Train Tuesday P72: Pulling Away from the Station

Our ongoing Hovertrain weekly installment series continues to glide toward its final destination, and The Forgotten Rails is beaming as it shows off its capital city train station!

Building a new campaign setting from the ground up is an endurance test like no other. Thankfully, we’re nearly at the point where The Forgotten Rails is almost ready to push off for its inaugural flight. We just needed something extra cool to disembark from, so grab a scissors! It’s practically ribbon-cutting time!

We’ve already done one sorta station when we did a fun post on Aether Studios Idasiel Station set. We lovingly refer to that no-frills version as Docking Bay Station. We’ll use those 3D-printed FDM tiles for smaller stops in the boonies. We decided a grander central station version was needed for Waterdeep, and that’s the focus of today’s Train Tuesday.

You can tell the 3D-print masterminds at Aether Studios had already reached the same conclusion when they released the nifty Ridivi Station set. This Hovertrain passenger portal is much grander and certainly more impactful on the gameboard. At first, we planned on keeping the Hovertrain Station stuff relatively low-key, but this set was irresistible!

The first design aspect that drew us in was the insanely good canopy system. It’s so darn charming and harkens us back to the old New York Grand Station train vibes. We’re a little surprised Aether Studios hasn’t leaned on this connectivity brilliance more in other 3D Print tile designs. Still, we’re sure it’s always in their back pocket as they continue to roll out a tremendous amount of monthly Patreon content.

Aether Studios models all its STLs to be compatible with DragonBite clips, but those pesky plastic pieces aren’t really our jam. We much prefer using the magnetic connector option instead, which is pricier but gives us the most flexibility and assembly modularity.

The ingenuity lies in the multiple connection points: the post, each truss point, and the canopy join point. We had an office bet going that all those tiny magnets wouldn’t provide enough oompf for the canopy components to adhere to one another. We sure were glad to be wrong – they all worked together in perfect harmony.

Next, let’s check our set piece dimensions. A single elevated platform is just a tad over two d20 squares high and four d20 squares wide. This means you’ll need to use a little more filament than usual, even with a standard 15% infill rate on your slicer.

Typically, we’ll leave our office here in sunny AZ for the night and let our trusty Prusa printer do its thing while all the adorable 3DRPG staffers are neatly tucked away in their beds. Alas, we came in the following morning only to see that the first square platform print ran out of filament well before finishing. So, all that to say, give yourself plenty of filament left on the roll if you leave it for the evening. #oops.

The Ridivi Station set mainly consists of four core pieces: platform blocks, platform edges, stairs, and, of course, those magnificent canopies. Alternate versions of those STLs are also available, so you have some delightful modularity at your fingertips.

The picture above utilizes twelve FDM-printed pieces, including four canopies, two post platforms, two base platforms, three edge pieces, and one set of stairs. To expand the base setup a bit more, we plan on printing one more set of stairs and a few more core base platforms.

Circling back on the overall heights (in terms of Station to Hovertrain cars), the station platforms are taller than the Hovertrains themselves, so it won’t be a straight catwalk from stone to floorboards. Waterdeep passengers will most likely enter and exit from the stairs and the lower level.

If you want the boarding platform to be fairly even to the Hovertrain car doors, use the first, smaller set of 3D-printed tiles.

We almost left out the most important part! What shall we call Waterdeep’s very first Hovertrain station? Since The Forgotten Rails hub resides in Waterdeep, Ocean View Station has a nice aquatic ring to it.

Even better, Omin Dran could give a master class on the importance of branding and public relations, so DM Ben will vividly describe the stunning seaside views and all the subtle ornate architectural touches throughout the station. Even though the Hovertrain is open to everyone, Dran wants the realm’s elite to drop a lot of gold on this revolutionary form of travel.

The very first time DM Ben puts that mighty Hovertrain engine down on the game table, he wants to make a statement, and really wow the players. With one big exhale, we can confidently say, mission accomplished, and we hope you build one too!

Until next time!