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| My intrepid PCs invading the Caves of Chaos. |
Years ago, I’d see their resin dungeon sets at conventions or online and always thought “Wow. Those would be so amazing to own and use in play.” Then in 2013, they kickstarted a light, durable plastic version of their Dungeon tiles and I was immediately sold. It was the first product I pledged on Kickstarter. I unhesitatingly pledged two unpainted sets for the amazingly low price of $120. I later regretted not buying painted sets, as I have still not finished painting all my tiles… but I still love the tiles.
In 2014, they introduced the Caverns and I promptly signed up for 2 painted sets at $220 (not going to make the unpainted mistake again). In 2015, I pledge the city builder, but at $250+, could only afford to buy enough for a few small houses and a bridge. In 2016, my Castle Builder pledge was another $200+, but that really only got me a few extra City Builder pieces, another bridge and some terrain bits. I couldn’t really afford any of the actual castles. The pledge amounts were getting higher, but the sets I could afford were getting smaller.
In 2017, Dwarven Forge kickstarted a new set of Dungeon tiles that solved a lot of the issues I’ve had in play with my own DF pieces. You could purchase base trays to pre-set rooms to easily move on and off the table. They added more magnetized parts to hold things together. They introduced large-size elevation boxes to allow easy creation of elevated terrain. They added all kinds of awesome bit and parts to make encounter areas just drip with detail and theme.
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| How much would you pay? But wait... There's more! |
I wanted to pull the trigger. I really did. They even had “fan update” add-on, for people who already owned the older Dungeon tiles, but wanted an assortment of the new pieces. They almost got me with that… but with the items I wanted, I would have been in for another $200 to $500 easily.
I have kids to feed.
The sets were amazing, and there were even cool starter sets for the new DF consumer, but the pricing was getting steeper for the bits I wanted. The other issue is that I just wanted a few pieces from this add-on and some from that one… but there was no single set that included the assortment I could really use to compliment what I already owned without spending hundreds. I don’t blame Dwarven Forge. The margins on DF sets are probably small enough that they really do need to spread the highly-desired parts across different sets in order to make a reasonable profit. It’s their business, and I totally get that.
But I bought a 3D printer instead… a Monoprice Mini V2 for just under $250 shipped.
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| The PCs approach the Dripping Caves... Hey, this looks awfully familiar. |
You see, I’ve gotten to the point where I just need specific pieces here and there. Spending $400 to get those dozen or so bits I really want just doesn’t make sense for me financially. These days, there are plenty of 3D models available for free or at a low cost on the internet such that going the 3D printing route makes a lot more sense.
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| My players consider their options in the temple of Orcus. |
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| Fat Dragon offers a Try-Before-You-Buy option. |
To Dwarven Forge, I propose an idea. Consider added an adjunct digital line to your physical products. I know you would not want to be in competition with yourself, but you might consider creating some digital sculpts that might complement the physical Dwarven Forge product. As a consumer new to the DIY scene, I’d still love to also be able to support the company that has gotten me here.
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