Full admission: We went a little overboard for a time as we tried to grab as many hybrid creature miniatures as possible for our 3D printer. We stumbled across a few mutated sculpts by the sensational Schlossbauer, and then our obsession with these lab experiments just grew and grew.

Now, DM Ben isn’t a huge fan of Marvel, but the Thor Dark World movie struck a chord with him. The reason is that the end credits had this magnificent scene that teased The Collector. He was mesmerized by the concept and all those cool and mysterious things he saw in all those cages. This is no surprise since we often draw passion for our hobbies from television and movies.

Our free download comes courtesy of the Thingiverse platform. Yes, their website can be very hit or miss, but you’ll find some hidden gems if you’re patient enough to do your searches. But, hey, that’s what 3DRPG is for – we find the best DnD prints, so you don’t have to, right?

Well, things took a turn at press time, as their website appears to have significant issues. Alas, we can’t access our saved library and properly attribute this fun 3D print. It’s probably some temporary Gremlins, so if you search “Hammerhead shark” later on, this print will probably pop up.

Anyway, here’s the finished resin miniature painted by resident brush meister Kimmy Utah! It’s perfect. Can’t you feel this dripping wet big fella lumbering towards ya on land?! We sure can. Kim got the feet and skin spot on. We also loved her little black accents here and there. We learn so much every time she sends us a freshly painted box.

The bigger question is how do we incorporate this freak of nature into one’s DnD campaign. Here’s DM Ben’s plan of attack:

• Someone in Waterdeep is doing illegal animal mutations.
• Even worse, someone else is buying them up.
• Omin Dran doesn’t like the rumors & wants this science fair to end.

The big break in the case will come when a series of these experiments is smuggled onto The Forgotten Rails and is now making its way toward our own home-brewed version of The Collector. Even cooler, we have two hovertrain cars by Aether Studios that will work for the gameboard: a prison train car or a livestock train car. We’re pretty stoked to build this one-shot encounter out with y’all.

With a few hybrid minis and one hovertrain car done, we still have several 3D prints to finish up here. However, we’re working towards an end-game goal and thought sharing this build with you would be fun. Schlossbauer even has two different hybrid swimmers if you want to keep an all-aquatic hook with or without our Collector angle.

For flexibility, DM Ben likes to have several subplot story arcs in play for any given campaign. 3D printing is especially fun when the finished products open the door to numerous wild and crazy encounters! And what’s more crazy than a shark walking towards you on land?!

Until next time!

The post Print Bait appeared first on 3DRPG.

Again, hopefully, both of our 3D-printed wandering monster tables (Dungeon Delve or Wilderness Trek) are getting plenty of use in your home game and you can just slot this new RPG idea in place of a previously rolled one. Or, just use it as a one-shot encounter next time you want to slip in a curse (pun intended).

Our free STL model comes from BigMrTong on Thingiverse. We don’t know much about this particular 3D-print creator, but he seems to enjoy making sculpts of popular movie references. Regardless, he’s carved out quite a niche with a series of banana-related miniatures (like dozens of ’em), so check out his extensive collection of free STLs.

His miniature is officially called “Banana Knight Toilet Paper Hoarding Idiot,” and we just had to find a way to include him in our D&D game. 3DRPG is a place of joy, so we don’t focus on all those other “life things” that make DnD such a great escape. However, there’s no denying that 2020 was a year the world will never forget, and sometimes, the best way to deal with times like those is to inject a little humor.

Resident painter Kimmy Utah worked her brush magic again with another perfect paint job! Plus, we just can’t get over his feet—they look so good! Seems like this Banana Knight isn’t skipping any leg days at the gym, either.

So now the big question is how on earth do we integrate a toilet paper-carrying fruit man into our 3D-printed Dungeon Delve Wandering Monster Table? A curse makes the most sense here because no one wants to look like a life-sized banana!

DM Ben thinks the group picked the wrong spot to rest as a once brave knight took his last breath here. His most hated enemy, a wizard, defeated him in this very room. Not done with him, the evil spellcaster decided to turn his lifeless body into a toilet paper-toting banana. Vicious.

Here’s how this encounter could play out. The player on watch suddenly sees a knight in plate armor appear. It says nothing, but a painfully sad expression forms over his helm. DM Ben asks the player to make a Con save (DC 18). If the save is made, the ghost simply disappears. Encounter over.

However, if it’s a failed save, the ghost’s expression suddenly changes to a grin, and it flies right through the player before disappearing! Then, a brief gust of wind swirls around all the players (breaking the long rest and granting one level of exhaustion).

As for the effect, user Bubo Mortis on Milestone Heroes discord helped DM Ben brainstorm on how this curse might go, “I look at that miniature, and I just can’t get past the thought of a Schadenfreude theme.”

Bubo cleverly suggested the next combat could go something like this:

Banana Player: “I swing my sword at the bandit! My attack roll succeeds, and I rolled 14 for damage!”

DM: As the next opponent and you perform your martial ballet, the monster slips on a stray piece of toilet paper, twists his ankle, and falls. Your sword swings harmlessly over its head, but its fall is unfortunate as it takes the point of your… ahem, false stem straight to his nose. The on-the-nose pain and subsequent embarrassed pratfall results in the opponent taking 14 points of damage.”

Whenever a Schadenfreude attack lands, a new CON save (DC 12) is triggered to see if the banana form transfers to the impacted target. If that target fails the DC, the curse transfers. If the target succeeds, the curse stays with the attacking player (until the next combat hit to whomever).

In addition to the ongoing humiliation, the player’s attack damage will be reduced by 1d8+1. This is quilted, two-ply toilet paper, after all!!

DM Ben can’t wait to see all his player’s reactions when the affected player’s beloved miniature on the game table is suddenly swapped to this beauty! It should get a roar from everyone at the table…except the affected gamer of course.

The post Going Bananas! appeared first on 3DRPG.

Don’t forget about those smaller, hobbyist creators out there. Their passion for the hobby is often evident in their work. And best of all, they usually offer a lot of their snazzy STLs for free (our favorite price tag). This time, we have Bill Reaser to thank for this great rope bridge print! His STL file fit snuggly on our Prusa MK4 and it came out aces.

So much great detail here, right? The long wood beams, the metal bindings, the rickety ropes and posts – just so darn good! We wanted to convey our Troll Brdige is certainly sturdy enough for travelers, horses, and carts to cross but one better grab onto those rope handrails if there’s an incident.

And of course, a rope bridge is always gonna tug at our hearts because of that epic Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom “OMG” scene.

Here’s an overhead shot of the planned encounter gameboard. We’re not going for a crazy distance (although each “d20 square” will count at 10 ft. of movement rather than the usual DnD 5e of 5 ft. DM Ben has also placed numerous skeleton piles to illustrate to would-be crossers to tread lightly. The goal here is to remind the players that negotiating the toll with this hired Troll Hunter guardian is muuuuch better move than trying to fight past him.

In terms of the height of the bridge, DM Ben set it at 30 ft-ish (as anything over 60 ft+ can be lethal). We want any inadvertent falling damage (1d6 per 10 ft) to just sting a bit. Plus, our Troll needs to get under the bridge in one round of movement if need be.

As we’ve described in earlier posts, our Troll Terry requires particular objects as a two-way, free pass. It could be anything with a double letter including a left bOOT, a kiSS, a dEEr carcass, a coPPER piece, etc. That’s his quirk.

DM Ben was perusing his terrain library for some accent pieces and found a couple more subtle hints:

• a mushrOOm (for his soup)
• a buFFalo hide (to keep him warm)
• a wagon whEEL (to play with)
• a horseshoe from their hOOf (for good luck)

Our mighty bridge sentry requires a fee from each player so there needs to be lots of apparent options once they figure out the reward riddle here.

We had to ensure the gameboard made it clear that there was no real easy way to sneak around the bridge itself. The natural terrain is simply too dense. The thick forest barbs, murky swamp water, and rocky terrain would just be too brutal to try and traverse. Even the wildlife doesn’t have an easy route to take…things aren’t looking good for our reindEEr either.

Lastly, DM Ben dropped a little treasure chest on the troll’s end of the bridge. This is just a tease to the party for any future interactions or trickery attempts. The funny part is all that chest contains are copper pieces, silly trinkets, and lots of old left boots (for the potential “Cobbler Cahoots” sidequest).

Now who is going to try and cross first? The Paladin, the Barbarian, the Rogue, the Wizard, Brave Sir Robin?

The post Terrain Tuesday! Bridging the Gap! appeared first on 3DRPG.

So not only can we not confirm the original download source, but we can’t even tell you exactly what this is. We just know it came from Thingiverse (click for DM Ben’s collection) but files notoriously come and go from their platform without any notice. Such is life, ey?

We think it’s some sort of Dwarven Loamship and it could be from Arian Croft of Pocket Tactics (aka DutchMogul). So our apologies if we’re mistaken but everyone should still check out his maker page as he has all sorts of free tantalizing STLs to download for your next D&D game.

Now how on earth would you incorporate this mechanical digger into a future D&D encounter? Well, we all know Dwarves and Gnomes are never satisfied and just want more and more…and more treasure. So, they’ll whip up all sorts of contraptions to dig deep for rare and valuable minerals.

Well, sounds like a fun outdoor encounter between city destinations if you ask DM Ben. Maybe the party here’s loud mechanical drilling noises up ahead and they decide to check it out. The group might come across this broken down, abandoned machine that is 50+ feet deep in the ground, and now they just have to know what this crazy looking was looking for…is there anyone inside this wacky contraption?! Even better, maybe the Dwarven digger is being ransacked and the party comes to his aide in exchange for a cut of his final loot.

DM Ben is going to use this as a piece of scatter terrain for one of the early encounters inside Wizards of the Coast’s Dragon of Icespire Peak adventure. There’s a fun Dwarven Excavation Quest that could use this mighty mechanical beast.

How might you put this one in your own game?!

The post Friday Fun Day! Time to Drill Til Ya Can’t Drill No More appeared first on 3DRPG.

Still, don’t let our missing attribution spoil the party on such a great print! There’s a whole bunch of gear goodness to unpack here. You almost certainly have questions like: why would there be mechanical objects in D&D or what place do bombs and bullets have in your RPG campaign?

Gnomes! That’s why! These rough-and-tumble tinkerers will show you the way to an abundance of bits and bobs that require your immediate attention. D&D even has a whole character class dedicated to them: the Artificer. It’s really a fun build!

Maybe the gnome built this flying machine on a contract with a nasty Gnoll clan but monsters took the final product without ever paying! Now it’s up to your party to collect the gnome’s fee and plane. Or, maybe he agreed to build a craft that couldn’t be detected magically and he’s overpromised…so now he needs the party to quickly acquire one last critical component in order to hopefully get this contraption to fly (and save his own skin).

Of course, those are just a couple of nifty ways you could incorporate this old warbird into your game! The story hooks and scatter terrain for steampunk are endless!

The post 3D Thursday! Air Print appeared first on 3DRPG.