These days, budgets are tight everywhere, so anytime a gamer can save a few gold pieces with his hobby funds, that’s a good thing! So, let’s take a look at a few more products we recently ordered and tried out for ourselves. Hopefully, a few of these helpful hobby finds might grab your eye!

Let’s start with an unsung hero: Double-Sided Adhesive Black Tape! It’s the perfect temporary adhesive for temporarily holding your miniatures in place on your painting handles! They’re just strong enough to hold your 3D-printed miniatures or scatter terrain in place and can be slipped off using a simple utility knife. The stickiness is so good that a single square can go a couple of times before even being replaced.

A 100-square pack was a mere $2.39. Now, one thing you need to brace yourself with Temu is that listings come and go, so this exact product is currently unavailable to reorder, but there’s always an extremely similiar one popping up. The site does a great job giving you those similiar links.

Do you like our little makeshift paint handles btw?! Just grab a cork from an empty wine bottle (challenge accepted), poke a longer nail into it, and glue a base to it. Works perfectly.

And if you’re not a drinker like DM Ben, you can snag a mitful of ’em for a mere $5.50, which is a fraction of what Amazon would charge you. That handy box cutter tool will only run you $1.40 (for four). Naturally, we could 3D-print a paint holder, but we have a mile-long list of other things to slice right now.

Next, check out this really nice grass-tuft variety pack! This 120-piece set includes a variety of grass shades, and they’re just the right size for 25mm miniatures and their flocked bases. This only set us back $4.98, and it will take us plenty of time to use them all up. Compare that to a 77-piece pack from other retailers, and you know you’re scoring a deal.

For clear bases, something YouTube’s Miniature Hobbyist got us hooked on, you can pick up a 100-piece pack of 25mm stands for like $8. Now compare that to the Litko bases we were buying on Amazon – $12.99 for a 25-pack. Yikes.

You do have to use some tape or the edge of a utility knife to remove the factory film from each base, but that minor step takes all of two seconds. Also, it’s a heartbreaker that they don’t offer the smaller 20 mm-sized base, but maybe some will show up on Temu in the future.

Lastly, let’s talk brushes. You need to tread carefully here, as quality brushes are very hard to discern on Temu. But, hey, that’s what we’re here for, right?! To us, weight is very important for a brush’s overall comfort factor. Thankfully, these AVOWIT brushes were surprisingly good. We got an 11-pack for $4.95 and used them over numerous paint sessions with no significant wear and tear.

The other brushes 100-pack for $3.91 are black nylon brushes and are just too light, but they still serve a great purpose! We use them to apply washes or messy PVA glue (without worrying about tossing one out after use).

Pretty good, right?! Gotta face the reality right now that our dollars aren’t going as far as they used to, and we’re getting lower quantities of everything on top of all these crazy prices. This sorta unpredictable economy just requires a few good wisdom rolls for now, is all.

And no worries, as we’re already preparing our next Temu Finds article for you.

Until next time!

The post Temu Time, Part Deux! appeared first on 3DRPG.

Now, it could be that the 3DRPG team is very late to the party, and many of you are already occasionally perusing Temu for handy yet inexpensive DnD accessories. However, we have a hunch that most of you have heard the same rumors: that their pieces are incredibly small due to deceptive product photos, and the risk isn’t worth the reward. Or, you just never thought of Temu as a website a DnD gamer would ever find useful. Welp, we decided to try a few of their TTRPG offerings ourselves and share the results with y’all. We definitely don’t mind being your product tester!

We operate on a shoestring budget here in sunny Chandler, AZ, so it’s important that we don’t make illadvised DnD purchases, no matter the product type or dollar amount. This is especially true because we continuously use AnyCubic Fast-curing Resin ($16-ish a bottle) mixed with Siraya Tech Tenacious Resin ($45-ish a bottle). Those ongoing material costs add up uncomfortably fast, especially because we never sell any of our 3D prints. Hence, doing our due diligence and research is key.

So, we’ll typically buy any item in the smallest available quantity, and if we like what we see and feel when it physically arrives in our hands, we’ll reorder on a larger scale as needed.

Let’s start with this three-piece wooden door set sold by Single Door Small House. We paid $3.53, including free shipping, for these three Hobbit-style doors. These exact doors (and several other versions) are sold by many sellers, so be sure to search carefully to get the best price (but more on that later).

These DnD entrances arrived as expected, but with a few caveats: the paint job was rather light, and the backsides were not colored. Still, the overall quality was excellent. These will be handy for outdoor encounters where your adventurers have to go inspect a DnD dwelling and need to drop down a quick scene (or even a fancier one with your 3D-printed tiles).

We’ve put a couple different sized DnD miniatures next to one of the doors so you can get a better idea of this TTRPG scatter terrain’s overall scale. Also, our pics are post-paint touch-up, so here’s how we tweaked them after they arrived in our mailbox.

• Base Bricks: went back over it with ASP Runic Grey.
• Nails: touched up with Citadel Stormhost Silver.
• Put a brown wash over the wood to darken it up.
• Applied GSW Elfwood Brown on the backside.

Those super-easy paint steps took a mere five minutes, and just like that, we had three new doors to add to our RPG scatter terrain library.

There might be a couple of other variations of these doors that we’ll order later if the price is right and we need to add something to a current order to get that free shipping. Still, you have plenty of different use cases here, such as adding one of these doors to serve as a hillside or rocky burm entrance. A slammed hobbyist can do no wrong for a mere $1.18 per door here, though.

The other fab item we wanted to show off today was this set of Healing Potion Bottles sold by Magicians Home. Again, don’t worry about the vendor; focus more on the item itself. Temu’s inventory seems to change dramatically from seller to seller and from week to week. Since you will often see the same item sold by multiple vendors, always focus on the item itself and not the specific seller.

We were really concerned we were gonna get the proverbial shaft on this purchase, but those worries were quickly put to a long rest. You get four different healing potions: Healing, Greater Healing, Superior Healing, and even a Superlative Healing potion. The set includes all the necessary d4 red dice and has these cute corks and slick labels. Overall, the sizing for both the potion bottles and the dice was excellent. It’s worth noting that the containers are made of a very durable plastic, not glass.

You just don’t know what type of material and true size the item will come in, but the $10.45 price was so good that it was worth a shot. Similiar items on Etsy are easily $30+, so we wanted to try this alternative for value-sake. We were so impressed with what came in the mail that we ordered three more sets, since it’s rare for our DnD players to have only a few of these important potions in their gear. In fact, when we re-ordered, there was a different sale, and we got each set even cheaper: $7.45 each.

A couple of other answers to some common Temu questions that might be floating in your RPG head. Shipping time was solid, clocking in at 7-14 days. We’re rarely in a rush to receive something, so that timeline was more than fine for our DnD needs. Also, if they miss their promised shipping window, you typically see a $5 credit guarantee for any unexpected delays.

Even better, they have this wicked-good price match/adjustment feature on your orders page. So, we’ll usually wait about ten days, then click that button and see if Temu has found it cheaper than what we originally paid, either for the item itself or from the specific seller. We didn’t even realize this feature existed at first, and we received over $8 in store credit in less than ten minutes. The process was seamless. Amazon –  pay attention here!

Until next time!

The post Temu Time appeared first on 3DRPG.

The age of the Gnomer Tinkerer is clearly upon us, as we share a 3D print that’s sure to make Corederite mining and transporting a bit easier on the knees. This will be our first steampunk vehicle entry, and we’re jazzed to pull the cover off this component of our DnD campaigns.

Alas, we searched the Internet high and low for this 3D print’s maker and we’re just rolling snake eyes alllll morning. That’s the nature of our 3D-print hobby sometimes, though. A huge shoutout to OutkastSamurai on the Brite Minis discord for the expert sleuthing and ultimately helping us identify this pesky Steampunk print.

This 3D-print is the work of TheFreeHeathen on Cults. For whatever reason, he dubbed it “Leg Truck Simple Print” which we highly suggest he rename to something more searchable like “Steampunk Vehicle Crawler Hauler.”

When we brought this STL into our slicer, it was quite big! So, for playability, we sized it down to cover a 3×3 d20 square. DM Ben wanted a simple, single-manned steampunk vehicle with a flatbed for hauling-sake. We have a couple more gnome-tinkerer-style vehicles coming up, but let’s start small.

DM Ben grabbed a paintbrush for this one and simply used Army Painter’s fabulous metallic Speedpaints to color it up. He needs to circle back and add a soft wash so it looks a bit dirtier, like it has been put through the mining ringer, as it were.

Intentionally built to operate as a solo Construct, the driver’s cab is relatively small and will only fit a goblin or gnome driver. Several independent loaders will operate at a new mining site and deliver Corederite rocks to nearby Hovertrains for processing. The powerful hydraulic legs allow the vehicle to raise and lower as needed while maintaining a heavy load weight-wise.

Once the precious Corederite minerals are pulled from the mine and placed on these flatbeds, The Movers will remove them from the vehicle and put them on a flatbed mech transport or an industrial cargo Hovertrain car. Mover Constructs are basically forklifts for The Forgotten Rails.

There you have it, folks. After all, you can’t go industrial unless you have all your mechs in a row, right?!

Until next time!

The post Train Tuesday P70: Crawl that Haul appeared first on 3DRPG.

Hovertrains need routes to run on, and imposing new fandangled imminent domain land rules are suddenly being declared across The Sword Coast! Omin Dran’s shocking decree isn’t sitting well with some. Many of the forest’s inhabitant feel they were here first and that this roaring, arcane industrialization will destroy their way of life. Sound familiar.

This premise got DM Ben thinking. He always wanted to incorporate an old Gen Con late-night hotel movie watch into his games. We had four of us crammed in a single hotel room, and after a rousing game of D&D, we would hop back to our room and play some classic films.

We were watching James Bond’s “Diamonds Are Forever” and our convention DM (Ben’s mentor) demanded we watch it because of a gangster named Michael “Shady” Tree. You can even catch a glimpse of the following morning’s Gen Con giggles here. Well, thirteen years later, we’ve come full circle.

This encounter has been building, as previously we introduced a new home-brewed NPC: the Dwarven Path Finder. Their job is to chart routes for the Hovertrains to run on, including areas of The High Forest. Well, these innocent fellas are just trying to earn a paycheck, but Shady Tree and his Angry Acorns don’t want them anywhere near their neck of the woods.

So, we needed to 3D-print our forest fighters and turned to Knightfall Studios for help. They crafted this magnificent free Acorn Warrior STL that we instantly fell in love with. And we’re especially jazzed to introduce these new miniature monsters into our Dwarven Forge Wilderness terrain!

We printed up a starting squad of ’em over the weekend, and DM Ben took the task of coloring them up for game day. The only kicker is that the acorn’s weapon is a bit fragile and breaks easily if you’re not careful. No big whoop though as without an axe, it just looks like the angry fella will go fisticuffs on your a$$.

Usually, DM Ben wouldn’t go near anything with tiny eyes, but this model cut him slack in that regard. He just shaded the face in a lighter color so it would pop against the darker body. Easy peasy, and we think they turned out great! We’ll be sure to share some paint guide notes in a follow-up post so you can crank ’em out for your DnD campaign.

Pretty darn fun though, right?! Definitely a monster that the players won’t be expecting. And who knows, maybe they’ll negotiate and strike a deal with Shady Tree rather than fall in line with Corporate greed and destruction.

We’ll save the boss miniature for a follow-up post as we have a couple of cool 3D Prints in mind and just need to paint ’em for your reading pleasure.

Until next time!

The post Train Tuesday P66: Shady Tree & His Angry Acorns appeared first on 3DRPG.

Running into fellow travelers on a popular country road is a common DnD experience and can make for a zesty encounter. This NPC could be a vital resupply option and even provide critical mission intel to the party. DM Ben just wants to be better prepared for this type of gameplay interaction and thinks he has some great new accessories to complete his offerings.

Previously, we did a fun DnD blog post for our d20 Wilderness Wandering Monster table and introduced the world to Fenton Hindergrass. This mild-mannered, very large man walks the most popular paths around The High Forest and peddles his wares to any adventurer who wants ’em.

In that article, we provided a handy list of items he could offer the group and even found a Reddit thread d100 table for even more ideas!

• Healing Potion (50 gp)
• Restoration Scrolls (400 gp)
• Ranged Ammo (a few bolts, arrows, etc)
• Additional 50 ft of rope
• Antitoxen Vial (advantage on poison saves)
• Lock Picks/Thieves Tools (25 gp)
• Lock and Key (10 gp)
• Manacles (2 gp)
• Candles or Torches (2 cp)
• Empty Vials & Bottles (2 gp each)
• Signal Whistle (1 gp)
• Flask of Oil (1 sp) | Holy Water (25 gp)
• Flare Arrow (15 gp)
• Firecracker (2 gp) | Wind-up Toy (6 gp)
• Unique, mysterious Items (see image above)*

The players recently took a long rest, and low and behold, they drew Fenton as their next encounter. DM will have a down-and-dirty printout of this list for his players to peruse in our next session.

3DRPG is all about continuous improvement, so our next scheduled DnD session can be as fun as possible. Coincidentally, a highly anticipated Kickstarter came to our doorstep the other day, and one of those RPG accessories is the perfect fit for ol’ Fenton.

Worlds at a Glance: 5E tools to describe towns, shops, and NPCs was a highly successful Kickstarter campaign in 2024. The thought and detail they put into their DnD 5e supplements are top-notch. Our favorite is the Towns & Villages Shop Cards. No more frantic book table searches that bring your game to a screeching halt! These TTRPG item cards are simply perfect.

These shop cards are of the highest quality and will save any DM a ton of time. You get two copies of each card (80 cards in all) to pass the applicable shop’s available wares around the table. We just can’t say enough good things about these various shop cards (including Black Market, Harbor, Tavern, Inn, Jeweler, Potion Shop, and on and on and on).

In addition to our home-brewed curated list above, he will have the items on the five General Shop cards. DM Ben will create a house rule where any d20 roll of 1-3 means a previous customer beat the player to that item.

You have noticed all those papers bursting out of Fenton’s oversized backpack. DM Ben wanted to have some fun with our Wandering Merchant miniature by Crippled God Foundry and include some one-time spell scrolls in his offerings. So, he grabbed some Pathfinder item cards and some Wizkids Spellbook Cards to make a few more handouts.

Assembly was a snap. One clear card sleeve with a scroll on the front and then a spell card on the opposite side. Easy peasy, right?! We made the following: Detect Magic (50 gp), Find Traps (50 gp), Magic Missle (100 gp), Knock (100 gp), Misty Step (100 gp), and Animate Dead (250 gp).

But wait! There’s more! Next, DM Ben grabbed his coveted Game Master’s Fantasy Toolkit book by Roll & Play Press! This wire-bound (why aren’t all books like this?) D&D supplement has a table for everything. We’re constantly flipping through it for new game ideas and inspiration.

One table leaped out at us: Bargain Spell Scrolls. Fenton buys and trades from all sorts of folks, and let’s be honest, sometimes a particular seller can be a bit slim shady. Naturally, he can’t verify every item in his inventory, and occasionally, an edgier item slips through quality control.

He’s willing to sell the group plenty of handy spell scrolls, including Knock, Detect Magic, Misty Step, and so on. However, sometimes a particular item isn’t what it seems.

So, DM Ben picked two from Roll & Play Press’ nifty table: Visibility & Water Talking. Our merchant wants to unload these for 50 GP each (rather than 100 gp & 250 gp respectively). The crackpot Wizard that initially traded these two spell scrolls to Fenton didn’t do a very good job transposing the arcane magic to paper. Alas, when the player goes to cast one, an unintended effect will go off!

Imagine your player going to cast what he thinks is Invisibility and instead becomes “bright orange and luminous” for one minute. #Oops. Besides, nothing is more amusing to DM Ben than unexpected events at his game table.

See how our traveling NPC merchant encounter just improved exponentially?! We came up with a short list of offerings, crafted several unique magic items, added some extremely useful shop cards, and even mixed in a few bargain scrolls to keep the group on its toes! Wonderful.

Until next time!

The post Where, Oh Where Are Those Traveling Wares? appeared first on 3DRPG.

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It’s not easy being a pirate, ya know. There are momentary glimpses of adrenaline-pumping fun but also a whole bunch of downtime. Our newest Hovertrain crew member is here to keep everyone from getting bored out of their mind. Plus, it’s trickier to turn on your teammates if a catchy tune is playing in the background.

Today’s magical minstrel comes from Arbiter Miniatures. We just love the STL sculpt and pirate details. Plus, doesn’t he sorta remind you of Gaston from Beauty and the Beast? Looks like he was a one-time freebie download on Printables or Thingiverse, but we all know those fab deals come and go. Gotta be quick with your clicks!

Resident painter Kimmy Utah gleefully accepted this color request. The blues are perfectly suited for our overconfident musician, while the flowing blonde locks and sideburn chops make the cut of his jib even better.

Now for the particulars of our mad maestro!

• Colorful Name: Notes (and that’s it)
• Character Race: Human
• Member Rank: Minstrel
• Key Role: Entertainer
• Painted Miniature: Arbiter Miniatures, Male Bard
• Weapon of Choice: Meat Cleaver (handaxe 5e stats)

Notes isn’t too keen on sharing details about his non-pirate days. In fact, when pressed, his fierce rage becomes apparent. These days, he’s content strumming for pirates and throwing down a Bless and Bardic Inspiration when duty calls.

Until next time!

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There are plenty of exciting 3D-printed DnD things to look forward to in the second half of this great RPG year, including:

• More of The Forgotten Rails series
• Another set of Laughing Bear Games featurettes
• Our new Kinda Sorta Portal series
• Finishing our Dungeon Delve Wandering Monster Table
• Completing our Cavern Paint Guide

And that’s just the tip of the wizard’s cap!

We’ll back at it here beginning Monday, July 8. Until then, have a great Fourth, everybody, and stay safe (from d20 fumble rolls).

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