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Longtime 3DRPGers are probably aware of our ongoing weekly Hovertrain series, where we’ve built up a pretty fun list of train-raiding pirates. Our team is all about modularity and reusability, as it’s very important to us to get as much joy as possible from beloved DnD 3D prints. So, if we’ve already gone through all the trouble to make 25+ pirate miniatures, they should also be able to sail the high seas.

Today’s post is actually our second completed 3D-printed boat and is the smaller of the two. So, we do have an impressive larger boat by Aether Studios, but we’ll feature that one in a future TTRPG post. DM Ben wants the larger ship to belong to the dastardly pirates, and today’s smaller ship to belong to, or be occupied by, our adventurers. Some ship-to-ship battles or chases are going to be some extra fantastic RPG fun!

Enough of the chitchat, ya lily-livered gamers; let’s get to today’s featured 3D print! Today’s impressive STL comes from EC3D Designs and one of their beautiful ships from their must-own Depths of the Savage Atoll Kickstarter. It breaks down into several playable spaces and comes off your FDM printer like a dream.

Our DnD blog pics will probably make this ship look bigger than it is, so don’t let that intimidate you. This one measures 15 d20 squares long, 30 squares wide, and 60 squares tall. We like to give you its dimensions in d20 squares so you can see how much of your gridded playmatte it’s going to take up on your table.

You’re going to love how much space is on this DnD ship for your players to maneuver their miniatures on, with enough room for some hand-to-hand combat. Now, before we showcase all the levels, let’s cover the paint steps that novice painter DM Ben used here.

• Prime Flat Black | Slapchop Base.
• Core Wood: GSW Skeleton Brown + Strong Tone Wash.
• Wood Accents: ASP Dark Wood.
• Sails: ASP Pallid Bone + Brown Wash.
• Nets: FAN Uniform Gray.
• Windows: FAN Mithril.
• Lady at the Bow: FAN Ancient Stone + Citadel Athonian Camoshade Wash.
• Metal Bits: ASP Enchanted Steel.

We also circled back and did light drybrush dabs of black in all the shadowy spots. The only kicker here is that we used a fancier hobby paint on the core wood. As many of you know, FDM prints can really soak up your pricier paint, so we consumed a decent portion of a larger 2-ounce bottle. No big whoop, as that costs us about $7 with shipping from Green Stuff World (which ships to us in the United States from beautiful Spain).

Starting with the top deck, you’ll see that this one 3D prints into several easy pieces. Please note the sails are also their own pieces, but we left those in so you can better visualize everything.

From there, you can go below deck, and there’s a decent amount of playable room here too. However, DM Ben will just sprinkle in a few pieces of scatter terrain, like maybe a couple of cannons or some Living Bombs standing at the ready. Any larger combat encounter, though, will be zoomed out and placed on a Dwarven Forge Lowtown planked Terrain Tray, as DM Ben cannot stand tight spaces for combat. It’s such a buzz kill.

We have some ideas on how to turn that zoomed-out space so it still feels like you’re still in a ship, so stay tuned for those future posts.

Here’s a zoomed-in shot of the cannon portals. DM Ben did some extra black drybrushing around them to make it look like plenty of cannonballs have been shot through ’em. Apologies for not including a cannon here. DM Ben left that particular firepower on his kitchen counter. We’ll show you how those look within in a future ship post.

There are two platforms off each mast that are ideal for placing a party member on guard duty, fighting off a hungry creature in the sky, or for some hair-raising combat. The two nets on each side actually clip the ship in place, keeping the entire boat firmly together as needed. The design team thought of everything here.

Honestly, there are too many details to count here. This skull design located on the stern of the boat is a perfect example. So frickin’ good, right?!! You could even populate this ship with an all-undead crew to pay homage to that design detail! DM Ben used that stronger ASP Dark Wood as his accent color, so the lighter wood would make this seafaring beauty pop!

Lastly, let’s end with this stunning lady at the bow of the ship, who has a mystery all to her own. Certainly the name of your boat will have to have something to do with her and the skull at the stern, right?! DM Ben dabbed some more black here and there to really make the stone look weathered. Your party is comprised of seasoned adventurers, so your ship has been around the block!

EC3D Designs calls this particular STL from the Kickstarter, the “Devil’s Scorn.” Not bad. But we’ll come up with something that amuses us a bit more.

Until next time!

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Whether it’s a freshly printed miniature or terrain piece, we really try to do bulk painting for our tomb pieces because they share so many core colors. Sand is everywhere in Egyptian desert themes, so efficiency is key, as there are only so many precious hobby hours in any given joyous weekend.

Let’s start with our nasty crouching tiger. This sneaky Scorpion Cultist is by the masterful mz4250 and is a free download. There’s no denying this one absolutely belongs in your new tomb or even in a nearby town (because the adventurers are getting too close for comfort).

DM Ben was pressed into service for these guys due to timing and backlog with good ol’ resident painter Kimmy Utah. These 3D-printed miniatures are a bit on the smaller side, so there were definitely some nerves going into this paint sesh.

• Prime Flat White.
• Skin: FAN Barbarian Flesh.
• Necklace: GSW Tropical Turquoise.
• Cloth: FAN Holy White (several coats).
• Cape: ASP Blood Red + Red Wash.
• Wash: Soft Tone.

Basically, these were the same colors we used on those creepy Tomb Servants. He just had different angles to contend with.

As longtime 3DRPGers know, Aether Studios is our official terrain tile partner for our ongoing Beneath the Sands series. And we’re going to share some basic, yet very important tiles that you’ll want to 3D print a mittful of.

Let’s start with this special request we floated to the President of Aether Studios on their very friendly Discord channel many moons ago. This 6×6 d20 floor tile is sooooooooooooooo helpful. You’re going to want to run off and batch paint a bunch of these critical tiles. Now if only we could get Dwarven Forge to see the light and do something similiar for all their terrain themes, right?

Also, these smaller 4×2 rectangular floor tiles are incredibly handy when you build out your tomb rooms without a view. We would recommend batch printing and painting a bunch of these very handy Egyptian tiles, too. For all these floor tiles, we suggest using our tried-and-true (and very easy) TTRPG desert paint scheme.

Just as important as the key floor tiles, you want a big bunch of wall tiles. Thankfully, Aether Studios knows how important these tiles are to your gameboard builds, so they include all sorts of amazing variations in every desert-themed set.

DM Ben paints these mostly the same way each time, using Dwarven Forge Pokorny Paint Deep Lava to get that weathered red look you see so often in actual historic tomb photos. If you want to mix those tiles up once in a while, add in some ASP Hoplite Gold to some of the awesome wall decor pieces.

Also, they have a plain version (that isn’t totally smooth – thank goodness) and these really handy corner pieces so all your tomb rooms just aren’t square boxes. It’s a personal call whether you want to add different wall accent colors to the hieroglyphic walls and some of the slick symbols. DM Ben just does them randomly to a few pieces if time allows.

Until next time!

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“You create a floating, spectral weapon within range that lasts for the duration or until you cast this spell again. When you cast the spell, you can make a melee spell attack against a creature within 5 feet of the weapon.” So good! Like, if you don’t love Spiritual Weapon as a DnD spell, then we don’t wanna know ya.

Our featured creator is good ol’ Toadstool Weaver, who we discovered doing some random searches on Cults3D.com. By the grace of Pelor, what a blessing this DnD discovery has been for our 3D printer. He’s got some really clever, unique STLs for your TTRPG game boards. Many of his fun designs are free, but of course, kind tips are encouraged.

Today, we’re sharing several of his humorous Spiritual Weapon STLs and think you’ll be really jazzed to add them to your traveling hobby case.

So, the first two fab versions we want to show off are this Frying Pan and Spiritual Drum. That epic Frying Pan is definitely going to be our go-to choice when we cast that spell. The Drum is also darn cool because players could cast it to signal a portion of the party if they’re going to try an ambush, or even to cause a diversion (since the spell has a range of 60 feet and a bonus action can move it 20 more feet).

Of course, the form of a Spiritual Weapon is just for flavor, as the spell damage will always be the same (1d8 + your spellcasting ability modifier/depending on what level you cast it at). Still, it’s insanely fun to swap out different versions of the weapon each time you cast it.

Now let’s talk about the simple paint steps:

• Flat Black | Slachop Base.
• Layer ASP Magic Blue.
• Drybrush white.
• Edge with Frost Blue.

Easy peasy. DM Ben decided to paint the weapons in their normal colors so that it wasn’t just a big blob of blue. Besides, in Critical Role, Jester’s fabulous lollipop Spiritual Weapon isn’t all purple.

We polled our project manager on the team about what her Spiritual Weapons would be in the form of, and she said, giggling, “How about some chopsticks…or a whisk?!” So, there ya go, Toadstool Weaver – you have a new challenge!

Until next time!

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We’re on our forty-third post in this sandy series, and we haven’t done too many buildings, so this week’s build gave us all the right feels. There were some nerves about how these might turn out, but come on, it’s not like we’re making a pristine palace. Desert buildings are supposed to be a bit messy and consequently, are very forgiving to a novice painter like DM Ben.

The need for some above-ground, city-style buildings makes sense, as our players will certainly need to stock up before they travel and enter their newly discovered tomb. Even better, they might be able to come and go from their new discovery, and then this sort of market square makes even more sense. Besides, so many cool things can happen in a market, including new, engaging NPCs and enticing side quests.

If you’re not already familiar with Cast n Play’s amazing Terrain Essentials monthly Patreon, we can only assume you have been locked in a shed for the past year. Their DnD STLs are so darn good, you guys! They are just stuffed with a ton of eye-popping details. We’re featuring two of their scatter terrain pieces from the must-own Faraway Lands Desert Winds set.

The first building we got table-ready is their nifty Goldsmith Shop. Of course, the players are going to need a spot to cash in some of their tomb treasure gems and artifacts, so this building (and future NPC) are going to be perfect for our desert campaign.

Lots of street wares dangle from this building’s exterior, and it also features the classic Arabian roof architecture. This TTRPG scatter terrain also has a spot to hold one or two miniatures, which would be a fun way to reveal the game’s newest NPC.

DM Ben knows how forgiving our classic Reaper Paint Scheme can be, so even though there were smaller details here, he wasn’t worried about messing this one up.

• Prime Flat White.
• Clay Pots: Pokorny Paints Deep Lava.
• Copper Plates: ASP Talos Bronze + Black drybrush.
• Wood: ASP Dark Wood.
• Rope: ASP Pallid Bone.
• Curtains: FAN Wolf Gray + Blue Wash.
• Roof Dome: ASP Aztec Gold + Agrax Earthshade Wash.
• Rug: FAN Magecast Magenta + Purple Wash.

We picked up that weathered ornate gold technique from our favorite YouTuber, Miniature Hobbyist. Give it a try. You’ll love the results.

Now, let’s kick it up a notch with this amazing Moonlit Dune Lounge! Every explorer needs a breather and a spot to rest up from the scorching sun. And this STL is the perfect choice. Imagine all the side missions that your adventuring party could grab here! We actually featured the stairs in a previous Tomb Thursday post, so we didn’t include those today.

This one comes in several pieces, but it’s rather easy to assemble. Our roof came out a little uneven, but we never sweat that kinda stuff. We call those “charming consequences.” All the same paint steps used on the first piece are applied here as well. DM Ben just tried GSW Red Opulence with a Red Wash for some of the cushions. We’ve gotten pretty good at palm trees, so you can check that DnD post out here.

This desert STL is much larger and comes in numerous pieces, but Cast n Play provides small notches that make assembly a snap. A nifty trick to hide those glue seams is to use AK Interactive Desert Sand Acrylic. It goes on easily, and then we just apply a little Reaper paint over it to make that sand effect match the rest of our overall paint scheme.

We’re pondering slipping some small magnets into the building and roof so each roof sorta clicks into place, but we ran out of time this week to try that idea out. Still, these new Egyptian city structures are sure to be a big hit and definitely help immerse our players into this sandy campaign.

Until next time!

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Even though today’s STL is made for Hovertrain rail cars, this rapidfire magical monstrosity can be used in all sorts of DnD encounters. And that’s the type of dual-use 3D print that all the gold in the kingdom can’t buy. So, keep your head down, as we’re going to spotlight this 3D print from both sides.

The game concept here is simple. There will be certain high-value facilities and critical infrastructure that The Forgotten Rails must protect at all costs. Construct soldiers are great, but their combat intelligence isn’t the greatest, they still can’t take out large numbers quickly, and they’re rather pricey to produce. New tech takes time to evolve. Remember your first computer and cell phone? Not great, right? So, the 3M  founders decided to create some purely horrific machinery capable of firing a high volume of shots in a short time.

Today’s creator clearly shared some of these same “bring in the heavy artillery” vibes with us while designing this epic DnD Arcane Blaster scatter terrain piece. While gleefully scrolling through Toadstool Weaver’s slick library of free STLs (tips encouraged), this TTRPG rendering just jumped out at us. DM Ben recalls letting out a literal gasp. We rushed it to the slicer as if we were performing a critical organ transplant.

Imagine the players’ reactions when they see this mechanized terror for the first time:

• WTF is that thing?!
• Is that a medieval chain gun?!
• Well, whatever is here must be pretty important

What do you think your own game group would say? The aniticipation is killing DM Ben.

We’ve come up with a really solid metallic paint scheme, so DM Ben didn’t mind applying those same paints he used for our previously featured heavy Hovertrain chains. He added some FAN True Copper, ASP Dark Wood, and a few different FAN blue bottles to complete the overall look. We wanted this heavy machinery to have that same mighty, steel-armored vibe.

Also, we envisioned a surprise encounter in which these mighty arcane blasters are mostly initially hidden from plain sight, and then their vicious turrets would suddenly rise from the ground to deploy and lock onto unsuspecting targets. For that visible circular slot, you could cover that with a clump of green sponge tree flock if its housing mechanism is first spotted by the party. It’s another DM Ben’s classic mini/scatter terrain switcheroo!

Our first 3D print was upscaled to entirely cover a 2×2 set of d2o squares as DM Ben wanted this to look super imposing. He envisions these as part of a villain’s hideout or a crime boss’s base defense. He also superglued the turret to the base.

Still, he wanted to see what the artist’s default scale was, which, while still taking up a 2×2 space, left some wiggle room around the edges. With this second version, DM Ben is also leaving the top portion detached so he can swivel and point it in whatever direction makes the most sense. He can always reach for some sticky blue tack if he needs to temporarily secure a gun to its base.

We’ll use these two smaller Arcane Blasters for our Hovertrain cars. They can sit on any of the Aether Studio Hovertrain roof options, on a flat car, or even inside a traincar (peeking out through a window or cargo door). This use-case is one of the reasons we want a set of arcane gatling guns that can quickly swivel to counter multiple approaching threats.

Toadstool Weaver even crafted a DnD 5e stat block for his maniacal Arcane Blaster, which is something we’ve mostly seen STL Miniatures do for its 3D prints. Our screenshot is a little tricky to read, but don’t fret; a crisp image is included in his file download.

DM Ben plans to somewhat tailor its stats to the players’ level at the time of the encounter. He loves the 20-foot radius but doesn’t think it should be limited to up to three creatures (which could be due to its thumping damage). Instead, he thinks it would be way more fun if he pulled out 12-20 different d20s and had each arcane shot deal 1d8 damage while rolling a +6-ish to hit on each blue bullet. There’ll be some fun experimenting with this one ’til we find its sweet spot in stats.

Until next time!

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Let’s all take a gleeful exhale because we’ve just survived another workweek, and now a fab hobby weekend awaits, with plenty of time to do some 3D printing and painting! We’ve got some simple yet impactful scatter terrain pieces that we think can help elevate your TTRPG encounters and further immerse your players in the game. Remember, it’s often the little things that separate a good gameboard from a great one.

Disclaimer: As usual with this series, we do our best to identify the maker of each 3D print, but some are pretty generic. We often 3D print things and don’t get to paint them for 12-18+ months. That sorta delay between hobby steps just makes it tough at times.

Let’s start with an STL creator that just gets us. Their ingenuity and attention to detail always warm our souls. This Armor Rack from their Crimson Sand Arena set is a prime example of Loot Studios’ marvelous vision. Like, how can you not love this one?!

Just look how well this 3D print took to paint. We love, love when STLs have all sorts of texture, as the model always comes out so darn good. This particular set of armor has such a Gladiator movie vibe to it, right?! We also adore the Army Painter line of metallics, and we’re gaining a lot of confidence with them.

DM Ben’s paint selections included:

• Prime Flat Black | Slapchop.
• Leather: ASP Hardened Leather.
• Metals: FAN Heavy Metal and Plate Mail Metal.
• Accent: FAN Greedy Gold
• Wood: GSW Skeleton Brown.
• Wash: Soft Tone.

We can use this one in so many scenarios, and that sorta re-playability is always a big hit for a DM.

Next up is this imposing Female Sphinx from Brite Minis, which gave us a lot of statue feels. We probably could have saved these first two 3D prints for our ongoing Tomb Thursday series, but DM Ben plans to utilize them in a variety of DnD encounters.

DM Ben has been trying to come up with some stone paint scheme variants, but he just hasn’t fallen in love with any particular one for statues quite yet. For this one, he just kept poking at it. Starting with a slapchop base, then doing some light grey, black, and tan drybrushing, before finishing it off with a Strong Tone wash to get ‘er nice and grimey. We’re digging this one.

Now, we did just get our mitts on Green Stuff World’s line of water-soluble patina bottles (which we first saw in action by beloved YouTuber Miniature Hobbyist). However, we’re just too intimidated by this new product, so we’ll need to muster more courage first.

Next up is this subtle yet immersive miner’s setup. Too generic here for us to recall or search for its creator, but nearly all the major STL players make this type of scatter terrain piece. Still, you gotta love this one, right? There’s plenty of intrigue associated with this piece. What’s in the crate and what are they mining for? Every Dungeon Master should have something like this one in their scatter box.

Lastly, we have a TTRPG 3D print that is just dripping with character. Even better, DM Ben is super comfortable painting this kind of piece. He’s really gotten the hang of water effects and especially fishy sorta stuff. Be sure to pick up a jar of AK Interactive Wet Effects to really elevate your water-ish STLs. If we had to guess, our hunch is this one is by Cast n Play. So fun!

Until next time!

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We had a rousing game on Friday night after the ol’ work whistle sounded. The office crew was pretty stoked as they were starting a new chapter and story arc that included placing our first Hovertrain on the game board. So much fun, you guys! And as usual, the group threw DM Ben a curveball, so let’s see how he’s going to adapt for future NPC scenarios.

Per DM Ben’s last game day prep list, our adventurers returned rescued child Delilah to her creepy, rich Uncle Lord Galobax Dugalle, who resides in the fanciest suburb of Waterdeep. The players stopped at the Charlotte’s Web Inn to get cleaned up and hang their hats after a long travel through The High Forest.

The group knew they couldn’t just waltz right into the fanciest part of the city without some new, clean threads, so in a wise game move that honestly surprised DM Ben, they asked for the nearest tailor shop to get some new duds! The Paliden even utilized his disguise kit to look like a fancy Noble.

Just one small problem, DM Ben didn’t anticipate them coming up with a solid plan and had zilch prepared for this sudden wardrobe-change encounter. The office crew is all about grab-and-smash. Roleplaying is, frankly, quite rare with this group. Nothing wrong with that desired play style, but when they change gears so abruptly, it’s a shock.

Hence, DM Ben likes to turn the creativity tables back on the group, so he simply asked the gang what the name of the closest tailor shop was. Someone blurted out a “Stitch in Time,” and then another guy said, “Stephen Tailor is the owner” (a clear homage to Aerosmith’s Stephen Tyler, of course).

It was all theater of the mind in that encounter, but DM Ben wants to reward the group’s unexpected strategy and creativity and give them a full shop experience the next time around. He’ll also come up with a nifty quest to better immerse this new NPC.

So, let’s start with our miniature! No problemo, as good ol’ STL Miniatures had just the man we needed, thanks to their cool Fabric Seller Set.

Resident painter Kimmy Utah was our brush artist for our boisterous Waterdeep tailor, and she hit the needle on the thread, baby! We loved how our latest DnD NPC miniature came out. We actually sliced this cloth carrier a bit larger because we really frown upon smaller minis for a myriad of reasons. Due to his stride and heavy load, he ended up taking up 1×2 D20 squares. No big whoop.

Now, let’s get into setting the mood inside Stitch in Time – the best tailor shop in all of Waterdeep. DM Ben adores NPCs and all the fun interactions these creative masterpieces have with our adventuring party. Hence, he always prefers to have (1) a memorable NPC name, (2) a dazzling miniature, (3) a couple of interior store scatter pieces, and (4) a location card.

Cast n Play is picking up what we’re putting down, and they released a fab Terrain Essentials Vol II Interiors Kickstarter many moons back; it’s still one of our absolute favorites. Our two perfectly selected scatter pieces are from their wicked good Stores set.

We’ll start with these Mannequin Bits, which instantly insert the interior store vibe. Kimmy Utah colored this one, too. With our zoomed-in image, you can tell we did this one on our Prusa Mini FDM printer. In our biz, timing is everything. Often, we publish daily STL spotlights based on the needs of our own DnD campaigns, both the office game and the Fam game. However, in the early days of our 3D printing, we had only a single FDM printer, and we were running all these off like men on a mission.

The other scatter piece we picked was this fun Dress Shelf, also by Cast n Play and from that very same epic Kickstarter.  We loved the detail here and felt it was just the right size to drop into Stitch in Time!

A clean paintbrush sweep for Miss Utah today, and this was also done in FDM. Cast n Play STL files are very friendly for both FDM and Resin 3D printers. We’re always so impressed with their final files. Again, this final print was absolutely charming.

And just like that, Stitch in Time, run by the world-renowned Stephen Taylor, is open for business! DM Ben keeps an entire case just for his NPCs, so breaking them out in the game is a snap. Sometimes, though, a TTRPG dungeon master has to adapt post-sesh, bring the players’ surprise creativity to life after the fact, and simply be ready for the next encounter.

Even better, the group went to a city library to look up details on both Lord Galobax and the Night Hag, so now DM Ben needs to prep that location too! Another role-playing shock. Hence, we have to get busy creating that NPC and environment.

Until next time!

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