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[tommy521]

Spoiler: Original post (click to show/hide)

I'm planning on making a Dwarf Fortress chess set (although I may never get around to it) and I was wondering, clearly the enemy should be goblins, right? I'm not too sure about this decision however as elves and possibly humans may be a better choice, and before I set it in stone (or possibly pewter, maybe even wood) I figured I would ask the community about which enemy I should use! I'll try to upload some designs or other materials, and if I do complete the chess set I may either upload some pictures of it here or in a new thread. Also, any suggestions on the topic, such as what each piece should look like, would also be greatly appreciated!

EDIT: I have changed the title as I have (mostly, I may yet be swayed) decided on goblins as the enemy. Continue!

Now that all my ideas are sorted out, I'm going to start posting images and progress here. I'll likely make a basic chessboard out of wood sometime and I'll post all of the concept art and maybe some pictures of the process!

Spoiler:  Pieces! (click to show/hide)

Dwarves:
King - A cowering noble (possibly behind a throne), fancy clothes and a crown. No weapon for him!
Queen - A bad-ass warrior with dual battle axes, and really elaborate armor decorations.
Rook - (due to size restrictions and such) Two heavily armored dwarves, one holding a large war axe and the other holding a large war hammer with, no shields.
Bishop - Two killed female warriors (possibly w/ baby-in-hand), respective female features (and possibly a beard!) Probably getting some form of hammer.
Knight - (due to size restrictions and the likes) Two marksdwarves (I figured this was appropriate because of how far and awkwardly they can move). They get crossbows (obviously).
Pawn - Generic warriors, varying weapons, basic armor.

Goblins:
King - A fire demon, perhaps holding some sort of orb in front of him, looking all scary and stuff, flames everywhere! No weapon, he's a demon!
Queen - Goblin law giver, probably a lasher due to lashers being the DF equivalent to the Sith.
Rook - Two trolls, different styles of loincloth and random pieces of armor on each. These concepts will be fun! This is also more of a Tolkien and/or Harry Potter style troll, not the WoW style ones. Big, crazy, not furry despite what DF says... They may either hold a club, a rock, or just fight with their bare hands!
Bishop - Baby snatchers! They're sneaky and devious and I really likes the ideas. Both will look kind of like ring-wraiths I imagine, kind of hooded and dark, maybe a nose sticking out of the hood because goblins have weird noses right? They can get a dagger or shortish sword.
Knight - A bow goblin (sorry again about no mounts... it's just it really would look weird). Bows for all!
Pawn- Again, generic warriors with varying weapons and basic armor, possibly not very much armor at all.

Spoiler:  Dwarf pawn basic concept (click to show/hide)

[The Merchant Of Menace]

Goblins would be the best for the enemy pieces IMO, they're the most canon evil race after all.

[tommy521]

Goblins would be the best for the enemy pieces IMO, they're the most canon evil race after all.

Thanks, it was my original idea but I wanted to see what other people could come up with first

If I did choose goblins, would a "dark tower" work well for a rook (speaking of which, what does a dark tower even look like?) or would a troll seem a more appropriate rook piece. That brings another problem... the dwarven rook. I was thinking basic towers would work here but if the goblin rook is a troll, the dwarven rook should be a dwarven animal?

[The Fool]

Maybe you can have a forgotten beast as the queen, and a skeleton dragon as a king?

[tommy521]

Maybe you can have a forgotten beast as the queen, and a skeleton dragon as a king?

Ah, that's another good point as many goblins civ's have demons and such... the only problem with a forgotten beast is I would have to make one! I do like the dragon idea, though if I can't get it looking right as the it would have to be a bit smaller, I may just go with goblins (perhaps perched on rocks or somesuch to give an elevated look).

EDIT: For the dwarven rook perhaps I could go with a dwarf with a larger shield (kite shield?) and perhaps some sort of heavy weapon (a warhammer

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

or a battle axe

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

of larger proportions would work). I may even get rid of the shield entirely. Once I get the enemy sorted out I will re-rout this thread to start deciding on which each piece specifically will look like.

[The Merchant Of Menace]

A dark tower is basically a rook already, they were just big towers made of obsidian, so I think that'd work well for the gobbos. As for the Dwarven rook, perhaps a siege engine of some sort?

[Sirus]

For a dwarven rook, why not the Syrupleaf monument? A giant hand flipping the bird to the other army.

EDIT: Actually, I like Darvi's idea and reasoning.

[Darvi]

The ballista is well known for only being able to shoot in straight lines.

Dayumn, ninjas.

[tommy521]

Well, I'm pretty sure goblins are the way to go with enemies, so now onto the next problem:
I need 2 kings, 2 queens, 4 rooks, 4 bishops, 4 knights, and 16 pawns. I imagine I would do each piece a little differently, though still easily distinguishable as their reflective position, as I feel if each piece were the same it would seem a little dull.

For the dwarves:
The king would be a battle-hardened dwarf with a heavy weapon and some sort or majestic armor - not really open for debate, though taking suggestions
The queen would be a well dressed noble, a dress, and with some sort of crown - not too much else can be said
For the rooks I think I may go with the heavy armored dwarf as I feel some sort of siege engine would be a little out of place (though the ideas are great, they may be a little too big :/ ) - any suggestions are welcome!
The bishops, not too sure about this! I was thinking some sort of dwarf in knight's Templar-esque armor - anything you can think of!
No horses for the knights, I have decided that much, as it would not fit and it would end up looking terrible! I was thinking crossbows might work... - please, suggestions for this?
For pawns, a generic dwarf, possibly with any basic weapon (sword, spear, axe) as long as the knights can be sufficiently different from them! - Yup, anything else anyone can think of will be taken to heart!

For the goblins:
Now this is the tough part, I will allow some suggestions as I work on some other ideas, and will edit this part later!

[Willfor]

You may have your heart already set on goblins, but I am wondering why dwarves can't just fight dwarves?

This may just be my fixation on symmetrical chess piece design showing.

[tommy521]

You may have your heart already set on goblins, but I am wondering why dwarves can't just fight dwarves?

This may just be my fixation on symmetrical chess piece design showing.

I never really thought about it, but I was hoping to have the sides as different races, as otherwise I would have to find two different colours of pewter or paint it, and seeing as I'm terrible at painting and most of the pewter sold around here is close to the same colour, I had dismissed it when the thought came around.

The ballista is well known for only being able to shoot in straight lines.

Dayumn, ninjas.

Ah, I would love to use a ballista because of that, but I'm not sure how well it will look in relation to the normal sized dwarves. I might sketch up a few to see how they look.

[Darvi]

The dwarven king must be an elf - THE elf, in fact.

[tommy521]

The dwarven king must be an elf - THE elf, in fact.

Hah, I'll probably end up doing some sketches on that anyways... may as well leave that open for consideration as well.

Also, nice to see a few people interested, I'll probably start sketching some of the dwarves tonight!

EDIT: I'll post anything I managed to sketch tonight tomorrow!

[Willfor]

You may have your heart already set on goblins, but I am wondering why dwarves can't just fight dwarves?

This may just be my fixation on symmetrical chess piece design showing.

I never really thought about it, but I was hoping to have the sides as different races, as otherwise I would have to find two different colours of pewter or paint it, and seeing as I'm terrible at painting and most of the pewter sold around here is close to the same colour, I had dismissed it when the thought came around.

Ahh, that makes sense. Carry on.

[tommy521]

You may have your heart already set on goblins, but I am wondering why dwarves can't just fight dwarves?

This may just be my fixation on symmetrical chess piece design showing.

I never really thought about it, but I was hoping to have the sides as different races, as otherwise I would have to find two different colours of pewter or paint it, and seeing as I'm terrible at painting and most of the pewter sold around here is close to the same colour, I had dismissed it when the thought came around.

Ahh, that makes sense. Carry on.

Not trying to totally trash your idea or anything, just that was my reasoning

Regardless, I am now starting my basic sketch of dwarven pawns, weapons ranging from swords to axes.

On top of that, I'm thinking lashers, mace users and pike/spear users should go to the goblins, while axes, hammers and crossbows go to the dwarves. Swords may or may not be universal.