Re: Seeking some scenery help

On Thu, 7 Aug 1997, John Crimmins wrote:

>	Does anyone know of somewhere where I could obtain cheap plastic
> aquarium plants?  And when I say cheap, I mean CHEAP.  Cheap in both
rice
> and quality.	Especially price.  I'm not looking for anything that
looks
> like a real plant, you see.  I want plants in unnatural neon colors. 
I want
> plants that, should you actually put them in an aquarium, would look
as
> though the Yellow Submarine should be sailing among them.  I want
plants
> that I can use to make my Stargrunt games look like they are set
nowhere on
> Earth.  Yes, those are the kinds of plants that I want....

Try dissecting one of those brightly colored feather dusters.  I would
assume that a single duster would provide you a table full of weird
looking "leaves" for plants.  I've also made some fake giant cacti
things
from styrofoam and toothpick halves, painted bright red and orange of
course...

>	  And, on another note....  For an upcoming game of Full Thrust,
I
> need something to represent a "Jump Point".  This is not an
artificial,
> Babylon-5ish jump gate, it's more of a naturally occuring fold in
space kind
> thingie.  Sorry if I'm getting too technical, here.  Anyway, I want to
come
> up with some sort of 3-D object to represent this, and my mind has
utterly
> failed me.  Does anyone have an idea for something that would be
effective,
> and yet east and cheap (yes, that word again--I'm a grad dtudent, and
> "cheap" is an integral part of my vocabulary) to construct?  Any ideas
at
> all would be appreciated....

Some type of vortex, simulated by a black crater with a swirling pattern
on it.	If you have access to Plaster of paris, glop down some mush a
tennis ball into it to form a crater.  With a little work sanding or
smoothing you can get a smooth flowing shape to it.  Spray paint black,
speckle or paint inflowing lines with a starburst at the center.

--Binhan