Penguinlabs

Originally Published June 28, 2004

This is the last of the Portable Adventure Kit products to be released. While I liked The Fields of War set, the terrain pieces were difficult to transport. So I needed something that I could fold up that would support pewter minis. The result worked better than I expected; I could set a full can of soda on top of one of these pieces. Your results may vary depending on the weight and type of paper you use.

From the product description:

Take your terrain with you with Portable Adventure Kit – Grassy Hills! This set of cardstock structures is designed to store flat to be carried with the rest of your gaming materials. When unfolded, the pieces become terrain tiers for your miniatures. The product contains geomorphic, edges, corners, and basic filler pieces (9 pieces total) that you can configure to create a wide assortment of hills. Pieces are marked with 1-inch squares, making them compatible with most games. When in use, the platforms are stable and capable of supporting metal miniatures so you can use them with the rest of your gaming materials. Pages are designed to be printed on Letter sized paper or A4 paper without scaling.

Originally Published April 27, 2004

The campgrounds set was inspired by all the times that adventuring parties got attacked during night watch. If they are going to argue about watch schedule every night, the least I could do is make it worth while :). The design is the result of studying books about designing pop-up cards. Like the village set, the hardest piece was a detail piece, the campfire.

From the product description:

Take your game camping with Portable Adventure Kit – Campgrounds! This set of cardstock structures is designed to store flat to be carried with the rest of your gaming materials. When unfolded, the set reveals a wide variety of tents and a campfire. The set consists of three types of tents (wedge, wall, and pavilion) with different styles for each of them to maximize your campground options. Also included are a campfire, a lean-to and a terrain tile to help you create your own campground. Structures are designed to 30mm scale, making them compatible with most fantasy games and can be printed on Letter sized paper or A4 paper without scaling.

Originally Published April 8, 2004

I was receiving good feedback on the Starter Set, so I decided to spend some time working on PAK products. At this point, I was researching pop-up cards for inspiration. The buildings weren’t that difficult to design, but the well was tricky.

From the product description:

Take your village on the road with Portable Adventure Kit – Village Set 1 from Penguin Labs! This set of cardstock buildings is designed to store flat to be carried with the rest of your gaming materials. The set unfolds to reveal three different buildings and a village well.

The village set consists of three buildings, three roof options for each building, optional chimneys for each building, a beautiful well, and an additional terrain tile to help you create your own village. Buildings are designed to 30mm scale making them compatible with most fantasy games and miniatures and can be printed on Letter sized paper or A4 paper without scaling.

Originally Published March 10, 2004

This product was my most experimental product. Commercially, it didn’t do that well, but that is no real surprise. This product, and the T-Rex (coming soon), served two purposes: to gauge customer response to larger products, and to expand my skills as a paper modeller. I had planned on doing a full elemental set, but I moved on to other projects instead.

From the product description:

Bring the power of the elements to your game! Paper Playground – Fire Elemental gives you a beautiful fire elemental to build and use in your game or to guard your desk. Designed for the experienced paper modeller, this model can be constructed to form a towering elemental standing 9 inches tall and standing on a 3″x5″ base or scaled to fit your gaming needs.

Originally Published February 12, 2004

This was a pretty basic creation. I was experimenting with a lot of designs at this time, many of which would not make it into a final product. I wanted to make sure that I was putting out product on a semi-regular basis. I also wanted to expand the utility of the Starter Set so I took some time out and created thee doors and windows to be added onto the walls, I used a temporary adhesive in my games to great effect.

From the product page:

Expand your dungeon with realistic doors and windows! The first expansion for the Portable Adventure Kit is the Doors and Windows set. The set consists of over 40 realistic doors, windows, and accessories for you to print out and attach to your P.A.K. structures. A wide variety of styles are represented here, giving you the ability to customize the look and feel of your dungeons. Each feature is presented against a section of the same wall texture used in the Starter Set. This prevents the need of cutting out complex outlines – cut out a simple rectangle, attach it to a plain wall with glue or a removable adhesive and you are ready to go. Of course, experienced modelers can cut the features away from the texture and use them in other modeling projects.

Originally Published December 2, 2003

When I was creating products for Penguin Labs, I was living in an apartment. I was also doing most of my gaming at a friend’s house. I really needed something that I could fold up for storage and easy transport. I also wanted it to be quick to set up, so I developed the Portable Adventure Kit to be unfoldable. This kit represents the first of the line, some basic floors, walls, and stairs for basic dungeon creation.

From the product page:

Pack up your dungeon and take it wherever you game! Specifically designed for portability and ease of storage, the Portable Adventure Kit is the newest product line from Penguin Labs. Portable Adventure Kits can be stored flat to be carried with the rest of your gaming material. When you need it, just unfold the tiles to reveal beautiful, three dimensional scenics for your game. The first product, the Starter Set, consists of floor tiles, walls, and stairs to get you started and to introduce you to the possibilities of portable adventuring. Later sets will let you expand and customize the starter set. The Portable Adventure Kit forms a middle-ground between tiles and three-dimensional scenics. Like tiles, the kit can be easily stored and taken to your game but you also get the beauty of three dimensional structures. The kit is designed to be easily assembled, you do not need to be an experienced paper modeler to gain the benefits of the portable dungeon kit. With the included support system, the kit can be built to support pewter miniatures and still fold flat when done. Tiles are marked with one inch squares, appropriate for many fantasy games. Each page is designed so it can be printed on Letter sized paper or A4 paper without scaling.

Originally Published September 29, 2003

This is one of the products that I am the most proud of. These were fun to design, customers responded well to them, and there just wasn’t much like them on the market. There aren’t many monsters that can be created as paper minis at the scale that most gamers use. The dragons are meant to be assembled two configurations: on all four legs or rearing up on the back legs, which made it work better for their D&D stats.

One of the challenges of selling paper models online is balancing file size, printer usage, and detail. I preferred to keep the file size small. However, I believe that I have the original files and could re-release a high-resolution version if there is sufficient interest.

From the product description:

Unleash mighty dragons upon your unsuspecting players! Paper Playground – Chromatic Dragons gives you an affordable way to dragons to your dungeons. Penguin Labs brings you cardstock dragons for you to print out, assemble, and use in your next game. Paper Playground – Chromatic Dragons consists of kits for six colors of dragons (five found in the OGL and one created specifically for this set). Each dragon can be assembled to be on all four legs or reared up on its hind legs. Additional leg and tail positions give you additional flexibility in creating dragons to your taste. Best of all, you can make as many as you want – if you have ever wanted an army of dragons, don’t miss this chance!

A “croquis” is basically a quick sketch of a live model. In fashion design, it usually refers to a simple drawing of a figure. Fashion designers draw their clothing designs on top of these models. When brainstorming, I find it easier if I don’t have to try to draw out a figure each time. A lot of the available croqui are highly stylized which I don’t like. So, I created my own figure reference.

I used Daz3D to create the figures and then I edited the images so that they are easy to draw over. I find the resulting shaded figure more useful to me because it helps me visualize the three-dimensional form and use body landmarks more easily. Each page is a front and back – yes, the figures are nude, but have the anatomical correctness of a department store mannequin. These are presented two to a page, because that’s how I like to work, but if people want a larger version, let me know and I can make it available.

Download Male Figure Reference

Download Female Figure Reference

Originally Published July 06, 2003

Over the years, I’ve lost track of old files. They either got deleted or are on media that was misplaced.  I was hoping that I could show a close-up of the product, but I don’t have the larger pictures that I took of these products. I hope to find them.

I also hope to find the original Photoshop and Illustrator files that I used to create these products. If I do, I will make the original files available or export the files into higher resolution PDF’s.

This was the second of the Paper Playground products. When I first started releasing products, I wanted to make sure that I had a steady release for a while, so several of the first products were developed almost simultaneously.  For me, the geomorphic hills were the highlight of the product, it gave me the flexibility that I wanted as a gamer. From the product description:

Give your miniatures a field to wage war on with Terrain Pak 1 – The Fields of War! The newest product of the Paper Playground paper miniatures line is our first Terrain Pak, Terrain Pak 1 – The Fields of War. Your miniatures can now have beautiful, customizable terrain for their battles. Fields of War includes a set of geomorphic hill sections which are easy to assemble and can lock together to form thousands of hill shapes. The hills are beautifully textured and are marked with 1 inch squares for use in most role-playing games. Several sheets of additional textures are provided so you can create your own fields, rivers, and roads. To go with the hills, there are bridges, hedges, shrubs, fences, walls, and small trees to enhance your miniature battles.

Download Paper Playground – Terrain Pak 1

As promised, here is the first of Penguin Labs LLC’s old products. This was the first product that I ever made for sale. Before founding Penguin Labs LLC, I shared my creations publicly on my own website . . . sounds familiar. Back then, there were very few paper model companies and not much attention was going to outdoor scenics, so that is where I made my start.

One of the reasons I got into paper modeling was that I could do it within my apartment and the tree design reflects my need for space. I can fold them up flat and store an entire forest in a shoe box. Eventually, I would explore portability more with the Portable Adventure Kit line of products.

From the product description:

Supplement your beautiful miniatures with beautiful trees with Penguin Labs first release, Paper Playground – Tree Pak 1. The Tree Pak contains a variety of common trees for you to use in most settings. Trees stand about 4 inches tall (actual height varies from tree to tree), making them appropriate for most role-playing games. The trees are designed to be assembled quickly, allowing you to build entire forests quickly and easily. Once you are done with your forest, the trees fold flat for easy transport and storage.

Download Paper Playground – Tree Pak 1