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I've recently taken to creating papercraft buildings, castle walls and towers, bridges, crates, hay-bales, etc. for my tabletop RPG combat sessions: The Albridge CrossroadsAlbridge Bridge Defenses

They are fragile and need to be stored upright and I'm running out of counter space. Other than cardboard boxes, what have you seen used to store and/or transport these kinds of props?

F. Randall Farmer
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    I'll have to find it again before I can post an answer, but I did see once a method for making sturdy papercraft buildings/terrain/etc. that could be easily disassembled and stored flat (it was a method for "gluing" them together without using glue). Maybe it was using that blue tacky stuff? I don't know, I'll come back and post an answer when I can remember.

    And by the way, that is a killer setup! This one post is going to get me making scenery for my own games, because that looks so much better than my wet-erase markers drawing on a battle mat. Even just adding a building or two...

     – Kromey Jun 10 '11 at 16:59
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    Ooh! Please do find that. I'm interested. – F. Randall Farmer Jun 11 '11 at 04:37
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    Golly, that looks pretty amazing! Do you make terrain like that for every session of gaming? – Ravn Jun 12 '11 at 21:34
  • @Ravn - I just started creating papercraft buildings recently based on a question/answer I found here on rpg.stackexchange.com. So, I'm building out my collection. So, for the short run, yes - I do build new models for every encounter. I expect that to taper off in a few weeks, though I can now build most models in less than an hour. – F. Randall Farmer Jun 13 '11 at 06:16

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I'm not sure about papercraft, specifically; but, I've seen a lot of people at conventions transport a variety of model terrain using large plastic buckets or tubs (with lids). I think this would probably work well, as long as you avoid mixing large, heavy items with structures that are very light and fragile.

I would sort out the items according to size, weight, and sturdiness. If things don't fit in neatly, it might be helpful to have a little bit of padding material, like foam. Use a separate box or bucket for collections of smaller items, like the barrels there. I use a fishing tackle box for my Shadowrun minis. I've found that it's helpful to have an extra small box around to carry broken bits of things, if any parts fall off and I don't have any non-dried glue.

It would be tough to transport that whole diorama as one piece; it's much easier if you can remove the houses, and things, and package them separately.

RMorrisey
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  • Great suggestions. Those are two different setups. I put the playmats/tiles under a 20x30 clear plastic sheet, and tape the 3D terrain/buildings on top of that - so there's always setup time... – F. Randall Farmer Jun 10 '11 at 03:44
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    Oh yeah, I think they're called totes. You get them at the hardware store. Plus 1 from me too. I used to have a couple just for origami, but origami is actually pretty sturdy. – Sheikh Jahbooty Jun 10 '11 at 11:48
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    Yeah, we just use the big plastic bins to store our group's paper buildings. – mxyzplk Jun 11 '11 at 03:39