Our last Dungeon room is an office, and at the time, served as the last inhabitant’s temporary command center. We need two scatter terrain pieces to set the mood: a cluttered desk and a single bed. These are 3D print staples, but we’re only going to pull one STL and rely on a pre-painted fan favorite company to deliver the other.

Let’s start with that work desk. Any monthly Patreon or Kickstarter release is going to include tables, desks, and barrels. We’re inundated with them. To be fair, creators don’t know what a hobbyist has and doesn’t have or where they are in their journey. Still, we had an abundance of choices.

This marvelous desk is by our buds over at Milestone Heroes and is from their Scatter Pack 15 set. We love the all-in-one combination this 3D print offers.

Some insanely small details here, so Resident Painter Kimmy Utah was called into service to paint this desk combo up for us. DM Ben’s 54-year-old eyes and Wisconsin sausage fingers couldn’t cope here.

The completed piece beautifully highlights its charming details, such as the rug, scrolls, inkwell, and book, among others. A true sign of an A+ print is how it springs to life when properly painted.

The second scatter terrain piece we needed for this DnD Dungeon room was a single-person bed. Not big enough to hold a mini, but more so to convey that someone worked and slept in here 24/7 to get a job done. For that piece, we searched our library and grabbed this nostalgic bed by Dwarven Forge. It’s from their original Dungeon Dressing pack and is a true classic.

Area 12 of Tresendar Manor is entitled: The Office. Its description reads as follows. “A bed and a desk are the only furnishings in this surprisingly clean room. The bed is made with linen sheets and a fluffy pillow. Atop the desk are an ink pot and a quill pen.”

No preset monsters or traps here. This one is all about information as the players will rifle through the desk and papers to unveil a new clue (in a cool way), so it’s the perfect way to progress the campaign storyline.

And just like that, two very simple pieces of scatter terrain completely immerse your players into the scene. We love it when a Dungeon Crawl comes together.

Until next time!

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Previously, we selected the Mimic miniature and some of the initial scatter terrain for The Crypt, so some groundwork had already been laid to rest. Today, we’ll show off how the final room came together…after a moment of silence.

DM Ben typically preps in multiple stages, usually due to daily time constraints. It’s interesting what he inadvertently misses on the first pass…probably because his mind is racing on what he needs to 3D-print or pull from our DnD library.

For example, we initially set aside three coffins only to realize that the room calls for four.  The D&D Beyond Acquisitions Incorporated 5e module lists three damaged coffins and one fully intact version. Since we have a larger group of players, another box for something to crawl out of and fight is fine.

No big whoop. We’ve been eager to introduce this Eye Beast Mummy Sarcophagus by EC3D Designs. This ornate box is from their marvelous Empire of Scorching Sands Kickstarter. Resident painter Kimmy Utah colored this beauty up, and we just love it. Imagine this ornate casket in a future Egyptian setting? So good!

The other scatter terrain piece we slipped in was this broken table by Milestone Heroes. This damaged furniture is from their Scatter Pack 12 set. We looooove their scatter pack sets as they print support-free and like a champ on an FDM 3D Printer.

With all our pieces finally identified, DM Ben was ready to set up the Crypt gameboard. Please forgive the Dwarven Forge Water Terrain Tray. We have quite a few unplayed scenarios on standby right now (a true treat), so we’ll reach for whatever temporary board we can find before game day.

The module description calls for numerous littered bones throughout the room so the Mimic monster can have a little fun with our adventurers. We consider this one of those “Tweener Encounters” where the intent is to have the players use up a few spells, but we still don’t want the fight to be a cakewalk.

Since we have a party of six level-five characters, one CR2 monster is too easy, especially if it rolls poorly on its initiative. Consequently, we need to drop at least one or two more baddies here to make it a little more competitive. We have some spooky ideas and will share those final selections next week.

Until next time!

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Usually, pit traps are sneaky trouble and not the easiest to detect. Yet, the bandits inside our current Dungeon Delve are so cocky, they openly flaunt the dark chasm that’s blocking our adventurer’s path from proceeding. Cocky bad guys – the worst.

Today’s room is simply called: Hall with Pit. Acquisitions Incorporated injected all sorts of humor into this free 5e module, so much so that the straightforward encounter title kinda threw us for a loop.

Here’s the description: “Defaced murals and metal etchings, probably once quite beautiful, adorn this hallway. An open pit divides the passage’s eastern and western ends. Hanging from nooses above the pit are two humanoid figures, each clothed in white with a purple hood pulled over its head.”

We’ll save the scarecrows for another time, but DM Ben wanted a memorable piece of scatter terrain for this DnD encounter. This post is all about the wonderful Pit Trap by Milestone Heroes. This perilous pit is from their fantastic Traps and Hazards set.

Their vast library of DnD tiles prints beautifully on an FDM 3D Printer and rarely requires any supports during slicing. It feels like 3DRPG has printed enough Milestone Heroes to go from AZ to Mexico. Their stuff is that good;)

No eyeballs on these pieces, so DM Ben volunteered to color this TTRPG scatter terrain himself. In hindsight, he felt he painted this one a bit too dark overall…mostly because he kept circling back with one more drybrush or wash. Classic overcompensating, right?! Still, we’re pleased with the final results.

Naturally, you won’t have a ten-miniature battle in our deadly ditch, but you can fit at least two or three standard d20 miniatures here without any trouble. The encounter description also described some intentional glass shards at the bottom to add insult to fallen injury. However, DM Ben will go theater of the mind on that description so that he can reuse this pit for multiple scenarios.

Lead Milestone Heroes creator Andrew has always been an innovator in the 3D-print space, and this scatter terrain piece demonstrates exactly why. He created module tops to represent different coverings: open, somewhat hidden, and completely hidden.

Now, how great is it that you can reach for a true spooky hole or pit trap anytime you need it? Trust us…it’s great.

Until next time!

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Farms just give us those warm-fuzzy vibes thanks to those rolling hills and bumper crops. Let’s see how our second pass at Huckle Riverstone’s farm just outside Waterdeep looks now.

We already handled the big three: the Pumpkin House (main building), NPC Face Card, and our NPC Mini. DM Ben’s players are crappy notetakers (like many game groups) so he uses Face Cards to ensure they can quickly reflect on any NPC interactions as needed. A memorable miniature always helps the cause, too.

Then we added two more utility-ish buildings, including a stable and a woodshed. The pumpkin scatter terrain accents the setup nicely, as do the barren fields. We finished that off with a handy RPG flipmatte by Loke Battle Mats. So, now the scene is set for the players to meet ol’ Huckle and get their next sidequest.

Huckle is furious that various rodents and trespassers are sneaking onto his farm and either devouring his award-winning crops or trying to steal his secret topsoil. Hence, the barren fields above. Consequently, he’s asking the party to harvest some Pumpkin Mimics he’s spotted in The High Forest so he can grow his own security force.

Now that the mimic harvest gameboard is set, we’ve got a lush green field (acquired from an old Gen Con trip), some farm-field scatter pieces, and of course, our pesky Pumpkins that Ain’t Pumpkins miniatures.

So, the moral of this post is don’t be afraid to revisit some DM Prep that hasn’t played out quite yet. It’s amazing what one can come up with after briefly pausing and resetting their DnD head.

Until next time!

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In a previous “Hey, Hey, It’s Game Day” post, we first shared the miniatures and scatter terrain we selected for an upcoming encounter: Area 10 Shrine of Destruction (from the D&D Beyond free Acquisition’s Incorporated module).

DM Ben wasn’t sure if the group would reach this area in their next sesh, but he wanted to have some of the pieces at the ready in case he needed to drop down an improvised gameboard. That got us to thinkin’ – for the DMs out there, do you pull the minis and scatter first, or do you pull the terrain first?

Typically, we try to 3D print, paint, and pull our terrain first just because 3DRPG thinks that’s the toughest part of any encounter prep. However, there’s a counterargument to be made here: select the minis and scatter first because then you know how much play space you need to fit everything (while still having enough room for meaningful and tactics-based combat).

And then there’s nothing wrong with saying the order depends on the encounter itself and that it varies from scenario to scenario.

So, let’s take a gander at the final terrain for our pivotal Shrine of Destruction encounter. It’s apparent from the module description that this chamber needs to give off a crumbling, ruins-like vibe. For that, we turned to our trusty Milestone Heroes tiles, as they’re a match made in heaven here. Specifically, we 3D-printed a pile of tiles from their Dungeon Ruins set.

Even better, we already made a handy step-by-step Dungeon Ruins paint guide for thee so you can color up your new-found tiles anxiety-free and quickly get them on the game table. In fact, we’ve made three of them (so far), including Village Inn and Caverns.

The room’s total footprint was no biggie, as DM Ben just wanted to avoid a typical box shape while conveying how much the chamber had fallen into ruin. The real trick, though, was a focal point of the room, just above the altar: a gearwork device called an Entropy Guardian (that ultimately animates). We didn’t have one of those unique pieces just lying around the office.

With 3D printing, we can always find something, but we always balance time spent vs reusability. For example, joshuatparr had this Simple Gears plate, but the STL required assembly and seemed a bit on the delicate side.

So, instead, we found this older 3D Egyptian mythic god piece and just propped it up on a makeshift stand behind the altar to demonstrate that same sorta visual. It looks mechanical and god-ish, so objective met in our minds.

If the players trigger the Entropy Guardian, we’ll leave the mini on its perch and have another mini represent its expanding clockwork arms to attack. The oversized arcane hand holds a special place in our nostalgia-filled hearts as that was one of the very first things we printed long ago. The other is a prepainted Wizkids mini that would suffice, but we’re sticking with the large hand as we have two versions of it to represent its two attacks.

Still, problems solved and encounter officially prepped!

Until next time!

The post Which Came First: the Minis or the Terrain? appeared first on 3DRPG.

At this point, the players will have completed their rescue attempts and mission intelligence gathering below in the cavern. The Acquisitions Incorporated free 5e Module on D&D Beyond is excellent, but for this chapter, it instructs the players to simply retrace their steps to exit the fissure. Snooze city.

Besides being a bit of a storytelling dud, retracing one’s steps is pretty unlikely as the players aren’t walking through the mall. They’re in a dangerous and unstable place. More probable is that an earthquake or monster is blocking the return path. Let’s homebrew some content and make our epic exit encounter.

DM Ben lovvvvves a good random roll table and letting the dice decide the party’s fate. Thus, he decided that he would do a mixed bag table like so:

• Six Monster events
• Four Trap events
• One Way Out
• One Magic Item
• One Treasure Item
• Five Non-combat events

We’ll break this post into two parts as there’s much to cover – music to your Dungeons and Dragons’ ears, right?!

So, here are the first ten random encounters for the group to attempt to safely exit the Fissure.

• Cave-dig 1: Umber Hulk.
• Cave-dig 2: Trapped Gas Trap.
• Cave-dig 3: Empty. Solid wall.
• Cave-dig 4: Large Scorpion.
• Cave-dig 5: Empty/Fallen Adventurer.
• Cave-dig 6: Hook Horror.
• Cave-dig 7: Empty/Fallen Adventurer.
• Cave-dig 8: Amber Lotus Flower Trap.
• Cave-dig 9: Dead End.
• Cave-dig 10: Rust monsters.

Again, there will ultimately be twenty total entry rows to match our d20 dice.

Next, let’s discuss how the table will work. DM Ben will ask someone to roll an initial d20, and then he’ll share what encounter occurs. The players must keep rolling until someone hits the “Way Out” row.

We’ve played this table out once, and it took the office campaign group nine encounters before they located an exit. To keep things simple, after the first roll/encounter, a player rolls a d20 – 1. Then, if 12 rows remain, roll a d12 and so on.

Side note: DM Ben has tailored this table around six adventurers, currently at level five.

Cave-dig 1: Umber Hulk. As the players explore and attempt to dig their way out, it’s only natural for the group to bump into this large monstrosity. After all, this terrain is his kinda jam, and he won’t be pleased to see them. We like its 5E monster stats: AC 18, 93 HP, Confusing Gaze (Charisma, DC 15), Claws x2 (+8 att, 1d8+5 damage), Mandibles (+8 att, 2d8+5 damage).

We’re using a WizKids pre-painted Umber Hulk Delver miniature from their Desert of Desolation set.

Cave-dig 2: Trapped Gas Trap. Untouched caverns can naturally form deadly gas pockets, and that’s certainly not good news for the players. As they continue to dig, they hit a soft patch of wall that quickly collapses. They see nothing but darkness but quickly smell an obnoxious odor. After everyone gets done looking at the Barbarian, they must make a DC 15 Constitution Save or take 1d10+2 poison damage (save for half).

DM Ben grabbed a homemade dark sphere off his shelf and thought this would nicely represent the invisible gas cloud. It definitely should get a chuckle.

Cave-dig 3: Empty/Solid Wall. Sometimes, you hit some mighty solid rock and can’t go further. Instead, you have to pick up your bootstraps and press on. Everyone has to make a DC 12 Survival check or suffer one level of exhaustion after expending so much energy with a spirit-crushing outcome.

We’re using some Milestone Heroes 3D-printed Cavern tiles here.

Cave-dig 4: Scorpion. No one wants to bump into a stinger, but that’s precisely what happens as the group’s path takes another unfortunate turn. This large beast immediately attacks the first thing it sees. Tough 5e stats here: AC 15, 52 HP, Sting (Constitution, DC 12), Claws x2 (+4 att, 1d10+2 damage), Sting (+4 att, 1d10+2 damage).

We’re using a WizKids pre-painted Hellstinger Scorpion miniature from their Dangerous Delves set.

Cave-dig 5: Empty/Fallen Adventurer. Thankfully, the players draw a non-combat encounter this time and uncover a deceased adventurer who succumbed to a cave-in. DM Ben will give a vivid description (or ask a player to do so) and allow someone to do an Investigation DC 12 check. DM Ben will draw a loot card from Nord Games’ Treasure Trove or Objects of Intrigue decks if successful. Certainly, this dead dude won’t need those valuables, right?

Cave-dig 6: Hook Horror. They’ve found another large monstrosity that simply isn’t in the mood to see them. He’s a mean one: AC 15, HP 75, Hooks x2 (+6 att, 2d6+4 damage). Its Keen Hearing ability means the monster will hear the players coming, and anyone who fails a DC 14 Perception check will suffer a surprise round (random, up to two targets).

We’re using a WizKids pre-painted Hook Horror miniature from their Aberrations set.

Cave-dig 7: Empty/Fallen Adventurer. Sadly, the players come across another victim. DM Ben will use different 3D-printed pieces to represent a fallen adventurer. Same as above regarding DM Ben allowing someone to do an Investigation DC 12 check. DM Ben will draw a loot card from Nord Games’ Treasure Trove or Objects of Intrigue decks if successful.

This Long Dead Adventurer scatter terrain piece is a free download on Things from Curufin.

Cave-dig 8: Amber Lotus Flower Trap. This time, they find a beautiful flower twisted within a bunch of roots. It has a defense mechanism that sprays super bright and sticky yellow pollen in a 40-foot cone. Each creature in that area must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or fall unconscious (for one encounter).

The stunned victim also sustains 1d8+2 damage. If you save, you don’t take damage, but your armor is contaminated and is too itchy to wear. Affected players must remove their armor immediately and clean it during their next long rest. Other cures include Prestidigitation or Lesser Restoration.

This miniature is by Loot Studios and their Faewood Haven set.

Cave-dig 9: Dead End. No matter how hard you dig, there’s just no way to press through this path. Once again, everyone has to make a DC 12 Survival check or suffer one level of exhaustion after this disappointing exploration setback.

We’re utilizing Dwarven Forge for the hallway and rock rubble pile here to block off a passageway.

Cave-dig 10: Rust monsters. We featured these little buggers in a previous DnD blog post. The 5e stats (AC 14, HP 27, Att +3/1d8+1 damage) don’t zing as much as the Rust Metal Antennae ability will.

We’re using a WizKids pre-painted Rust Monster miniature from their Sand and Stone set.

Remember, the challenge rating per encounter isn’t meant to be hard or even medium in nature. They must continue their rolls until their d20 lands on a way out. DM Ben will give them just one long rest to start the table, but then that’s it until they exit the Fissure.

Next time, we’ll do part two of our Cavern Escape d20 random table!

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It’s not a stretch to think there’s a shared wall in a cavern that, if discovered, can lead to a surprising way out of trouble. That’s the story hook we’re going for here, and 3DRPG will introduce a few articles this week that show how we plan on making this all happen.

A quick reminder to new readers that we are playing D&D Beyond’s 5e free Acquisitions Incorporated module for both our home and office campaigns. We’ve inserted a lot of home-brewed content and have no plans to slow that content aspect down.

Early in the module, the players must inspect a large sinkhole that appeared in Waterdeep after a series of earthquakes. Once they complete all the encounters, the module tells them to turn around and exit the Fissure. That is a bit of a thud in DM Ben’s mind. He wanted a more intriguing departing encounter that also introduced one of his first homebrewed NPCs (Ewan McHook).

The players will ultimately detect the shared wall by rolling on a d20 Events Table. There will be more to come on that later this week. However, for today, let’s assume they have completed that challenge and broken through to the seaside storage room.

We’re pulling several different scatter terrain pieces from our DnD terrain library, including wall/floor tiles and wooden door by Hirst Arts, tarped cargo by EC3D Designs, a set of sacks and fish baskets by Cast n Play, and then a couple of ruined terrain tiles by Milestone Heroes.

The storage room will be eerily quiet and dark, but the faint sounds of the ocean can be heard through the thin wooden door at the top of the stairs. DM Ben will allow for a quick investigation check of the crates so they can get their location bearings. However, shortly thereafter, they will hear a loud voice coming from beyond the door. “Shamus! Where are you? Go tie that boat off; the wind is picking up!”

The players will be super curious and ultimately go to the top of the stairs and peer out. They will see a young boy named Shamus entertaining himself with a ball and sorta hiding from his chore-tasking father. He will spot the party member who opened the door and playfully roll the ball to them.

If the player rolls it back and charms the boy to keep quiet (DC 12 but advantage if they roll the ball back), he winks and runs off before he gets in trouble from his Dad, Ewan McHook.

This is the players’ chance to exit the Fissure without being detected (as they have a target on their back from impersonating the original adventurers hired to clear it out).

Sadly, Shamus ultimately becomes one of the captured kiddos by the Night Hag, so he will definitely reappear in the story. See?! Our home-brewed encounter is much more engaging and introduces new NPCs and a storyline.

Until next time!

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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!

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