Locked and Loaded

Last week, we announced the beginnings of yet another random 3D-print DnD table on our adorable old-school blog. This time, we’re ensuring we have a list of encounters for all those long rest rides on The Forgotten Rails. So, let’s jump into entry number two!

We’re often asked, what comes first, the idea or the STL? Usually, we develop the core idea for any encounter, gameboard layout, new NPC, random table, etc., first. Then, we scan our inventory and find the pieces that best match. However, today’s post was all about the miniature. Once we saw it, we knew we had to find a way to ultimately incorporate it into our TTRPG campaign. Well, that day has finally come!

Let’s share the motivation and inspiration behind today’s Hovertrain Wandering Monster table entry. Once again, Star Wars looms large, particularly one specific scene in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. Some Tusken Raiders are perched on the race course cliffs and taking potshots at the drivers during the podcast race.

According to Wookiepedia, the Interwebs say this is because they had been chased away from the Pinnacle (a sacred place). That is why they regularly shot at podracers during competitions to avenge their ancestors.

Whatever the lore, we think it makes for a tremendous wandering monster narrative for our Hovertrains. So, we’re utilizing this hunter sniper from STL Miniatures’ Trophy Hunter set. We instantly fell in love with this incredible sculpt the moment we laid eyes on it! The other day, something just clicked in our heads that made us pair that marvelous movie memory with this newfound resin mini.

Resident painter Kimmy Utah happily accepted this painting challenge and came through victorious. Her color choices were spot on, and thanks to her use of browns and greens, our medieval gunslinger fits seamlessly into a DnD setting. So good, right guys?!

First, let’s set the NPC persona. Meet Molly “Buckshot” Snipes. Our female Ranger is considered Waterdeep’s best gunslinger, and countless Bards spread her legend. Molly apprenticed under Gnome tinkerer Tink Urbelle (the mastermind behind the Kinda, Sorta Portal). She became obsessed with an early gunpowder prototype that Tink deemed too unstable and dangerous. So much so that Tink dismissed her after she wouldn’t let the technology go and considered her too reckless.

By the way, a little-known fact: if you don’t like our particular NPC spin here, STL Miniatures often includes full stat blocks and backstories for many of its miniatures in a handy PDF form. Their content is excellent, and we’ll go to it in a pinch or if we need a creative breather. If only every creator did such a cool, free add-on. 😉

Completely humiliated, Molly set out to prove Tink wrong and made it her mission in life to make the best weapon with the best ranged shot in all the land. First, she built a one-of-a-kind weapon that’s been mythicized so much that it even has a bounty on itself. Then, she went after only the most notorious villains and toughest job board rewards to prove its might. However, she started to tick off the wrong people and was forced into hiding.

All that said, she wants to eliminate those threats so she can roam freely throughout Waterdeep again and get her life back. She is often fed intel on VIP passengers, and if she knows one of her arch-enemies is on a traveling Hovertrain, she’ll set up shop high on a rail line route cliffside and attempt to eliminate her target. Her accuracy in doing so has become a thing of legend.

So, now that we’ve got our NPC and backstory let’s create encounter mechanics. Molly’s trusty firearm is modeled after Matt Mercer’s brilliant Bad News creation. It can fire a single shot from as far as 800 feet and deals 3d12+4 damage with everything within 5 feet of the impacted target required to make a Dex DC 15 save or suffering 1d8 fire damage. Usually, that primary damage is 2d12, but we want some extra heft here for dramatic effect.

If this random encounter is triggered, we’ll assume that a despised VIP is indeed on the Hovertrain, but Molly’s shot missed the original mark and is spiraling toward the players’ train car instead. DM Ben then makes a random roll to see which player the stray bullet is barreling towards. From there, he rolls a standard attack at +7. A hit spells bad news for the resting character (as they lose the opportunity to reset because they spent the rest tending to their new mysterious wound).

A miss means it instead nails an innocent bystander in the same train car (if one is present), and calamity quickly spreads throughout the Hovertrain with phrases like, “Molly’s at it again!” or “Get down! Shots fired!”

Now, all we need to do is update our table!

Until next time!