DM Ben has been thinking more about potential tomb hazards, traps, and unexpected spell effects lately. So, the crew suggested we run some pieces through our fab Prusa MK4 FDM printer. We found some versatile scatter that certainly works in an Egyptian-themed gameboard. You just have to envision the final outputs and trust your instincts! Self-doubt is a real creativity killer.

Our 3D print premise makes total sense here, right? Tombs are sacred, well-executed, and heavily guarded places. Hence, you don’t just walk right on in and take whatever you like. Crypt architects are no fools. They’ve taken the right precautions and made finely detailed plans to thwart grave robbers at every turn. We just needed a way to demonstrate high-stakes security to our players.

Enter good ol’ Hayland Terrain and their marvelous selection of TTRPG STLs. They have a couple of nifty spell effect packs, and today we’re going to highlight two desert-ready FDM prints from their Spell Pack 2 set. We’ve actually printed all of these – a mark of a great series, right?

What’s especially cool is that you can use this first featured piece to build up the second piece! Meaning, we start with DM Ben describing how the tomb the party just entered has gone from eerily silent to a sudden gust of wind circling the chamber.  That mysterious whoosh of air needs a focal point on your gameboard, and that’s where you drop in this beauty.

Nothing fancy on this paint job either. DM Ben just used the same steps as our previous air elemental, and our usual trusty sandstone base color. Easy peasy.

Next up is this double-wall of sand STL. Funny enough, we originally painted the single version of this spell effect in the traditional water effect theme (which turned out great). And then it just dawned on us, hey, this 3D print could easily just be a wall of sand, so let’s give that a go!

We used that same slick, sandy look (by Galladoria Games) with three simple Vallejo paint color steps. To help make it look like this wall of sand was violently moving, DM Ben left a little more white showing through than usual. Then, he applied sand flock and a couple of desert grass tufts to the base to bring it home. Fantastic.

With our earth and wind portions out of the way, we couldn’t resist sprinkling in a little fire. And for that, we spun up this red-hot sparkplug by mz4250. Check out this amazing Jackalwere!

Now, we adore this immensely talented creator and his absolutely stunning free library of almost endless DnD 3D prints. His Patreon was going through it, though, as his download links kept returning a painful 404 Not Found error. We’re happy to report that his URLs seem to be humming along again. Praise Pelor, all is right in the world again.

As we mentioned in an earlier hot-take post for our beloved ongoing Train Tuesday series, DM Ben is finally starting to get the hang of a good flame effect. Some of ya might be snickering a little here and saying to yourselves, “Dude, what’s the big deal? It’s just fire.” Well, we’re always striving to do better, so it feels good to show improvement. Keeps us motivated, ya know?

• Prime Flat Black | Slap Chop Base.
• Flame P1: Layer on ASP Zealot Yellow.
• Flame P2: GSW Gloss Varnish.
• Fame P3: ASP Blood Red edging.
• Flame P4: Circle back and add edging to avoid any blotching.

Apologies for the stringing here. This is an older 3D print we pulled from our staggering Pile of Shame, and we hate wasting prints. So, we just clean ’em up as best we can (Arm’s Length Rule for the win, baby). To finish it off, we sprinkled a little black stone flock to seal the deal.

Until next time!

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Nothing says “baller sorcerer” like the person at your game table who can whip out spell effect scatter terrain based on the specific spell they just cast. Thankfully, we found a nifty lil’ spell effects set from an old Humble Bundle charity pack.

From time to time, Humble Bundle does these really cool STL charity packs, but they’re a bit tricky to spot as they come and go from their website with very little fanfare. The two we nabbed in the past contained considerable soothing scatter terrain from the good guys over at Hayland Terrain. Those shiny offerings included both Spell Pack 1 and Spell Pack 2. We’ve actually printed out several of them, but we’ll focus on the Wall of Water spell for today’s post.

Nothing crazy on the painting side of things, so DM Ben didn’t mind grabbing a brush and some Speedpaint to get this one to the gametable. After he primed it in flat black and then applied a traditional Slapchop base, he simply grabbed a bottle of Army Painter’s Tidal Wave. Once dry, he reached for AKI’s Wet Effects Fluid to go over the top to bring home that rushing-water vibe. Easy peasy!

We printed it out to cover a 2×2 d20-squared area, but you could certainly slice this one to fit any desired size. The 5e Wall of Water spell itself says you can make the wall up to 30 feet long, 10 feet high, and 1 foot thick, or you can make a ringed wall up to 20 feet in diameter, 20 feet high, and 1 foot thick.

Primarily made for a DnD spellcaster, a Dungeon Master couldn’t resist getting in on the fun here, too! DM Ben could add this Wall of Water spell to a villain (to place disadvantage on ranged attacks against it). Even better, he could use our new TTRPG 3D-printed scatter terrain as a trap in a spooky, unexplored dungeon. Unsuspecting adventurers step on a trigger plate, which then sends a powerful wall of rushing water towards the stunned adventurers. And if you really want to go crazy, try this Under Pressure mechanical water trap by TheDMLair.com with its 18d10 damage!

DM Ben wants to add this trap to our Dungeon Delve Random Encounter table. The trap can take one of two forms (selected by the DM).

Version 1: A floor plate triggers the rushing water trap, which activates on an initiative of 20. The dungeon hallways fill with a powerful, fast-moving current. Each creature must make a DC 14 Strength Saving Throw or be swept 30 feet back down the hallway and be knocked prone. On a successful save, the player holds their ground. On Initiative 10, floating, jagged debris (such as rocks, splinters, or rusted metal) starts flowing into the hallway rapids. Each player makes a DC 14 Dexterity Saving Throw or takes 2d6+4 bludgeoning damage.

To counter this trap, the players can make a DC 17 Intelligence (Investigation check) to find the concealed valve or the lever that controls the water flow. A successful DC 15 Strength (Athletics) check, made at disadvantage, is required to turn the valve and stop the flow. A DC 15 Dexterity (Thieves’ Tools) can be used to jam the triggering plate and keep the water trap from activating.

Version 2: All the requirements from Version 1 are in effect, except that the passage from which they came is suddenly sealed off with a wall of spikes. Any player that gets swept up in the rushing water gets hurled into the spikes and takes 6d6+6 piercing damage. Ouch, indeed! We would save this tougher trap for higher levels in the 7-10 range, but there’s definitely nothing wrong with reminding a cocky party that this dungeon isn’t a walk in the park.

Now all that’s left to do is update our free Dungeon Delve Wandering Monster table!

Until next time!

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It’s no secret that we’re all in on the free D&D Beyond Acquisitions Incorporated module. We say that loosely, though, because we’re continually injecting a ton of home-brewed content (thanks to our marvelous 3D printers).

We’re delighted to share our initial DM prep for the module’s ‘A Horse Is a Corpse, of Course’ encounter. On first read, we thought this road event might be a little too predictable, but it takes a wild turn, so we decided we had to circle back and include it.

Let’s set the scene. The module reads, “Ahead on the rough road, a pair of dead horses and an overturned cart block your way. Sacks and barrels spilled from the cart litter the ground. Trees grow close to the road here, and the thick undergrowth obscures the view beyond.”

These types of traveling scenes are always some of our cinematic favorites because the tension is so intense, but it’s tough to pull the wool over seasoned RPG players, so certain aspects can’t be too obvious. No problem. It’s not that the players are going to be rushed by hidden goblins. Instead, they have a much crazier surprise on their hands.

Remember, the goon squad that sacked The Fellowship of the Golden Mongoose AI Franchise at Tresendar Manor? Well, those hired guns set this roadside trap to stop anyone sent to investigate what happened.

The whole torrid road scene is staged, and those fallen horses are actually Warhorse Skeletons meant to come alive and surprise (Perception DC 15) the party once they come within range. How can we not prep that?!

Let’s start with the horses, as this encounter is the perfect candidate for the ol’ miniature swap DM trick! First, let’s get our original “actors” on stage. For our fallen cart pullers, we’ll use these marvelous Dead Horses by Vae Victis Miniatures. They always have fun STLs, and they often print really well in FDM.

Now, the zombie warhorse switcheroo mini is going to be trickier, as that one doesn’t come up very often despite the market being flooded with undead options. Still, you can’t go wrong with this Skeleton Horse by Dungeon Classics (and Dragon Trapper’s Lodge).

A solid choice for sure, but we like to use different pieces from our mighty Dungeons and Dragons collection, so we grabbed our box of rebased MageKnight miniatures from years gone by and found another option that’s just as spooky. Even better, these guys are already done, so we save some printing and painting time.

Also, be sure to check our classic MageKnight rebasing tutorial on our YouTube channel. We made it many moons ago when WizKids went through a dreadful, long pause on its pre-painted miniatures series. Boy, that was a rough time in our gaming lives, to say the least, but MageKnight rebasing saved the day.

Again, it’s not that the Dungeon Classics Skeleton Horse is a bad pick here, but it’s a bit on the frail side for our liking, and we already had a nice, ready-to-go option. We would just suggest increasing the scale on the model during slicing.

For the cart, we have lots of cool choices too. We’re a bit obsessed with carts (and townsfolk) these days. Like, seriously, send help. Since the cart is more of a prop, we spotted this wild balsa wood cart DM Ben ordered off eBay like forever ago and thought would fit nicely…and elicit some fun reactions from the players. #IsThatBalsaWood?

Resident Painter Kimmy Utah colored up our fallen wagon pullers wonderfully. Our balsa wood cart and MageKnight mini switches don’t need any paint, so we’re in an excellent place. All we have left to do is grab some crate and barrel scatter pieces and then place them on a forest playmat. Easy!

Until next time!

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The 3DRPG team considers dungeon crawling its first true gaming love. There is just something about those spooky hallways and mysterious doors that just gets our DnD dice a pumpin’. Let’s see what we can come up with, thanks to our 3D printer’s mighty magical skillz.

So, we’re setting our sights on Room 2: Storage. DM’s sorta lick their chops at these kinds of rooms because it’s very difficult for players to resist the urge to scavenge for riches, despite these types of scenarios being primetime for nasty traps. One can certainly play this encounter via theatre of the mind, but come on, we’re 3D printer enthusiasts for goodness sake!

We send off a rather large batch of 3D prints to Kimmy Utah each quarter and always try to do a more balanced split between miniatures and scatter terrain. That sounds nice and logical, right? Instead, we almost always come out mini-top-heavy, which is hysterical because our pre-painted miniatures library is substantial, having been avid collectors since the release of Harbinger in 2003.

Thankfully, we breathed a little sigh of relief while selecting some storage room scatter here because we remembered how bountiful Cast n Play’s Terrain Essentials Vol. II: Interiors Kickstarter was for our TTRPG library. It raised a whopping $213k+ and for good reason, as it was an absolute treasure trove.

Now, not everything in our storage room scatter selections is 3D-printed, and not everything is Cast n Play. We used some vintage Gen Con wooden crates, some cannisters from Hayland Terrain, and then some trunks from EC3D Designs. We actually prefer using a variety of DnD creators whenever possible, as it makes the scene look a little more authentic, if that makes sense.

Unlike the Escape Room we built earlier, we want this space to be a bit larger so that it comes off like the Franchisee inhabitants of Tresendar Manor, we’re fully supplied before things took a turn for the worse.

Now, the hit squad that ultimately took out The Fellowship of the Golden Mongoose AI Franchise naturally knew someone would ultimately come to find out what happened to that adventuring team, so they have transformed this underground bunker into absolute chaos.

Its new inhabitants tripwired the unsuspecting crates with three explosive flasks of alchemist’s fire (Perception DC 15 | disadvantage with no light source). If spotted, the group can use a Slight of Hand DC 12 check to disarm them and even pocket those flasks. If triggered, we’re going to use these slick flame pieces from the Tomb of Annihilation box set to represent the sudden explosion.

DM Ben still has to finalize the treasure here, but any surviving plunder could come in handy for the group’s newly acquired Bastion in The High Forest. The 5E module lists numerous building supplies, including nails, mortar, glue, and so forth, worth a total of 100 gp within the storage room’s various crates and casks.

Good stuff, but at the very least, we’ll let the group pull a Nord Games card or two from their Treasure Trove Deck for any Investigation dice rolls higher than 15.

We’ll certainly show you this Storage Room in its entirety, but we need to get the bones of it down first.

Until next time!

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Our elderly woman, who, let’s face it, is clearly a witch, uses plenty of tricks to spook curious onlookers or even overconfident adventurers who get closer to her hideout. DM loves to plant seeds and build up certain encounters, so today, he thought he would share one such case.

Our miniature comes from Dungeons and Dadskies, a delightful vendor DM Ben encountered at the annual Game On Expo here in Phoenix, AZ. He’s been at the last two Cons and usually has a few custom miniatures that catch his eye. Apologies for the poor biz card photo, but it was the best we could do (they don’t have a website or social presence quite yet).

The “End is Here” sign is just so epic that we nearly knocked over the booth to snatch this doom’s day fella up. We think this one was 3D-printed in some way, shape, or form, but it wasn’t in traditional FDM or Resin material. Still, he turned out so good!

We will also place this fallen horse a little further up the road and use this deceased beast as the last mile marker before the party enters the danger zone! It’s an ominous sign, to say the least. A medicine check will reveal that the dead packhorse is only a few days old.

We printed this Hayland Terrain STL on our Prusa FDM printer and had resident painter Kimmy Utah color it.

So, what makes our shivering miniature extra cool is that he seems like a human from the front, but flip him around, and you’ll witness a disturbing sight. The poor guy has a tentacle starting to sprout from his back. Clearly, this lost soul attempted to rescue one of the kidnapped children, and our mean ol’ witch decided to give an example of him to others.

The End is Here scene won’t be overly complicated. The group will see this shivering at the very point where the road ends and the forest and lush fields surrounding the witch’s cabin begin. He will not answer to any distanced verbal greetings. The group just sees him shaking in place and mouthing gibberish but with no actual words spoken.

A history check (DC 18) will provide some intel that this guy was a prominent merchant in Waterdeep but disappeared months ago after his child went missing.

He won’t attack the players, even after they see the cursed tentacle protruding from his back. His very last words to the group will simply be, “Run…run!

The post The End Is Near appeared first on 3DRPG.

Our featured piece, a busted-up cabinet shelf, is part of a delightful 16-piece set. Follow that link or click the image above to see all the dinged-up pieces.

Thanks to the slick STL design, you can paint and flock or just let your colors do the heavy lifting here. Since we’re blessed to have pro painter Kimmy Utah on our team, we just let the pigments do the talking.

And here’s a handy back and side few so you get a better feel for the piece. Nice and rubble-ee, right?! It’s a nice and “clean” paint job too…meaning, you just need a wood theme, a rock theme, a wash, and then a couple of solid colors for the bottles.

So this got DM Ben thinkin’ as to what one might find inside that collapsing cabinet based on the characters’ investigation rolls. Our favorite roll results resource is grabbing a couple of card decks from Nord Games. Specifically their Dungeon Discoveries Curious Treasure and Fumbled Searches decks.

In case your game budget is a bit tight this month, no worries – just try this awesome D&D 5E Loot Table Generator by Mythical Ink. This free DnD resource lets you set the treasure value via different categories like Average, Wealthy, etc. And then you just give it a quick click for the results.

We gave it a test spin using “Average” and got rad results like a red velvet mask or a bag of caltrops. So darn fun and easy. Mythical Ink is a must-bookmark website, y’all. They have a cool Deck of Dungeons product and nifty a dungeon generator too!

Now, you certainly checked for traps before opening that broken cabinet, right?!

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We do a lot of research to ensure our posts include plenty of handy links and reference material for you to enjoy. Often, that combing of websites gets our pocketbook in trouble because we can’t help but buy many of those newly discovered products. And that certainly was the case with this NPC Pack by Deck of Stories.

The artwork is quirky but in a cool way and there’s plenty of diversity in the NPCs themselves. From a Construct to Cat Folk, you’ll have everything you need race-and-class-wise at your fingertips (thanks to 18 different cards to a pack).

Where the wagon wheel really hits the road is the back of each card and the perfectly organized traits. You get a personality overview, a skill or trade, a flaw, a goal, and even a secret. They’re really well thought out and you can tell a DM or two was on their creative team.

If you recall, we’ll actually be using these fine NPC cards in our upcoming encounter for the accompanying “red shirt” road travelers. DM Ben isn’t expecting a lot of interaction with these guys so that can only mean the party will certainly fixate on a few of them.

Next up, the marvelous crew over at Humble reminded us about their current offering: Dungeons & Monsters 3D Printable Tabletop Bundle. The heads-up was greatly appreciated as we sometimes miss these high-value offerings.

You can do a 9-item version, a 55-STL version, or an all-in 161 Bundle. We always go for the max offering as it truly is the best bang for your printer buck. Even better, a portion of the proceeds go to charity and at press time, Humble had already raised $4,400+!

We already downloaded quite a few of the STLs for some mini resin printing this weekend. There’s a really nice sampling of Egyptian-style figs in this one and those will mesh nicely with our large tomb gameboard. Plus, there were very few duplicates from this bundle and past ones.

So what does your current print plan look like? If you’re low on STL ideas, 3DRPG wholeheartedly recommends this latest 3D Print Humble Bundle. You’ll love it!

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