Train Tuesday Part 134: Train Travelers

Greetings, fellow train travelers! Let’s see what quirky passengers our mighty Hovertrains are bringing to Waterdeep’s Ocean View Station this week!

We enjoyed our first go-around of Train Travelers, so we thought we were due for some more colorful commuters. There’s also a lot of reusability in these 3D-printed NPCs. We can use them on Hovertrains, on ships, in wagons, and even in taverns. That wonderful replayability certainly tugs at our DnD heartstrings.

We turn to a staple in the adventurer miniature creator space: good ol’ EC3D Designs. Today, we’re showcasing their Demonkin Male Bard mini and the Giant Scholar miniature.

Their supportless STLs have been in four of our most favorite Kickstarters:

• Everyday Folk P1
• Everyday Folk P2
• Bolts and Brimstone
• Everyday Heroes

Both of today’s TTRPG minis come from the NPC gold mine that is Everyday Heroes. Our lofty goal is to 3D print and paint ’em all! Because…why not?!

Today’s painter is Sunrise Sven, who did a hearty batch of mostly NPCs and adventurers for us a ways back, and we’ve slowly been releasing them as we build out new, fun DnD encounters. We’ll start with this mighty Giant Scholar miniature that is just bursting at the seams with charming details.

Somewhat of a rarity for EC3D Designs, this big ol’ bookworm doesn’t come with a base. He can easily stand flat on his own, but we put him on a single d20 square base for more stability. Plus, the standard base helps push his demonstrative size advantage.

Our other wild NPC is this Male Bard miniature. Sunrise Sven did such a great job on this color palette and really nailed his shading. His work completely complements the model sculpt. That ye olde speaker and a Metallica-inspired musical instrument are such epic details. Come on, what’s not to love here?

The subtle designer touches on both these models are so frickin’ good that we wanted to include a backside shot. Isn’t the Giant’s book bag just legendary? Our bard’s “amp” is sitting atop a back-mounted drum! Amazing.

We also wanted to include them in one of Aether Studios’ Hovertrain passenger cars. We typically build all our trains with one open side for easier mini placement and then the specific car details on the other side. In terms of any encounter within a train car, we always build that out on a Dwarven Forge Terrain tray so that there’s a little more tactical room for the players and their minis.

So let’s get to the NPC particulars here:

• NPC 1 Colorful Name: Page Thumb-Flipper.
• Character Race: Male Giant.
• Accent: Grunts and groans a lot. Doesn’t like distracting noise.
• NPC Role: Scholar and Historian.
• Painted Miniature: EC3D Designs.
• Quirks: Incredibly smart but uses few spoken words. Requires personal space.

• NPC 2 Colorful Name:
• Character Race:  Demonkid Male Bard.
• Accent: German.
• NPC Role: Traveling Musician & Busser.
• Painted Miniature: EC3D Designs.
• Quirks: Loves to pickpocket a crowd.

DM Ben pondered making these two an unlikely duo but thinks they prefer a life of solitude, dedicated to books and music (with a little innocent thievery mixed in for fun).

Until next time!