FEATURE: Independent TTRPG Accessory Creators for Christmas - Thunder Mouser

Christmas Stocking from Asda
that I bought last year

We're starting to get towards the time of year, when everyone's mind turns to presents.  So as a TTRPGer what can we do to help not only alleviate the stress but help the community with our buying power?

Well one thing I always like to do (and I know that there are a lot of others out there, is buy bespoke gifts from Independent creators.  Yes you can get some of the mass market products out there but nothing says special than something that you've taken a lot of thought over and specifically commissioned for the person you're buying it for.

I've compiled a list of independent creators out there at this time, to allow you to find something unique and super special for your TTRPG friends and family, and by looking and ordering now, you not only get it ahead of the rush (and lets face it, theres nothing worse than that last minute panicking purchasing,) but also get plenty of time for delivery and also helps spread the cost of that time of year out so its a bit friendlier to your pocket.

So for your viewing pleasure, businesses who create some wonderful products, organised by the main item that they sell.  We hope you, like us, will share the love this year, and help do something not only special for your loved ones but also show the mainstreamers, that we, the buying public support those who help add to our hobby pleasure...

Dice Vaults and Displays:

NaturallyNerdy https://etsy.com/shop/naturallynerdycraft/?etsrc=sdt

Sting and Saw https://etsy.com/listing/1204972310/birds-eye-maple-dice-vault-legacy-line?ref=usf_2020

Talon and Claw https://etsy.com/shop/TalonandClaw?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=1148577500

Dicey Dog https://etsy.com/shop/DiceyDog?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=890033612

Dice Goblin Riddles https://etsy.com/shop/DiceGoblinRiddles?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=1487249178

Stephens Woodworks RVA https://etsy.com/shop/StephensWoodworksRVA?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=1540155429

Staff and Branch - @StaffandBranch - https://staffandbranch.com/   Bespoke Dice Boxes 

Elderwood Academy:  https://twitter.com/ElderwoodBoxes    https://www.elderwoodacademy.com/

3D Printers

3dPrint Den https://etsy.com/shop/3DPrintDen?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=867702502

Irritated Kraken Miniatures https://etsy.com/shop/IrritatedKrakenMinis?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=1001546378

The Shady Sail https://etsy.com/shop/TheShadySail?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=1363827142

Mungos Marvelous Minis https://etsy.com/shop/MungosMarvelousMinis?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=1503683643

3D Printing Bard https://etsy.com/shop/3DPrintingBard?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=1273226160

Griffon Co Minis https://etsy.com/shop/GriffonCoMinis?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=680098089

Dev Paints Minis https://etsy.com/shop/DevPaintsMinis?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=962870001

unB10 https://etsy.com/shop/unB10?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=1461792599

Rainbow Scultptor https://etsy.com/shop/RainbowSculptor?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=1336209542

TTRPG Accessories and Dice Bags

Nerd Alert Treasures https://etsy.com/shop/NerdAlertTreasures?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=1048376939

The Daisy Dragon https://etsy.com/shop/TheDaisyDragon?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=1413960610

Stitch and Seam Co https://etsy.com/shop/StitchandSeamCo?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=1041362922

Fantastic Knickknack https://etsy.com/shop/FantasticKnickknack?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=829234041

DS Patches https://etsy.com/shop/DsPatches?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=1530110141

Eldritch Tabletop https://etsy.com/shop/EldritchTabletop?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=1506618075

Sarah@bags4dice  https://www.boardgamesolutions.co.uk/  dice bags, dice trays, playmats and card holders. 5 days to make and 5-15 business days delivery worldwide

Of Dice and Mini's -  @ofdiceandminis        - https://www.etsy.com/shop/WolfwoodGaming  Painted Mini's and busts, witchy character sheet, dice and dice tray.

arielle milstein-brennan    @arielleishere https://www.ariellemilstein.com/shop   Dice, lanyards, stickers, pins jewelry

Kaaren's Aartopia (Darc Raven)    https://kaarensaartopia.com/   Custom Dice Bags.   kaarensaartopia@gmail.com  (10 bags - 10 - 14 days.)

Dice

Delve Wood https://etsy.com/shop/Delvewood?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=1051675048

The Clever Kitsune https://etsy.com/shop/TheCleverKitsune?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=1542427589

2Crit2Quit https://etsy.com/shop/2crit2quit?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=1391617155

HookN20 https://etsy.com/shop/HookN20?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=1481318906

Knight of the 7 Dice https://etsy.com/shop/KnightOfThe7DICE?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=1295665006

Green Leaf Geek:  https://greenleafgeek.com/en-gb

Heyo! DMing regarding your Christmas article. I'm making my 5th annual ADVENTure Calendar which will go up for sale in early August and ships for December 1 delivery

Black Oak Workshop - https://twitter.com/BlackOakWShop -https://www.blackoakworkshop.com/shop Dice, Pins, Advent-ure Calendars 

Pteradice - https://twitter.com/futurexmsmalcom - https://www.pteradice.com/- Dice, trinkets, 

2Crit2Quit - https://twitter.com/2crit2quit - https://2crit2quit.com/ - Dice

Becca:  Green Burrow   https://theevergreenburrow.com/ Dice, earrings

Dice Trays

The Fey Portal https://etsy.com/shop/TheFeyPortal?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=1315126188

Green Fox Wood Working https://etsy.com/shop/GreenFoxWoodworking?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=1270009293

Draigenmore Adventure https://etsy.com/shop/DraigenmoreAdventure?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=1236438329

Games by Bee https://etsy.com/shop/GamesByBee?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=1025825558

Sterling Makes https://etsy.com/shop/SterlingMakes?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=1257084211

Nerdy Home Decor

Wild Magic Wonders https://etsy.com/shop/WildMagicWonders?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=1282216400

Smoke Craft Hollow https://etsy.com/shop/SmokeCraftHollow?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=1511203342

The Crystal Ravenn https://etsy.com/shop/TheCrystalRavenn?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=1245361217

Aardnor Miniatures https://etsy.com/shop/AardnorMiniatures?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=957480275

Morey Made Crafting https://etsy.com/shop/MoreyMadeCrafting?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=1287639944

Ardwood Creations https://etsy.com/shop/ArdwoodCreations?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=1273667483

Mr G Willickers Studio https://etsy.com/shop/MrGWillickersStudio?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=1048464969

EliMiko Art https://etsy.com/shop/EliMikoArt?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=1171313719

Arcane Spectacles https://etsy.com/shop/ArcaneSpectacles?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=935438977

Works of Whimsey - https://worksofwhimsystudios.com/collections/all

Miniatures

Darcy Bono Creations https://etsy.com/shop/DarcyBonoCreations?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=1359779498

Hawksmoors Menagerie https://etsy.com/shop/HawksmoorsMenagerie?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=1364102238

Silverwolf Miniatures https://etsy.com/shop/SilverwolfMinis?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=1156108319

Khromatic Miniatures https://etsy.com/shop/KhromaticMiniatures?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=1516038791

Mkee Morology https://etsy.com/shop/McKeeMorology?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=768952817

Journals and Stickers

The Crafty Rogue Shop https://etsy.com/shop/TheCraftyRogueShop?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=1176947809

Cantrips Media https://etsy.com/shop/CantripsMedia?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=826973719

Vellzys Vault https://etsy.com/shop/VellzysVault?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=954512166

Houndsflyte Designs https://etsy.com/shop/HoundsflyteDesigns?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=1524781129

The Orderly Owl https://etsy.com/shop/TheOrderlyOwl?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=744204919

Text, Digital Assets, speciality crafting

Alderdoodle - https://www.alderdoodle.co.uk/  

Silver Glass -  https://www.etsy.com/shop/SophieGrunnet 

Swordceress - https://www.etsy.com/shop/QueenofSwordsDnD/

arielle milstein-brennan -  https://www.ariellemilstein.com/shop   

Long Dog Dice - https://longdogdice.com/ 

Miya - https://www.pixiewolfpublishing.com/  

The Speechless Bard - https://www.speechlessbard.com/

Colecago:  https://www.nobleknight.com/P/2147946571/55mm-Animated-RGB-Dice-Lamps  Dice lamps

Diceawaii - https://www.diceawaii.com/  

The Guilded Grove -  https://thegildedgrove.co.uk/

Theydysthings   -  https://www.theydysthings.com/products 

INDEPENDENT TTRPG ACCESSORY CREATOR: The Speechless Bard

There are so many products out there for TTRPG's that at times you're never sure what you want to pick up, however when you find players amongst the creators with skills to make accessories you know that what they come up with is not only beautiful but a practical creation that will look fab on your gaming table.

With one of my characters being a cleric, I've often lost track of my spells and whilst I do own the spell cards, The Speechless Bard has brough out a fabulous Spell Counter book that holds the cards and looks fab doing it.  

So when we were lucky enough to get an opportunity to talk to the married couple behind the business, we couldn't wait...

Totally Pawsome:  When was the business launched and how did you pick its name?

The Spechless Bard:

Noor: We launched in August 2020, merging our two small bussinesses into one. The name is supposed to sound like a shop or tavern, and is inspired by our own first original TTRPG characters. The Speechless refers to Luuk's kenku character, as kenku don't speak common but repeat sounds they've heard. Luuk is also known by most visiting customers as 'the one who is quiet'. The Bard refers to Noor's bard character, while Noor is also the face/voice of the shop and the social opposite of Luuk.

Luuk: As Noor mentioned we started The Speechless Bard in the summer of 2020, although we've been active in the TTRPG business as individuals since 2018. At some point we realised it was better to just merge our businesses so that it was easier to help each other out without feeling guilty about "abandoning" our own work for a day or two.

 

TP:  What is your business best known for?

TSB:

Noor: Product-wise we are best know for our smallest and for our largest product; the colourful D20 bracelets and the magnetic Caster Compendia. But we are in general known for our custom crafting; almost all products in our shop are made to order and have a variety of options to create a personal treasure. 

Luuk: Hopefully our service and providing unique little treasures! But yeah, product-wise I think definitely the bracelets and Compendia.

 

TP:  Why the TTRPG space?

TSB:  

Luuk:  Because this is really a hobby that got out of hand for us! We started crafting for our home games, and after posting pictures online other folks wanted to buy them, and it just gave SO MUCH energy seeing how happy folks were when they received our items. The TTRPG community really is something else!

Noor: I started out leathercrafting for the archery space, but found that many archers still prefer a 'classic' style. As I started crafting for my own TTRPG character, I found a new joy in drawing designs around fantasy themes and started sharing these online. As the enthusiasm from the TTRPG space erupted, so did my drive to continue. I still love how our customers are cheerful, grateful and incredibly fun to interact with.

TP:  What is your favourite product that you produce?

TSB:  

Noor:  Oooof, that is a tricky question! Anything that requires special paintwork I think. The scrolls and dice trays where I get to paint the engravings I've done on white leather. It feels a lot like watercolouring, and it's very relaxing. I could do that for hours easily.

Luuk: Tricky question indeed - I think for me it's the Caster Compendium; we've made about 900 now I think over the last couple years (mainly for the Kickstarter) but I never get bored of them. Other than that, I absolutely love making something completely custom for customers who come to us with a unique problem that needs solving.

 

TSB:  How do you see the business developing in the next five years?

TSB:  

Luuk: We're actually hoping to move to a new home soon with a larger workspace, I hope that brings more (literal) space to expand our skillsets and develop even more cool items. I doubt that we'll expand to a larger company with extra staff and such, as we enjoy it way too much working with just the two of us.

Noor: And then maybe a new sewing machine! Hahaha I have little plans, for maybe a year or two. 

 

TP:  How do you decide which products to create and sell?

TSB:

Noor: It's a strange process really. Sometimes I have an idea for something I can craft in a day, so I'll try it out and throw it on my socials. If the reaction is big enough, I continue developing it and put it online. But sometimes we develop something for weeks, months, maybe a year. The most important questions we ask with a product are did we make it ourselves and is it unique enough? There's no need for us to learn how to build wooden dice vaults for example.

Luuk: I agree, we don't really have guidelines on this; basically sometimes we get a random idea of something we want to make, we try to figure out if it'll be just for ourselves or if it's something we could actually sell, and then we consider if it's worth spending resources on developing it. Posting early prototypes on social media can be a huge help for that!

 

TP:  Whilst you do take commissions, what guidelines do you have in place?

TSB:  

Noor: Oh no, I feel attacked. I'm the one who takes on the craziest commissions that come to bite me in the ass. 

Luuk: Guidelines? What guidelines? Nah, we evaluate each request individually if it's something we can make properly and if we can keep it affordable for the customer, as we're wildly uncomfortable asking for large sums if we don't think it's worth it, haha

Noor: I try to work in a note of 'we'll see what we can do' when I reply to a commission, but I always get way too excited to make unique items. And as we make a lot of different things, we can go quite the distance for someone.

 

TP:  If you were given the time and opportunity to develop something unique for yourselves, what would it be and why?

TSB:

Luuk: A new system of magnetic terrain! I already have an existing system that I produced for a couple of years but got drowned out by the success of the Compendia, but I've had ideas for a new system that I'm eager to develop further, but it takes MASSIVE amounts of time and resources...

 

TP:  What do you think are the best services you offer to others in the TTRPG space and why?

TSB:  

Noor: Oh wow, I forget that we help out in the space at all sometimes. I forget we are a legit business sometimes! Do we help out?

Luuk: I think crafting items of which customers can really feel like they were made *just* for them. I've also heard from a lot of customers that our Pride bracelets and "This Too Shall Pass"-bracelets provided a lot of comfort for them during difficult times, and I'm really glad we can help in this way.

Noor: Oh yeah, the bracelets are my favourite things to talk about at cons! I love the genuine reaction the Pride bracelets get out of people! 

 

TP:  Competition between independent business is at an all time high, as a small business what makes you unique that you feel helps show customers why they should do business with you?

TSB:  

Noor: Our complete and utter attention for the adventurer who ordered something. We read the names, their orders, and we craft something for them. There's no huge pile of stock to just grab and ship. We communicate a lot with our customers and we adore them way too much. We remember names and faces at conventions and talk with them for way too long. 

Luuk: Hundred percent agree with Noor, though I don't talk as much at conventions, haha.

Noor: One of us has to be the brains while the other blabs!

 

INDEPENDENT TTRPG ACCESSORY CREATOR: Sarah - BoardGameSolutions

We've all dreamed of turning our idea's/dreams into reality, however very few of us ever have the chance to be able to, so when Sarah started BoardGamesSolutions back in 2017 it originally started as a side business.

Now a few years later Sarah and her husband are hard at work full time for thier business adding solutions and new items as they come up with them.  Here we were lucky enough to get some of Sarah's time to answer our starter questionaire...

Totally Pawsome:   When was the business launched and how did you pick its name?

Sarah, Bag's4Dice:  I started BoardGameSolutions in Jan 2017 alongside my 9-5 office job, and in July 2019 I quit my job to run this full time. When we (myself and my husband) were coming up with the name, we were trying to find a name that described the business without being too specific. I knew I wanted to start with bags (hence my twitter name “bags4dice”) but we wanted the store to have room to expand. The reason for starting with bags comes from our first “modern” board game, Eldritch Horror, which needed a bag to draw the monsters from, providing a “solution” to a problem in a board game, leading us to BoardGameSolutions.

TP:  What is your business best known for?

S:  I feel like our drawstring bags are what people come to us for. We brand them as dice bags, but we have people using them for a whole host of game storage, from growing dice collections, to drawing tokens, tiles and minis in games, even to whole game storage for some smaller games.

TP:  Why the TTRPG space?

S:  Making accessories for games combines two of my hobbies, crafting and gaming. When we first started, there wasn’t a great deal of options out there, especially in the UK. We wanted to be able to offer functional and affordable accessories, without compromising on quality or design.

TP:  What is your favourite product that you produce?

S:  Although it started with bags, I do love making our wooden dice trays. It’s very satisfying to put the frames together, and being able to print the liners allows us to have an infinite number of patterns and designs, and it’s particularly interesting working on people’s custom images. I will never get tired of seeing so many cute pets’ photos as the base of a tray!

TP:  How do you see the business developing in the next five years?

S:  I would love to be able to offer bigger and better products. At the moment the machines we have limit our sizes of playmats and dice trays we can offer, but being able to offer larger items, as well as more custom items like gaming scenery and battle maps etc is our ultimate goal long term.

TP:  How do you decide which products to create and sell?

S:  Almost every product we sell comes from us playing a game or campaign, and during gameplay encountering a problem that needs a “solution”, for example our card holders came from playing a game and running out of table space for our hand of cards, so the card holders have a small footprint to hold the cards upright, therefore freeing up table space.

TP:  Whilst you do take commissions, what guidelines do you have in place?

S:  I am happy to work with the tools I have to create custom orders, all I need is an image or logo and I can use various softwares to turn that into a dice bag, dice tray, playmat, even mugs and coasters, whatever they need for their table. The only main stipulation I have is that I cannot use copyrighted images unless the customer has permission to use them, so I can use your own character art for a dice tray, but I can’t use the Marvel logo or an illustration from a book.

TP:  If you were given the time and opportunity to develop something unique for yourselves, what would it be and why?

S:  I’d love to be able to make a large playmat for our games table. We bought a Middle Earth map one a few years ago and while it does the job, I’d love to be able to create a custom map with places unique to us and our adventures.

TP:  What do you think are the best services you offer to others in the TTRPG space and why?

S:  I love being able to offer custom work. I’ve worked with everything from custom character art to game shop and guild logos, to photos of families and pets. It’s great to be able to offer a unique item that the customer has a hand in designing, and being able to offer it across all of our items too makes for great gift sets! We have everything in house, from design software, fabric printing, wood cutting and embroidery so it really helps offer unique designs,

TP:  Competition between independent business is at an all time high, as a small business what makes you unique that you feel helps show customers why they should do business with you?

S:  I think what sets us apart from others is not only do we offer custom work, but we do it all ourselves in house. All I need is a logo/drawing/photo from the customer, and I can design that into whichever item they’re looking for, and make it in house without having to rely on (or charge for) 3rd party suppliers such as fabric printers like spoonflower.