Due: Game piece submitted to Techlab to print by 3/1
Due: Post with photo and reflection by 3/6
Tag: sq7
Archeologist have recently uncovered a tiny piece of worked glass from the period of Viking raids on Northumbrian island from around AD793, a small blue and white crown that would have been a game piece for Viking board game hnefatafl (“king’s table”), "a strategic board game simulating a Viking raid. The king and 12 defenders have to escape 24 attackers arranged in groups of six surrounding the weaker side. The attackers try to capture the king, while the defenders aim to thwart them and guide him safely to one of the corners, known as 'king’s squares.'"
And not only can you see a picture of the piece, like the one up above, but you can explore a 3d interactive model of the piece. It doesn't look like they've made this model available for download, but if they had, you could download the .stl file and bring it over to the Maker Space in Cox Computing to print your own plastic reproduction of the piece.
The Metropolitan Museum currently has on display in the Egyptian room an ancient Egyptian icosahedron, a twenty-sided die like those made popular in the 20th century for Dungeons and Dragons. If the Met made all its objects available for digital download like the Smithsonian Museum does, you could download the ancient Egyptian 20-sided die and print it one to play with in your own D&D campaign.
Assignment
For this assignment, I want you to 3d print a game piece of some kind using the TechLab in Student Digital Life. (Here's a link with more information about 3d printing services at Emory.)
You can simply find the .stl file for an existing game piece, for example:
- This set of Monopoly game pieces
- A bookshelf that you could use while playing Mansions of Madness instead of the cardboard bookshelf piece
- One from this set of containers for the playing pieces in Betrayal at House on the Hill
- A dice tower for rolling your dice during game play -- this Cthulhu dice tower looks cool but this little guy would be simpler and cheaper to print
- A public domain Dungeons and Dragons miniature created by Miguel Zavala (you'll need to create an account at Shapeways to download but then downloading the files and printing yourself are free -- there are prices listed to order pre-printed miniatures)
Feel free to search yourself for other small 3d printable figures that would be fun. Thingiverse has lots of items and there are plenty of other sites out there.
You can also, if you choose modify or create your own item using Tinkercad (one of the early tutorials for learning Tinkercad is to create your own 6-sided die).
Reflection
Once you've got your printed object back from the TechLab, take a picture of your model and post it to your site. Write a paragraph in which you explain why you chose the game piece that you did; how you went about finding, editing, or creating the .stl file you printed; and what challenges you faced in order to print your game piece.
Don't forget to tag your post "sq7."
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