You don’t need much to run Dungeons and Dragons, just some rules, dice, pencil and paper, and of course your friends. But that’s never curbed our urge to turbo charge our gaming space with miniatures, map tiles, and other accessories – and at seven feet two inches tall, the 3D printable ‘Castle of the Vampire Lord’ is the most over the top accessory we’ve ever seen.
While this isn’t an officially licensed Dungeons and Dragons product, it is pretty clear which famous landmark this model represents – Castle Ravenloft, the estate of Count Strahd von Zarovich. Every element of the castle, from the catacombs all the way to the north tower rooftop, has been recreated in scale with DnD miniatures.
The Castle of the Vampire Lord Kickstarter is open until 8pm PST / 11pm ET on November 14 , or 4am on November 15 GM. A basic pledge will cost $55USD / £42 GBP for the STL files needed to print the model.
The Kickstarter admits that “the inner layout was inspired by one of the most famous castles in roleplaying games’ history”, but adds “the outside was meticulously crafted to envelop the layout in a new unique way”. It draws on “great castles both from classic fantasy… and real life” such as Bran castle, Slains castle, and Poenari castle.
This utterly massive model has been broken up into eight inch cubes to fit medium-sized home 3D printers. These have been designed using the OpenLock clip system, so that you can both secure tiles and disassemble them for storage.
Interior walls and doors can be moved to vary the layout. Some components have also been designed to hold party balloon LEDs, which can be printed in transparent material to allow for an inner glow.
We can’t even begin to calculate how much printer material you would need to print this behemoth kit – hundreds of dollars’ worth, surely. Despite that, and the fact this model will never fit into a teeny British house, our resident goth DnD expert Mollie Russell is sorely tempted. We’ll let you know if she ever builds it (possibly years from now).
There’s hardly been an edition of DnD without a visit to Strahd’s famous manor, so although ‘Curse of Strahd’ is still a popular DnD book years after its release, we don’t think it’ll be too long before another trip to Castle Ravenloft appears on the DnD release schedule.
Want to make sure you’re ready to vanquish the Vampire Lord in your next DnD Ravenloft campaign? Our helpful guides to DnD classes, DnD races, and the (more important than ever) DnD backgrounds will help you build the perfect vampire-hunting character!
Source: Wargamer
