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A new campaign allows you to print off models of cute doggos wearing wizard hats, turtle pirates, and red panda rogues for the best tabletop RPGs at home.
Designed by Cast n Play, an independent design team that creates monthly miniature packs and campaigns for fantasy-themed models (including terrain), 'Cornelia's Magnificent Account of Companions' offers over 100 fantasy-themed dogs, cats, and wild animals that can be made using the best 3D printers and taken on quests with your characters. The campaign is available on MyMiniFactory and will run until March 18, 2023. At the time of writing, it has earned $63,339 in support after just a few days.
"We know how almost every person loves animals, especially dogs and cats, so we have a lot of different breeds of dogs and cats so the players can take their pets on their adventures with them," says Cast n Play co-founder and project lead Mariana Luna.
"We also offer a great variety of animals. The starter set includes 120 Core models and bases [for] Pets and Wild animals. We also have lots of unlockable models in the campaign’s milestones. The final amount of models will depend on how many milestones are unlocked during the campaign."
As I'm a sucker for cute animals of all kinds, I caught up with Luna for some further questions about Companions.
Tell me a little about Companions and why D&D fans should give it a look.
ML - 'Cornelia’s magnificent account of Companions' is a book that has been lost for a lot of years, and it’s finally been found. The book is a compilation of Cornelia's adventures around the world of Eulan, exploring and documenting every species she met during her extensive trip.
This project features a collection of 3D-printable miniatures that features all kinds of animals. In this campaign, players will find everything they need to know about all the wonderful and mysterious creatures Cornelia has found on her many adventures. This is the ultimate companion campaign.
As every companion has its own personality, we couldn’t portray a complete personality in just one miniature, so each animal includes 4 to 6 different poses and a couple of skins and outfits to show a little bit better who they are.
We are not including just miniatures, though; we decided to give every one of them their own story, so we are also giving character cards and background lore PDFs for you to know them better.
Some of the combinations work surprisingly well; for example, the exploring goat is one of my favorite ones from this project
Mariana Luna
Could you give me an overview of where the idea for Companions came from
ML - We always try to create miniatures that we’d love and that are in some way or another unique. We also noticed that there are not enough animal miniature models in the 3D printing space, and it’s an excellent opportunity to bring life to any tabletop role-playing game.
Did you have a specific checklist of animal species you wanted to include in this set?
ML - We started by listing all the animals we were excited to create, but we soon realized that the amount of work would get out of hand if we didn’t limit ourselves. We tried to focus on Dogs and Cats initially, with some wildlife sprinkled here and there. That’s why the Starter Pack includes those three categories.
What's the weirdest combination of class and animal here?
ML - There are a couple of weird ones, mostly artificers. Some of the combinations work surprisingly well; for example, the exploring goat is one of my favorite ones from this project.
Do all classes have a matching animal companion?
ML - We do have most of the classic RPG classes featured in the campaign, but there are some of the more unique classes that we haven’t gotten to yet. But just as with the total number of miniatures, it’ll depend on how many milestones we can reach and unlock.
In the best possible scenario where we unlock everything we have planned so far, we’d end up with a bit over 400 models - lots of talent and abilities cards and an excellent background stories PDF.
Do you have a favorite miniature in the set?
ML - Personally, I love the Persian cat. That sculpture has a lot of character and personality. Also, the miniature is very fun to paint as it’s not very complicated and still looks fantastic on the tabletop.
For more on Cast n Play, check out our interview with them in do-it-yourself D&D - how one team made a universe you can 3D print at home. Want animal companions without having to print them off, on the other hand?
You can get from Steamforged Games' Animal Adventures for $34.59 at Amazon, and this takes a similar approach to Dungeons and Dragons books. As for other tabletop recommendations, don't miss the best board games or these board games for adults.
