It’s Going the Distance

We’ve got another super duper, incredibly handy Dungeons and Dragons accessory to share with y’all today. Let’s see if you measure up to its greatness. 😉

DM Ben is a staunch supporter of gridded everything when it comes to DnD. He already has enough to worry about behind the screen. Still, he’s resigned to the fact that sometimes cool game mattes and battlemattes won’t have those incredibly convenient movement squares. So, we gots to be prepared!

In our last “Hey, Hey, It’s Game Day” post, we shared a perfect example of how a distance marker accessory can be incredbily helpful. Besides being 3D-printing fanatics here at 3DRPG Studios in sunny Chandler, AZ, we’re also die-hard Dwarven Forge collectors. Many of us have been gaming since the 1980s and grew up on Stefan Pokorny’s brilliant TTRPG terrain creations. That love of the forge continues to this day.

While Dwarven Forge does indeed offer plenty of “gridded” terrain, their amazing Terrain Trays and Battle Boards are gridless (due to a production design decision). We’re hooked on these brilliant accessories, though, because their products contain magnets, and everything sticks to these surfaces with ease. Therefore, we needed a simple d20 movement measurement accessory to simplify things.

Enter DolDols – a DnD acessory company with a huge assortment of great TTRPG pieces to choose from. Now, we’re always a little apprehensive about ordering from China-based companies because of orders literally not showing up, but this was a minor purchase, so we thought we would test their site out for you.

We’re pleased to report that everything went smoothly. Ordering on their website was a snap. The product arrived safe and sound. Now, of course, you have to expect it to take longer to ship, but that’s a minor inconvenience in the grand scheme of things. We actually love ordering from other countries as it makes us feel more connected to the world and our amazing global DnD hobby.

So, say hello to the DnD Movable Jointed Chain Ruler by DolDols – an all-in-one 3D-printed measuring tool featuring movable joints and allowing for free bending, making it adaptable to various corners or curved paths. Each measurement segment is marked with a clear 1-inch incremental scale (e.g., a d20 square) to ensure accurate measurement.

This nifty TTRPG movement accessory comes in a variety of lengths (up to 18″) and colors (up to 23 variations). We picked green with white text so that it was super easy to read on the game table.

Now, here’s where we made a little oopsie daisy. It never dawned on us that this was a 3D-printed accessory! We can simply download an STL file and print a few of our own! We found a nice one on Thingiverse.com by MpThompson. There’s another one on MyMiniFactory.com by NapKing. Those two free downloads aren’t exactly what we purchased, but they still serve the purpose.

We grabbed this free STL by DavyD and are going to give it a go on our Prusa printers. Alternatively, you can simply purchase one from DolDols.com or another Etsy creator if you don’t have the time to make a 3D-printed one yourself.

This product is also made by a variety of artisans, with numerous listings from various Etsy creators, which means we could have obtained it at a slightly lower price. However, we’re very pleased with our purchase. We’re just going to try and 3D-print a few more as it would be handy to have multiples around the game table.

Also, just a heads up that as we move into the upcoming holiday months, ol’ DM Ben has to take his use-it-or-lose-it vacation days. So, if you see us dark on a particular weekday, it’s because we gave Digi Ben a breather. He spends most of his free time painting terrain for our little blog or attending concerts with his main squeeze. He’ll be seeing two great bands this week, Maroon 5 and Hozier, so we’ll be back on Thursday, 10-9 with another great Tomb Thursday post!

Until next time!