Squire Hires

Another workweek is in the books so let’s take a step back to briefly celebrate where we’ve been but also take stock of where we should focus our efforts next!

Sometimes a DM gets into a non-stop rush for their weekly campaign prep and that angst can become such buzzkill in terms of unwanted stress and burnout. 3D Printers are supposed to make our lives easier but that’s not necessarily the case when you try to print and paint the world. Be smart about what encounters you should move to next and make a solid checklist to support their completion.

We’ve been super productive lately so let’s celebrate our accomplishments! Plus, maybe you missed one of these gems to use for your own RPG game.

• Tink Urbelle, Gnome Tinkerer NPC | Portal Pocketwatch
• Krufer Promontory, Blacksmith NPC | Daily Luck Coin
• Huckle Riverstone, Farmer NPC
• Pumpkins that Ain’t Pumpkins Quest
• Merv the Swerve, Legendary Pirate NPC
• Renaldo Brownpants, Town Informant NPC
• Rischardo Montalwand NPC | “Cast-co” Spell Components Shop
• Killian Scar NPC | “The Pointy End” Weapons Shop
• Keanu Leaves NPC | “One, Two Tree” Herbalist Shop
• Brindle Spindle NPC | “All By My Shelf” General Goods Shop
• Ewan McHook & Shamus NPCs, | Mermaid Cafe Owner
• Save Our Children Quest
• Lyra & Jack Shaw NPCs | Scarecrow Encounter
• Drunk NPCs & Bar Games
• Night Hag’s Venus Fly-Traps Encounter
• Terry the Troll NPC | Tolls | Bridge Encounter
• Riverstone Farm Assault

Just look at that long list of hilarity and rousing dice rolling! It’s a heck of a list! Feels darn good to stop and smell the roses, right?

That checklist also reminded us that we inadvertently missed a couple of items! In particular, we still need to develop the portal pocketwatch mechanics, create the Magic Item card, name the store, and paint the portal terrain for Tink Urbelle’s clockwork shop initial encounter. So, those will be our prep tasks this coming weekend so that we can write some fun DnD articles on each component next week.

With this robust list of prepped quests, encounters, NPCs, and shops, we’re at a point where we need to map out what’s next!

Here are some known, upcoming must-have’s:

• Tink Urbelle’s Mission/Reward ✔ and Pigs Encounter.
• Krufer Promontory’s Returned Child Encounter & Anvil Reward
• Huckle Riverstone/Rischardo Montalwand’s Reward Cards
• Night Hag Elimination Homestead Reward
• Loke Battlemats Long Road Caravan Escort Encounter Gameboard
• Next Merv the Swerve Encounter (some sorta assassination attempt)
• Darkness at the Lighthouse Encounter

DM Ben always keeps a notebook at arm’s reach so he’ll start to pull items out of his collection and write down supporting creative details as his dungeon master brain ramps up.

And speaking of our big Loke Battlemats Long Road Caravan encounter, DM Ben wanted to highlight a couple of ancillary miniatures that will fit in here quite nicely. Besides the main NPCs, there will be a few additional nobles tagging along within the armed escort caravan so we thought this Squire by Brite Minis would work perfectly.

We’ve worked closely with Kimmy Utah to come up with some paint scheme trickery to take multiple prints of the same mini and differentiate them just enough to make them look complimentary to one another. Isn’t it amazing how a varied bedroll and shield make these two minis just unique enough to work in gameplay?

So we’ve got some quest rewards to work out first with y’all and then it’s all about the Loke Battlemats’ Long Road Caravan encounter! We’re really excited to finish this tension-baked ambush off and ultimately reveal the large gameboard! Stay tuned!