We’re continuing our 3D print spotlight rotation of scatter terrain and miniatures, as we ultimately need a fine collection of both to produce truly meaningful gameboards. Sometimes we run into trouble identifying the origins of some of our STLs because a 3D print can sit idle for 18+ months. Still, it’s amazing what eagle eyes some of our longtime readers have, so we expect others to solve today’s case.

DM Ben loves a DnD miniature in fancy garb as it reminds him of all those old Egyptian desert classic moves. Everyone is always decked out in such great threads. So, he asked our team to ensure he had some flamboyant miniatures at his disposal as a little nostalgia nod.

Our first miniature is from our prepainted library and comes from Wizards of the Coast. This mini is a Human Male Druid and comes from their Icon of the Realms premium painted series. This guy just screams desert adventurer to us, and it’s a given he’ll get a role as a prominent NPC. We’ll probably just superglue him to a clear base, as he’s a little topsy-turvy.

Our next desert-style 3D Print was surprisingly difficult to source. All our Google image searches just brought up wizards wearing red robes. Frustrating to say the least. We thought for sure he was from Loot Studios, but no one in their friendly Discord recognized him.

Regardless, this guy was way too good not to share today, though! Resident painter Kimmy Utah picked up a paintbrush for this one and just crushed it! How she gets all the tiny details just right is beyond us.

These two cavaliers could even be adversaries. Each vying for the same treasure and continuously screwing up the others’ well-laid plans! DM Ben enjoys creating two opposing factions and placing the party squarely in the middle of all that chaos. We’ll see where the dice take us, but expect to see a lot more of these two troublemakers.

Until next time!

The post Tomb Thursday P34: Nice Threads appeared first on 3DRPG.

DM Ben went especially crazy on his travel adventures, hitting 7 beaches in 7 days in the Caribbean over the week of Thanksgiving. This shot is in Barbados and is on a vast sugar plantation once owned by Benedict Cumberbatch’s family in the 1700s. For the first time, the plantation is currently owned by a native family. It was stunning…pretty muggy, but still absolutely stunning. Ok, ok, DM Ben! Enough with the vacation slides. We need some daily DnD back in our lives.

We’ve really enjoyed building Briar Thorne’s Bramble Bush Boarding House! This homebrewed TTRPG content started as a new Hovertrain setting encounter, but it absolutely works in a more traditional DnD setting. We keep coming up with more 3D-printed stuff here (and other finds from our extensive RPG library), but that’s a good thing. You may only use certain pieces depending on the desired scenarios that you want to play out at the time. DMs love options.

Our prized 3D-print-pick comes courtesy of Cast n Play’s Terrain Essentials series. You’re going to get so much mileage out of this Bandit Camp set. We really love this particular grouping of TTRPG scatter terrain because you can use it in so many different outdoor setting scenarios. And that sorta replayability is the hallmark of a phenomenal set pick.

DM Ben naturally used a little turkey time to color a few more pieces, including this one. He had some solid paint schemes to fall back on here, so he welcomed the assignment. He used a previous haystack theme, a tarp scheme, and a wood scheme to cover all the key colors on this RPG 3D print.

We especially adore Cast n Play’s motion creativity. They really go out of their way to release optional movements in their Terrain Essential releases. You can slide the three targets along a wooden bar and even raise or lower them — frickin’ genius.

DM Ben plans to have some roudy Hostel guests, who may have had a few drinks of liquid courage, welcome any and all challengers to wager on some target shooting, in the hopes of securing more ale money. The mechanics here could be a gold piece per target shot. Or, you could go best out of three for five or ten GP. Roll

Also, we found this premade Outhouse in our terrain library and felt every Hostel certainly needs a place for its guests to take care of business. This plastic building comes from Wizkids and their swell Warlock Tiles Accessory sets. This outdoor loo is specifically from their Kitchen series.

What’s especially cool about our privacy-please structure is that the door moves, and you can place it over the top of a miniature if you want to surprise your players with a little, “Hey! Someone is in here! Do you mind?!”

Two great additions that can be used in a plethora of fun DnD encounters. What’s not to love?

Until next time! And thanks again for your patience so the gang could take a short break from the publishing grind. We truly appreciate your readership.

The post Bullseye! appeared first on 3DRPG.

Before we unwrap our favorite TTRPG gift suggestions for 2025, we would be remiss if we didn’t remind everyone of our previous present picks. They’re still great suggestions, just keep in mind that the earlier referenced prices have naturally increased a bit due to the Chaotic Evil nature of today’s tariffs.

• 2024 3DRPG Gift Guide
• 2023 3DRPG Gift Guide

So, if there’s something on either of those two DnD holiday articles that you couldn’t get in time previously, you could always add them to this year’s RPG shopping list.

Also, an important note on our selection criteria. We only recommend DnD holiday gifts that you can physically purchase. There were some tremendous Kickstarters in 2025, but as y’all know, nearly all those projects won’t ship until next year. So, products like One Shot Wonders or World’s Largest Dungeon will likely make their appearance next season when we actually have them in hand.

Loctite Super Glue Gel ($3.64-ish): Hear us out! Often, 3D printing hobbyists have to glue their FDM or Resin pieces in some fashion before they can hit the game table. The type of adhesive really matters. Trust us, we’ve tried countless brands. None of them holds a candle to Loctite’s Super Glue Gel. Getting that pesky stuff on your hands is less likely, and the gel consistency means it goes on easier with just the right amount of drying time. Put a couple of bottles of this magic sauce in a Christmas stocking and you’ll be a hero.

MyMiniFactory.com and Patreon.com Subscriptions ($5 to $15): Always a classic pick, but now it’s even easier to gift them to family and friends. MMF now has a dedicated gift card page, while Patreon claims it’s also easy; however, we haven’t had much luck following their steps yet. Therefore, you may need to opt for the simpler MMF method.

Still, here are our current favs:

• Brite Minis ($5-ish)
• Dungeon Classics ($5-ish)
• STL Miniatures ($9-ish)
• Cast n Play and/or Terrain Essentials ($9-ish)
• Honorable Mentions: World Forge Miniatures and Fantastic Plants & Rocks

We’re still amazed that Kickstarter or Backerkit don’t offer gift cards, but they’ll eventually hire a Marketing VP who realizes what a missed opportunity that is.

Viridian Random Generator Dice ($6-ish): They’ve come out with a few new ones this year-ish, including their Severe Weather Acts of God Generator die and their Dungeon Room Generator die. Dice of any kind are always a swell in those stockings!

Push Pop Bubble Fidget ($6.99-ish): YouTuber Miniature Hobbyist introduced us to this marvelous painting aid contraption. Paint lasts longer and is way easier to clean when you add several drops of your favorite paint into this dishwasher-safe contraption. They even come in different sizes. Add this along with a few of your pals’ favorite paint color bottles, and you’re golden.

Calendar of Many Adventures 2026 Edition ($14.99 & $19.99): Oh, LokeBattleMats, you so get us. Your annual DnD RPG Calendar brings us immense joy, which also includes digital versions of every monthly adventure. Even better, show those special gamers in your life that you get them by doing the little things like specialized DnD wrapping paper. This premium gift wrap, featuring a stunning dungeon design, even includes a digital version of the underground map, as well as eight different gift tags. And if all that RPG holiday goodness wasn’t enough, this talented crew always has a fresh Kickstarter under their belts like Epic RPG Fails, Extra Insulting Insults & Even Dumber Dares!

DnD Movable Jointed Chain Ruler ($18.99-ish or 3D Print Your Own): We prefer gridded terrain and mats, but sometimes you just can’t avoid gridless, especially if you’re a Dwarven Forge Terrain Tray enthusiast (like us). These flexible distance markers by DolDols.com are incredibly handy. You can even print your own for free, thanks to Designs by Davyd and his Flexi D&D Ruler.

Deck of Encounters & Deck of Loot ($22-ish): Longtime 3DRPG readers know we are cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs for any and all things card decks. To us, they’re the perfect gaming aid, immersing players in your DnD game. Tome of Summoning had a dandy Kickstarter, and their physical products hit mailboxes and stores in 2025. Grab their Deck of Encounters or Loot Decks as a gift of appreciation for that DM in your life.

Game Envy Popup Rinse Cup & Magical Sinking Brush Scrubby ($24-ish): This is the paint accessory of the year for us!! We use this setup every single weekend. We found this one at the Game on Expo 2025, and it saved the day as the booths were surprisingly slim pickings. We didn’t even realize that these were two separate pieces ($12 each), as the delightful couple we bought it from had it as a set. So, you can just get the super handy pop-up rinse cup or the brush scrubby piece. We think they work wonderfully together, though, and make the perfect stocking stuffer!

Lynx RPG Condition Rings ($37.95): Our beloved 3D printing hobby offers numerous intangible benefits, and choice is one of our favorites. You can certainly 3D-print these condition markers, but sometimes there’s just not enough time (and filament) in the day. So, if you want some irresistibly squishy and high-quality condition rings out of the box, this is the set to get.

Dungeon Master Rules Mat for 5e DnD 2024 Rules Edition ($38): Total Party Chill continues their magic with this incredibly handy Neoprene game aid. Last year, we recommended the player version, and this year they released a delightful DM version. There is no better way to familiarize yourself with the new D&D rule updates than with these beauties. You can get the mats in three sizes and multiple colors. And if you want another fine DnD stocking stuffer, grab these gorgeous Old School D&D Dice for a mere $9-ish and pay homage to your gaming roots! Bring it all home with some great DnD vids on their YouTube channel, which make for great entertainment while you paint all your 3D prints.

D&D Heroes of the Borderlands Starter Set ($40-ish): It turns out the last rules release is more of a 5.5 than a radical shift, and to us, that’s a good thing. We’ve bought a lot of WotC starter sets over the years, and this one obliterates all the past versions. The set is insanely well done and stuffed with a slew of physical gaming aids (so the appeal for veteran players is there, too). If you’re looking to get a quick game going with some brand new players, this box set is a must.

D&D Adventuring Gear Potions Set ($46-ish): By now, we’re sure you’ve seen all those fun Potion of Healing bottle sets but who says it just has to be about hit points?! Etsy extraordinaire Aurora Athenaeum knows what we’re talking about, and they’ve crafted all sorts of fun potions to pass out at your game table, including Potion of Heroism, Potions of Resistance, and, of course, the classic Adventuring Gear collection! Get a couple of single bottles as a classic stocking stuffer, or grab the full sets like we did! Their quality of work and care is exceptional.

Green Stuff World Dipping Inks ($137-ish): We’re probably late to the party on this one, but these Dipping Inks are our top pick for 2025. Just as good as Army Painter Speedpaints (which we still love) and more affordable than Citadel Contrast Paints (which we still use), these particular paints by Green Stuff World are amazing. We especially love their range of wood colors and consider Skeletal Brown (with a dark wash) to be the standout. Grab the whole series or just pick up a few bottles of your favorite colors!

Reading Material: DM Ben always does a big book sweep so that he has plenty of great DnD books to read on a beach in the Caribbean. So here are some great editions going in his suitcase!

• The No-Prep Gamemaster ($10.99-ish): Train Your Brain to Run Tabletop RPG Games.
• The Game Master Series ($11 to $15-ish): Book of Villains & Minions, Random Encounters, NPCs, etc.
• Return to Brookmere ($12-ish): Choose your own adventure classics.
• Nord Games Wondrous Expeditions Forests ($25-ish): Handy pocket guide.
• Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master ($35-ish): SlyFlourish is the gift that keeps on giving.
• Domain of the Deathless King ($19-ish): Play some solo DnD on your tablet.
• Worlds at a Glance ($135-ish): So frickin’ good, (especially the item cards).

DM Ben might get overruled by the airport scale for the amazing Game Master Series hardcover books, but they are all extremely well done, and any one of them would make a great gift for that Dungeon Master in your life.

And just like that, you’ve got all the latest DnD RPG wish list items for those special gamers in your life!

The post Holiday Gift Guide 2025 appeared first on 3DRPG.

Even though we’re going to show you a literal working scenario here and give these dynamic dungeon builder cards a true test drive, these cards are darn fun and can be used in many ways. You know us, though. We prefer to share relatable examples that all our fellow dungeon masters and dice rollers can see themselves in whenever we’re showing off new DnD game aids.

So, if you’ve been following along, we built out the TTRPG gameboard for the entire Tresendar Manor mini dungeon crawl inside D&D Beyond’s Acquisitions Incorporated free 5e module. Now, the authors were certainly right that having the players walk into a completely empty room is quite the mind f@ck, but DM Ben felt that saving such an experience was best served in a future crawl.

No room contents, well, no problem thanks to Loke Battlemats and this superb Dungeon Designer’s Deck. Let’s briefly run through what’s stuffed inside the nifty packaging.

• 100 larger, easy-to-read cards in total
• 60 Terrain Feature Cards with 200+ Random Encounters
• 10 Quest Cards
• 10 Room Cards
• 10 Door Cards
• 5 Enemy Generator Cards
• 2 Random Loot Cards
• Double-sided, fold-out Battle Map
• 3 How-to-use Cards and a 50-Page Reference Book

So, plenty of bang for your $25 bucks, and we’re all about adding things to our DnD collection that are stuffed with value and reusability.

Since we only needed to quickly fill our empty room, we simply drew one room card and one door card. Now, here is where these dungeon cards really deliver on their value. Our Door card gives DM Ben its AC and HP, which is super handy. Optionally, you can even roll a d6 for additional details and ideas. The Room card was equally useful as it included a fun description and the option to roll a d6 for additional details. Love it.

So, as you can see from the Dungeon Designer’s cards above, our players have walked into a Blacksmith’s room complete with a working forge! Thankfully, we had all sorts of applicable 3D prints to choose from, and we settled on this forge by Cast n Play and their Terrain Essentials Vol II Blacksmith set.

Now, we also wanted to include a couple more accessories to complement our Forge and really immerse the players, so we leaned on that same Blacksmith set from Cast n Play for the scatter terrain work area and another weapons and armor rack by Infinite Dimensions Games and their Torbridge Furnishings set.

Lastly, our nifty door pick is from WizKids’ WarLock Tiles series and their Accessory Doors & Archways set. These doors are really handy in a DM pinch, and this one looks like both a sturdy metal door and a tough reinforced wooden door. Funny enough, we also participated in Loke BattleMats Box of Dungeon Doors Kickstarter and highly recommend that set too.

Thanks to Loke Battlemats and our handy 3D printer, we just took an empty dungeon room and turned it into an engaging encounter with all the bells and whistles for our players. 3D-printer enthusiasts will especially love this Dungeon Designer’s Deck because it removes all the heavy-lifting and stress for DMs and turns it into a fun, easy room-building experience. Can’t ask for much more than that.

Until next time!

The post No Room? No Problem! appeared first on 3DRPG.

With the Tresendar Manor Dungeon Crawl inside D&D Beyond’s Acquisitions Incorporated module fully prepped, we’re turning our attention to the next chapter of this insanely fun, free 5e module. A key character that surfaces at the end of that chapter is a Tiefling named Talanatha Three-Coins. The group needs to hunt her down as she’s the last person seen with a key missing artifact piece.

Her name surfaces at the end of the last module chapter after the group finds some secretive scribblings behind some parchment in the cellar’s makeshift command center office. Specifically, “Omin’s moppets have been defeated, although the half-orc and the tiefling escaped.” So, we’ve got a new central character to add to the mix, and that means a new miniature pick is next on DM Ben’s to-do list.

Oddly enough, we haven’t run very many Tiefling STLs through our office printers, so we’re going to lean on our good ol’ pre-painted minis library to answer the character call here! So, let’s start with this shifty pose. This one is a Tiefling Devil and is from Wizkids’ Savage Encounters set. Classic pose and a classic weapon. Good stuff.

Next up is this awesome Male Tiefling Fighter. He’s from one of their Player’s Handbook Heroes sets (which we don’t even remember buying). I love the sculpt and especially the sleek armor. Might be a bit too decked out for us but aligns with the Paliden character class from the book.

And lastly, we pulled this Tiefling Rogue. Mr. Two Weapons is from their Desert of Desolation set. Great fighting stance, and what Dungeon Master doesn’t love an enemy with multiple attacks?

So, the last miniature, the Tiefling Rogue, seems to fit that profile best. Talanatha Three-Coins is described as a female in the module, and that mini has her hair tied back. Besides, the story calls for someone on the run and quite elusive, so all those boxes are checked, too!

Three Coins had a bit of a mouth on her and often grumbled about whether the Company of the Golden Mongoose was the best fit. She mentioned a good friend named Wizzy, who worked for another Acquisitions Incorporated franchise. The details on Wizzy’s franchise are vague, but Talanatha spoke of her friend having “an awesome headquarters up the coast.” That’s a great lead! Now we just need to pull a good face card.

Until next time!

The post Tough Tiefling Choices appeared first on 3DRPG.

After a module’s last chapter finale, the “Well, now what?” question can be paralyzing to a DM. We always want our players to have the best time, and not being prepared or fully having your arms around the campaign storyline and its main cast of characters can create unwanted stress. Consequently, solid planning along the way and utilizing some visual aids can put your mind at ease. Let’s do a timely example.

DM Ben is all about simplifying things both for his players and for his dungeon master sanity. As longtime readers know, we’re playing the same module (with numerous homebrew additions) but with two different groups: one for the 3DRPG Studios office and another for a family game.

It’s delightful to have to prepare only one overall campaign, but the two groups play very differently. The office players are old-school and love lots of dice-rolling battles. The home adventurers are younger and fall into that video game generation (with a little more emphasis on story). Plus, it’s such a rush to be able to improve upon encounters a second time around the table.

First things first, you have to decide how closely you’ll follow your prewritten module text (if you adapted a D&D module to use as your core script). We prefer to use a module rather than a completely homebrewed world. There are many great written adventures, and we simply don’t have the time to create something entirely from scratch (but we have mad respect for those that do).

So far, we’ve simplified things and have gone with the following:

• Start an Acquisitions Incorporated franchise. 
• Acquire a Bastion. 
• Ultimately, hunt down all the Orrery of the Wanderer artifact pieces. WIP
• Learn about all the competing adventuring companies (friend or foe). WIP

Nothing too complicated, right?!

Now that our adventurers will be moving onto Chapter 3 and the Lighthouse, those distinct franchises are critical to our overall story, and DM Ben needs to keep dropping clues about each of them whenever he can.

So far, they have encountered two of them:

• The Six: Lost their original job to the players in Chapter 1.
• Fellowship of the Golden Mongoose: recently cleared their old HQ.

We created our own spin on The Six franchise by turning them into a bitter rival from the very onset of the campaign. Now, we’re going to use the Golden Mongoose group to represent the next chase in the story as they attempt to find the Tiefling Paladin, Talanatha Three-Coins, and the artifact’s time travel component she stole to facilitate her last escape.

Admittedly, we’ve been a bit lazy with our primary face and location cards, so this is the perfect time to catch up! Let’s see who needs new visual reference cards for the table.

• Gildha Duhn: rescued from the Tresendar Manor dungeon ruins.
• Orrery of the Wanderer Artifact: find the next time travel piece.
• Thetis, the Algae Dealer: their first potential business arrangement.
• Shady Tree and his Angry Acorns: a potential forest ally against the Constructs.
• Chip Carver, Stone Mason NPC: Owns the Busted Boulder in Waterdeep.
• Lord Galobax DuGalle NPC: Also known as the infamous Crosstown Cutter!
• Gimble Cogsworth NPC: Owns Cogs & Kettle Customs in Waterdeep.

It’s essential that we create the right reference cards here, as all these elements play key roles in our next module chapter transition.

Tiefling Paladin Talanatha Three-Coins has become the group’s most wanted, as she is the last known person to possess the next piece of the artifact. Lone survivor Gilda Duhn sells her out in a heartbeat for leaving her for dead and explains to the group where she’s likely hiding.

The Silent Sound Lighthouse, located far up on the Sword Coast, is a heck of a jaunt from Waterdeep. DM Ben thinks this is the absolute best time for the players to get an inaugural test ride on The Forgotten Rails. The founders want to do a fancy press tour and VIP ride, and they’re asking our players to provide security during the dry run. The timing is perfect.

So DM Ben is just suggesting taking a breath and organizing your NPCs, missions, plot points, etc so that your wonderful DnD game keeps humming along.

Until next time!

The post Get Your Story Straight, DM! appeared first on 3DRPG.

We’re going to be uncovering some intense necromancy villain-style stuff this week, as erradicating those sorta spooky operations is no simple task. Besides, can you ever really stop a shadow monster from sneaking up on ya?!

As longtime readers know, we’re detailing our dungeon master journey through D&D Beyond’s free 5e module for Acquisitions Incorporated (while injecting a ton of free, home-brewed content, too). We typically divide an encounter prep into sections: the miniatures, the scatter terrain, and the final gameboard reveal. Today’s post is the first entry for Tresendar Manor’s Area 11: The Workshop.

The story goes that a band of mercenaries was hired by a competing Franchise (also known as “The Six”) to clear out the area. When the hired guns finished their dirty work, the Franchise suddenly turned on their own mercenaries-for-hire so that they could have permanent undead centries patrol this underground mini-dungeon. Diabolical stuff indeed!

So, today we’re going to build out the encounter challenge rating and select our bad guy miniatures. We have some excellent pre-painted mini options by WizKids, but we’ll still include a free 3D-print option in case you’d like to create your own set. We have six characters at level five, so DM Ben would like the total XP/difficulty to be between 3,500 and 4,000.

The module assumes a much lower adventuring party and initially calls for three Shadow monsters (AC 12, HP 16, +4 att/2d6+2 damage). To represent these guys, we’ll use these classic miniatures from WizKids’ Night Below set. The translucency makes them especially creepy. These Shadows will be treated more like minions who try to create flank so that their allies can get that nasty extra damage on the party.

We’ll still include a small patrol of these undead monsters, but DM Ben needs a more challenging enemy here, and a Shadow Demon seems like a fitting choice: AC 13, HP 66, +5 att/2d6+3 damage. We’re surprised at how low their AC is, but we’ll run with it. These stealthy miniatuers are from WizKids’ fab 50th Anniversary set.

DM Ben always likes to have a few extra miniatures on hand in case he grossly underestimated the challenge level or needs to reach for a few relevant wandering monsters. So, he’s got these cool Lurking Wraiths at the ready. They’re from their amazing Against the Giants set.

We even have a promo mini that could represent a boss for this fight. However, the module doesn’t call out the need for a leader, and DM Ben wholeheartedly agrees. No need to force it.

Lastly, if you don’t have any of these pre-painted miniatures, you can certainly print your own Shadow band of monster minis. We like this free download by creator AJade. We didn’t get a chance to slice her STL yet, but we dig the sculpt. Dungeon Classics also recently came out with some Shadows of their own, thanks to an undead-themed set.

Until next time!

The post Just Me and My Shadows appeared first on 3DRPG.

We’re a big fan of this dungeon delve with D&D Beyond’s Acquisitions Incorporated free module. This dungeon crawl doesn’t throw 25+ rooms at you and instead, offers a very manageable set of encounters that your group can run through in a couple of sessions. Today, we’re sharing our monster miniature picks for Area 10: Far Realm Rift.

The adventurers can attempt Arcana to deactivate the Portal ruins or Sleight of Hand DC 15 checks to sabotage them.  DM Ben doesn’t mind these selected skills and DCs, so there won’t be a change there. However, the results will be slightly modified:

• First Success: A Gibbering Mouther deals half as much damage with its attacks. | no change.
• Second Success: A Gibbering Mouther loses its Gibbering feature. | no change.
• Third Success: The portal closes, and the Gibbering Mouther dies. | change to no more spawn

After six rounds/one minute, another monster is supposed to spawn. DM Ben will play loose with this rule based on how challenging the encounter unfolds, meaning he might make it more than six rounds if the fight intensity explodes while their rolls don’t.

First, let’s talk about the encounter mechanics and Challenge Rating. In the prewritten module, this chapter in the adventure is designed around level two characters and a single Gibbering Mouther. We’ve instilled a ton of homebrewed scenarios, so our players are level five at this point. Hence, we need to increase the difficulty so that this battle keeps the players on the edge of their seats.

So, even by adding three Gibbering Mouthers (instead of one), it’s still considered an easy fight. We have several players in the group with multi-weapon attacks, so single monsters rarely stand a chance. DM Ben just might open with two of them and then bring in a third after a round or two of fighting.

We’ll also nudge the attack to +4 but knock the damage down to 4d6. Another option here is to give our 3D-print version, several bite attacks, and more HP (and act more like the mother of the monster group).

Now, let’s talk miniatures. First, we’ll share our 3D-printed Gibbering Mouther by Yasashii Kyojin Studio. It’s a free download, and it’s quite an intense sculpt. We’re going to pair this freak creation with two pre-painted minis.

Resident painter Kimmy Utah was the brush master behind this one, and the team released a collective wow when we unwrapped it! She just nailed jolting eyes, countless teeth, and gaping mouths beautifully. We just love this 3D print!

For the other two monsters, we leaned on our robust pre-painted collection and pulled these two smaller Chatty Cathys by WizKids & Pathfinder. The first one is by WizKids and is from their Aberrations set. The second is by Pathfinder and is from their Dungeons Deep set (and technically called a “Mouth Horror”). Shockingly, we didn’t have the Mouther from WizKids’ Monster Menagerie 3 set, but definitely use that one if you have it!

Hopefully, DM Ben and the players will laugh and laugh and laugh here.

Until next time!

The post Shut the Print Up! appeared first on 3DRPG.

A brief refresher for first-time readers: We’re building out each room in D&D Beyond’s Acquisitions Incorporated free 5e module for the Tresendar Manor mini dungeon. We’re tackling them one at a time and making solid progress!

Here’s where we stand:

• The Ruins | Jackal and Hide
• Area 1: Cellar
• Area 2: Storage
• Area 3: Hall with a Pit
• Area 4: Crypt P1 | P2 | P3
• Area 5: Cells
• Area 6: Empty Room (coming soon)
• Area 7: Failed Ritual (coming soon)
• Area 8: Charnel Chasm P1 | P2 | P3
• Area 9: Between a Rock and a Cockatrice P1 (today’s post!)
• Area 10:  Far Realm Rift (coming soon)
• Area 11: Workshop (coming soon)
• Area 12: Office (coming soon)
• Cleanup Crew (coming soon)

And when we’re done, we’ll lay out the whole dungeon inside our fabulous Wyrmwood gaming table (or as much as we can fit for starters).

The dungeon room we’re setting our sights on is Area 9: Between a Rock and a Cockatrice. We’ll start with our miniature pulls and then circle back on the terrain in a follow-up DnD post. Again, it’s always a chicken-and-egg scenario in terms of what we select from our DnD collection first. This time, the minis spoke to us.

The module calls for a couple of undead cockatrices. Now, there is an undead version by WizKids from their Rage of Demons set. There’s also a newer sculpt from their Quests from the Infinite Staircase set. Both are nice options, but alas, we don’t have either of those miniatures in our collection…yet.

Of course, the undead version would fit perfectly here; however, we don’t see using that specific monster type very often. So instead, we went with the original Cockatrice from the fabulous Against the Giants set. DM Ben will simply describe them as no longer part of the “living club.”

The encounter calls for two of these freaky birds, but that’s assuming a much lower party level. We have six players in our office campaign at level five. DM Ben will double the number of enemies to four, and then he’ll beef them up a tad to: AC 14, 47 hp, +6 att/2d4+2 damage, and a CON save of DC 12.

Our room description is as follows: “Apart from a fallen kobold statue that blocked the door, this room contains only four beds. Each is covered in torn sheets, its straw mattress crawling with bugs.”

The players will see one petrified NPC partially blocking the door, originally a kobold named “Patsy.” A ways back, DM Ben bought a group of cool stone NPCs from a Sunrise Sven and has been eager to get them into a game. No idea where these miniatures are from, but we love the stonework coloring he did here.

The plan is to have that smaller goblin be the one we place in the room. However, we’re also going to intersperse the other two statues in different areas of the dungeon. After all, our cockatrices aren’t on a leash, so it would make sense that these small monstrosities hunted and struck down a few others in Tresendar Manor.

We’ll place one petried adventurer in the hallway (by area 6) and the other in one of the other hallways (probably by area 8 & 10). Only Patsy will come back to life after 24 hours. Sadly, the other two won’t ever come out of their stone slumber (not without a new side quest at least).

Until next time!

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Last week, we built out the Area 4 Crypt room inside D&D Beyond’s Acquisitions Incorporated dungeon delve. Now that we’re solid on the terrain, DM Ben perused our miniatures library to see what sort of fight our adventurers would have on their sweaty hands.

At first, the players won’t realize the various scattered bones are strung together with fine wire. They will need a DC 15 Perception check to discover that someone or something is having a little fun at their expense.

At some point, a Mimic disguised as a coffin will animate, but a single CR 2 monster for six level-five characters is a laughable fight, so this sticky creature will need some helping hands (and arms, legs, etc.) to join the melee. Some additional undead bad guys will definitely liven things up (pun intended).

Besides adding monsters, the original module description describes the coffin sizes and bones as humanoid, but DM Ben likes the idea of mixed races so that there’s a little more mystery as to what happened to the deceased. Are these victims part of the original Golden Mongoose franchise that disappeared, or were they here long before their arrival?

So, DM Ben grabbed a Dragonborn, an Orc, and even a gnoll to represent three of the skeletons. These Wizkids prepainted work wonderfully here, giving the encounter a little more flair. Featured minis here include: Gnoll Skeleton (Aberrations), Orc Skeleton (Underdark), and Death Knight (Monster Manual Savage Encounters).

From there, he also added a nasty Banshee so that it could be the fear of gawd in the party with its Horrifying Visage ability.  This Deathlock Wight from the Demonweb set is plenty spooky.

Lastly, longtime readers know how much DM Ben enjoys a good gameboard mini switheroo, so he’s got another trick up his sleeve here. As soon as two skeletons go down in combat, their scattered bones will frantically reassemble and form another multisword swinging skelly.

This time, we grabbed a WizKids Skeletal Tomb Guardian mini from the Dungeons of Dread set. We’ve been itching to get this particular miniature in a game so no time like the present!

Yes, we try to showcase DnD 3D-prints whenever possible, but we adore our TTRPG collection. It can be incredibly nostalgic to use some of our older pieces; besides, if we can use some pre-painted legacy goodies, that gives us more time to work on something else from our gigantic pile of shame.

So, we recommend these Skeleton Soldiers by EC3D Designs and their Beasts & Baddies II Kickstarter. No supports needed, and they print beautifully.

Now let’s see how our Challenge Rating looks for our six-player, level-five party of adventurers:

• Mimic: CR 2
• Banshee: CR 4
• Skeletons (3): CR 1/4
• Skeletal Tomb Guardian: 1

The Total XP is 4,875, so this is no gimmie fight. However, DM Ben might not introduce the Tomb Guardian depending on how challenging the battle becomes for the group. The collective ACs are pretty low, so the party’s condition before the fight begins becomes key.

Until next time!

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