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Base Like a Druid: FORests

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

Druid GM Designs

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Very Basic Environmental Science

Two parts

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    • Biotic
      • Living stuff

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    • Abiotic
      • Not living stuff

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What’s a Forest?

  • Many densely-packed trees

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  • Lower light & temperature, higher humidity�than surroundings

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  • A lot of vertical stratification

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What matters for basing?

  • Layer
    • Soil
    • Litter
    • Groundcover
    • Low Canopy
    • Mid Canopy
    • High Canopy

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  • Stage
    • Disturbed
    • Pioneers
    • Shrubs and saplings
    • Young forest
    • Old growth forest

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

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  • Space-time
    • Time of day
    • Seasonality
    • Latitude
    • Altitude
    • Topography
    • History
  • Ecology
    • Food webs
    • Toxins and diseases
    • Life cycles
    • Fire
    • Canopy completeness
    • Tree types

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  • Behavior
    • Affect on ground
    • Affect on vegetation
    • Predation
    • Competition

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The Ground

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Baseline Litter and Vegetation

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Vegetation Dominance

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Catastrophe!

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Search Terms for More Ideas

  • Pit & mound topography
  • Decomposition
  • Edge Habitat
  • Tree line
  • Timber line
  • Krummholz

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  • Microhabitat
  • Xeric forest
  • Mesic forest
  • Hydric forest
  • Cloud forest
  • Rainforest
  • Humus

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  • Subarctic/�antarctic
  • Boreal
  • Temperate
  • Subtropical
  • Tropical
  • Climatogenic forest

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More Search Terms for More Ideas

  • Broadleaf
  • Conifer
  • Cycad
  • Coal forest
  • Deciduous
  • Evergreen
  • Allelopathy
  • Tree growth habit

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  • Forest succession
  • Cultural forest management
  • Close vs open canopy
  • Blight
  • Shrub vs tree
  • Bark texture type

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  • Epiphyte
  • Forest layers
  • Spring ephemeral
  • Crown shyness
  • Snag/Deadwood
  • Shelf fungi
  • Marcescence

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Today’s Bases

Pine barren floor

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  • Pick, arrange, and superglue your plants

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  • Paint your base (can do this first if you’re worried about getting paint on the plants)

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  • Coat base in PVA glue then cover in “pine needles”

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  • Can do a couple layers after the first cures a little if you want it thicker

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Mossy wet forest floor

  • Pick, arrange, and superglue your rocks

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  • Pick, arrange, and PVA glue your moss and standing foliage to your base

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  • Paint base, spread PVA glue over it, and drop chosen leaves everywhere

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  • Can do a couple layers after the first cures a little if you want it thicker