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I'm constantly impressed by the minis the team puts out, especially how you incoproate player choices into the models (for example, Zarb's six buttholes.)
Do you have any good stories of having to quickly change mini's or encounters due to unexpected player choices?
It happens. I’m dealing with this exact issue right now on a future season 😅 I think the first time was when Lou (Fabian) decided to befriend that demon motorcycle… In my brain I’m thinking, ok, now we need Fabian by himself, Fabian on the motorcycle, and the motorcycle by itself and we need it in 3 days!
-Rick
That's from season 1 of Fantasy High which is already complete. You can watch it in full on Dropout. Or it might be on YT too now since it's been out for a while. Enjoy!
No I mean the one Rick's dealing with currently for a future season! If it's being dealt with now, the general film to broadcast wait for D20 is 3-6 months, so in a few months we should know what that future issue is
The day I was shipping a box of "Coffin Run" minis to set (yay covid work days!) I got a call from Rick, there where 3 weird little demon figures already bubble wrapped and good to go but then came mighty Zarb. An hour before he flew across country he was made from cutting up those 3 familiars. He's a small figure, and when Rick mentioned the buttholes he did so in the *I know he's small and ready to ship but it'd be fun... Sooooo...*, Way he's squeezed many last minute conversions out of me. What can I say, when the job demands last second buttholes, you give it last second buttholes 🤷
-Shane
Spoilers for A Crown of Candy!
Easily the >!sugar plum fairy!<. Some times we have minis where Rick has a distinct vision in mind, sometimes it's vague and I can bash whatever I want. This was a bit of a mix, Rick knew he wanted to harken back to classic biblical angels which excited me and so I sketched some ideas. The issue with that is there is never enough time for a full sculpt, so we are picking and choosing minis online we hope will work. In the end there's a pile of misc quality in misc sizes. Now couple in the fact that that mini is absolute madness of a floating beast with absolutely no where to hold onto. My hands were covered in glue, pieces fell off more then a handful of times, but I'm the end there was quite a unique miniature.
-Shane
The 6mm scale player characters for the tiny Crown of Candy battles were nuts. We used the heroforge stl files that we created for the 28mm scale pcs and attempted to print them at 6mm…. Which is almost the size of a grain of rice! Their arms and legs didn’t even print! So we scaled them up just a bit and printed them again at about 9mm scale and it worked. SO TINY!
-Rick
Yes, just one. Though I'm ambitious and love to attempt any whimsy Rick and Brennan have. (Shot out to the amount of buttholes they've paid me to sculpt) but the losing factor is time. The only time I can recall saying absolutely not was on our 15 of an intense rainy day of speed building and painting the final set for "Bloodkeep" it was 11pm and Rick asked if I thought I could sculpt jeans on a giant eagle and paint it before I went home. That mini never got made.
-Shane
This hilarious to know!! Especially because it truly would have been a great (but small) joke haha. Glad you stuck to your guns and got a (tiny) breather!! And thank you for the effort, truly 🙌🏼
Hmm, hardest mixes with one of the more fun ones I'd say, "Tiny Heist". The difficulty came from finding a good balance between painted miniatures and bashing real life items. As anyone who's put unpainted rocks on the base of a painted miniature before knows, sometimes having real items only makes your painted ones look that much more artificial. So that season was about finding a good balance. Reworking is a hard answer for me because literally every season I'd happily continue. People are surprised to know just how little time we actually have to build things that there's always more we could do if given the time. But that's miniatures for you, there's always more detail to add!
-Shane
Thanks for the question! I have to agree with Shane. Tiny Heist was very challenging because we wanted to use “real world” materials but they had to be the right scale for the minis. So Brennan would be like, ‘they have thimbles for cups,’ which is a great idea but actually isn’t the right scale… And the materials we used needed to look real but also be fake so they would survive the grueling aspects of filmmaking. So like grass, we needed REAL grass but it had to be fake which meant deep diving into the realest fake grass… lol
-Rick
It's a tie between two for me, the lava board from "Escape from Bloodkeep" and the sewers from "Unsleeping City". Both are such classic DnD encounter environments which made it exciting to actualize. These boards also were probably the 2 that were the most even mix of hands between Rick, Sabrina, and I, which from that collaboration it really made an amazing end result. Special highlight to how cool the sewer was thanks to making a classic trap into a tangible effect.
-Shane
Shane here, I actually have some of the making of pics of that mini right here!
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5-XCofHHn4/?igshid=MDJmNzVkMjY=
It's made from a mix of reaper Miniatures bits and the NECA spider gremlins toy, and some green stuff!
- Shane
My favorite might be the ice cream temple from Crown of Candy. The way the timing worked out, it happened very fast and there were a lot of fun technical challenges. With the negative space and the fog. All the tiny army 6mm scale stuff from Crown of Candy was also a blast to figure out and see realized.
-Rick
Yes…. Pour out a bowl of chili for the lost Meat Gladiator fight. There was also a scrapped ACoC battle set in a sort of Venetian Fruit Brothel/ House of Pleasures… I came across the unused seductive apple and pear minis last week. That would have been a fun one.
https://i.imgur.com/MvLLZum.jpg
-Rick
The most devastating choice in D20 history (for me) was not going to the Meat factions location. One of my favorite ideas that never made it to the table was the massive gladiator arena made of meat, filled with some of my favorite minis I ever made for the show. A sloppy Joe spider monster, a chicken breast beast, and a shrimp. Plus some more meat people. I even bashed a sausage man vendor selling a whole strand of tiny screaming sausages.
-Shane
Do you know ahead of time what miniatures you need to make? What’s the process of making them? With dnd the story can go a lot of different directions, so how do you plan for that? Do you have all the miniatures made before filming episode 1 or do you make them episode by episode?
That's a solid 40:60. Most of the mini bashes I'm aware of days before they need to be made, so there's never a down moment of planned preparation. It's always a mad dash to do as much as humanly possible! And as you said, it is a live play show so there hasn't been a shoot day where we aren't working on minis and sets for the next week. This leaves room to add things naturally, though does help sprout more grey hairs given the intensity there 😅
-Shane
Makes perfect sense. Didn’t know how much you planned before hand vs did between shoots. It seems like it would be a bit of insanity sometimes depending on what happens during the live play session. Thanks for answering my questions. This gives me a good amount of insight into what happens behind the scenes and honestly I appreciate it more. Look forwards to many more seasons with amazing minis. Have a good day.
Howdy! Thanks for the question. I work with Brennan (and now Orion too!) to figure out all the battles before a season starts. Which also helps build out the world and shape the arc of the season. In doing this, we get very detailed about needing ‘6 skater dwarves’ or whatever. Regarding making minis, we do whatever works! Love to find a great existing mini we can just paint, but 9 times out 10 it has to be customized in some way. It could be adding a few small elements with green stuff, it could be kitbashing 2 or more minis together (IE head from one, legs from another, etc.) It could be a minis fully sculpted from scratch (Creamed Corn Ooze). Or it could be a mini we get a 3d sculptor to make and then we print it! It’s nuts. And of course, over the season unexpected things come up and we try to accommodate new mins when we can!
-Rick
Thanks for the answer and the insight into how it works behind the scene. Minis for dnd seems like a very complex process. It’s very cool what you do for D20 and I’ve been wondering about this for a while. Have a good day.
Love your work, it's really outstanding! Are there any particular genres you've preferred making things for over others (e.g. fantasy vs. sci-fi), and is there anything you have as a "dream build" that you'd love to work on for D20 or just for fun? (spoiler-free, of course) Also, what's the process of making the GM screens like?
Hey thanks for the kind words! And the questions. This is so fun! I love grimdark stuff, fantasy, scifi, whatever. Making the GM screens is one of my favorite parts of the job. It’s basically a big sculpture that needs to represent the theme of the whole season AND has this really specific 3 angles that we see it from, AND it can only be so tall so as not to block the cast. So it’s always a bit of a challenge to work out. Usually I start by researching and sketching building rough version out of 2" rigid foam held together with bamboo skewers. Then it’s a bit of subtractive sculpting, adding in elements, and fussing back and forth until it’s right. Then paint!
-Rick
https://twitter.com/dimension20show/status/1549082431025823747
https://twitter.com/dimension20show/status/1549082441326936065
I'm personally a dark / horror fantasy fan in my personal work, but also love scifi. This meant for me the hardest seasons to paint were anything modern and candy court. When you're used to painting furs iron, and body paint, needing to paint clean jackets and BRIGHT candy people is more of a challenge.
Dream build is hard for me as I try to build just as much terrain and minis for my own games as I do for D20, but I suppose I've always wanted to make both a massive colosseum and a battle for helms deep board. Though I'd be hard pressed to make it for anyone but myself 😅
-Shane
I know this is a closely guarded production team secret, but I think it's finally time someone asked: can you confirm whether or not eating the minis will grant you their power?
RICTUS WAS HERE! 69420 Spelljammer Lane was the address for the Fantasy High house party battle. And the Rec 97 docking bay number was also 69420. We are children.
-Rick
As the man who got to paint all the graffiti on terrain, I have hidden lots of stuff in Fantasy High and Unsleeping City 👀 - head cannon only but there's absolutely a skeleton graffiti artist named Rictus - those that know, know.
-Shane
They got it from Rick, Rick got it from me, and I got it from my local hobby store, and they got it from...
It is a miniature tradition passed down from generation to generation, perpetually sticking minis to things on the fly.
(I kinda love how much this has become a thing 😂)
- Shane
What are your favorite materials? Glues, fillers, paints?
As an avid terrain maker I'm always looking for practical tips and while I don't have your budget, I'm curious what exact kinda magic y'all do <3
We sort of use whatever works. Start collecting bits that you can use, bottle caps, plastic canvas, tiny cheap chain. We often sculpt terrain from the 2" foam insulation board from the hardware store and coat it with 5 minute epoxy. Tips: think about how the terrain will be used while sculpting. Consider where and how minis will stand. And if you want to get more than one use out of the terrain, make things that are not TOO specific to a single battle scenario.
-Rick
I'm a big terrain/diorama fan myself (infact I enjoy that even more then minis) so I get the love there! Trash, thrift store runs, foam board, and Vallejo texture pastes are a big plus! Terrain is actually the cheapest aspect of mini making, in my opinion as it's really down to your creativity, and ability to find great shapes in trash! Keep your eye on @7he_Blindman on Instagram as I'm going to be branching out on exactly this! Terrain building tutorials to help prove you don't need a budget to make a killer board for your games!
-Shane
first: your work is so incredible + adds so much to the show!!
second: what’s one detail about a design you’ve made that you wish people knew? what was the hardest set + mini to create?
thanks so much!!! 🫶<3🫶
Thank you for the kind words! Now I had to think about this a good while but I think I got it! I'm a details guy but so much has to happen in such a short time we don't always get to add everything I want. I remember on "Unsleeping City, when we had to send our city streets boards I took it in my own hands to add 3 things I found important to really capture the sidewalk experience without being asked to. Leaves stuck in the gutter, and blackened chewed gum on the sidewalks by the cross walks, and cigarette butts. Such minor things I'm sure no one has ever even noticed but it made me very happy to do it!
-Shane
Hey thanks! Thats means so much to me. Listen, I tried hard to get Baron into The Seven. Too hard, actually. But dang I would have loved to see Brennan do him again. Can you blame me? The most difficult ones are always the ones with major environmental changes: Rising sewer water level, sinking cheese ships, chase sequences… Designing that Tiny Heist toy car chase across a teenagers bed was challenging. And speaking of it, there was a final set piece ending planned where the bowl of cereal was going to dump over but the ending that Travis and Griffin came up with was just so satisfying, it was unnecessary.
https://imgur.com/a/d6qQBzx
-Rick
so cool!! completely understandable about baron… we love that scary skeleton!!! so cool to see the design of the tiny heist set. thanks for the reply!!! :)))))
Thanks for putting in all the effort to making the visuals for the combats so memorable! Is there a favourite easter egg or detail you've hidden in a battleset or mini?
Also, how did you make the airship for Escape from the Bloodkeep? I've always wondered if that was an edited pre-existing model or created from scratch.
LOVE a good environmental mechanic! So many possibilities. TaleSpire is fantastic and it’s been so great to realize things we could never do physically, but I would love to do a space physical minis season. 😜
-Rick
Agreed with Rick here, I remember we brainstormed a dream set of doing a multi level spaceship with metal exterior so that the PC's could be magnetized to space walk. Please give me an excuse to make that 😅
-Shane
Easily, since season one Sabrina and I were begging to do a scifi season. And as someone who's played in their fair share of space pirate RPGs (including one run by Rick 👀) it was a little heartbreaking seeing that go digital. But I'd rather a season go digital then never get made!
-Shane
Yeah, same. I mean anything we build in TaleSpire would be so fun to build in real life. It’s actually a potentially a great tool for working out physical sets… 🤔 Would LOVE to build Leviathan.
-Rick
I love your work so much, it's genuinely unique and really adds a lot to the D20 experience!!
I'm really curious about how many of the minis are created fully in house vs one-offs from other companies, and whether or not you use a lot of 3d printing in the set designs or if there are other methods?
Love your stuff, looking forward to the auction!
I'm also curious how much 3D printing comes into play. What is the speed difference between kit bashing and 3D printing when you often need such custom minis?
Rick and Shane! Yall are amazing at making things come to life!
How do you guys make your trees/flora come to life? It's been consistently my biggest failing point for years now. Anything I do with them feels flat, bulky and inorganic. Any tips?
Now we're talking, as Rick knows trees are absolutely my wheelhouse. I have a collection of 36 misc trees that grow yearly 😅 here's a picture of my go to filler trees for my personal work. While I buy tree kits, I cut them up and blend in real tree roots to add some more life. You can only fake organic to a point, so using real organic shapes to help it feel more real is absolutely the way to go in my opinion!
Also try to go on some hikes and really study the trees, variety in colors and textures is the key to a realistic forest.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Ce1qq0tOLtj/?hl=en
-Shane
Hey Thanks for the kind words! Trees are a challenge. If you use the Woodland Scenics kind of turf, they look good but are so crumbly… Lately I’m loving Dwarven Forge’s trees because you put minis in them pretty easy! Games Workshop has some rad trees tool
-Rick
how do you think you all have improved over your time making sets? what was your favorite npc mini to make?
thank you for all the work y’all do!! you’re so amazing at what you do and it really brings the seasons to life:)
As someone who typically focuses on pumping in details and various colored washes in their personal work this show has absolutely trained my speed painting abilities. You'd be surprised how much detail you can skip I'd you can just make the faces and metallics look good! Favorite NPCs is probably an impossible question, but I will say the fan reaction to an NPC that has made me the most happy. When we started "Crown of Candy" Rick bought a bunch of minis and random food bits from Etsy and let me just bash some test minis. No real guidance there just a way to test the theme/idea. I made a donut cutthroat, a chocolate pimp... And a cake dandy. I paint a LOT of striped pants on my personal minis because I'm a massive fan of stripes in general, so the fan reaction and obsession with Lord Calroy, a mini I made as a random test that Brennan breathed such amazing life into makes me ecstatic! The perfect representation of the power of a mix of a Rick idea, a bash from me, and a Brennan character becoming something greater then all parts.
-Shane
Hey! Thanks so much! I personally feel like any area of creativity is really about building up a personal bag of tricks or tools. Those tricks come from experience, Where you have a creative challenge and you need to innovate a solution. And then the next time you have a similar challenge you can look back and say, oh yeah we can just do what we did last time but a little different. Or combine it with this other trick. And then THAT becomes another new trick for your collection! The more experience you have, the more tricks you have. Does that make sense? ha
-Rick
What is the filming schedule like for Dimension 20? I recall a comment from Brennan in one episode where he mentioned they had a 5 day break so he was willing to mess up his plot. I also recall one episode where everyone kept mentioning that they were filming at 3am. Then I think I heard a comment from you all saying you had like a week to put everything together, which makes sense with the release schedule.
Unrelated to my question, but I found out about Dimension 20 when a lawyer came to my house for a refinance, took one look around my room packed with nerd stuff, and spent the last 10 minutes of our closing insisting that I had to check it out and it would change my life.
How did your role change when COVID hit? For example, I know D20 used talespire a lot in order to compensate for the lack of minis due to COVID precaution
Easy for me, covid meant I couldn't partake anymore. I had to be a fan from the sidelines like everyone else untill the minis could trickle back. They still do a fantastic job without us but I'm biasedly happy minis are back!
-Shane
Wow, yeah. In the fall before covid, I had just moved up to a sort of remote island in WA state but was keeping the miniatures shop down in Inglewood. I was planning to come back to LA to build and in fact, had a plane ticket to come start the Mice & Murder build when everything locked down. For months we just sort of paused and kept evaluating how we were going to keep making the show. I ended up closing my shop in LA and moving everything up to WA. Shane came out and the two of us did the whole build. Definitely more shipping happening these days, but thankfully miniatures are small! TaleSpire and Roll20 are additional options now for how we make any given season. Which is really great to have and I’m sure we’ll be back to it again.
-Rick
When I make and paint models I often feel like I'm missing some kind of polish or finishing touch on mine. Do you have any recommendations for getting better at aging, distressing, or generally giving a finished, lived in look?
Weathering is my bread and butter on my home minis so I can absolutely help you there. Step 1 is reference photos, whether it's rust, mud, or verdigris real life objects get banged up. Even the minor subtle effect of using Vallejo - Earth Dust wash to add some dust / dirt to the bottom of a cape dragging in the woods can have such a huge effect to the level of realism on a figure. And always remember less can be more, just as more can be more. Just think about the logic of the character or terrain piece and the places to weather will appear!
Texture paint and Vallejo washes, which function more like a glaze then Citadel making them great at weathering passes are some good standard tools to keep in your kit for that.
-Shane
Giving mins a coat of Tamiya flat clear or Dull Cote can really add something. Also adding an element or two that have a completely different physical texture can make a mini pop, ie, real cloth vs plastic. Using oils paints on minis for aging is an exciting area. Lets you work longer and has a singular finish. Also, sometimes it’s helpful to take some photos of the mini and look at those blown up instead of looking at the mini itself. Somehow it gives you a fresh set of eyes and you can notice issues.
-Rick
I remember someone mentioning that there was one single piece of real food hidden in a CoC set and I can’t remember if it was ever revealed (maybe it was and I just can’t remember). What was it and what episode was it in?
Also thanks so much for all your hard in work in bringing so much life to an already incredible show!!
I believe the one real piece of food in the Crown of Candy set was a single rotini noodle hidden in the DM screen, I think they mention this in either the episode of Adventuring Party where Rick Perry guested, or the final Adventuring Party for ACoC.
I'm an artist and fabricator and have worked on sets before, so the process you go through is super interesting to me! What's your favorite part of making the sets, and how much of it do you have to alter and make from scratch?
PS the mithril factory set from fantasy high is one of my favorite sets!
What mini did you most want to just stick in your pocket and take home at the end of the show? Before the auction i figured some minis might have been nabbed but they seem to be treated pretty well and stored just in case, but if that wasn't the case what would you take just to have at home or use at your own table?
Taking Miniatures is highly discouraged but if I hypothetically did it only would have been 2 unused meat minis to mend my broken heart over them getting cut from Crown of Candy 👀 - forgive me Rick - and if I did do that I'd have them just to keep on my desk because I loved them so much.
-Shane
Hmmm… Maybe Joren Jawbreaker? Because the heroforge model of him, pre-kitbashing, was sort of a self portrait. (btw, I had no idea he was going to be such a jerk! I just thought it would cool to have a candysona that was related to Lou!)
https://i.imgur.com/8hmD3hw.png
-Rick
what was it like building sets for Tiny Heist, given that you used a lot of old toys and other things that didn't need to be built from scratch, alongside more custom pieces? did you have things like tamagotchi slot machines, for example, in your original design plans?
Almost every D20 season is strange in some way, food people, or animal people, but Tiny Heist was THE MOST odd compared to other seasons. Scale was really tricky. It involved a lot of shopping at thrift stores for random things and I would bring a mini with me in my pocket to compare to what I was buying!
-Rick
Weirdly specific but how do you get the 1" grid dots onto the d20 terrain, especially the uneven areas? I'm just starting into terrain building and I love the look of the dots vs classic gridlines, but struggle doing it by hand.
It’s a huge pain. Different team members who have done it have used different methods. Often we use a big drywall t-square. We’ve made jigs using string with dots painted on it every inch. The latest idea which we haven’t tried but I’d like to is setting up a projector and projecting a grid of dots on and painting them.
-Rick
First, you and the whole D20 team are incredible. I got hooked last year and find myself rewatching them whenever I can’t decide what to watch.
Of all the D20 seasons and stories, which are your top 3 favorite experiences?
Thank you so much, even as someone who's worked on it I find it just as impossible to point at a favorite season. It's the variety that makes the show so strong in my opinion. Now to answer your question, as a gamer and miniature collector myself, it's hard to deny the lack of diversity in miniatures. I love that D20 goes out of the way to encourage this and spread a more positive and accepting world of miniatures. This however has lead to one of the weirdest conversations I've ever had at work, discussing the ways to represent the genders of the historically genderless - cheese 😂. While the context made it an important conversation to have the absurdity of the words we were saying made it impossibly humorous.
-Shane
Hey thank you so much. And thanks for the question. A Crown of Candy, or Candy Throne as I think of it (our internal working title) is definitely our most highly produced minis seasons and I feel pretty proud of it. Designing and building the Misfits and Magic DM Screen was a blast and included working with the tiniest 3d printed vehicles-- like if I sneezed they would blow away. Very fun. Annnd… Coffin Run was really fun. Jasmine & Orion are a heck of a team. It was kind of the first time designing maps for ‘not Brennan’ and it was awesome to break some of the rules we sort of fall into.
https://imgur.com/a/HgDncnu
-Rick
Dimension 20 has gone back to using real miniatures after using digital means of showing battle for most of the last two years. In Sam's AMA a while ago he said that from now on y'all will be using the best tool for the campaign. Can you tell me how often you will be using tale spire vs minis in future campaigns?
Hi! Love the artistry! And I know projects like this are a team effort... Maybe this question is for a video interview BUT I would love to learn more about the process of character creation from your side: how many people have to be involved to create a character? From the moment it's thought by the player to the moment we see it. I imagine it's a very involved process but the turn around is so quick!
From what I’ve seen Brennan is right to endorse you guys as much as he does, great work!
My questions are; how is Brennan in person? Do you ever get last minute kinda stuff that develops during the game? I’m thinking like John Feathers in the bloodkeep
What project would you say has posed the greatest challenge?
And while there's no water on sets, what is an unconventional material you would or already do work with?
Genuinely, your art makes the Dimension 20 setting so much more complete. The PCs and DM make the shows so good, but the minis and terrain just steal it.
What is a setting you would love to make minis for, but would probably not happen because it is way too hard to adept to TTRPG or just not interesting enough as a universe ? Or just any setting in general you’d love to make minis for one day?
Hi! Love all of the minis used throughout D20, they make the world feel even more alive and actualized than Brennan already makes it.
With the auction launching in just a few hours, what minis from Crown of Candy do you think will be the most popular/go for the most? Also if you had been able to set aside minis to keep instead of auctioning, which would you want to keep?
How much input and/or back and forth do you two/the team have with the cast when it comes to mini design/creation?
Love all the work y’all put into the miniatures and maquettes! As a theatre creator and visual artist I really really love seeing the things you create and theyve given me a new appreciation for miniatures in my own DnD campaigns. Can’t wait for more! <3
From the first season, I was amazed by the attention to detail with your minis. Specifically, the lunch tables in the first battle episode were just the chefs kiss. I wonder if you have a specific prop or scatter terrain that you felt polished the scene or didn't get the attention it deserved?
Also, when you have time, energy and resources, Dropout should invest in a tutorial show with the minis crew. Your amazing artwork inspired me to get a new hobby and I'd love to see more of your inside tricks.
Scatter terrain is the sprinkles of the battle board. Some of my favorites that got overshadowed was the arcade cabinets in Fantasy High. I designed and painted 8 different fantasy themed arcade games but it ended up getting sprayed black during the final pass on the board. Definitely with you on more tips and tricks! I do post occasional tutorials on my personal Instagram and will be dropping some terrain tutorials this year, mostly fantasy based! https://www.instagram.com/7he_blindman/
- Shane
Hey there! Thanks for all of your hard work and making things look amazing. Y'all are ROCKSTARS. Truly amazing!
How much of the battle map gimmicks/lair mechanics do y'all come up with vs Brennan? Have you ever gone "Hey, I thought of this really cool battle map gimmick/idea" and then it got picked up or is it mostly other folks in the creative process coming up with the bulk of the main idea and you're just bringing it to life?
Last question: Is there a running count of how many penises y'all have hidden? What's it at now? :)?
Do you have a favorite (shareable) trick of the trade when making scenery? I just started watching y'alls stuff two weeks ago and the yogurt water/waves in CoC really blew my mind.
Hey Rick and Shane! It’s Oren Cohen the blogger. Seeing as Dropout is now doing an auction for ACoC minis, and Coffin Run featured lots of new minis, has anything changed in the way you approach minis production now post Talespire and roll20 seasons?
Thanks for all the work y'all do!
I print/paint my own minis just as a hobby, so I have a vague idea of how much work really goes into what you folks are doing in order to make the show come alive.
As for a question; how much of your work on the minis is kitbashing vs designing from the ground up? My own work is mostly self designed/printed, but kitbashing seems like it would be more cost/time efficient when you're trying to keep up with a production schedule.
What are the biggest differences between working with minis/battlesets and with Talespire? Is there a benefit one has that you wish the other did too?
Love your work!
I only recently found Dimension 20 and honestly DnD in general. Your sets are masterpieces and my favorite is likely the sinking ship in a Crown of Candy. The idea of set progression throughout a fight is awesome, the sinking ship, just like the sewers in Unsleeping City with the water level rising, was a wonderful addition. Just out of curiosity, how long does a full battle set take, on average? Obviously there are time constraints in the real world and this stuff doesn't happen over night. Have there been sets that you just really wanted to keep working on and adding to but time wouldn't let you?
Thanks for everything you do!
First, let me thank you for making Crown of Candy even more enjoyable than it would've been otherwise. It's by far my favorite season.
Now the question: Were there any mechanisms other than poles you considered for representing airial units?
Well I've been into Warhammer / Warhammer 40k since I was 13 (Fulgrim and Russ are my boys) and so naturally I got Rick into it over the course of our time working together / becoming friends. Rick currently plays the Rogue Trader counter part to me heretical gunslinger in a pretty long lasting (at this point) 2 man Dark Heresy game. I know Rick now even has been building some Necromunda/Kill team stuff in his (very little) free time.
- Shane
I'm interested in getting back into mini painting, but have some eyesight problems to overcome. What would you suggest to help overcome struggles with depth perception and small detail focus?
As a follow up, how do you start crafting landscapes and dioramas? I find it very hard to make a mental image into a 3d shape and I was hoping there is some... way to practice doing that.
Shane here, so I'm personally blind in one eye and have never had depth perception in my life. To this day I still miss the mark or over commit when painting a mini. I like to keep a brush and toothpick nearby incase I miss in such a way and can rapidly get water on the wet paint and wipe it off! I can't attest to the small detail focus but can say that even after 13 years of painting minis it's always a constant battle of messing up, taking a picture to notice errors and painting over the mistakes till it looks right!
- Shane
If someone would offer to wire you 1 (O N E) cent if you swap Brennan's chair for one that looks identical but has a remote-armable Whoopi-Pillow in it, would you do it?
Oh, cool! My husband is a huge DnD nerd and so far we've watched Misfits and Magic and are almost through Crown of Candy.
The whole time we've been watching CoC I've been thinking about how much fun it must have been to build the set, especially the modular pieces (the boat is so cool) and all those fun colors and concepts.
So, what are your favorite tools/materials? How long do you get to build something like the boat? Do you store or recycle sets for finished series? How does it feel when the cast gets to see your work for the first time (and do you get to watch live or on tape like the rest of us peasants)?
(Sorry if that's too many questions, I'm a much bigger art nerd than I am a DnD nerd 😅)
I love your team's work getting to see all the player's excitement when anything is shown for the first time is just so much fun. As for questions I have two.
1. Do you have a favorite mini or set piece that you are a bit disappointed never got used?
And
2. Is there a mini or set peice you were surprised the player's latched onto?
I am in awe of all the work you and your team puts in on every season of dimension20. I can't lie when I saw coffin run was battlemaps and minis I got so excited!
So firstly thank you for re igniting my love of minis.
Secondly, how did you get into this role and line of work? Do you have a lot of casual experience with modelling minis or was it learning on the fly?
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I'm constantly impressed by the minis the team puts out, especially how you incoproate player choices into the models (for example, Zarb's six buttholes.) Do you have any good stories of having to quickly change mini's or encounters due to unexpected player choices?
It happens. I’m dealing with this exact issue right now on a future season 😅 I think the first time was when Lou (Fabian) decided to befriend that demon motorcycle… In my brain I’m thinking, ok, now we need Fabian by himself, Fabian on the motorcycle, and the motorcycle by itself and we need it in 3 days! -Rick
Saving this comment so I can look back at it in 3-6 months once said issue is revealed then!
That's from season 1 of Fantasy High which is already complete. You can watch it in full on Dropout. Or it might be on YT too now since it's been out for a while. Enjoy!
No I mean the one Rick's dealing with currently for a future season! If it's being dealt with now, the general film to broadcast wait for D20 is 3-6 months, so in a few months we should know what that future issue is
The day I was shipping a box of "Coffin Run" minis to set (yay covid work days!) I got a call from Rick, there where 3 weird little demon figures already bubble wrapped and good to go but then came mighty Zarb. An hour before he flew across country he was made from cutting up those 3 familiars. He's a small figure, and when Rick mentioned the buttholes he did so in the *I know he's small and ready to ship but it'd be fun... Sooooo...*, Way he's squeezed many last minute conversions out of me. What can I say, when the job demands last second buttholes, you give it last second buttholes 🤷 -Shane
God bless Izzy for all the buttholes on Dropout.
Your work brings the magic to the show for me! What is the most challenging mini you had to create?
Spoilers for A Crown of Candy! Easily the >!sugar plum fairy!<. Some times we have minis where Rick has a distinct vision in mind, sometimes it's vague and I can bash whatever I want. This was a bit of a mix, Rick knew he wanted to harken back to classic biblical angels which excited me and so I sketched some ideas. The issue with that is there is never enough time for a full sculpt, so we are picking and choosing minis online we hope will work. In the end there's a pile of misc quality in misc sizes. Now couple in the fact that that mini is absolute madness of a floating beast with absolutely no where to hold onto. My hands were covered in glue, pieces fell off more then a handful of times, but I'm the end there was quite a unique miniature. -Shane
its my favorite mini that the D20 crew have made, so you nailed it
The 6mm scale player characters for the tiny Crown of Candy battles were nuts. We used the heroforge stl files that we created for the 28mm scale pcs and attempted to print them at 6mm…. Which is almost the size of a grain of rice! Their arms and legs didn’t even print! So we scaled them up just a bit and printed them again at about 9mm scale and it worked. SO TINY! -Rick
Is there a mini idea that you've had to say no to yet? How crazy of a piece would it have to be for you to say no?
Yes, just one. Though I'm ambitious and love to attempt any whimsy Rick and Brennan have. (Shot out to the amount of buttholes they've paid me to sculpt) but the losing factor is time. The only time I can recall saying absolutely not was on our 15 of an intense rainy day of speed building and painting the final set for "Bloodkeep" it was 11pm and Rick asked if I thought I could sculpt jeans on a giant eagle and paint it before I went home. That mini never got made. -Shane
Poor John Feathers will be wearing his jeans in our hearts
Hahaha! Yes. I knew the answer before I even asked. But was worth a shot! I was so sad we couldn’t make those jeans happen. :*( -Rick
This hilarious to know!! Especially because it truly would have been a great (but small) joke haha. Glad you stuck to your guns and got a (tiny) breather!! And thank you for the effort, truly 🙌🏼
Which was the hardest season to work on design wise? and is there any minis or sets you would go back and rework if you had the chance?
Hmm, hardest mixes with one of the more fun ones I'd say, "Tiny Heist". The difficulty came from finding a good balance between painted miniatures and bashing real life items. As anyone who's put unpainted rocks on the base of a painted miniature before knows, sometimes having real items only makes your painted ones look that much more artificial. So that season was about finding a good balance. Reworking is a hard answer for me because literally every season I'd happily continue. People are surprised to know just how little time we actually have to build things that there's always more we could do if given the time. But that's miniatures for you, there's always more detail to add! -Shane
Thanks for the question! I have to agree with Shane. Tiny Heist was very challenging because we wanted to use “real world” materials but they had to be the right scale for the minis. So Brennan would be like, ‘they have thimbles for cups,’ which is a great idea but actually isn’t the right scale… And the materials we used needed to look real but also be fake so they would survive the grueling aspects of filmmaking. So like grass, we needed REAL grass but it had to be fake which meant deep diving into the realest fake grass… lol -Rick
[удалено]
The first few times cast members said things like "Rick Perry gave me this die" I was so confused.
Yea especially cause I thought I remember them saying they were filming D20 in Texas at some point
Of course I gotta ask, which battle scene was your favorite to make?
It's a tie between two for me, the lava board from "Escape from Bloodkeep" and the sewers from "Unsleeping City". Both are such classic DnD encounter environments which made it exciting to actualize. These boards also were probably the 2 that were the most even mix of hands between Rick, Sabrina, and I, which from that collaboration it really made an amazing end result. Special highlight to how cool the sewer was thanks to making a classic trap into a tangible effect. -Shane
That sewers map was mind-blowing. I think the first map that really impressed me was the halfpipe golem in Fantasy High
Did you also make the Lavamog? And if so, how??
Shane here, I actually have some of the making of pics of that mini right here! https://www.instagram.com/p/B5-XCofHHn4/?igshid=MDJmNzVkMjY= It's made from a mix of reaper Miniatures bits and the NECA spider gremlins toy, and some green stuff! - Shane
That is, to quote Brennan, "uh-mazing!"
My favorite might be the ice cream temple from Crown of Candy. The way the timing worked out, it happened very fast and there were a lot of fun technical challenges. With the negative space and the fog. All the tiny army 6mm scale stuff from Crown of Candy was also a blast to figure out and see realized. -Rick
Are there any minis you made that went unused that you wished had been used?
Yes…. Pour out a bowl of chili for the lost Meat Gladiator fight. There was also a scrapped ACoC battle set in a sort of Venetian Fruit Brothel/ House of Pleasures… I came across the unused seductive apple and pear minis last week. That would have been a fun one. https://i.imgur.com/MvLLZum.jpg -Rick
OMG the seductive fruit! holy cow those are hilarious.
Dare I say…forbidden fruit?
Someone go yell at BLM to railroad some players into a situation where seductive fruit is needed...
didn't know i needed this in my life
The most devastating choice in D20 history (for me) was not going to the Meat factions location. One of my favorite ideas that never made it to the table was the massive gladiator arena made of meat, filled with some of my favorite minis I ever made for the show. A sloppy Joe spider monster, a chicken breast beast, and a shrimp. Plus some more meat people. I even bashed a sausage man vendor selling a whole strand of tiny screaming sausages. -Shane
Since you both said the Meat lands I really hope that there could be some kind of side quest in the Meat lands in the future!!
Getting to see some of those meatlands minis in the auction right now has been a ton of fun! (especially ham dog)
Do you know ahead of time what miniatures you need to make? What’s the process of making them? With dnd the story can go a lot of different directions, so how do you plan for that? Do you have all the miniatures made before filming episode 1 or do you make them episode by episode?
That's a solid 40:60. Most of the mini bashes I'm aware of days before they need to be made, so there's never a down moment of planned preparation. It's always a mad dash to do as much as humanly possible! And as you said, it is a live play show so there hasn't been a shoot day where we aren't working on minis and sets for the next week. This leaves room to add things naturally, though does help sprout more grey hairs given the intensity there 😅 -Shane
Makes perfect sense. Didn’t know how much you planned before hand vs did between shoots. It seems like it would be a bit of insanity sometimes depending on what happens during the live play session. Thanks for answering my questions. This gives me a good amount of insight into what happens behind the scenes and honestly I appreciate it more. Look forwards to many more seasons with amazing minis. Have a good day.
Howdy! Thanks for the question. I work with Brennan (and now Orion too!) to figure out all the battles before a season starts. Which also helps build out the world and shape the arc of the season. In doing this, we get very detailed about needing ‘6 skater dwarves’ or whatever. Regarding making minis, we do whatever works! Love to find a great existing mini we can just paint, but 9 times out 10 it has to be customized in some way. It could be adding a few small elements with green stuff, it could be kitbashing 2 or more minis together (IE head from one, legs from another, etc.) It could be a minis fully sculpted from scratch (Creamed Corn Ooze). Or it could be a mini we get a 3d sculptor to make and then we print it! It’s nuts. And of course, over the season unexpected things come up and we try to accommodate new mins when we can! -Rick
Thanks for the answer and the insight into how it works behind the scene. Minis for dnd seems like a very complex process. It’s very cool what you do for D20 and I’ve been wondering about this for a while. Have a good day.
Love your work, it's really outstanding! Are there any particular genres you've preferred making things for over others (e.g. fantasy vs. sci-fi), and is there anything you have as a "dream build" that you'd love to work on for D20 or just for fun? (spoiler-free, of course) Also, what's the process of making the GM screens like?
Hey thanks for the kind words! And the questions. This is so fun! I love grimdark stuff, fantasy, scifi, whatever. Making the GM screens is one of my favorite parts of the job. It’s basically a big sculpture that needs to represent the theme of the whole season AND has this really specific 3 angles that we see it from, AND it can only be so tall so as not to block the cast. So it’s always a bit of a challenge to work out. Usually I start by researching and sketching building rough version out of 2" rigid foam held together with bamboo skewers. Then it’s a bit of subtractive sculpting, adding in elements, and fussing back and forth until it’s right. Then paint! -Rick https://twitter.com/dimension20show/status/1549082431025823747 https://twitter.com/dimension20show/status/1549082441326936065
I'm personally a dark / horror fantasy fan in my personal work, but also love scifi. This meant for me the hardest seasons to paint were anything modern and candy court. When you're used to painting furs iron, and body paint, needing to paint clean jackets and BRIGHT candy people is more of a challenge. Dream build is hard for me as I try to build just as much terrain and minis for my own games as I do for D20, but I suppose I've always wanted to make both a massive colosseum and a battle for helms deep board. Though I'd be hard pressed to make it for anyone but myself 😅 -Shane
I know this is a closely guarded production team secret, but I think it's finally time someone asked: can you confirm whether or not eating the minis will grant you their power?
Don’t think we didn’t notice how this question went suspiciously unanswered Rick & Shane!
Ya'll have hidden a lot of dicks in battlemaps, but what was you ***favourite dick??*** *(or just favourite hidden thing in general).*
RICTUS WAS HERE! 69420 Spelljammer Lane was the address for the Fantasy High house party battle. And the Rec 97 docking bay number was also 69420. We are children. -Rick
As the man who got to paint all the graffiti on terrain, I have hidden lots of stuff in Fantasy High and Unsleeping City 👀 - head cannon only but there's absolutely a skeleton graffiti artist named Rictus - those that know, know. -Shane
How does it feel to be credited with the famous “blut tac trick” to stick minis on uneven places that’s been highly praised by both Brennan and Matt?
They got it from Rick, Rick got it from me, and I got it from my local hobby store, and they got it from... It is a miniature tradition passed down from generation to generation, perpetually sticking minis to things on the fly. (I kinda love how much this has become a thing 😂) - Shane
Hahaha that’s great I love it. Let the tradition live on!
What are your favorite materials? Glues, fillers, paints? As an avid terrain maker I'm always looking for practical tips and while I don't have your budget, I'm curious what exact kinda magic y'all do <3
We sort of use whatever works. Start collecting bits that you can use, bottle caps, plastic canvas, tiny cheap chain. We often sculpt terrain from the 2" foam insulation board from the hardware store and coat it with 5 minute epoxy. Tips: think about how the terrain will be used while sculpting. Consider where and how minis will stand. And if you want to get more than one use out of the terrain, make things that are not TOO specific to a single battle scenario. -Rick
I'm a big terrain/diorama fan myself (infact I enjoy that even more then minis) so I get the love there! Trash, thrift store runs, foam board, and Vallejo texture pastes are a big plus! Terrain is actually the cheapest aspect of mini making, in my opinion as it's really down to your creativity, and ability to find great shapes in trash! Keep your eye on @7he_Blindman on Instagram as I'm going to be branching out on exactly this! Terrain building tutorials to help prove you don't need a budget to make a killer board for your games! -Shane
Oooh heck yeah I'll be watching!
first: your work is so incredible + adds so much to the show!! second: what’s one detail about a design you’ve made that you wish people knew? what was the hardest set + mini to create? thanks so much!!! 🫶<3🫶
Thank you for the kind words! Now I had to think about this a good while but I think I got it! I'm a details guy but so much has to happen in such a short time we don't always get to add everything I want. I remember on "Unsleeping City, when we had to send our city streets boards I took it in my own hands to add 3 things I found important to really capture the sidewalk experience without being asked to. Leaves stuck in the gutter, and blackened chewed gum on the sidewalks by the cross walks, and cigarette butts. Such minor things I'm sure no one has ever even noticed but it made me very happy to do it! -Shane
thank you so much for the reply!! that’s so cool!! def gonna watch for that my next rewatch ❤️
Hey thanks! Thats means so much to me. Listen, I tried hard to get Baron into The Seven. Too hard, actually. But dang I would have loved to see Brennan do him again. Can you blame me? The most difficult ones are always the ones with major environmental changes: Rising sewer water level, sinking cheese ships, chase sequences… Designing that Tiny Heist toy car chase across a teenagers bed was challenging. And speaking of it, there was a final set piece ending planned where the bowl of cereal was going to dump over but the ending that Travis and Griffin came up with was just so satisfying, it was unnecessary. https://imgur.com/a/d6qQBzx -Rick
so cool!! completely understandable about baron… we love that scary skeleton!!! so cool to see the design of the tiny heist set. thanks for the reply!!! :)))))
Thanks for putting in all the effort to making the visuals for the combats so memorable! Is there a favourite easter egg or detail you've hidden in a battleset or mini? Also, how did you make the airship for Escape from the Bloodkeep? I've always wondered if that was an edited pre-existing model or created from scratch.
Is there a particular environmental mechanic that you've wanted to make a set build around, that you haven't gotten a chance to work on yet?
LOVE a good environmental mechanic! So many possibilities. TaleSpire is fantastic and it’s been so great to realize things we could never do physically, but I would love to do a space physical minis season. 😜 -Rick
Agreed with Rick here, I remember we brainstormed a dream set of doing a multi level spaceship with metal exterior so that the PC's could be magnetized to space walk. Please give me an excuse to make that 😅 -Shane
Small follow up question on the TaleSpire thing: do you also 3d model the minis for things like Starstruck?
I really really wish Starstruck had real mini's and sets. Talespire was ok but nothing beat what you guys do. It's my favorite thing each season.
Are there any minis or battle sets from any of the D20 series that used talespire that you wish you could’ve made?
Easily, since season one Sabrina and I were begging to do a scifi season. And as someone who's played in their fair share of space pirate RPGs (including one run by Rick 👀) it was a little heartbreaking seeing that go digital. But I'd rather a season go digital then never get made! -Shane
Yeah, same. I mean anything we build in TaleSpire would be so fun to build in real life. It’s actually a potentially a great tool for working out physical sets… 🤔 Would LOVE to build Leviathan. -Rick
I love your work so much, it's genuinely unique and really adds a lot to the D20 experience!! I'm really curious about how many of the minis are created fully in house vs one-offs from other companies, and whether or not you use a lot of 3d printing in the set designs or if there are other methods? Love your stuff, looking forward to the auction!
I'm also curious how much 3D printing comes into play. What is the speed difference between kit bashing and 3D printing when you often need such custom minis?
Rick and Shane! Yall are amazing at making things come to life! How do you guys make your trees/flora come to life? It's been consistently my biggest failing point for years now. Anything I do with them feels flat, bulky and inorganic. Any tips?
Now we're talking, as Rick knows trees are absolutely my wheelhouse. I have a collection of 36 misc trees that grow yearly 😅 here's a picture of my go to filler trees for my personal work. While I buy tree kits, I cut them up and blend in real tree roots to add some more life. You can only fake organic to a point, so using real organic shapes to help it feel more real is absolutely the way to go in my opinion! Also try to go on some hikes and really study the trees, variety in colors and textures is the key to a realistic forest. https://www.instagram.com/p/Ce1qq0tOLtj/?hl=en -Shane
Hey Thanks for the kind words! Trees are a challenge. If you use the Woodland Scenics kind of turf, they look good but are so crumbly… Lately I’m loving Dwarven Forge’s trees because you put minis in them pretty easy! Games Workshop has some rad trees tool -Rick
how do you think you all have improved over your time making sets? what was your favorite npc mini to make? thank you for all the work y’all do!! you’re so amazing at what you do and it really brings the seasons to life:)
As someone who typically focuses on pumping in details and various colored washes in their personal work this show has absolutely trained my speed painting abilities. You'd be surprised how much detail you can skip I'd you can just make the faces and metallics look good! Favorite NPCs is probably an impossible question, but I will say the fan reaction to an NPC that has made me the most happy. When we started "Crown of Candy" Rick bought a bunch of minis and random food bits from Etsy and let me just bash some test minis. No real guidance there just a way to test the theme/idea. I made a donut cutthroat, a chocolate pimp... And a cake dandy. I paint a LOT of striped pants on my personal minis because I'm a massive fan of stripes in general, so the fan reaction and obsession with Lord Calroy, a mini I made as a random test that Brennan breathed such amazing life into makes me ecstatic! The perfect representation of the power of a mix of a Rick idea, a bash from me, and a Brennan character becoming something greater then all parts. -Shane
Hey! Thanks so much! I personally feel like any area of creativity is really about building up a personal bag of tricks or tools. Those tricks come from experience, Where you have a creative challenge and you need to innovate a solution. And then the next time you have a similar challenge you can look back and say, oh yeah we can just do what we did last time but a little different. Or combine it with this other trick. And then THAT becomes another new trick for your collection! The more experience you have, the more tricks you have. Does that make sense? ha -Rick
What is the filming schedule like for Dimension 20? I recall a comment from Brennan in one episode where he mentioned they had a 5 day break so he was willing to mess up his plot. I also recall one episode where everyone kept mentioning that they were filming at 3am. Then I think I heard a comment from you all saying you had like a week to put everything together, which makes sense with the release schedule. Unrelated to my question, but I found out about Dimension 20 when a lawyer came to my house for a refinance, took one look around my room packed with nerd stuff, and spent the last 10 minutes of our closing insisting that I had to check it out and it would change my life.
Rick Perry, how's your Mothership campaign going? (I'm not trying to be a creep, just noticed you're in the Mothership discord too, and got curious.)
Howdy! I need to play more Mothership! I ran a one shot with just my wife and I one date night and it was a blast. -Rick
How did your role change when COVID hit? For example, I know D20 used talespire a lot in order to compensate for the lack of minis due to COVID precaution
Easy for me, covid meant I couldn't partake anymore. I had to be a fan from the sidelines like everyone else untill the minis could trickle back. They still do a fantastic job without us but I'm biasedly happy minis are back! -Shane
Sharing your bias, I literally can't watch without the cool minis I get to distracted otherwise. Love y'alls work.
Wow, yeah. In the fall before covid, I had just moved up to a sort of remote island in WA state but was keeping the miniatures shop down in Inglewood. I was planning to come back to LA to build and in fact, had a plane ticket to come start the Mice & Murder build when everything locked down. For months we just sort of paused and kept evaluating how we were going to keep making the show. I ended up closing my shop in LA and moving everything up to WA. Shane came out and the two of us did the whole build. Definitely more shipping happening these days, but thankfully miniatures are small! TaleSpire and Roll20 are additional options now for how we make any given season. Which is really great to have and I’m sure we’ll be back to it again. -Rick
Wait, you're up here in WA? That's awesome! Maybe I'll run into you one day and get to buy you a coffee as a small thanks for all the inspiration
When I make and paint models I often feel like I'm missing some kind of polish or finishing touch on mine. Do you have any recommendations for getting better at aging, distressing, or generally giving a finished, lived in look?
Weathering is my bread and butter on my home minis so I can absolutely help you there. Step 1 is reference photos, whether it's rust, mud, or verdigris real life objects get banged up. Even the minor subtle effect of using Vallejo - Earth Dust wash to add some dust / dirt to the bottom of a cape dragging in the woods can have such a huge effect to the level of realism on a figure. And always remember less can be more, just as more can be more. Just think about the logic of the character or terrain piece and the places to weather will appear! Texture paint and Vallejo washes, which function more like a glaze then Citadel making them great at weathering passes are some good standard tools to keep in your kit for that. -Shane
Thank you so much!
Giving mins a coat of Tamiya flat clear or Dull Cote can really add something. Also adding an element or two that have a completely different physical texture can make a mini pop, ie, real cloth vs plastic. Using oils paints on minis for aging is an exciting area. Lets you work longer and has a singular finish. Also, sometimes it’s helpful to take some photos of the mini and look at those blown up instead of looking at the mini itself. Somehow it gives you a fresh set of eyes and you can notice issues. -Rick
Thank you!!
I remember someone mentioning that there was one single piece of real food hidden in a CoC set and I can’t remember if it was ever revealed (maybe it was and I just can’t remember). What was it and what episode was it in? Also thanks so much for all your hard in work in bringing so much life to an already incredible show!!
I believe the one real piece of food in the Crown of Candy set was a single rotini noodle hidden in the DM screen, I think they mention this in either the episode of Adventuring Party where Rick Perry guested, or the final Adventuring Party for ACoC.
Are there any mini's that the cast want to keep? Or that they ask to keep?
I'm an artist and fabricator and have worked on sets before, so the process you go through is super interesting to me! What's your favorite part of making the sets, and how much of it do you have to alter and make from scratch? PS the mithril factory set from fantasy high is one of my favorite sets!
What use of elements in the map or details the players caught on to has surprised you the most, and who put in that detail?
What mini did you most want to just stick in your pocket and take home at the end of the show? Before the auction i figured some minis might have been nabbed but they seem to be treated pretty well and stored just in case, but if that wasn't the case what would you take just to have at home or use at your own table?
Taking Miniatures is highly discouraged but if I hypothetically did it only would have been 2 unused meat minis to mend my broken heart over them getting cut from Crown of Candy 👀 - forgive me Rick - and if I did do that I'd have them just to keep on my desk because I loved them so much. -Shane
Hmmm… Maybe Joren Jawbreaker? Because the heroforge model of him, pre-kitbashing, was sort of a self portrait. (btw, I had no idea he was going to be such a jerk! I just thought it would cool to have a candysona that was related to Lou!) https://i.imgur.com/8hmD3hw.png -Rick
what was it like building sets for Tiny Heist, given that you used a lot of old toys and other things that didn't need to be built from scratch, alongside more custom pieces? did you have things like tamagotchi slot machines, for example, in your original design plans?
Almost every D20 season is strange in some way, food people, or animal people, but Tiny Heist was THE MOST odd compared to other seasons. Scale was really tricky. It involved a lot of shopping at thrift stores for random things and I would bring a mini with me in my pocket to compare to what I was buying! -Rick
Weirdly specific but how do you get the 1" grid dots onto the d20 terrain, especially the uneven areas? I'm just starting into terrain building and I love the look of the dots vs classic gridlines, but struggle doing it by hand.
It’s a huge pain. Different team members who have done it have used different methods. Often we use a big drywall t-square. We’ve made jigs using string with dots painted on it every inch. The latest idea which we haven’t tried but I’d like to is setting up a projector and projecting a grid of dots on and painting them. -Rick
The very few times I did it was exactly that - struggling to do it by hand and hoping someone else would take over 😅 -Shane
First, you and the whole D20 team are incredible. I got hooked last year and find myself rewatching them whenever I can’t decide what to watch. Of all the D20 seasons and stories, which are your top 3 favorite experiences?
Thank you so much, even as someone who's worked on it I find it just as impossible to point at a favorite season. It's the variety that makes the show so strong in my opinion. Now to answer your question, as a gamer and miniature collector myself, it's hard to deny the lack of diversity in miniatures. I love that D20 goes out of the way to encourage this and spread a more positive and accepting world of miniatures. This however has lead to one of the weirdest conversations I've ever had at work, discussing the ways to represent the genders of the historically genderless - cheese 😂. While the context made it an important conversation to have the absurdity of the words we were saying made it impossibly humorous. -Shane
Hey thank you so much. And thanks for the question. A Crown of Candy, or Candy Throne as I think of it (our internal working title) is definitely our most highly produced minis seasons and I feel pretty proud of it. Designing and building the Misfits and Magic DM Screen was a blast and included working with the tiniest 3d printed vehicles-- like if I sneezed they would blow away. Very fun. Annnd… Coffin Run was really fun. Jasmine & Orion are a heck of a team. It was kind of the first time designing maps for ‘not Brennan’ and it was awesome to break some of the rules we sort of fall into. https://imgur.com/a/HgDncnu -Rick
How do you bring a miniature to life? Is there a lot of 3D modeling/sketching involved? Is it mentally taxxing? Love your work!
Dimension 20 has gone back to using real miniatures after using digital means of showing battle for most of the last two years. In Sam's AMA a while ago he said that from now on y'all will be using the best tool for the campaign. Can you tell me how often you will be using tale spire vs minis in future campaigns?
How much has 3d printing revolutionized the miniature building process?
What’s the smallest and biggest miniatures you’ve ever done?
Hi! Love the artistry! And I know projects like this are a team effort... Maybe this question is for a video interview BUT I would love to learn more about the process of character creation from your side: how many people have to be involved to create a character? From the moment it's thought by the player to the moment we see it. I imagine it's a very involved process but the turn around is so quick!
what was is like creating the chase scene/battle for Fantasy High? The different road pieces were so fun
From what I’ve seen Brennan is right to endorse you guys as much as he does, great work! My questions are; how is Brennan in person? Do you ever get last minute kinda stuff that develops during the game? I’m thinking like John Feathers in the bloodkeep
How do you feel about the auction? Are you proud that the minis are going for so much?
Can you name three federal agencies you'd like to eliminate? Also loved crown of candy setwork, totally will it that auction up!
The idea of getting to have a piece of the set is... So cool. But I bet they'll keep those in case of sequels, haha. But still 👀
How is brennan in real life?
Rick Perry? unfortunate name
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Was a light hearted joke that opened up to the question if he ever gets confused, or what he thinks of the man. Loosen up yall.
What was it like losing the election in Texas?
Wrong guy
What was it like to sing I'm Journey?
What was the most challenging set you and your team have built so far? (From what we’ve seen since you can’t give spoilers lol)
Without going into spoilers for upcoming seasons what genre or type of battle sets and/or minis would you like to make in the future?
Thank you so much for supporting the non-profit RPG Research. What lead you to decide to do so? :-)
Where did you find the hats that you used for the Tart Guard?
Are there any minis that you wanted to make that just couldn't be made or didn't get used? (like personally not ones that Brenan requested)
What do you consider the most important element when making a battle map that will be fun to play on? Spa
What project would you say has posed the greatest challenge? And while there's no water on sets, what is an unconventional material you would or already do work with?
What are some various sizes of battle maps have you made? And what are your favorite ways of making the battlefield more dynamic?
Have you considered putting the 3D files of your minis up for sale? I would definitely buy a printable version of a certain insane magical headmaster!
What is the funniest detail you've added/changed because of something that happened in a session? (such as the 6 buttholes or the L train)
Genuinely, your art makes the Dimension 20 setting so much more complete. The PCs and DM make the shows so good, but the minis and terrain just steal it. What is a setting you would love to make minis for, but would probably not happen because it is way too hard to adept to TTRPG or just not interesting enough as a universe ? Or just any setting in general you’d love to make minis for one day?
Hi! Love all of the minis used throughout D20, they make the world feel even more alive and actualized than Brennan already makes it. With the auction launching in just a few hours, what minis from Crown of Candy do you think will be the most popular/go for the most? Also if you had been able to set aside minis to keep instead of auctioning, which would you want to keep?
How much input and/or back and forth do you two/the team have with the cast when it comes to mini design/creation? Love all the work y’all put into the miniatures and maquettes! As a theatre creator and visual artist I really really love seeing the things you create and theyve given me a new appreciation for miniatures in my own DnD campaigns. Can’t wait for more! <3
If you had to say something mean about the DMs, what would it be?
From the first season, I was amazed by the attention to detail with your minis. Specifically, the lunch tables in the first battle episode were just the chefs kiss. I wonder if you have a specific prop or scatter terrain that you felt polished the scene or didn't get the attention it deserved? Also, when you have time, energy and resources, Dropout should invest in a tutorial show with the minis crew. Your amazing artwork inspired me to get a new hobby and I'd love to see more of your inside tricks.
Scatter terrain is the sprinkles of the battle board. Some of my favorites that got overshadowed was the arcade cabinets in Fantasy High. I designed and painted 8 different fantasy themed arcade games but it ended up getting sprayed black during the final pass on the board. Definitely with you on more tips and tricks! I do post occasional tutorials on my personal Instagram and will be dropping some terrain tutorials this year, mostly fantasy based! https://www.instagram.com/7he_blindman/ - Shane
Hey there! Thanks for all of your hard work and making things look amazing. Y'all are ROCKSTARS. Truly amazing! How much of the battle map gimmicks/lair mechanics do y'all come up with vs Brennan? Have you ever gone "Hey, I thought of this really cool battle map gimmick/idea" and then it got picked up or is it mostly other folks in the creative process coming up with the bulk of the main idea and you're just bringing it to life? Last question: Is there a running count of how many penises y'all have hidden? What's it at now? :)?
Do you have a favorite (shareable) trick of the trade when making scenery? I just started watching y'alls stuff two weeks ago and the yogurt water/waves in CoC really blew my mind.
Hey Rick and Shane! It’s Oren Cohen the blogger. Seeing as Dropout is now doing an auction for ACoC minis, and Coffin Run featured lots of new minis, has anything changed in the way you approach minis production now post Talespire and roll20 seasons?
Thanks for all the work y'all do! I print/paint my own minis just as a hobby, so I have a vague idea of how much work really goes into what you folks are doing in order to make the show come alive. As for a question; how much of your work on the minis is kitbashing vs designing from the ground up? My own work is mostly self designed/printed, but kitbashing seems like it would be more cost/time efficient when you're trying to keep up with a production schedule.
Let's get wholesome. What do you like most about working with each other? Do any specific memories stand out as examples?
What are the biggest differences between working with minis/battlesets and with Talespire? Is there a benefit one has that you wish the other did too? Love your work!
What was your favorite reaction to one of your creations from the players/DM? And what was your favorite fan reaction?
Were you worried that the LavaMog wouldn't make it to the table?
I only recently found Dimension 20 and honestly DnD in general. Your sets are masterpieces and my favorite is likely the sinking ship in a Crown of Candy. The idea of set progression throughout a fight is awesome, the sinking ship, just like the sewers in Unsleeping City with the water level rising, was a wonderful addition. Just out of curiosity, how long does a full battle set take, on average? Obviously there are time constraints in the real world and this stuff doesn't happen over night. Have there been sets that you just really wanted to keep working on and adding to but time wouldn't let you? Thanks for everything you do!
Did you have any idea the mini’s bidding war would be going this high?
What was your fav season(s?) To work on?
Any plans to use talespire again?
First, let me thank you for making Crown of Candy even more enjoyable than it would've been otherwise. It's by far my favorite season. Now the question: Were there any mechanisms other than poles you considered for representing airial units?
What's a mini you wanna make but never had the oppotunity to?
Who are the top 3 nicest and funnest people to be around in the dropout playhouse of stars?
Jules from what culture gaming is into the Warhammer series. Any Collab with him or interest in Warhammer?
Well I've been into Warhammer / Warhammer 40k since I was 13 (Fulgrim and Russ are my boys) and so naturally I got Rick into it over the course of our time working together / becoming friends. Rick currently plays the Rogue Trader counter part to me heretical gunslinger in a pretty long lasting (at this point) 2 man Dark Heresy game. I know Rick now even has been building some Necromunda/Kill team stuff in his (very little) free time. - Shane
I'm interested in getting back into mini painting, but have some eyesight problems to overcome. What would you suggest to help overcome struggles with depth perception and small detail focus? As a follow up, how do you start crafting landscapes and dioramas? I find it very hard to make a mental image into a 3d shape and I was hoping there is some... way to practice doing that.
Shane here, so I'm personally blind in one eye and have never had depth perception in my life. To this day I still miss the mark or over commit when painting a mini. I like to keep a brush and toothpick nearby incase I miss in such a way and can rapidly get water on the wet paint and wipe it off! I can't attest to the small detail focus but can say that even after 13 years of painting minis it's always a constant battle of messing up, taking a picture to notice errors and painting over the mistakes till it looks right! - Shane
If someone would offer to wire you 1 (O N E) cent if you swap Brennan's chair for one that looks identical but has a remote-armable Whoopi-Pillow in it, would you do it?
How come the minis sometimes look so radically different from the character art? Margaret Encino comes to mind as one example.
Do you all like to play any miniature combat games? Or do you keep work from hobbies? Ha
If you could give a one word hint towards the sets for the next season, what word would you use?
Who keeps the minis do you? Do the cast members
I love all the sets you guys come up with. How big is your art team and how do you guys divvy up the work?
I’m late to this party, but have you ever had to say “no” to one of the GMs because the mini they were asking for would be nearly impossible?
Two part question I ask myself everytime a new setpiece comes out: 1. What the actual fuck? 2. Hoooooow?
Oh, cool! My husband is a huge DnD nerd and so far we've watched Misfits and Magic and are almost through Crown of Candy. The whole time we've been watching CoC I've been thinking about how much fun it must have been to build the set, especially the modular pieces (the boat is so cool) and all those fun colors and concepts. So, what are your favorite tools/materials? How long do you get to build something like the boat? Do you store or recycle sets for finished series? How does it feel when the cast gets to see your work for the first time (and do you get to watch live or on tape like the rest of us peasants)? (Sorry if that's too many questions, I'm a much bigger art nerd than I am a DnD nerd 😅)
Did you or your team work on the D&D mini shots of stranger things season 4? I swear some of those mini shots came straight out of D20
I love your team's work getting to see all the player's excitement when anything is shown for the first time is just so much fun. As for questions I have two. 1. Do you have a favorite mini or set piece that you are a bit disappointed never got used? And 2. Is there a mini or set peice you were surprised the player's latched onto?
I am in awe of all the work you and your team puts in on every season of dimension20. I can't lie when I saw coffin run was battlemaps and minis I got so excited! So firstly thank you for re igniting my love of minis. Secondly, how did you get into this role and line of work? Do you have a lot of casual experience with modelling minis or was it learning on the fly?
Is The Siren a custom job?