tabletop-thoughts

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Snakepeople: A Mother's Day Update

05/11/2025 Happy Mother’s Day and welcome back to Tabletop Thoughts! This week was focused on getting the snakepeople completed and off the crafting table. I am happy to report that the mission was successful (in part). I finished all of the snakepeople that I had started earlier in the week. Still, I never got around to priming and painting the additional snakepeople that were released as part…

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Shadows of the Sundered Throne: The Fate of Pyrepeak

05/07/2025 Happy Wednesday and welcome back to Tabletop Thoughts! Today, we will continue with some worldbuilding for the Shadowdark Campaign, Shadows of the Sundered Throne. We will make a little history for the Kingdom and add some effects that are still felt even now in Thessaria The Ashen Fall of Pyrepeak Summary:Two centuries ago, the mighty dwarven city of Pyrepeak, nestled in the…

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Miniature Painting Update: Progress on Snakepeople and Cultists

05/06/2025 Happy Tuesday and welcome back to Tabletop Thoughts! This week is going to be dominated by miniature painting. The snakepeople are almost done. I have models from Brite Minis, Fat Dragon Games, and other companies. I need to do more work on the bases, and they should be complete. Here are a pair of cultists from Beasts and Baddies. Just started with them, but I am hoping to get the…

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Weekend Update: Tabletop Painting and Etsy Deals

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Why Shadowdark Is the Ultimate High-Stakes RPG Experience

05/02/2025 It’s no secret that Shadowdark has become one of the breakout stars of the tabletop RPG scene. While many games try to balance old-school charm with modern sensibility, few do it as confidently—and successfully—as Shadowdark. But what about this system with so many players lighting torches and diving headfirst into the nearest dungeon? A Return to Dangerous Dungeons At its core,…

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New Snakepeople Models for Tabletop Gaming

04/29/2025 Happy Tuesday and welcome back to Tabletop Thoughts! This week, I am working on painting a BUNCH of miniatures. I was hoping to do another crafting video this week, but I don’t think that is going to be possible. I am going to a Viking festival this Saturday, so my crafting time will be limited. I finally got the Snakepeople on the painting table. I am going with Absolution Green…

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Impressive Miniatures from Beasts and Baddies

04/26/2025 Happy Sunday and welcome back to Tabletop Thoughts! This week, I plowed through a group of miniatures and was pretty impressed with some of the models and my painting. A Blue Slaad and a Green Slaad stand before an altar to Orcus. These models are from the recent EC3D Design’s collection release called Beasts and Baddies. I don’t think I have ever used a Slaad in an adventure I…

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Celebrating 50 Subscribers: Giveaway Results Revealed!

04/25/2025 I had a giveaway on YouTube when my channel hit 50 subscribers. We passed that mark this week, so I randomly picked a name from the list of subscribers with a public profile or who responded to the previous YouTube post. (There were only 13 people in the drawing.) The winner of the three painted Ironmoor Trolls is Carlos Perez Alonso! Congratulations Carlos! When you can, please…

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Landmarks Before Details — A Smarter Way to Build Your Sandbox World

04/24/2025 When it comes to building a sandbox-style campaign, it’s tempting to dive headfirst into the nitty-gritty: population numbers, grain exports, the exact shade of the duke’s doublet. But if you want to create a world that feels alive and sticks in your players’ memories, start big — literally. Today, we’re diving into one of my favorite worldbuilding strategies: “Landmarks Before…

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My Tree Collection: Handmade, Bought, and Printed

04/22/2025 Happy Tuesday and welcome back to Tabletop Thoughts! Today, I released another YouTube video. This video goes over my tree collection. I got over trees I made, trees I bought, and trees that I print. Keep on gaming!

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Dragon Turtle Painting Video Released!

04/16/2025 Happy Wednesday and welcome back to Tabletop Thoughts! Today, I finally released the dragon turtle painting video on YouTube. It took me 6 tries to get Capcut to export the video and load it onto YouTube correctly. The next painting video should be the custom underdark terrain piece. See Below: That was a fun video to make. I will start working on it this weekend if possible. It…

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Tabletop Miniatures: Nidhogg and More Updates

04/15/2025 Happy Tuesday and welcome back to Tabletop Thoughts! For those living in the USA, it is tax day. To take the sadness away, I have been working on a few projects. Nidhogg did in fact jump the line for getting painted. I really like this model from The Printing Goes Ever On. I went with a two-tone green color scheme with bone claws and teeth. I still need to decide on the base. Should…

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Win 3 Ironmoor Trolls in Our YouTube Giveaway!

04/14/2025 I posted the video on YouTube that shows off the three Ironmoor Trolls that will be sent to the giveaway winner. I think I did a decent paint job on these trolls. I wouldn’t have a problem dropping these onto the game table for a good fantasy TTRPG or miniatures agnostic wargame. If you want to see the video and enter the drawing, please head over and subscribe to the YouTube…

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Weekend Projects: Creating Stunning Tabletop Terrain Pieces

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Showcasing My Ultimate Dungeon Terrain Collection

04/11/2025 Happy Friday and welcome back to Tabletop Thoughts! Today, I released another video on my YouTube channel. In this video, I show you my UDT (Ultimate Dungeon Terrain) collection I have created over the years. The idea for UDT came from Professor Dungeonmaster on the Dungeoncraft YouTube channel. Here are a couple of samples from the video: I also show you some of the custom scatter…

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Adapting Published Modules to Your Campaign: Make It Yours

04/10/2025 “Good writers borrow, great writers steal.” — T.S. Eliot Pre-written adventure modules are an incredible resource for busy Dungeon Masters. They offer structured plots, fleshed-out NPCs, and well-paced encounters, all wrapped in a tidy book or PDF. But let’s face it—no matter how good a published module is, it was written with someone else’s world in mind. That’s where the magic of…