Our home game is a newer gamer group with several first-timers. Naturally, we picked the free D&D 5e Acquisitions Incorporated module. We’ve already run it once here at the office, and the book’s premise is just really fun! Let’s see what’s in store for our bonding TTRPG players!

The game group is only two sessions in so far, so they’re still “pretty squishy.” They tricked their way into their first job assignment from Waterdeep’s Omin Dran and descended the Fissure in search of two City Watch guards, Sergeant Ava Teeshe and Constable Yander Boot.

DM Ben always starts a session off with some previous sesh housekeeping. Usually, there are some item or face cards to pass out from last time that were the result of high Investigation checks or a new notable NPC encounters that DM Ben wants the group to track.

So, we made the following:

• a Corederite Item Card
• a new 3D-printed miniature for the Rogue
• a Gauntlets magic Item Card
• a Bag of Holding Item Card

One player used a prepainted mini at first, but we finally found an STL she liked. So, we 3D-printed it, had her paint it, and dropped it on a flocked base. She’s going to be thrilled with the final miniature.

The group has already fought off rats, completed the pool trials, trudged through plenty of traps, explored several tunnels, and will start this next sesh rolling initiative against a giant spider (with plenty of annoying minions).

DM Ben will have each character roll a DC 17 Perception check to avoid a surprise round. If our mean momma spider gets down to 10 HP, she will retreat through a narrow crack in the ceiling.

Party treasure is solid here with a vial of acid, a flask of alchemist fire, and a vial of antitoxin, all loosely found throughout the webbing. The first corpse (Yander Boot) still has a flask of holy water and even a healing potion. DM Ben has item cards for all these goodies, as these game aides are an obsession of his. He’ll also do the usual d20 (copper), d12 (silver), and d10 (gold) loose coin rolls.

Let’s look at what we’ve set up inside our Wyrmwood game table in advance of this sesh. Now, we never build our rooms to match the module exactly and definitely take artistic liberties to fit everything within the overall table space (and using all the available terrain on hand). However, we got pretty close this time when comparing it against the original module map.

You’ll notice above we have “Area 10: Shrine of Destruction” on standby. Meaning DM Ben doesn’t think the group will get this far, but he doesn’t want to be flat-footed if they blow through those other areas.

So, he’s using this cool 3D Egyptian Print for the Construct gearwork on the wall, an altar, an arcane hand for the massive maul attack, and lastly, this Wizkids mini for poor Sergeant Teeshe. We’ll use a corpse marker for the deceased Caerhan Coalsmith.

DM Ben could build out a room to represent “Area 10: Shrine of Destruction” reasonably quickly with all these items already in hand.

We already did a fun post yesterday on “Area 6: Goblin” so that’s a good read in case you missed it. The goal here is to just get the scared Gorkoh the Goblin to become a temporary party member so he can help the group eliminate the injured Carrion Crawler ahead.

DM Ben already has the +1 Longsword and red garnet gem item cards ready when they loot the corpse. He’ll also include 47 gp and d20 copper/d12 silver dice rolls. If Gorkoh does indeed join the group, he will pass out its character stat sheet to the group (but tweaked his HP to 12).

Next up is “Area 7: Stomp!” We’ve already created a post to showcase our unique 3D prints for this encounter, so be sure to read that one, too. The goal here is simply to survive the encounter and figure out the runes on the two walls sooner rather than later (or just eliminate all the monsters in battle).

That brings us to “Area 8: Tentacles.” The players have actually discovered an old sewer system below Water Deep that has gone horribly wrong. We utilized Dwarven Forge’s sewer set for the primary terrain tiles, and then we 3D-printed some cool modular pipes by Custom Miniature Maker for the actual dirty brown drainage.

We made our own tentacles out of an old cheap octopus toy by cutting them out individually and then simply rebasing each one. So, instead of one large tentacle, DM Ben will do three of them (with a reach of 15 feet). This is a 60 HP monster, so each tentacle will have 20 HP.

The players won’t see an obvious exit from here, but a DC 14 Investigation Check will reveal that there’s a loose drainage grate that they can squeeze through.

Lastly, there’s “Area 9: Dragon” to explore! Even though our beloved game is called Dungeons and Dragons, it’s rather rare for Dragons to make physical appearances in earlier character levels. So, we’re digging this encounter. The players will hear these creatures loudly fighting it out before they get to the actual area on the map.

DM Ben will use four Dark Mantle miniatures here (prepainted from the Night Below set or Storm’s King Thunder set). Our Medium Copper Dragon is from WizKid’s Blood War set.

The players can let the pinned Dragon and annoying Dark Mantles wear each other down. Or, the group can try to save the Dragon and win over another ally to go along with the Gorkoh the Goblin. DM Ben has the Dragon’s stat sheet printed out (but he upped Brass Dragon Wyrmling’s HP to 27 Hit Points for the start of the encounter/fight).

And there you have it! Fingers crossed for a great sesh, and the same to you and your pals if y’all are dropping some dice this weekend! Until next time!

The post Hey, Hey, It’s Game Day (Feb 2025) appeared first on 3DRPG.

DM Ben encourages his players to be especially curious when they’re in town. Explore every store you can, speak to as many people as possible, load up on a bunch of side quests, get an informant on your payroll – that sorta thing.

While many of our players went to the Charlotte’s Web tavern to play a few rounds of Griffon’s Wall, our party rogue decided to hit the shops. As a peg-legged pirate parrot, she wanted a fancier hat to touch up her appearance. So she asked if there was a local Haberdashery shop nearby, and of course, DM Ben had to say yes.

Our rogue Polly inquired, “Pardon me, dear lady, do you happen to have any pirate-style hats in your fine establishment?” DM Ben quickly searched for a Google “Pirate Hats” image and then showed the player her options. She instantly saw a pic that caught her eye. Two gold pieces were exchanged, and our rogue smiled from ear to ear.

Then, she said, “Do you have anything else of interest by chance?” Once again, DM Ben couldn’t resist doing another NPC transaction and leaned in…”Oh my sweet child, you are in luck! I just so happened to have secured this beautiful piece.”

DM Ben instantly thought of those garters worn around a damsel’s leg to hide a dagger, so he thought he would make a magic item to fit the bill.  She could put it on her arm or leg and be able to still reach for a weapon in an emergency.

Between sessions, DM Ben utilizes Felraider’s Magic Item Fillable PDF tool to create item cards for the players. The tool is just so darn handy and has countless options at your fingertips. It’s such a timesaver.

This particular magical garter is pretty simple. Its beauty is so perfect that whenever its wearer flashes a little leg (or arm), the wearer gains advantage on any Charisma check (once per day).

DM Ben is very sensitive when it comes to balancing his encounters, and overpowered magic items can present lots of problems and quickly kill gameplay. However, you can still get creative and develop limited-powered goodies to keep your game fun and engaging.

The post Charmed, I’m Sure appeared first on 3DRPG.

This is the third installment in a three-part series, so be sure to catch up on Part 1 and Part 2, so you have everything you need to incorporate this new shop, NPCs, quests, and peculiar items into your own DnD campaign.

Last time, we had two remaining goals: creating a sidequest and putting a few tempting items on The Loan Rangers store shelves. Let’s start with an optional mission for your game group to consider. DM Ben likes it when NPCs and the party do stuff and form memorable connections!

We’ve got a helping hand this time, thanks to the talented crew over at Dice Dungeons. They make all sorts of creative card decks for things like Notice Boards and Urban Encounters. We also did their last Kickstarter, and it did not disappoint!

Lost & Wanted is one of our favorite decks, so we thumbed through all the cards to find the perfect fit for our Pawn Store NPCs. Stalwart Stonehand is wanted by The Loan Rangers for a forged artifact he previously traded in for gold.

Elara is furious someone snuck a fake past her, and brother Lorcan wants to rough that sneaky dwarf up in the worst way. However, they can’t exactly leave their popular store and hunt him down, so they’re willing to pay well (store credit anyone?) for his capture.

We even found an old Warhammer mini that practically matches the sketch on the wanted poster perfectly!

The final step in our new shop is adding a couple of tantalizing items to its store shelves. For that, we’re going to utilize our favorite PDF card builder, FelraiderRPG! Either the DnD Social Inspiration or DnD Exploration Inspiration Fillable Cards have the tools we need to quickly create some fun items for sale. They have a slew of pre-filled cards to get your creative juices flowing (like the ones above).

DM Ben prefers single-use items or objects with limited charges when giving out magical gear because it allows him to keep the game balance in check. The item can take many forms, including something edible, a lucky charm, a piece of jewelry, a powder, a liquid, a scroll, etc.

We’ve selected three tempting items here:

1. Talisman | “Next Try” | 4 charges | 400 gp
2. Piece of String| “Recover” | 2 pieces | 100 gp
3. Bag of Magic Dust | “Feast” | 1 use | 50 gp

Offering a high, medium, and low gp store item also ensures more interest in case a particular character’s pockets aren’t as full as they would like them to be.

Now, will this be a gold or trade transaction today?

The post Loan Rangers Pawn Shop P3 appeared first on 3DRPG.

First, let’s catch you up. Our level four dwarf, Monsignor Reginald, broke his beloved hammer (aka, “Whammer”) and sought out a local blacksmith to help him fix it. Thus, DM Ben felt this was the perfect time to create a smithy one-shot side quest. And so Waterdeep’s best blacksmith, Krufer Promentory, has lost his beloved son to a Night Hag in the High Forest. In exchange for his boy’s return, he will forge a valuable lucky coin.

Originally, that’s where the quest was going to end but then our game group dwarf did an epic move where he dressed up like his character for game night! He went all out and even 3D-printed his helmet! How can 3D RPG not reward such a feat?! This was also the perfect time to ultimately grant him his very first anvil.

Let’s start with the anvil itself. Deep in ol’ Krufer’s shop lies a dusty, old anvil. It was the very first one he ever used to open his business but due to the anvil’s size and the demand for his services, it was ultimately deemed too small. Still, it’s the perfect starter anvil for any aspiring smithy! Not too fancy or flashy – just enough to get the job done. Sadly, we can’t tell you where this little FDM-printed piece came from but be sure to check out Cast n Play, EC3D Designs, or STL Miniatures for a slew of options.

Will a plain ol’ anvil do here? Nah. We want to spice things up a bit. First off, Krufer will give him a set of blacksmith tools including a hammer, tongs, charcoal, rags, and a whetstone all rolled up in a leather case. These tools grant advantage on one crafting roll once per day.

As for the anvil properties themselves, DM Ben went to Reddit for our player, Monsignor Reginald:

Reginald’s Razor: once per day, you can summon your anvil and fine-tune a player’s weapon. This TLC allows that player to re-roll the damage on one attack of their choosing. The blacksmith must spend one uninterrupted hour sharpening, adjusting, and putting the selected weapon back in peak condition. Caster level 4. This idea was inspired by user Kibbles.

Monsignor’s Migraine: once per day, you can summon your trusty anvil above a creature’s head within 60 ft: The creature must make a DC 15 Dexterity Saving Throw or take 3d6+3 bludgeoning damage and be squished like a pancake until the end of its next turn. While in “pancake” form, the creature is restrained. Caster level 5. This idea was inspired by user ExistentialOcto.

Wham Bam Bolt: once per day, you can craft a +1 bolt. The smithy must acquire the proper materials (50 gp) but the crafting (2d4 hours) is an automatic success. The bolt explodes on impact whether the attack misses or hits. All creatures within 10 ft take 1d4+1 damage. The bolt can be a bit temperamental though and has a 20% chance of misfire. Caster level 6. This idea was inspired by user Louiscypher93.

DM Ben is going to level-release these rewards. Meaning, that the more our dwarf uses his beloved anvil, the better at it he naturally becomes (and learns new ways to craft even cooler things). Now, all this priming and pounding is a loud affair so it’s also going to send some unwanted soundwaves out (which could alert nearby unfriendlies). Lastly, these effects don’t stack – the beholder can only select one of them once per day.

Once again, DM Ben used Felraider RPG and their PDF Magic Spell Cards template to create the corresponding spell cards. We’ve used their tools a couple of times now to make all sorts of slick card accessories for our DnD game. This way our player has all the anvil mechanics at his fingertips.

The moral of this story: when a player goes all in to lift the spirits and atmosphere of the group, as a DM, you gotta reward that enthusiasm and do something special!

The post Terrain Tuesday: Pound Metal appeared first on 3DRPG.

First off, earlier this week, we flushed out the proprietor of the general goods store, “All by Shelf” a bit more. It’s run by an ex-military Half-orc named Brindle Spindle. DM Ben always likes to include a face card with the key shops in the capital city of his adventure. As time passes, all sorts of side missions and story hooks can transpire depending on which merchants the party gravitates toward.

The nifty card comes from Paizo’s GameMastery Friends & Foes Deck – one of their best releases and worth every penny of the $10.99 list price.

The game group just slips a small piece of paper with the NPC’s name on the front of the card and then they spread out the cards on the game table when they are deciding where to stop in Waterdeep. This speeds the game up a lot.

Next up, we needed to create the reward cards from the Huckle Riverstone/Rischardo Montalwand’s combined side quest. Huckle has asked the group to secure him some Pumpkins that Ain’t Pumpkins seeds. In return, he will grant them a vail of his prized and precious farm topsoil. The party can then take that dandy dirt to Rishardo Montalwand’s spell component shop (e.g. “Castco). He will then take a portion of that new topsoil and craft the party a couple of valuable Restoration potions (which will vary in amount based on how many mimic pumpkin seeds the party successfully harvested).

DM Ben has fallen in love with Felraider RPGs card templates and decided to whip up a few informational cards on the two necessary spells in just a matter of minutes using their Magic Spell Cards pack. You gain silly crafting speed the more you utilize his line of DnD PDF templates (hint, hint: use copy and paste a lot). Plus, cards always do the best job of reminding the player what they have available and how a particular ability, item, magic item, or spell specifically works. Felraider RPG does give you all the tools to make double-sided cards but we like to use Gamemastery cards for the front panel whenever there’s an easy match.

And lastly, we created the mechanics around Tink Urbelle’s Kinda, Sorta Portal but we hadn’t picked out the specific sow minis the party has to hunt inside The High Forest. These Wooly Mangalitza pigs provide a very unique lard that our cooky gnome tinkerer uses to grease the gears in his temperamental inventions.

These pig miniatures are from Ec3D Designs and their original Everyday Folk Kickstarter (as campaign freebies). They’ll work perfectly. Next week we’ll work out the specific encounter mechanics for this pork belly smackdown.

The post Friday Grab Bag: Pigs in a Printer appeared first on 3DRPG.

We’re going to highlight a new PDF utility and template library by FelraiderRPG on Etsy (who resides in Forcheim, Germany as a matter of fact). We’ve used a few free templates in the past but those are free for a reason so ultimately we decided we needed a more polished utility that someone has reason invested heavily in perfecting.

We “test-drove” one of FelraiderRPG’s templates…specifically, the Magic Item Cards. The cost entry point was only $6.12 so the risk on it seemed super reasonable. So today we’re going to show how two recent card needs from a previous blog post were made using this slick PDF tool.

First, though, let’s start with all the different types of cards we make:

• NPC Cards
• Face Cards
• Spell Cards
• Magic Item Cards
• Equipment Cards
• Inspiration Cards
• Rules Reference Cards

That’s a lot, right? However, you see that each one can serve a purpose and most importantly, keep the game from being bogged down. DM Ben uses so many cards (in a good way) that each player even has their own deck box to store them (e.g. very Magic-the-Gathering-esque).

Their template comes preformatted with all the relevant fields you need to update on your own to actually make a DnD magic item card. You can also add a background image based on the item card type (scroll, potion, weapon, etc). The template is highly customizable in terms of background colors, border colors, symbols, etc. Remember, you’re the content generator here (no prefilled stuff included in most templates).

The only real bummer is the brilliant example displayed in his Etsy store isn’t a premade template that you can immediately start using. We adored the example shown in their Etsy store but with a lot of finagling, patience, and a Bookman font purchase, you’ll get there. However, maybe he will add it as a default (wherever possible) in future releases.

The other thing to keep in mind when using this template is you really, really need to read his instruction guide. Don’t be one of those guys or gals that just wings it. You’ll get frustrated and give up. His instructions PDF is excellent but you will have to read it thoroughly and then re-read certain steps to get the hang of it. Once you do though, creating these fun cards becomes a snap.

Next, let’s demonstrate how we utilized this wonderful PDF tool to make two specific, home-brewed magic item cards for our own game. Previously we created the “One, Two, Tree” herbalist shop run by retired seaman Keanu Leaves.

And in that blog post, we crafted two new custom magic items for the party to potentially buy:

• Keanu’s Pungent Punch: provides 2d4 temp hp
• Calena Cream: Grants adv on Medicine check to stabilize

Pretty slick, right? Once you make the first card, you can start copying and pasting text from one to the other and it will take that formatting with it. Thus, making cards gets quicker and quicker as you get more practice and confidence.

Once you print out your creations (again, following his instructions), you get a card that cuts out and slips perfectly into a traditional Magic the Gathering sorta card sleeve. We use old Warload cards (remember that fun game?!) as the firm backing for the front and back inserts we created. The example above shows a different template we use to use but you get the gist.

Lastly, FelraiderRPG has alllll sorts of different templates you can buy to expand your library including:

• Spell Cards
• NPC/Monster Cards
• Ability Cards
• Crafting Cards
• Player Cheat Cards (rules reminders)*
• Equipment & Mundane Item Cards
• Inspiration Cards (Social, Exploration, & Combat)*

*And several templates for purchase actually do come with prefilled content that you can print off right away (as well as a template to make your own additional home-brew cards). We love that because those ready-to-print examples become very inspirational for making future cards. Those were our faves and we naturally snatched those additional templates up quickly.

And remember, you don’t have to necessarily get all crafty and make all your own cards. As we covered earlier, there are alllll sorts of premade options. We just love this FelraiderRPG PDF utility because it’s just so darn fun to make specialized cards for your specific campaign.

Plus, it’s simply delightful to have a little of both in your life: some handy pre-made cards to use in a pinch and the ability to whip up a custom card that perfectly suits your next home-brewed encounter.

Card on, my friends…card on.

The post Make a Card, Any Card appeared first on 3DRPG.