Print and Stitch in Time!

Greetings, fellow weekend warriors! Hope you had the best of times rolling some dice and/or getting in some beloved hobby time! We were blessed enough to do both over the past three days, so let’s get to it!

We had a rousing game on Friday night after the ol’ work whistle sounded. The office crew was pretty stoked as they were starting a new chapter and story arc that included placing our first Hovertrain on the game board. So much fun, you guys! And as usual, the group threw DM Ben a curveball, so let’s see how he’s going to adapt for future NPC scenarios.

Per DM Ben’s last game day prep list, our adventurers returned rescued child Delilah to her creepy, rich Uncle Lord Galobax Dugalle, who resides in the fanciest suburb of Waterdeep. The players stopped at the Charlotte’s Web Inn to get cleaned up and hang their hats after a long travel through The High Forest.

The group knew they couldn’t just waltz right into the fanciest part of the city without some new, clean threads, so in a wise game move that honestly surprised DM Ben, they asked for the nearest tailor shop to get some new duds! The Paliden even utilized his disguise kit to look like a fancy Noble.

Just one small problem, DM Ben didn’t anticipate them coming up with a solid plan and had zilch prepared for this sudden wardrobe-change encounter. The office crew is all about grab-and-smash. Roleplaying is, frankly, quite rare with this group. Nothing wrong with that desired play style, but when they change gears so abruptly, it’s a shock.

Hence, DM Ben likes to turn the creativity tables back on the group, so he simply asked the gang what the name of the closest tailor shop was. Someone blurted out a “Stitch in Time,” and then another guy said, “Stephen Tailor is the owner” (a clear homage to Aerosmith’s Stephen Tyler, of course).

It was all theater of the mind in that encounter, but DM Ben wants to reward the group’s unexpected strategy and creativity and give them a full shop experience the next time around. He’ll also come up with a nifty quest to better immerse this new NPC.

So, let’s start with our miniature! No problemo, as good ol’ STL Miniatures had just the man we needed, thanks to their cool Fabric Seller Set.

Resident painter Kimmy Utah was our brush artist for our boisterous Waterdeep tailor, and she hit the needle on the thread, baby! We loved how our latest DnD NPC miniature came out. We actually sliced this cloth carrier a bit larger because we really frown upon smaller minis for a myriad of reasons. Due to his stride and heavy load, he ended up taking up 1×2 D20 squares. No big whoop.

Now, let’s get into setting the mood inside Stitch in Time – the best tailor shop in all of Waterdeep. DM Ben adores NPCs and all the fun interactions these creative masterpieces have with our adventuring party. Hence, he always prefers to have (1) a memorable NPC name, (2) a dazzling miniature, (3) a couple of interior store scatter pieces, and (4) a location card.

Cast n Play is picking up what we’re putting down, and they released a fab Terrain Essentials Vol II Interiors Kickstarter many moons back; it’s still one of our absolute favorites. Our two perfectly selected scatter pieces are from their wicked good Stores set.

We’ll start with these Mannequin Bits, which instantly insert the interior store vibe. Kimmy Utah colored this one, too. With our zoomed-in image, you can tell we did this one on our Prusa Mini FDM printer. In our biz, timing is everything. Often, we publish daily STL spotlights based on the needs of our own DnD campaigns, both the office game and the Fam game. However, in the early days of our 3D printing, we had only a single FDM printer, and we were running all these off like men on a mission.

The other scatter piece we picked was this fun Dress Shelf, also by Cast n Play and from that very same epic Kickstarter.  We loved the detail here and felt it was just the right size to drop into Stitch in Time!

A clean paintbrush sweep for Miss Utah today, and this was also done in FDM. Cast n Play STL files are very friendly for both FDM and Resin 3D printers. We’re always so impressed with their final files. Again, this final print was absolutely charming.

And just like that, Stitch in Time, run by the world-renowned Stephen Taylor, is open for business! DM Ben keeps an entire case just for his NPCs, so breaking them out in the game is a snap. Sometimes, though, a TTRPG dungeon master has to adapt post-sesh, bring the players’ surprise creativity to life after the fact, and simply be ready for the next encounter.

Even better, the group went to a city library to look up details on both Lord Galobax and the Night Hag, so now DM Ben needs to prep that location too! Another role-playing shock. Hence, we have to get busy creating that NPC and environment.

Until next time!