Base Like a Druid: Rocky

Jess Miller-Camp (they/them), Ph.D.

Druid GM Designs

Very Basic Environmental Science

• Two parts

​

• Biotic
• Living stuff

​

• Abiotic
• Not living stuff

What’s a Rocky Environment?

• Little to no soil

​

• Inhospitable to most life

​

• Erosion vs deposition is key

What matters for basing?

• Surface
• Loose or solid
• Topography
• Erosion/deposition
• Weathering
• Rock/mineral type�
• Groundcover
• Amount
• Arrangement
• Density
• Height
• Color
• Type

• The elements
• Wind
• Water
• Light
• Temperature
• Gravity

​

• Space-time
• Time of day
• Seasonality
• Latitude
• Altitude/Depth
• History

• Ecology
• Food webs
• Nutrient sources
• Life cycles
• Waste

​

• Behavior
• Affect on surface
• Affect on erosion
• Biotic deposits

Erosion, Deposition, Weathering

Rock Types

Mineral Types

Topography of Ground

Mass Wasting

Where’s the life?

Search Terms for More Ideas (Abiotic)

• Desert pavement
• Sea cliff
• Sea cave
• Rocky beach
• Acidic/alkaline
• Hypersaline
• Patina

​

​

• Porosity
• Weathering
• Erosion/deposition
• Iron oxide
• Scree
• Anticline/syncline
• Mass wasting
• Angle of repose

​

​

• Speleothems
• Groundwater
• Crystallization
• Playa/salt flat
• Evaporite
• Rock barren
• Petrology
• Mineralogy

​

​

​

​

Search Terms for More Ideas (biotic)

• Troglodyte
• Guano

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

• Cache
• [Pack rat] midden
• Alpine adaptations

​

​

​

​

​

​

• Extremophile
• Endolith
• Chemosynthesis
• Lithosynthesis

Today’s Bases

Scree slope

​

• Crumble cork and super glue chunks to build slope

​

• Mod podge and add gravel, then sand to fill the spaces

​

• Paint entire surface cohesive colors

​

• Spray glue to lock everything in

Cave

• Carve pieces of high-density foam into speleothems, then superglue to base

​

• Mix a small amount of water into spackle and coat entirety of speleothems and base

​

• After class, paint everything to look like limestone