08/23/2024

A quick look at this website will show you that I love miniatures and terrain. I have been painting miniatures for over 30 years and started making my own terrain when I found DM Scotty on YouTube,

Being a visual person, I love having things on the table and in my hands while playing an RPG. Handouts of maps and letters for the adventure give the players a better experience plus they reduce the amount of questions to the game master that could slow the game down. While I encourage players to take notes during play, having to stop a session so the players can write down word for word everything in a letter they found is frustrating and breaks the flow of the game. (It has happened before…)

Miniatures and terrain allow for more tactical strategies, plus it looks so good when you can see your character and the rest of the party facing off against an enemy. I have played in some theater of the mind games and had fun, but there were times when it seemed that actual pieces would have helped out.

One instance I can recall was in a Curse of Strahd game when our group of adventures swarmed an enemy on a bridge. Almost everyone in the group was fighting in melee range with the enemy but we were on a castle wall that was only 10′ wide. How did we all fit? The DM had a large group of us so he just went with it to make it easier and not bog down the game.

Miniatures

Meeples

Meeples are a great start for a group if money is an issue. You can rob a board game you have lying around the house like Sorry. For a small amount of money, you can get actual meeples from online stores or your FLGS.

Boardgame Miniatures

There are a bunch of board games on the market today that have miniatures included that work for tabletop RPGs. You can find them at your FLGS or even stores like Target and Walmart. While these are a great improvement over Meeples or simple tokens, they are limited to whatever figures are included in the games. There might be figures that could be used for zombies and such, but unique figures like a beholder would require imagination on the player’s part. Some board games that could be used are:

• Dungeons and Dragons
• Rum and Bones
• Massive Darkness
• Zombicide Black Plague

Purchased miniatures

There are a lot of great miniatures on the market that come ready to paint or pre-painted. This is the best option for anyone without a 3D printer or doesn’t want something printed. You can get licensed miniatures that look exactly like the creature you want or find a figure that looks like the character you want to play. Even if they are just set out on a bare table, the miniatures make the scene pop. Some companies that produce these models are:

• Wizkids
• Reaper, including the Kickstarters

3D Printed Miniatures

3D printed miniatures are the best option in my opinion. I have thousands of miniatures from all for the different types mentioned in this post. You can print out the miniature hordes of miniatures for pennies each. You can find an stl file that looks exactly like the character that you want to play and print it out or even kitbash it. There are great companies out there making stl files, for both FDM and resin printers. Some companies I like to use are:

• Brite Minis
• Fat Dragon Games
• The Printing Goes Ever On

Terrain

Battlemaps

The easiest and cheapest terrain for tabletop RPGs is battle maps. It can be as simple as a piece of paper with some lines on it up to a neoprene map with detailed terrain printed out on it. I have battle maps that I like to use when traveling as a DM and need to limit the amount of items I take with me.

Companies that make great battle maps are:

• Chessex
• Warzone Studio
• Melee Mats

Crafted Terrain

Crafting terrain for the tabletop is quite fun and there are plenty of channels on YouTube that cover it like Wyloch’s Armory, Black Magic Craft, and The DM’s Craft. It is relatively inexpensive to do with limited materials. Wyloch has a great video about getting into terrain crafting on a budget. You can see it here. Most people start with trees and ruins, then work their way up to whole scenes and set pieces.

Purchased Terrain

Purchased terrain looks great but can add up quickly, especially if you are trying to cover an entire table with terrain. Companies that produce beautiful themed pieces to go with their games.

• Games Workshop
• Mantic

3D Printed Terrain

Again, I believe that 3D-printed terrain is the best option. You can usually find free stl files on Thingiverse for most terrain items or purchase an stl file for very little money. You can print as many building and terrain pieces for the cost of filament (I don’t print out resin terrain since the details don’t matter as much as on a miniature). The building above is from The Printing Goes Ever On and is part of their monthly subscription. I can print 4 of these buildings out of a single roll of filament.

Props

Handouts

Handouts are a great way to pass on information to the players without taking a lot of in-game time. You can hand the player a map that’s part of a treasure hoard, a letter they find in the enemy’s study, etc. It engages the players plus makes the world more tangible. As a bonus, it is something they can reference on their own time.

A lot of published adventures come with maps and handouts that can be printed and handed out to the players. If you want to step up your handouts, you can make your own aged paper using the techniques in this video from The Gaming Tome. Players are very impressed when the old map looks like an old map.

In my first Out of the Abyss group, my wife played a Yuan-Ti Warlock who was a follower of Ghaunadaur. She had mentioned that she wanted her character to hand out flyers to recruit more followers for her Master. We sat down and made them so she could hand the actual flyers out at the table. You can read more about the story here.

Purchased pieces

If the party is searching for an amulet or ring, you can always go online and buy a prop to have at the table. Maybe look at a local flea market or thrift store to see what is available. You might have to do some work to make it look like the item in the adventure, but it is well worth it when you hand it to the players at the table.

3D-Printed pieces

Some 3D-printing subscriptions offer life-sized models that you can print and have on the table. If the party finds the time, you can literally hand them the items and they can hold it! The Printing Goes Ever On does include an item from the monthly adventure they produce. For their Heart of the Forest module, they included the Amulet of the Woodlands stl file that you can print.

Sounds

While it might not be the first thing to mind when thinking about immersion at the table, the background music and sound help improve the experience. Most of us can hear a song and immediately tell you what movie it is from.

With a computer and speakers, you can add background sounds to the gaming table with a little setup and for free sometimes.

YouTube

You can always find free music on YouTube to play in the background when running the game. I would look for something ad-free and long enough not to end in the middle of the action. Nothing is more annoying than a car insurance commercial in the middle of your battle with the BBEG.

When running the Tomb of Annihilation for my group, I played an acoustic version of “Welcome to the Jungle” in the background while the party was walking the docks at the port city at the beginning of the adventure. It was one of the best things about that adventure (and the dino-racing).

Syrinscape

A program I have used in the past is Syrinscape. I paid for the program and additional sound sets that would work in my games. It is nice to have these sounds and music at your fingertips to just use when the scene calls for it. Dramatic music during a battle or sounds of the forest when the party settles down to camp.

Tabletop Audio

Tabletop Audio is another great choice for playing music at the table. Their music is free to play and you can usually find something that works for your situation. I have never used this personally but The Dungeon Dudes use it during their Dungeons of Drakkenheim streaming and it sounds great.

Conclusion

The gaming experience is different for everyone, but most people enjoy having a more immersive game. While you don’t have to spend a lot of money to play your game in an actual castle dressed in your character’s costume, spending a little time before the game (and maybe a little money) can greatly increase the experience for you and your players. You can even have your players included in the experience by assigning them tasks like running the music.

It is a great feeling for a Dungeon Master to watch your players getting excited interacting with the props and environment you brought to the table.

Keep on gaming!