tabletop-thoughts

[tabletop-thoughts]

Why Shadowdark Is Drawing So Many Adventurers

06/27/2025 The tabletop RPG scene is no stranger to change. For decades, systems have come and gone, each offering a new take on fantasy storytelling. But in recent months, Shadowdark has emerged from the dungeon shadows as a rising star—one that’s rapidly building a loyal fanbase and even drawing players away from long-established systems like D&D 5e and Pathfinder. So what’s fueling this…

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Tuesday Updates: What's on the Table with HEROQUEST

06/24/2025 Happy Tuesday and welcome back to Tabletop Thoughts! This week, I am going to be painting A LOT of miniatures because I am going to be working on my HEROQUEST game. Here are the four heroes that come with the game. I am not sure how this plastic will hold the paint since it is a little bendy so… I went to MyMiniFactory and got stl files for HEROQUEST and printed out new versions in…

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Weekly Update on Tabletop Terrain and Miniatures

06/22/2025 Happy Sunday and welcome back to Tabletop Thoughts! This week, I completed a few tasks, including both terrain pieces and miniatures. “I was just on my way to pay you back, and I got a little sidetracked. It’s not my fault!” I printed out a few Sci-Fi vehicles this week and painted them up. These models are from EC3D Design. They have a Star Wars feel to them. A pair of armored…

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WIP for the Week: HeroQuest and New Releases

06/17/2025 Happy Tuesday and welcome back to Tabletop Thoughts! This week is full of miniatures that I will be trying to complete, and I also have some scatter terrain in the pipeline. I received the latest edition of HeroQuest this year, and I’m looking to paint it up. The game comes with a male barbarian, wizard, and dwarf, with a female elf. I printed out these miniatures that will allow…

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Weekly Update: My Tabletop Painting Progress

06/15/2025 Happy Father’s Day and welcome back to tabletop thoughts! For any fathers out there, I hope that you get to spend some time with family and do whatever you love to do. I went back to painting miniatures this week, and I was surprised by the amount I was able to complete in a week filled with work and other appointments. Cultist 1: “When do we summon the Dark Lord?” Cultist 2: “At…

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🎥 Throwback Thursday: YouTube Creators Then and Now — Who's Still Crafting in 2025?

06/12/2025 Back in August 2023, we published a post titled “YouTube Channels That You Should Be Following”, featuring 30+ content creators specializing in terrain crafting, GM advice, 3D printing, and all things tabletop. Nearly two years later, we thought it would be fun to revisit that list, check in on who’s still going strong, and introduce a few new names making waves in 2025. 🔄 Still…

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Exploring This Week's WIPs: Terrain and Sci-Fi Vehicles

06/10/2025 Happy Tuesday and welcome back to Tabletop Thoughts! This week, I have been printing nonstop on the Elegoo Neptune 3 FDM printer. I have more terrain pieces. I am considering combining all of these into a new, custom terrain piece. I have more Sci-Fi vehicles in the pipeline. I’ll probably paint them up and sell them. I have the wings for the skiff on the printer now. Here is a…

[tabletop-thoughts]

How to Spot and Combat Hobby Burnout Effectively

06/09/2025 When the Hobby You Love Starts Feeling Like Work I’ve been there — sitting at my desk, paintbrush in hand, staring at a half-finished miniature I should be excited about, and… nothing. No spark. No joy. Just a nagging voice saying, “You need to finish this.” That, my friends, is the phenomenon of hobby burnout. And if you’re reading this, you’ve probably felt it too. Whether it’s…

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Latest Showcase of Weekly Miniatures: Epic Battles Await

06/08/2025 Happy Sunday and welcome back to Tabletop Thoughts! This week, I returned to miniature painting and managed to get a few more miniatures off the table. A banshee haunts a ruined site, looking for revenge. I got the banshee completed this week. The model is from EC3D Design. I went with a blue color for her undead flesh. The green and gray clothes look good, and her black hair is a…

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Creative Modern Building Ideas for Your Tabletop Games

06/05/2025 Happy Thursday and welcome back to Tabletop Thoughts! Today, I released another video on YouTube. In this video, I showcase my collection of modern buildings that I used while playing a superhero wargame. Here are a couple of samples of the buildings that I made over the years. My collection includes papercraft buildings, handmade buildings, purchased buildings, and 3D printed…

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Exploring My Sci-Fi Building Creations for Tabletop Games

06/01/2025 Happy Sunday and welcome back to Tabletop Thoughts! Today, I released a YouTube video where I take a look at some of the Sci-Fi buildings I’ve created over the years. I used a couple of them in my Five Parces from Home game that I ran a few years ago. Most of these buildings are “upcycled” from garbage from the recycling bins. I did have a few pieces that were 3D printed that I used…

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Enhance Your Game with Shadowdark's New Spells and Rituals from Unnatual Selection.

05/30/2025 Happy Friday and welcome back to Tabletop Thoughts! Today, we return to looking at the Shadowdark Supplement, Unnatural Selection. Today, we will examine the Magic section and the Gameplay section. The Magic section contains some new rules for Chanting/drumming for the Shaman as well as some new tables for Grave Warden Mishaps. The best part is the inclusion of new spells for the…

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🧭 Mastering Sandbox Prep with the Eight Steps of Lazy Dungeon Mastery

05/28/2025 Running a sandbox-style campaign doesn’t mean you need to prepare a mountain of notes you’ll never use. Instead, use Mike Shea’s smart, scalable approach from his acclaimed book, Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master, to get more done by prepping less. 📚 What Are the Eight Steps? In Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master, Mike Shea introduces a system of eight focused steps that help DMs…

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Creating New Business Cards and Unique Terrain Pieces

05/25/2025 Happy Sunday and welcome back to Tabletop Thoughts! This week was another week of terrain pieces and using AI to help my 3D printing business look more professional. I finished up the last two garden pieces as graveyard statues. These will look good in my graveyard terrain piece that I will make this summer. Here are two of the four ruined walls that I printed out and painted this…

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Creating a Random Overland Hex Map for Shadowdark

05/23/2025 Happy Friday and welcome back to Tabletop Thoughts! Today, I released a new YouTube video in which I go through my process of generating a random overland hex map for Shadowdark. I use the random Overland Map tables from the core Shadowdark book with the D30 Sandbox Companion to get a better idea of natural formations. For the map-making program, I am using Tiled (www.mapeditor.org)…

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Time to Look Back: My Journey in Tabletop Buildings

05/22/2025 Happy Thursday and welcome back to Tabletop Thoughts! Since I recently did a video on my fantasy building collection, I thought I would take the time to look back at a post I did years ago that showcased all of the different buildings I had made then. Please click the link and look back at where I was then and where I am now. There are homemade buildings, papercraft buildings, 3D…

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Tabletop Gaming: Update on 3D Printing and Painting Projects

05/20/2025 Happy Tuesday and welcome back to Tabletop Thoughts! Here is a quick overview of what is on the table this week! I had 2 more angel statues left in the box, so I decided to get them completed this week. These are almost there. One more dry brush with a light gray/white, and I am calling them done. I really need to do a graveyard UDT or at least some graveyard scatter. I am also…