building and
yeah so I think we really nice next time
you're out it'll be three more this way
I think yeah if you did this in 18
months you're on a roll yeah yeah
you
