Tag Archives: Dungeons and Dragons

Let’s roll up some advanced Dungeons and Dragons LEGO characters [Minifig Monday]

Last year LEGO released a minifigure I never would have expected in a thousand years – a mindflayer paired with an intellect devourer. Dungeons and Dragons turned out to be the perfect license to deliver fantasy and medieval accessories to an underserved audience. While it’s uncertain if LEGO will release any other D&D sets in the future, the creative minifig building community isn’t slowing down in rolling up new charcters. Let’s have a look at some recent highlights!

What started as a group of friends and actors livestreaming their D&D campaigns became a media empire for Critical Role, culminating in the animated series The Legend of Vox Machina. Fantasy minifig artisan Thorgrihm pays tribute to the show with his take on the cast.

ASortaOkayBuilder was also inspired by D&D in other media and made a minifig tribute to the Not Another D&D Podcast. This Steel Hawk Fighter is called Zudrick of the Murder and is equipped with an oversized anime sword for over-the-top stabbing.

Roll for initiative and venture onward for more D&D minifig designs

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How to elevate your minifig presentation [Building Techniques]

For accomplished sci-fi LEGO builder Jarek Książczyk, minifigures were always an afterthought, but a double dose of D&D in the form of Balder’s Gate 3 and the excellent Collectible Minifigures led Jarek on a building spree that puts character first. From a 4×4 stud building surface, Jarek’s bases amplify each figure’s character and class with a hero prop, a bit of terrain or a splash of color (or maybe some viscera, if they’re really into Bhaal). Whether the characters remain on a shelf or play out adventures on the tabletop, simple stands like Jarek’s can raise your minifig game.

TBB readers speak! Your favorite LEGO moments of 2024 [Feature]

Weeks ago, we asked what LEGO moments meant the most to our readers, and heard from so many about their favorite times with the brick over the last year. It feels like 2024 has gone by so fast for me, but it sounds like many of you had time to stop and enjoy LEGO in the last 365 days. While I won’t be able to cover all the submissions we had, here’s a smattering of your favorite LEGO moments from 2024.

Check out your LEGO highlights of 2024 below!

Jaap Bijl rolls a natural 20 on creativity with this D&D inspired LEGO scene

Sometimes castle-themed builds can lean heavily on the grey bricks to the exclusion of all the other colors in the LEGO palette. That’s definitely not the case with Jaap Bijl, whose fascination with color has made us big admirers of his LEGO creations. For this latest work, “New Area Discovered,” Jaap plays with negative space rather than a central building, taking inspiration from the towering architecture in Balder’s Gate 3. Jaap brings in his favorite color, purple, to contrast with the gold, including an unusual Ninjago snake blade. Greenery is blow-out bright, with ghostly beards adding otherworldly texture. For vines, Jaap unfurls round sprues. Looking past the splashy parts, the model demonstrates some wonderful castle brickwork, especially the round mosaic courtyard. The scene looks deserted, but I would suggest making a perception check with those 20-sided dice just in case…

Warning! Dungeons & Dragons can be habit(at) forming

For many LEGO fans, each new series of Collectible Minifigures is a creativity prompt to assemble minifig habitats to house each character, and one of the most prolific and inspired of these builders is ABrickDreamer. The latest Dungeons and Dragons series of minifigs is arguably the hottest set to date, with each character bringing deep lore and delightful accessories to inspire habitat builders. Let’s take a look at ABrickDreamer’s take with 12 fantastic habitats!

The Dragonborn Paladin lead the pack housed in an elegant castle courtyard with a lovely double archway. The Dwarf Barbarian camps atop a mountain pass, joined by a goat to match her gruff demeanor. The Mind Flayer and its Intellect Devourers suck life from a deep dungeon. Minifig habitats follow a few basic rules – the base should be 8×8 studs,and the walls 8 bricks high, offset halfway by a stud to help them interlock. Often the best habitats, like those of ABrickDreamer, bend the rules with elements that spill outside the rigid form, as we see with the Dragonborn’s tower and the Dwarf’s rocky terrain. My favorite technique of this trio is the repurposing of the printed baseplates on the wall behind the Mind Flayer.

Next up: a trio of named villains. Witch queen Tasha laughs hideously in her workshop. Strahd poors a glass of “I don’t drink wine” while chilling on his throne, while next door Szazz Tam performs a ritual with whatever it is Strahd is drinking. Szazz’s habitat is the standout here, with blood that refuses to be contained by the 8×8 grid, and once again printed base-paints serve as a backdrop, in this case the starry ones from the Series 26 Space collection.

Delve deeper for a peek at the other 6 D&D habitats!

LEGO Strahd finds immortality in fabulous fashions

Builder and photographer Darth Electra is no expert on Ravenloft lore, so when they learned the vampire minifig in the new Dungeons & Dragons Collectible Minifigs was named Strahd von Zarovich, it was obvious that he was destined to be a fashion designer. Strahd trades his sword for shears and swaps the drab armor of Barovia for a look befitting a project runway star (with a top cleverly borrowed from the Alien Tourist minifigure to get those dual-molded arms in grey to match Strahd’s complexion). I love the portrait on the wall showing Strahd’s roots in royal couture before turning to the cutthroat world of fast fashion, where looking good won’t bleed you dry.

Spooky scary skeletons spell doom for the Lion Knights

In the LEGO photography hobby, light and focus are as essential to the creative process as which bricks to use. Photomark6, a member of the BrickCentral photography community, specializes in shots where the camera is brought down into a diorama, giving the viewer a minifig’s view of the action. (And he manages to sneak a cat into every scene!) With spooky season upon us, Mark delves into the darkness and captures the likely final moments of the Lion Knights as they walk into a necromancer’s trap.

The black skeletons with double-long limbs are especially frightening, the minifig equivalent of those terrifying lawn skeletons that loom over trick-or-treaters. And nothing screams horror like chains hanging from the ceiling. Mark uses some scary good techniques in the castle backdrop; the hinge bricks work great as cornices. In the background, Szazz Tam from the D&D Collectible Minifigures watches the knights fall. Can the Lion Knights turn the tides? If only skeletons were allergic to cats…

From collectible minifig to majestic model, this Aarakocran Ranger soars

Ever since the release of LEGO Dungeons & Dragons Collectible Minifigures 71047, builders and role-players have been celebrating the mix of new fantasy elements to play with. While the figures are great out of the box, D&D has always been about making your own characters. Some builders prefer to stick to minifig scale for their custom creations, but Mitch Phillips always goes big. Mixing Bionicle, Constraction, and System parts, Mitch’s Aarakocran Ranger strikes the perfect balance of fluffy and and fierce.

There are many great techniques to appreciate, from the intense eyes crafted from nested ninja scarves to the lush wings to the excellent sword brooch. If you’re curious about how an expert goes about designing articulated characters like this, Mitch generously breaks down his process in a video. MitchBuild walkthroughs are among the best resources available for understanding how to integrate disparate LEGO parts.

This isn’t Mitch’s first D&D ranger character. During the 2024 Bio-Cup, he rolled a critical hit with this Dragonborn Ranger.

When all you have is a hammer...

If you need to nail down how much great building you can fit into a little vignette, look no further than this fantasy LEGO scene by Cora! Lets start with the real main character of this build: hammers. Cora has created an deeply authentic piece of brickwork out of enough hammers to make Thor drool! As for character design, Cora has kit-bashed a great minifigure out of parts from a bunch of different action lines. And with all that heavy equipment, I do wonder whether the crocodile has delved deep to find this treasure, or if it’s the reason it’s lying there in the first place?

Tiny talons are major minifig feat

Thanks to the newly-released Dungeons and Dragons Collectible Minifigures, filling out your LEGO scenes with fantasy races and epic loot is easier than ever. Kamil Karpiński picked up a couple of Aarakocrans (aka birdfolk, aka “Jarnathan”) and using just 13 tiny elements built new legs to amplify their avian qualities. As wings and quivers clash, Kamil gives his ranger a hip solution.

Kamil’s fantasy-focused creations show how even minifigures can become the foundation for clever building techniques. (His take on Sauron rules them all!)

LEGO-built Dungeons & Dragon idol summons tabletop nostalgia

Before Tieflings or Githyanki, before Strahd took his first bite or Tasha so much as hideously chuckled, there was the Advanced D&D Player’s Handbook adorned with a red demon idol with jewel eyes who sparked the imaginations of a million young adventurers. Derek Bourgeois pays tribute to the OG D&D icon with a LEGO model of D.A. Trampier‘s classic illustration. Derek deftly captures the mix of menace and grandeur in the demonic statue, putting macaroni tubes to good use as fingers that clutch the flaming brazier. Third-party lighting elements make the flames dance for extra dungeon ambiance. Those jeweled eyes look quite tempting for treasure hunters. Perhaps a party of heroes from the new Dungeons & Dragons Collectible Minifigures will attempt to pry them free.

New September 2024 LEGO sets now available – Advent Calendars, Great Deku Tree, & more [News]

LEGO is kicking off the first week of September with some exciting treats for fans of their licensed content. Get ready for a September filled with LEGO fun, featuring LEGO Ideas 21351 Disney Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, 77092 Great Deku Tree 2-in-1 Set, and 76437 The Burrow – Collector’s Edition. An anticipated line of minifigures from the Dungeons & Dragons theme will also be released this month, making a great addition to the LEGO Ideas 21348 Dungeons & Dragons: Red Dragon’s Tale, released earlier this year. Plus, we get the annual advent calendars hitting the LEGO shop for those shoppers eager to get a head start on the holiday season. Head to LEGO’s website for full details on these sets (US | CAN | UK).

Have a closer look at the September wave of sets here

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