My oh my how that ticking clock of father time goes by…

A year to the day the Internet gave birth to a bouncing baby Ben’sRPGPile.com – a collection of misfit gaming addicts who were hell bent on bringing a better gaming experience to their global D&D RPG brethren.

And what a year it’s been. We’ve been inspired and driven to create a slew of handy home brewed accessories (including our beloved Condition Flags and Hit Dice). We’ve uncovered a clump of handy downloads from fellow skillful inventors (such as the helpful Anatomy of a Combat Turn and Magic Item Cards). And we’ve reviewed a flock of must-have gaming products (including industry legends’ Hirst Arts and Dwarven Forge)

We’ve even blessed the airways with our silly banter and endless laughter with twenty-seven (and counting) weekly video podcasts.

And best of all – we continue to meet a plethora of talented and enthusiastic gamers who simply want to roll for initiative.

Here’s to another year of the ever-growing Pile. Thanks everybody.

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Ben’s feverish room building exploits continue with his interpretation of Thunderspire Labyrinth’s Duergar Workshop (which lies deep within the Northern Fortress of the Horned Hold).

The game group couldn’t conquer the first tower without eliminating Urwol, the Master Smith. Thus, the guys needed a whiz bang encounter with some terrain that would leave a lasting impression. Ben felt this blacksmith chamber was the perfect location.

Key detail pieces and building notes include:

• Two blacksmith kilns ( large & small) for Urwol to start the process
• Anvil-like stone tables to pound the metal in place
• Dry-brushed flock from Skullcrafts to show metal shavings remnants
• Lots of snapped off weapons to demonstrate a fevered production pace
• Crystaline Counters to act as the burning fire
• Trinkets to show a little smithing variety
• Hirst Arts molds (#203, 701, 76, 75, 71, & 70) to put it all together

The 3-D terrain really made this Duergar showdown sing but in the end, the good guys won. Do you have some cool rooms coming up in your dungeon crawls (such as a spider’s lair, excavation pit, etc)?

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The Internet is an RPG game aid paradise for the simple fact that it lets you build upon others’ awesome ideas – case in point with our version of NPC Tracker Cards. Ben first caught wind of an NPC Photoshop template on Newbie DM’s site. He then found a spinoff of those cards on The Free RPG Blog site. Creative juices began to overflow-eth.

Operation Iraqi Freedom and the infamous deck of cards used by the military was the main inspiration for yet another Dungeons and Dragons homebrew project. Who could ever forget the four aces?

With all this knowledge in-hand, Ben set off to create his own set for his monthly Thunderspire campaign. Remembering those story plotlines is a difficult task for many of the players, especially if you only play every 3 or 4 weeks.

So Ben wanted to create some eye-popping NPC cards that would help his group better identify with the villains and their role in the story. He used the front for a fancy image and then utilized the back for key stats/hints. You can even use the WotC Character Builder for your item stats on the card backs.

Google images provides a wealth of photo options. It’s kinda fun picking older D&D art for nostalgia-sake. Besides characters and magic items, Ben is looking to do some key places as well.

You can download the Photoshop templates here or peruse the first three PDFs here, here and here. A special thanks to all for paving the way. We’ll be sure to update the NPC cards as we add more.

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Experts say once you build one custom terrain game piece, you’re hooked. Well, those guys sure are right. Ben’s got the fever now and there’s no sane end in sight.

As the group plays Thunderspire Labyrinth, Ben wanted to introduce a more credible connecting plot line to the Pyramid of Shadows D&D module. Thus, a prison block was placed within the Horned Hold to introduce the hook.

The key jail cell components included:

▪ A custom hand-painted miniature to play the main character
▪ A new NPC card for identity and key data points
▪ Floor Terrain and Accessories: Hirst Arts molds (#701, #282, #203, #75, #76, #70)
▪ Chain: Michaels Craft Store
▪ Paints: (Graveyard Earth, Silver, Blood Red, & Chaos Black)
▪ Flock: Dirt from Skullcrafts and dead grass from Citadel

Ben focused on more ornate touches for this piece. It’s the little things like the torches/sconces, tiny buckets, bit box minis, and steel cell doors that really makes this unique build work.

You can learn more about this build by watching the video flyover on our YouTube channel.

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Dungeons and Dragons teamed up with Jones Soda this holiday season for a little beverage hilarity.

There’s lots to belch about here. The artwork is top-notch and fitting of WotC’s 4E book cover art. Tasters will also dig the cool label descriptions such as Dwarven Draught’s “It’s good for what ales you” and Bigby’s “You gain thirst immunity for 2d10 minutes.”

Cream Soda was Ben’s top pick (went down like liquid candy) and Pure Cane Cola was the wackiest (just didn’t taste right). Enjoy six fun flavors and labels in all including:

• Sneak Attack (Cream Soda)
• Potion of Healing (Black Cherry, Sugar Free)
• Bigby’s Crushing Thirst Destroyer (Pure Cane Cola)
• Illithid Brain Juice (Grape)
• Dwarven Draught (Root Beer)
• Eldritch Blast (Green Apple)

Approaching our first anniversary, Ben felt a Pile soda was appropriate (and they make great gifts). If you’re feeling especially adventurous, try crafting your own label. Sadly, you can’t mix and match flavors in a single case and that text input box can screw ya on line breaks…but all and all, Jones D&D Soda was the toast of the year.

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Every DM reaches a point in their game where they decide to throw up a terrain Hail Marry. For Ben, he wanted to seal the deal on his Thunderspire Chamber of Eyes dungeon with a memorable piece of terror.

The assembly components touched on all the building basics including:

▪ Dire Vampire Wolf: D&D Miniatures Unhallowed.
▪ Rocks: Concrete Rubble Mix from GaleForce nine.
▪ Floor terrain & Accessories: Hirst Arts molds (#203 & #85)
▪ Chain: Michaels Craft Store
▪ Paints: Games Workshop series (Graveyard Earth, Silver, Blood Red, & Chaos Black)
▪ Flock: Grass and Dirt ground cover from Skullcrafts.

Ben’s finishing touches included body parts from the land of misfit minis (the bit box at Gamers’ Inn). He also grabbed an old toothbrush (and not his wife’s existing one) for the ominous blood spatter effect.

So now Torog’s Shrine has a focal terrain piece that is sure to make the party shat themselves. Pick a big battle in your own module and one up, Ben. If he can do it, so can you.

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We got a lot of praise and such from our first home brew installment so Ben decided to double its pleasure with a review of our game group’s initiative board. Alas, Ben once again can’t take credit as this master craftsmanship is the work of our GenCon DM, Jeff. The board in this review is a spinoff of that original creation.

Sure, there are many, many initiative trackers out there including the GameMatery Combat Pad. However, Jeff has always taken a “Why buy it when you can build it yourself” stance. Of course, Ben doesn’t share that philosophy but it does ring true for many a gamer.

All of Ben’s homemade game aids are designed to increase game speed and combat efficiencies for the sole purpose of having more time to play. And everyone at the table has a task. McBeard runs our initiative roles at his end of the table.

The pegs are labeled with each character’s initials along with each monster number. We also built additional pegs for big battle expansion and keep several blanks on hand for additional numbering.

So, now it’s your turn to drill some holes, cut some pegs, and roll for initiative.

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Ben relishes D&D 4E’s combat system. As a DM, he despises losing track of particular powers and effects. That memory loss snafu can completely ruin the battle’s outcome – oh the humanity.

Ben’s game group needed a plan…a way to remember who had what effects on whom. Inspired by Penny Arcade’s sticker effects, our group mind meld produced our first true home-brew accessory! It was a long and tenuous production process to build but Craggy got it done (with a sort of China sweat shop determination).

We’ve done the usual suspects ( Dazed, Bloodied, Fumbled, Prone, Ongoing, Dying, pluses, minuses, etc). And then to spice it up, we threw in some sponsorship flags to reward great moves (ex: after a critical hit, “Magnum – Oreo is on line one.”)

Our condition flags are combined with medium and large bases. And while there is some occasional fat finger clumsiness, the end product has worked like a charm. No more pesky “Who has what questions?” and annoying game stops – just good ol’ fashioned battle beat downs.

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Forget the endless pile of dragon hoard treasure…what every RPG’er truly wants is simply more time to game. In order to maximize those precious hours, Ben uses pre-cut game boards to stage each of his dungeon room encounters. The results will simply amaze you.

All the credit goes to game group member Bobby Hurley (who plays Magnum and Red Dawn in our weekly podcast). He’s the innovator on this crafty idea. Here’s how it works:

The boards can be purchased at Home Depot and are 1/8” in thickness. Hurley cuts them to different square shapes to accommodate Hirst Arts floor tiles (typically 3 by 3 increments). As an added touch, he also spray paints them a dark green to ensure they blend into the game table background. He’s even cut 1 3/4″ tall PVC pipe and camouflaged those when we need to demonstrate dungeon levels.

Prior to game time, Ben stages each room on individual boards and keeps them under wraps. He then lays down the pieces with ease in real time as the adventures move forth. By pre-building the rooms, Ben avoids those pesky 15-minute-plus setup delays.

Pretty soon you will get really creative and experiment with traps, more traps, trap doors, and pits. It’s all pure genius and easy to do. Give it a try and see just how much extra time it saves you in your next game.

It’s no secret Ben loves all things Dungeons and Dragons. He continuously scours the earth to uncover useful (and well some not so useful) items for his next D&D game. His pile knows no limits…everything from miniatures, to buildings, to terrain, to dice, to molds, to this and to that.

On one particular Gen Con expedition, his bud Jeff was astounded by his many bags of gear. Jeff remarked, “Hey Benny – What are you going to buy next? DM Shoes?” A raucous group laughter ensued.

Fast forward to his next Gen Con Indy retreat and low and behold, sat a box on his hotel room bed. A box which contained his very own set of actual DM Shoes! And like a gift from Glenda, the level 4 elite, evil hag sorceress, there truly was no place like Gen Con (a home away from home).