WIP Wednesday: Right Up Your Alley

We’ve previously shared some recent TTRPG gameboard builds, and y’all seem to dig those scatter terrain setups, so we’ll keep the good vibes rolling with a recent DM Ben city streets creation.

First, let’s explain the game plan. Our brand new home campaign will once again utilize WotC’s Acquisitions Incorporated free module on D&D Beyond. Our office campaign is already playing the same module, but it’s infused with a wealth of home-brewed content (that we’ve been sharing along the way here on 3DRPGPrints.com).

Time is tight for DM Ben, so using the same DnD core content for both campaigns will save him a lot of prep time. This will also be an opportunity to improve some previously mapped-out encounters. Most importantly, though, this free module download is just really, really fun to play!

That said, the campaign opens with several fun city encounters. The players will wander Waterdeep to get the lay of the land, which will undoubtedly lead to trouble. The first time around, DM Ben didn’t really make much of a city map, so with more time and knowledge in hand, he wanted to provide a more engaging visual experience for his players.

We have a legacy collection of casted buildings by The Miniature Building Authority. Their Gen Con booth was a must-stop at the convention, and many purchases were made each year. These days, 3D printing can basically give you any building you could ever ask for, but it’s nice to use some vintage terrain now and then. Plus, it’s already painted and ready to drop!

The goal was to create some narrow-ish streets and paths ripe for an ambush, especially because Waterdeep’s Guild of Chandlers and Lamplighters are going on strike. So now we’ve got the sketchier parts of town in near darkness, which means the stakes are even higher for our adventurers.

We start with a wide shot above of DM Ben moving the primary pieces around to create a zig-zag pathway. He likes to include encounter miniatures to ensure there’s enough room for varying combat tactics.

As we zoom in, you can see how DM Ben included a turn or two to keep the players on edge. We ended up going with three d20 squares wide alleys in the final map. We also had some handy narrow stone walls (also from MBA) to break up the buildings and give us a more extensive layout overall.

Lastly, here’s a different building configuration that included a rubble dead-end, thanks to the earthquake that hit the city a few days earlier. Plus, we wanted to share another angle and how seamlessly the MBA buildings connect to one another.

Next time, we’ll share one of our first village builds using our 3D-printed tiles by Milestone Heroes. After all, we did an extensive paint guide, so we naturally need to show off our first tavern!