Miniature Monday! Putting a Half-Orc to the Name

We didn’t fully realize we still had a few loose ends square away for Waterdeep’s goto resupply store, “All By My Shelf” so this week’s installment of Miniature Monday gave us the perfect reason to show off its mini.

Our miniature comes from EC3D Designs’s Everyday Folk Kickstarter, Part 1. They just have soooooo many townsfolk to choose from that it didn’t take us long to select this cool Half-orc Guardsman.

Waterdeep’s premiere General Goods establishment is run by a Half-orc named Brindle Spindle. Now DM Ben sometimes lets the mini dictate an NPC’s name/traits and sometimes, it’s the other way around.

In this case, DM Ben knew he wanted the store’s proprietor to be a cranky, no-nonsense sorta character. So, we scanned our 3D printed and painted shelves of miniatures and this soldier lept out at us.

You can tell just by lookin’ at him that he doesn’t have time for chitchat and just like his past life in the military, he demands order, respect, and perfect execution (e.g. quickly buy your goods and get out of my shop).

When developing a new NPC, DM Ben looks for the following components…

• a memorable name (“Brindle Spindle”)
• a clever shop moniker to draw folks in (“All By My Shelf”)
• a couple of mannerisms (cranky, military traits)
• a few visual cues (helmet, spear, tattoos)

So after this EC3D Designs Half-Orc caught our eye, we thought maybe he leaves his old military helmet on all the time (because it makes him feel secure). Plus, much older these days, his spear is now his walking cane. He also has all sorts of pouches tied to his waist that are filled with many of the most common, smaller patron requests. Lastly, he’s couple a couple of tattoos from his war days that call out all his heroics as a soldier…meaning, few people mess with the guy.

If your DM brain is in a bit of a fog and you need a handy NPC generator, be sure to give these a try:

• NPCGenerator.com | Comprehensive
• ThievesGuild.cc | Nice alternative
• Here Be Taverns | Includes Portraits
• Roll & Play Press Gamemaster’s Toolkit | Book form

The last thing left for this town pitstop is just to come up with a Face Card. We’ll share that pick later this week!