Terrain Tuesday! A Tinkerer’s Place

We’ve got another amusing pick for Terrain Tuesday as we go inside a quirky gnome’s local workshop and explore just how one simple, yet detailed, piece of scatter placed next to the right miniature can completely set the mood.

STL Miniatures is the perfect source for all things merchant as they seem to have a scatter set for just about any occasion. We honestly don’t know how they keep coming up with such great stuff! So, for this week, we’re going to grab the perfect piece from their wonderful ClockWorkers set…better hurry up and read further before it all ticks away.

In this DnD blog post, we thought it would be fun to sorta blend Terrain Tuesday with WIP Wednesday. Meaning, let’s pick out the terrain piece today and then show you how we’re building the encounter out tomorrow.

So your party has just finished clearing out a cavern and now they’re heading back to town for libations, supplies, and of course, new missions!

If you have the table space and time, a big Dwarven Forge (or similar setup) certainly is the gold standard. However, thanks to our 3D RPG Printers, we can create many of the same effects…just with less space, craft steps and DM prep time! And who doesn’t love that?!

So when it comes to NPC town encounters, DM Ben often has a 3-step approach that allows for a faster, yet meaningful gameboard presentation:

1. Grab an 8×8 piece of terrain for the floor.
2. Select the right scatter terrain piece.
3. Find the memorable NPC mini.

Smart but simple for all those busy Dungeon Masters out there, right?

So today we’re going to focus on #2, the proper scatter terrain piece to set the mood: behold this awesome clockworker’s desk! Come on – you practically hear the clocks ticking here, can’t you?!

And here’s a super speedy description of the encounter – the group meanders over to the village square job board and realizes a certain gnome tinkerer needs help obtaining some rather rare spell components for his budding list of inventions. In exchange for these special ingredients, he’s going to provide the group with a portal device that works…well, to be honest…most of the time. Cool, side mission for sure, right?

Now this coveted portal device could be in the form of anything but we like the idea of a sorta funky mechanical alchemy pocket watch…made by of course, an eccentric town gnome.

Plus, we’ll utilize this truly masterful fantasy watch image by Prompt Hunt to make a magic item card but we just think it’s the best. Again, more on that to come!