Snapback
Wizards, Lizards, and Wizard Lizards use the common Spapback as a sort of guard dog. They’re not meant to kill people, but they can. Rather, they’re meant to hold intruders in place until someone in charge can come deal with them.
Bahk-bock
These tiny fey shape-shift into a common prey animal and hide among those animals. Their friends are always nearby, in nearly infinite number, ready to materialize in the blink of an eye and defend their comrade(s) and, as is often the case, nearby chickens that they’ve adopted.
Tweedle
The mysterious origin of the Tweedle is hotly debated. They are intelligent creatures that use tools and weapons, but they don’t share the massive personality neuroses of other eyeball monsters, so many do not believe them to be related in any direct way.
Patreon
Hey guys, it was a Zach comic week, so he went ahead on these monster cards, because he likes them. I, the writer and usual creator of scripts and lettered, final comics, am not dealing with the pandemic well, or with my mother’s health. This is why the comic has not been updated in advance like usual. Until I have some sense of normalcy, enjoy a regular interlude of Zach’s ideas.
Our next mini pack is going to be aimed at filling up a DM’s roster of minis. We’re calling it “Basic Essentials,” and it’ll be the core monsters that are needed to flesh out the sort of stock medieval fantasy setting that most TTRPGs try to exist in – that weird gray space between the Brothers Grimm & JRR Tolkien.
We want the paper minis to look cartoony but able to be taken seriously; think of the way Dragon Prince or Kipo make their target audiences feel, and then imagine that Zach & I were trying to give you the tools to help create that feeling at your table.
That’s not to say these minis are going to look like those shows; I’m only talking about feeling. For instance, here’s a Hobgoblin.
Hobgoblin Paper Mini Concept by Zach Stoppel
Hobgoblin Paper Mini Concept by Zach Stoppel – Back Art
Getting the “Serious Cartoon” look down right can be pretty difficult, and it’s a winding road full of dead ends. This is why we take so long between minis. The unified feeling across each mini is just as important to us as the mini being easily discerned in print at a table, as well as – you know – looking good. For example, here’s the wild journey we took on a Kobold design.
Kobold Take 1
Venus de Kobold
Crafty Kobold
Slashly Kobold.
Kobold Paper Mini by Zach Stoppel
Kobold Paper Mini by Zach Stoppel – Back Side
These experiments with shape, posture, and attitude led us to a Kobold that we didn’t actually like. That Kobold is dead to us. Mostly because we decided that it felt too much like a stock, standard goblin in lizard form.
Speaking of stock, standard goblins, no pack called Basic Essentials would be complete without at least one of those.
Sometimes the hand does whatever it wants and what it wants is Invade Zim.
Goblin Front Art by Zach Stoppel
Again, this design is basically dead to us. They aren’t bad, but they aren’t unique. We’re aiming for helping a fantasy world feel unique. A good fantasy world has familiar tropes alongside of new ones. There’s nothing wrong with hordes of tiny, expendable, high-pitched monsters that all look the same – but we want our tiny, expendable, high-pitched monsters that all look the same to also look like they belong to a unique fantasy world.
And, naturally, I’m not going to includes a bunch of discarded designs without showing off they finally led to – a goblin & kobold that we’re proud of.
We saw this guy and fell in love. Lookit his teeth!
More definition. MORE TEETH
LOOMG
These cuties are definitely going into the Basic Essentials pack. Here’s a sneak peek of their final forms:
Goblin & Kobold Front Paper Mini Art – By Zach Stoppel
So, Zach and I are going to start back on making paper minis, but on a more relaxed schedule and with some more wiggle room about how we do it. Before we started in any public sort of way, however, we wanted to bring our most popular pack up-to-date. My previous blog post outlined how we’re doing this, but by the time you read this, the new version will be live and you’ll just be able to check out the new version yourself.
The long and short of the update is that it has:
New hero skins
New easy-to-cut layout
New version of the file with high quality backgrounds
New tokens for online play
On another kinda confusing note – without much warning at all, my store stopped working and I had to rebuild it. So those of you who bought this file on the old TC store won’t be able to go pick up the new version very easily. This is 100% not my intention. If you bought the old Minis and want the update, tweet me @yesthievescan and I’ll make sure you get the updates. I’m doing this on the honor system, so don’t worry about providing a proof-of-purchase. I’m not convinced the old system was actually giving those anyway.
The new store is going to be on Gumroad. We have to give them a small cut of each purchase (5%, which is WAY better than the DM guild, which keeps 50%) but I also never have to worry about whether or not the store will work.
The product should load immediately above this text. If it doesn’t, check this link: https://gumroad.com/l/oLAyj
