Free Hand-Decorated Minis

Usually when people talk about D&D minis, they are referring to small three dimensional figures of their characters. However, getting a 3D model of your exact character usually takes a good bit of time and money. I make 2D standee minis with close-ups of a variety of character faces for my players to decorate and make their own. Here's how you can make them too:

I start by first buying some thin wood sheets online, but you can make these for free by using cardboard or recycled wood. Next I take my material to the IdeaSpace branch of the library in Fredericksburg where anyone can use their Glowforge laser cutter for free. The Glowforge can laser etch any picture or line art into your material and then cut it out. I personally paid an incredible local artist named Lily to make 16 custom character designs. Half my designs are in profile, half are forward facing, and all of them are accessible for free through the communal Glowforge account at Ideaspace. As you can see in the picture above, when I engrave my character tokens, I also cut two one-inch squares to serve as a base. Once I have all these pieces engraved and cut, I let players choose which of the 16 designs is closest to their character and let them color their piece in with crayons. Once the piece is colored, it is a simple matter of gluing it together and waiting for it to dry.

When I run games I never know what imaginative character ideas people are going to come up with. It's impossible for me to be prepared for everything. These hand-decorated minis let my players build off my character templates and color in the details for themselves about what makes their character unique. At the end of it all, the tokens end up serving as a nice reminder of a fun adventure!