And now, a different sort of miniature.

What you see here is a selection of terrain and miniatures by Arian Croft, co-founder of Ill Gotten Games, which specializes in print-and-play games and materials using 3D design and 3D printing.

Back story. Arian heard my podcast co-host John McGuire’s story about his first D&D character – Johann, a ranger who used a warhammer – and thought it was so hilarious, he whipped up a miniature based on him. Not wanting me to feel left out, he offered to do the same for one of my characters – the skulky fellow with the short sword is Greel, an NPC in my long-running D&D campaign who would turn into a tree whenever things got the least bit dangerous. He sent them over, along with those wonderfully upsetting hand-headed critters and a selection of snap-together dungeon parts for us to enjoy.

I know next to nothing about 3D printing but holy crap, this stuff blows me away. The idea that you can just do some digital hoodoo and print out stuff directly to your game table is wild and totally appeals to my keen desire for folks to have inexpensive and accessible way to play all sorts of games. I kind of want to find a local library with a 3D printer so I can fiddle around with Ill Gotten Games’ stuff (I dare you to check out their current Kickstarter and not want that Idol of Moloch meeple set). Premium tabletop stuff is cool, but projects like these make me feel warm and fuzzy about the future of the hobby. We’ve come a long way from folks smelting their own lead minis!