Excited about the Beowulf RPG (hopefully) coming out at the end of the year, I decided a good project would be to make some sort of Heorot/Valhalla/mead hall building. In my mind it would also be useful for Oathmark, Middle Earth, and at a pinch the Dark Ages.
First up some research to get inspiration.
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I've always like the look of the Mead Hall from Zen Terrain (not the price), but I imagine it must be a pretty cold hall without a fire.
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| Perhaps not the outside, but the interior looks nice and cosy. |
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| A bit closer to what I had in mind, rough and ready but still elegant. The size makes you imagine the hold of a local lord, not some imperial palace. |
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| An interesting cross section, this hall looks like it could be constructed from an upturned boat. A couple of grades above my current modelling ability, but some nice details. |
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| These three are all similar in that the construction is two concentric sets of beams. The middle ‘box’ supporting the roof, and the outer set of beams holding up the walls and supporting the eaves. |
Though I love Edoras and Dragonsreach, they seemed far too big for what I had in mind (plus I've nowhere to keep them), but a common theme started to develop regarding the style I liked. Larger than a dwelling, with a central hall and the roof supported on beams. I picture a long fire running the middle of the hall, with a throne on a dais at one end. Around other edges would run benches, barrels of mead, drying skins and the like.
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Here's a rough sketch.
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| Tools of the trade. |
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| Roughing out the structure in basswood. |
To be continued…
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