Bartholomew, Author at Thieves Can't

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

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.

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.

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.