Grandma’s Cookin’ Up Somethin’

In preparation for an upcoming outdoor encounter (that we’ll ultimately feature in-depth here in a future post), we thought we would share one of its planned miniature pulls.

We’re going right back to one of our tried and true wells and the Ec3D Design Everyday Folk Kickstarter Part 2! This is a must-late pledge purchase if you haven’t already got your hands on these support-free minis.

This innocent, frail grandmother was one of the core minis from the master set. There are just so many delightful details in this sculpt and as you’ll see, it made for a really great cover job by our resident painter, Kimmy Utah.

Doesn’t she look all innocent? As in, what time are those fresh cookies coming out of the oven, Nana? She clearly couldn’t harm a fly with that stubby, little cane.

So how does gushing granny fit into our campaign, you ask? Welp, the game group has a mission to clear out a woodland cabin whose main resident is rumored to be snatching up children from Phandalin. No one from the city guard will go near that part of the forest so the party has been hired to investigate. If successful, they can then use that cabin as their own home base of operations (which they desperately need).

One of DM Ben’s favorite moves is to do surprise swaps: both for gameboard terrain and for miniatures. Meaning, that what’s initially being displayed doesn’t ultimately remain the being displayed. This change of scenery really keeps the players on their toes.

So in this encounter example, the group will approach the cabin and see a frail, slow-moving Mimi humming a catchy little tune just outside her cabin. Every movement she takes is lumbering (e.g. she clearly saw the party coming and is just selling it so she can lure them in for the kill).

Then whenever the opportunity to strike presents itself (or she realizes the group is on to her), she’ll drop her illusion and reveal her true, terrifying witch self! Out goes our EC3D Designs Grandmother mini and in comes a spooky witch mini!

Pretty fun though, right?! And you can do this same sorta thing with terrain too: traps, secret wall passages, pits, etc.

When no one sees the DM’s next movecoming, the fun level jumps dramatically. So?! Keep ’em guessing!