Rocky Mountain (Print) High

Our office DnD game is finally getting another sesh in this week, so we thought we would share a few posts in preparation for some upcoming encounters.

We have some big upcoming events in our campaign, and they revolve around a home-brewed plot point in the (free) Acquisitions Incorporated 5E module. Some poor kiddos have gone missing in the city of Waterdeep, and the players are being tasked to solve the case.

The group has a hot lead that a witch, disguised as an old woman in the High Forest, is the culprit. Omin Dran has made a deal with the party where they can keep the land and the spooky-a$$ cabin it sits on if they can eliminate her by any means necessary.

DM Ben’s “Miss Witch” enemy strategy in this epic showdown is to slowly grind the group down as they make their way through the forest and ultimately to her doorstep. So, he’s going to sprinkle in several encounters so that the players’ spell slots and hit points are as low as possible.

The terrain along this journey will be a mix of narrow forest and rock passages (prime ambush settings). Today we’re going to share the tight-fit rocky path part and how a recent STL set by Infinite Dimensions Games saved the terrain day.

Ambush Cliffs is a really cool set comprised of four different rock formations. The STLs are covered in intricate details, so you can print our multiples and position them in different ways on your gameboard.

The kind folks over at Basement Mafia, a must-follow, shared a really slick post of some recent rock work. Naturally, we inquired about their fab paint scheme. Armed with some hot new color knowledge, we decided to 3D print IFG’s cliff set and get to painting.

Needless to say, the steps turned out pretty swell! We used the suggested craft paints above but then also used an ArmyPainter Speedpaint for the vegetation, Pokorny Paints for the trees, a blackwash for the deeper shadow spots, and even a gloss varnish. We’ll be sure to share a detailed paint tutorial in the coming weeks so you have all the handy steps in an easy-to-follow reference guide.

We pondered adding some flock and such to these FDM-printed DnD pieces, but we didn’t want to overthink the process or start crowding it up. We might go back and do some subtle moss and maybe a dirty puddle or two, but for now, we’re sticking with what we have (and the less is more approach).

Placing enemy monsters at different elevation points keeps the combat fresh. The players have to avoid ranged attacks, perform athletic skill checks, figure out how to avoid bunching up, etc. Thus, be sure you include some crossbows and 10-ft reach spears into the enemy’s weaponry.

This encounter’s inspiration comes from the original Star Wars movie (episode 4), in which poor R2D2 nervously traverses the rocky paths of Tatooine. The scene was just so perfect and has always stuck with DM Ben since he first saw it in the theaters at the age of six in 1977.

Apologies for the crude photo above, but you can still see how these different terrain pieces in the above pic start to form these really cool narrow paths for your minis. The scatter terrain here is just perfect, Infinite Dimensions Games!

Even better, they’ve released some more rocky sets: Rabbit Warrens and Highland Hills. We’re looking forward to printing, painting, and sharing those additional scatter pieces with you!

The biggest reason for our own 3D-printed Pile of Shame is that we just freeze when it comes to the paint steps. So, it was really friggin’ awesome when the kind folks over at Basement Mafia gave us a confidence boost to just go for it. Maybe, today’s post will help you paint some of your own rocky terrain that’s long overdue for a little color!