DIY D&D: 3-D Monster Minatures

Dungeons andDragons,Pathfinder and lots of other tabletop role-playing games have an optional, but helpful, visual component to them: the battle map with miniatures. In fact, my pal Drew of Drew's Robots has a 3D printer he's designed and built himself, and he's used it to pretty impressive effect in the Pathfinder games he runs, as I showed on my instangram once:

When your GM places a giant monster he personally 3D printed on the board... You know you're in for a fight. #d&d #tabletopgaming

A photo posted by Shawn Struck (@shawnstruck) on Oct 29, 2015 at 6:09pm PDT

3-D sculptor, designer, and fellow dice-chucker Miguel Zavala has created a series of 3D-printed monster miniatures for use in Dungeons & Dragons and similar games and uploaded the designs at Thingiverse for free so that interested folks can use them to print out their own. There are a lot of really awesome designs, but I'd have to say my favorite is probably the Dread Gazebo, pictured below!

Description: A mini model of a gazebo given a monsterous appearance by adding tentacles sprouting from each corner, sharp
and jagged teeth and lolling tongue in the entryway and red, bloodshot beady eyes atop its roof.