I have always been enamored with the Dungeon Masters of Lore who would build amazing dungeon systems either through their own craft or deep pockets to afford amazingly sculpted Dwarven Forge pieces. Unfortunately, I have never had the skill or the deep pockets and have typically – like many gamers – used dry erase boards and the fertile fields of my players’ minds.
Times – as the proverb goes – are a-changing though. Now with 3d printing, almost anyone can get affordable, decently crafted dungeon tiles or diorama pieces from Amazon, Etsy, eBay, Patreon, etc. If a DM has their own 3d printer, the job becomes even easier as there are hundreds of sites that sell or give away STL files (rendered 3d models with print instructions encoded in them) to be quickly printed, cleaned, primed, and painted for your very next game! What this means for people like me – those with shallow pockets – and for those who don’t want to drop a C-Note on a dungeon is that we can make some pretty awesome shit for the price of a family movie night (look I got three kids, I judge things in movie nights, gas, and groceries!).
Enter EnderToys a 3d Print company that specializes in wargaming diorama pieces but has also come out with a competitor to WizKids’ WarLock Terrain, and Fat Dragon Games’ Dragon Tiles. I put aside about $50 dollars of my last pay and purchased a few of their sets … The results were pretty fun and led to a night of more involved gaming from my kids and wife than I ever had with battle maps or theatre of the mind when running for my family.
As you can see EnderToys’ pieces are unpainted and a bit rough, however, each set comes with a how-to on how to smooth, prime, and paint to get a professional – or near enough to professional – look if that is your thing. The locks are sturdy, keeping the dungeon together nicely. There are also some Wizkids Warlock props mixed in to give the dungeon a nicer look. That is the one issue with the EnderToys sets, there isn’t much available in the way of fantasy props. Terrain Crate is an option and they are well made and cheap with the three sets of Warlock used here – a total of about 30 pieces – running me about $150 USD. Some may find the price worth it as the pieces are well made, have a decent weight to them, are pre-painted, and are nicely detailed.
In the end, this dungeon took me about 15 minutes to set up, 10 minutes to tear down (those locks are a BITCH!), and another 10 to set up another few stand-alone rooms for further encounters which were easily handled during a pee-break. Altogether 25 minutes of work and $50 Dollars (The Wizkids stuff was prior purchased to be used with my battle maps) led to the best time my family had playing a tabletop game – even CodeName: The Wife who typically loathes anything geeky came away having a smile on her face.
That said 3d dioramas, 3d-printing, etc isn’t for everyone. So while EnderToys and awesome dioramas might be becoming my thing, I will have a follow-up post on the print-and-play and battle map scenes in the next week!
While I hate to busk for myself I find that it is a needed thing. I was able to afford this post primarily out of saving up a few months of change and a few sales from my Drivethru page. So if you can find a few coins that you can spare or want to be on board for the relaunching Patreon please consider buying me a Kofi or joining my Patreon. If you have an interest in d6 or OSR adventures take a look at my DrivethruRPG stuff.
Thank you all, and see you in the next one!
