Why RP Craft?
I recently decided I wanted to play Dungeons & Dragons. I played off and on as a kid and a handful of times over the years after I grew up. But I felt like I never really got to play for real. That I never really finished a real campaign, or even a single adventure. As both a player or a DM it always seemed like we'd start a game, make our characters, flesh out our world, go adventuring a time or three and then life would take over, my friends would lose interest, and we'd toss that game aside, never to be revisited again.
Invariably time would pass and we would decide we wanted to play again. Maybe it was a new group, maybe just one new person came along and sparked a renewed interest; regardless, the pattern would repeat. Make characters, write campaign content, play a few rounds. OK, we're done - see you in six to eighteen months... Well, I grew up, I moved on and I got married. Turns out my wife played D&D when she was a kid too. Her and I talked, we got excited, we made characters, I wrote some campaign content, we'd play a few rounds, I think you probably know what comes next. As before, life took over.
Now, many, many years later I want to play D&D. I mean, I really want to play D&D! I dusted off my books, I bought some dice and a few supplies. I've read, I've written and I've watched... Yes, watched. That's where the story of this website begins.
Before I get back to D&D, it's important to note that I recently spent a year having our house renovated. This fact will become relevant in time.
Wanting to get some ideas and get myself up to speed on the state of D&D in the 21st century, I turned to the internet, mostly YouTube. It suffices to say, I found a ton of material! More than I could watch in my life, and of course varying from low-brow, poorly made to down right professional filmography.
And, although I had no interest at first, I kept being presented with links to terrain crafting and miniature painting for role playing games. Everywhere I looked there were videos about using pink, XPS Styrofoam to make these incredible fantasy settings. Dungeon floors, taverns and shops, forests and trees, hills, mountains, cliffs, farms and plains... I watched as people crafted boats and wagons, rivers and roads for them to travel on and strange monsters and figures that would fit right in to almost any fantasy role playing game. I. Was. Hooked!
And, remember those renovations I mentioned? Not only did I get some ideas on how to get started making terrain for role playing, I already had a nice supply of material to get started with! Add in some school supplies we had lying around and a few bucks for paint and I was on my way. That was the theory anyway; the reality is, it's very easy to spend money on crafting, even though you usually don't really have to! More on that on the Tools page.
Having now tempered my interest in playing D&D with the fact that I really don't have many people to play with, or very much time, I find myself jumping head first into the world of crafting. After sharing my new found excitement with a few friends and co-workers I get a lot of requests for pictures. But it's not easy to send everyone shot after shot from my phone... So there you go, that's why.
RP Craft is where I can show off my craft projects, share what I've learned and maybe spout off from time to time about what's going on with me. I hope you enjoy.