I'm sure this will be in the comments already but a fun fact is that gary gygax actually made up a ton of the original dnd monsters based on having to pick out cheap dollar store toys to use for his games back before miniatures were common.
Growing up in the seventies, I had a rust monster before that was known as a rust monster. Monster manual/fiend folio.... not sure which, but it was the pic in the book.
Considering that the entire reason D&D has the bulette, carrion crawler, owlbear, rust monster, and umber hulk, is that Gygax bought a cheap bag of "Dinosaur Toys" at a dime store (which were actually knock-off, looks-close-enough Ultraman monsters from unlicensed third-party manufacturers in Japan, which then got imported to the US and rebranded), this is in keeping with a longstanding and fine tradition.
imagine being the guy who designed the owlbear toy as a cheap knock off to make a quick buck only for it to eventually become one of the most iconic fantasy monsters of all time.
@@chastermief839haha same with the guys who got tasked with coming up with names for all of the Mos Eisley aliens to bulk up the first run of Star Wars figures
The umber hulk is debatable, the monster people associate with the monster looks nothing like it aside from having a pair of mandibles on the sides of its mouth. Bulette, Rust Monster, Owlbear, totally. The carrion crawler was very probably just a toy centipede, not any "prehistoric animal" figure like the others.
Honestly this brought me back to my high school and early collage days. Super cool reminder that you don't need leather dice boxes and expensive dice to have a great time!
I started using mini "tumbling tower" (Jenga) blocks from the dollar store to construct boundaries and walls over my grid map for my D&D game combat. No need to dry-erase afterward (My mat is already horribly stained anyway), and you can even build little doorways and other structures. The dollar store mini tumbling tower blocks are just the right size for it, if your store carries them.
First campaign we used the back face of a sheet of packing paper that had a grid for cuting as a map and board game pieces as players, we roled the dice on an app and "acquired" a rulebook pdf, cost us literally nothing. There is 0 monetary barrier for dnd if you've got the spirit.
Lol, hadn't watched the video the wraping paper trick is exacly what we used, except it wasn't gif wrap but that transparent stuff to plastify documents.
Most my play group doesn't bother with physical maps or minis. If you homebrew and don't worry about all the fancy stuff then you can start for cheaper. Literally dice, notebook paper and pencils. Once we can get a specific game space set up then we might get some of the other stuff.
This is a great example of limitations driving the story. Using that squeezy dinosaur as an undead is a stroke of brilliance that most people probably wouldn't have had if they had access to whatever minis they wanted. Now you've got me wanting to know how the rolls turned out and how hard to fight actually was. So much for it being a "milk run" though. Thanks for the video Kohdok.
@@Kohdok I never said you didn't. I didn't think this was a real game, while the original commenter clearly thought otherwise, and I was just saying as much.
Yes, it was a simulation, but it was intended to have a mix of high and low rolls. For instance, the Fighter got a low Survival roll, so I fudged it a bit to make the dognappers incompetent (Not wanting to sever the story thread), but left him unaware of the dinosaur tracks in the woods.
Halloween would probably be a good time to find cheap monster figures -- I know the dollar store around me always have super cheap packs of little skeletons/mummies with various weapons around that time of year.
Lots of spiders and skeletons. If you need a miniature of a “man sized spider” Also great for atmospheric pieces, There are small candles in the shape of skulls being sold. Cool for lighting on the board, as well as representative of an evil altar of sacrifice. Just dont leave them lit too long or they’ll start to misshape and dripping with wax overflow.
Back in 1976 when I started playing D&D we used a checkerboard as a play mat , dominoes as dungeon walls and doors and ANYTHING as miniatures! When Heritage minatures came out with “ The Fellowship “ it was a source of humans , elves, hobbits, dwarves and wizards !
This is EXACTLY how we used to play! Borrowed rules, pen and paper, pennies for characters. Snacks a plenty and many many sleepless weekend marathon sessions. Ahhh you sir have your finger on the pulse of the “Spirit of Gaming” !!! Keep it up 👍
There is a certain charm to this that I love. I'm so used to custom minis, fancy modeled terrain, and customizable digital character sheets. It brings me back to the first time I played dnd we had a little white erase board, some hodgepodge of minis from various games, only the Player Handbook, and some poorly photos canned and printed character sheets from the back of the book...
When I was like 5 I convinced my parents to get me the DMs Guide. I couldn't understand a lot of it but I was able to make some pretty sick dungeons out of cardboard and LEGOs for my brother.
Since real lead figures are out of production, we've started using Lego people. We have a third party Lego store nearby that has bins of people parts... Heads 50 cents, bodies a dollar, weapons a quarter, helmets and things... Everything we need to make and customize Paladins, rangers, wizards, whatever we need... And when a character gets a new weapon or new shield, we can change the figure to match.
This is actually so helpful! As a broke college kid who wants to get into DMing so I can play D&D with my friends, I have been STRESSING about how expensive everything is, but this really puts into perspective how a bit of creativity can do a lot even with cheap materials! I didn't even know there was a free online rulebook! I was planning on investing in the three core rulebooks, but if I can't get my hands on them right away, having that available is sick!
I love the wrapping paper battle map. One of the things you can do is pre-draw the maps you need for your sessions; that way, you can go the extra mile adding little details, which can add so much to the map. And it saves time at the table, because all you have to do is have the players clear a spot, then roll out the map all scroll-like, and watch the joy spread in your players' faces as they behold your masterfully rendered map! Oh! And! AND! You can draw on the map any changes to the site, like if a bomb blew up a section of the wall; and if the party ever revisits that location, you can roll out that same map, and it'll have all of the little changes! And if you don't revisit the site until the end of the campaign, it'd be awesome to see the old map, and reminisce about the time Dave spilt dew on that corner of the map, or Mike got cheeto finger prints all over the place! And if the location gets destroyed, you can rip it up in front of the players... then tape it back together, so you can use it as a surprise final battle, but all messed up and stuff! Oh my G, the possibilities are endless! And one roll of the stuff will make multiple maps! All for $1.25!
Easy to make cheap dungeon tiles too if you draw a bunch of generic 2x2, 2x4, 3x3, 4x4, 5x5, etc. patterns on the wrapping paper, cut foam board to the appropriate sizes and glue the grid to it. Use leftover pieces to make extra items like doors, furniture, etc.
Fun fact: 1"x1" is actually 25mm scale in metric comparison (1" = 25mm), not 28mm. But it is often called 28mm because of its "heroic scale" miniatures, with your standard human standing just over an inch in height.
I would've looked a bit more in the stationary section before making due with the wrapping paper, i have seen grid poster boards on sale before. I don't know if it would've been the exact same size needed though
@@duane_313 Its a nice little thing mostly done for the kinds of wrapping paper that people who aren't familiar with wrapping things would get. So, affordable.
Agreed. I've gotten poster boards with grids before, at Staples if perhaps not the dollar store. The grids can be half inch too if you wanted to scale down the figures you were using.
Back in 1988 I collected each dice 1 or 2 at a time for $0.20 a piece at a local bookshop. I would carry them around in a crown royal bag my dad gave me. I never really saw a character sheet, it was just a well organized sheet of notebook paper inspired by an example in one of the 1st edition books we had. Between 8 kids we owned roughly 9 books and the rich kid owned 6 of those. We had no idea what a DM screen was and dreamed of miniatures which some of us collected when possible. D&D on a budget was how I grew up in middle school.
@@nedlyest I just upgraded from my old 750 purple bag to the green 1.75 bag. It's my favorite way to store dice, even though it's a pain to pull the set I want out.
I love how creative this is. I want to try to play dnd but its not in my budget. But thanks to this video I now have an idea on how to play in a budget friendly way.
Dnd has no monetary barrier You can easily play it for free The rulebooks are the only thing you actually need (which can be pirated on the internet) Free mobile apps for charecter sheets, dice rolls and the like Normal paper with gridlines drawn on them yourself for battlemaps You can use any board game pieces like chess for miniatures Or you can again use mobile apps for battlemaps and minis
lost mines of phandalin starter set is extremely cheap, like less than $10, and is a super fun adventure, like months of weekly sessions worth of content, with everything you need
The first thing to remember is that DnD is played with the imagination. As long as you can find the rule books online, which like others have stated are free, then it's a free game. For now, I'm looking at you WotC >.> Also there are websites, such as dmguild and others, that offer free modules and books. Honestly the worst thing about DnD is the time scheduling
I saw those polyhedral dice once at my local Dollar Store two years ago, and they sold out within a few days and haven't been able to restock them since. This INFURIATES me, as my inner dice Goblin MUST collect all the various colors they offer, just to say I have them!
Man... back in like 2013/2014 before the D&D boom really started to happen me and my brother found a huge bag of minis at Goodwill for 99cents. There was like a huge minotaur and a bunch of townfolk and my dumbass was contemplating too hard over spending a dollar (both of us were still in school) and put it back. It was gone within the hour lol, the dumbest decision I've ever actively made tbh.
Dollar Tree often sells shelf paper, which is a vinyl sheet with an adhesive backing. The backing paper has the cutting grid on it just like that gift wrapping paper. The interesting part is that it is available in a clear version, and you can see the grid lines through it, so it is essentially "pre-laminated".
When my oldest son was in highschool, I bought him and his brother a heroscape beginning set for Christmas. Of course they came out with expansion sets and new minis. I couldn't afford to buy all the expansions, but the kids were ok with that. They would go through their toy box and invent their own new character sets. Any figures that would fit the playing tiles was fair game. It was never boring. They're both grown men now and have found their way to D&D.
More than once while at the dollar store I have asked myself the same question. It always seemed totally possible to create a D&D experience with the many wares available there.
This is one of the things i love about dnd. Its nice to have minis and things to be a closer representation for what they are in game, but i remeber the first campaign i ran for minis it was whatever could fit in the 1x1 square and easily be identifiable as the player. I had people use bottlecaps, cool rocks, a tiny shell, or boardgame pieces. This is very inspiring i love the dm screen art
There are a lot of teacher and game design kits out there that make it easy to buy a bunch of generic board game pawns. A lot of people have a fair number of coins laying around the house. Cut a piece of poster board the same size, draw or write on it and then glue it on to the coin.
My dad bought me a set of dice from the dollar store like those, but more of a bronze color, and the first day I used them I rolled 2 nat 20s in a row, followed by 2 nat 17s
This is incredibly charming and creative. I see those wrapping paper squares all the time but never would have thought about using them for a map grid.
An alternative to the lamination: Buying another one of those foldable poster boards you got for the DM screen and taping the wrapping paper to it for the board. Not as versatile as being able to use dry erase markers, but easier to get in one dollar store run. Great video! I adored the DM screen decorating.
I love this so much. Speaking as a now EX dollar tree Assistant manager I love videos showing off the cool and weird stuff the stores sell. There's a ton of crap in those stores but also a ton of gold if you know where to look!
I have those glass beads you put in vases that I use for large groups of enemies. Anything works if you are creative. Skeleton army? Bunch of oozes? Rats? Works great. Cost me a dollar.
I had a blast watching this video! Kid in a candy store kind of excitement when you revealed everything and told your story! You have such a creative imagination and I really wanted to be at that table. Well done sir!
Totally running my campaign this way, and your wrapping paper idea has saved me so much time with the combat maps. I salute you because i couldnt find anything with the right sized grid quite yet until now
In the earliest days of DnD miniatures had to be done this way. We had a few 25mm metal ranges like Minifigs Middle Earth and Hyperboria, which could be supplemented with medievals. Anything else had to be improvised. 54 mm plastic figures made good giants. Dinosaurs appeared occasionally; I still have a giant sabre tooth tiger that I painted up. My favorites were my Hell Hounds, which were modified Britains sheep dogs!
I'm so used to doing theater of the mind for tabletop RPGs that I was struggling to think of what you even need besides a book and dice, LOL. I've played a ton of TTRPGs and D&D has been the only one that seems to have such a high number of players that can't even function without a playmat in front of them.
8:00 - Another thing that you can do with the paper is cover it in clear plastic packing tape. Essentially, the poor man's lamination. At an old job of mine, we had to do that with sewing patterns in order to make them last longer. Just cover the back of the wrapping paper with a layer of clear packing tape and you've got a reusable sheet of paper that you can write on with dry erase markers.
Yes you can make anything while spending less than 99.9% on it’s original price, rule applies for anything and everything all of the time.. nice art btw
At my dollar store I actually found a pack of five _official_ D&D die-cast figurines for $5. They're about 40mm tall, so a bit bigger than normal minis, but still! They also had a couple of plastic figurines from Kong vs. Godzilla that were just the right size. I got a warbat and a hellhawk.
I wanna shout out the channels Blandco, Dungeon Miser and Miniature Mashup who all have a lot of content on using affordable options or making your own. Excellent videos and great dudes!
Everything in this video is great - your creativity, your engaged but not maniacal delivery, the comprehensive handling of the setup, etc. The fun encounter at the end was the cherry on top. One of the most enjoyable tabletop crafting videos I have seen in a while. Subbed. I can't wait to see what's next!
The art on his custom GM screen was colorful and charming. I really liked it. It would be easy to print out a few cheat sheets to tape/glue to the inside.
When i saw the playmat was on the shopping list, my brain immediately went to gift-wrapping paper. I use those lines RELIGIOUSLY during the holidays. The dino squishy being an undead monster was a stroke of genius too. Well made video, all-in-all.
Love this! I have literally played tons of on the fly rpg sessions using basically notebook paper, pens and even soda caps for minis and a simplified "coin flip" system for dice, great ideas, loved the undead Dino!
If you want to limit yourself to just the dollar store most of them sell clear drawer liner you can use to laminate your grid paper. In highschool we would make dungeon tiles but cutting out squares of graph paper and then putting the drawer liner on top of it. Another option is that a lot of dollar stores sell very cheap checkers sets that will land you a grid and a bunch of tokens you can mark with stickers to make goblins or whatever.
I've never actually played D&D but I have been creating and playing my own tabletop RPGs for a couple years. It's honestly pretty fun to be cheap and create it yourself. I've played it with friends for hours.
This is amazing. I think plenty of people have asked themselves how to get into this game cheaply and I will be sharing this video to those individuals.
I've been trying to get into D&D for a while, but due to my limited budget I've had a hard time. This is exactly the video I've been looking for. You have earned my subscription.
I just thought of this, So A While back Nerds (The Candy) did a Collab with Wizards of the Coast doing 6 mini 1 player Campaigns and one giant 6-player campaign coming with Pre made characters and enemies. I wonder if that woulda counted towards The Dollar Store Thing even if you have to upload a pic of your Receipt 7 times to access it. It DOES only cost like a Dollar for each box of Nerds to unlock said content. Just something to consider
Haha this was like watching my own life. I buy my fair share of Nolzurs at the hobby shop, but I have almost all of those Disney/He Man toys that you used. I just bought a Rex and an armored Batman to use for a T Rex and Shield Guardian. Those paint supplies are no joke, either. I'm looking for a reason to use the little jars. And the fairy garden stuff! 🏡 I have ALL the ones you pictured! Just used the little crops and the clock when I did a battle in the Abbey garden of CoS.
We were doing some combat for our DND campaign the other week and let me tell you. Eraser caps, extra dice, ripped up paper and even a ring was used to showcase pcs, npcs and enemies. It was a ton of fun and worked out really well. I do wish I rolled better inititive though, I got an 8 so I was the last at combat, even behind the Ettercaps and our own horses.
I've watched students at my school play a simplified version of DnD where the DM told the story and the players just rolled a D20 to see if they would hit and another die for the amount of damage. It was literally a notebook and a set of dice.
That's roughly similar to what I did when I tried DnD in high school! Though we had full sets of dice, which some party members, like me, had to borrow since we didn't have any dice ourselves.
Dnd with only dice is the normal way to play the game, miniatures are not required, everyone has it on their head that minis are needed because of critical role and stranger things
Honestly what you tell has been my DnD since...well, forever. 90% of the stuff is make believe. When there is a battle, DM pulls a empty paper and quickly draws the map or they have battlemaps printed on it. Minis are bottlecaps but if the DM has laptop they usually show what we are fighting. The only budget was snacks, printing stuff and dice sets which are expected from the DM but welcome on a player to have one. I usually see two DMs agreeing to buy a cheap 20-set dice from Amazon, split the price and have 10 sets each to pay 50 cents for each set.
Quick tip for the battle mat that I used for the first few years when I started. Clear packaging tape works as dry erase, so just cover the back of the wrapping paper with it and you've got a dry erase battle mat for cheap
I've been making my own tokens using these small wooden letter tiles (from Michaels) with color printed paper on top. It looks REALLY good and is dirt cheap. I made 80 3/4" tokens for about 10$.
1 part admonishment and 2 parts accolades to you! This is stupid and awesome at the same time! Good point on the snack types. Fantastic idea for cheap-ass grid map. I thought the foam dice was a hilariously stupid touch; I'd love to use those! I giggled when you started DM'ing. I love the DM screen!! 10/10 for quirky and awesome!
This makes me so nostalgic for the first D&D game I ever experienced. I was the DM and was in high school so everything had to be super cheap and DIY. We used hand drawn graph paper, old children’s toys and things like legos and funny bones. All of our materials were printed at the school library. There’s so much charm for this kind of thing.
and I now have no more excuses to avoid DMing and building myself an in-person D&D group damn it. Sigh, well thank you Kohdok, you've given me the kick I need to kickstart my DMing career, I just hope I don't make too many mistakes at the start.
This is a really cool video. There is interesting stuff to be found at the Dollar Store if you know how to look. I don't think they still do, but they at least used to sell Army Men style figurines at the dollar store. I have gotten soldiers, firefighters, and police men from the Dollar Store when I was younger. Chess sets also work well for game maps, and they come with figurines.
Thank you so much for this! My 7 year old son really wants to play d&d. He asked for it for Christmas. I've never played and don't know anyone that does play. I've been doing tons of research trying to figure out what to buy and this was one of the best videos! It showed me how little is actually needed! Thank you again
I've only really noticed people standardly use battle maps in D&D pretty recently. Even though I usually play 5th edition I still never use battle maps, which is notice is pretty strange now.
Over the years, I have bought more than enough plastic plants from our local equivalent of dollar stores (Tedi and Kik mostly) to cover two entire gaming tables in jungle terrain. 😅
Man does this bring me back! I would use heroscape figures in tandem with knights and dinosaurs to create all kinds of adventures! Never had D&D until after I graduated high school, it was banned in my good Christian household. Thankfully I lived in close proximity to a comic shop that had everything I needed for D&D! RIP Infinite Monkeys and thanks for the memories.
Okay, last 2 things 1I knew it was Dollar Tree. The first 5 seconds of the video cause I bought my kids those dice for their first sets of dice and 2I disagree with the snacks my D. And d group has met every other weekend for the past seven years, and and we always take shifts on bringing an actual meal. Example, one person will bring the main. Of course, everybody else brings other things, and we shift every other week. It works out really well. The messiness kind of irrelevant, as long as you have paper towels or wet wipes but whatever's clever, whatever floats your boat. Also, this needs to be said. Your video is great, very informative. I like it. I like it a lot for someone who play tons of DND and just used pencil and paper because he didn't have the Money other than to get the books this is great. This is very good way to get people into the hobby brother
now that is way cool. I live in NZ and we have $2 stores and other similar stores around. never noticed a full set of dice though. but def alot of good useable stuff for terrain and props.
I love how you went all extra on this, like making a DM screen AND decorating it! LOL. The minis were great, very funny, though yeah, as you said, some of this wasn't really necessary, especially if on a smaller budget (like bowls/snacks, too). But anyway, very cool how you recreated everything like that, even little details, for your challenge! Great dedication to the concept! 🥰 (EDIT: And great arts & crafts work, BTW!)
I've always maintained that D&D and TTRPGs in general are exactly as expensive as you choose for them to be. You can play for nearly nothing, or spend thousands on the hobby. This video is an excellent exemplar of that.
Theoretically, you could play D&D for the staggering price of just a couple of dice sets. Just use pen and paper, the free Basic Rules, said dice sets and theater of the mind. If you need miniatures, just use toys, paper cut-outs, pieces from other board games you may have, or the dice themselves.
This handmade rpg set is awesome!!! I’ve started playing D&D in ‘94-‘95 with my classmates with no rulebook at all, no miniatures, nothing but a piece of paper sheet compiled by our master with some stats like fighting, wounds and something else. He was also the only who used only a D6 to take all decisions. Fighting with monsters was simply “I attack that cobold!”, the master rolled the d6 in secret and “ok you stab him to death” or “you miss it!” We had a lot of fun in those days, without spending no money at all, but living great adventures in our fantastical realms!
I just found this video, and I've been using wrapping paper for several years now, for conventions that I attend as GM. Best trick I've ever heard from one of my gaming friends. I'm just glad to see someone else sharing the map hack!
Stumbled on this by accident, but I loved it. I've been playing D&D since early 1977 (almost 46 years now). Early on its was very much a game of the imagination, not the heavily visually oriented game it is now. Stripping back the excess reveals that the truest gem of the game - imagination - still exists. As long as that survives, so will the game. Thank you.
I'm sure this will be in the comments already but a fun fact is that gary gygax actually made up a ton of the original dnd monsters based on having to pick out cheap dollar store toys to use for his games back before miniatures were common.
Thats the first time I'm hearing (reading) that! Really cool
Growing up in the seventies, I had a rust monster before that was known as a rust monster. Monster manual/fiend folio.... not sure which, but it was the pic in the book.
The bullette, or Landshark, was design when Gary happened upon a squat reptilian toy dubiously labelled "dinosaur"
Rust monster, owlbear. sturg, bullet. And I can't remember what others.
Yes!! Like those packs of dinosaurs
Considering that the entire reason D&D has the bulette, carrion crawler, owlbear, rust monster, and umber hulk, is that Gygax bought a cheap bag of "Dinosaur Toys" at a dime store (which were actually knock-off, looks-close-enough Ultraman monsters from unlicensed third-party manufacturers in Japan, which then got imported to the US and rebranded), this is in keeping with a longstanding and fine tradition.
I still have one of those proto-bulettes! 😄
imagine being the guy who designed the owlbear toy as a cheap knock off to make a quick buck only for it to eventually become one of the most iconic fantasy monsters of all time.
@@chastermief839haha same with the guys who got tasked with coming up with names for all of the Mos Eisley aliens to bulk up the first run of Star Wars figures
The umber hulk is debatable, the monster people associate with the monster looks nothing like it aside from having a pair of mandibles on the sides of its mouth. Bulette, Rust Monster, Owlbear, totally. The carrion crawler was very probably just a toy centipede, not any "prehistoric animal" figure like the others.
I had those toys as a kid. Crazy
Honestly this brought me back to my high school and early collage days. Super cool reminder that you don't need leather dice boxes and expensive dice to have a great time!
Went to COLLEGE but can't spell it.
Checks out.
@@maniakb416 meh mobile sorry should've just said university.
Yep all you need are the books and some paper
Yep! I run lots of games, and always use dice as minis. The map fades away anyway as it is replaced by our imagination once the game starts.
@@maniakb416 blame autocorrect lol
I started using mini "tumbling tower" (Jenga) blocks from the dollar store to construct boundaries and walls over my grid map for my D&D game combat. No need to dry-erase afterward (My mat is already horribly stained anyway), and you can even build little doorways and other structures. The dollar store mini tumbling tower blocks are just the right size for it, if your store carries them.
Consider that idea stolen :D
OMG I love that idea 😅
Choice idea!
I use Legos and an old link logs set.
I like that, clever
First campaign we used the back face of a sheet of packing paper that had a grid for cuting as a map and board game pieces as players, we roled the dice on an app and "acquired" a rulebook pdf, cost us literally nothing. There is 0 monetary barrier for dnd if you've got the spirit.
Lol, hadn't watched the video the wraping paper trick is exacly what we used, except it wasn't gif wrap but that transparent stuff to plastify documents.
@@jmcop30 where there’s a will, there’s a way, and that’s what’s great about tabletop RPGs
Ah, so you had a Rogue in the group. Always a good choice.
Most my play group doesn't bother with physical maps or minis. If you homebrew and don't worry about all the fancy stuff then you can start for cheaper. Literally dice, notebook paper and pencils. Once we can get a specific game space set up then we might get some of the other stuff.
Yes, this.
I just use m&ms for monster minis and whoever kills it, eats it. That way i dont need snacks either
Make this man president he is genius
So, we're feeding the murderhobos now?
Stealing that idea 😂
this is what i do too lol
Snacks instead of XP? I love it!
This is a great example of limitations driving the story. Using that squeezy dinosaur as an undead is a stroke of brilliance that most people probably wouldn't have had if they had access to whatever minis they wanted. Now you've got me wanting to know how the rolls turned out and how hard to fight actually was. So much for it being a "milk run" though.
Thanks for the video Kohdok.
You do realize he didn't actually play, right? He was just demonstrating his point.
I used a Pac-Man mini plushie as a Hutt crimelord in a Star Wars rpg...we all laughed as the players agreed: 'Fits scale to our minis'
@@mattpace1026 I do DM a regular game, but my players declined to appear in my videos ages ago.
@@Kohdok I never said you didn't. I didn't think this was a real game, while the original commenter clearly thought otherwise, and I was just saying as much.
Yes, it was a simulation, but it was intended to have a mix of high and low rolls. For instance, the Fighter got a low Survival roll, so I fudged it a bit to make the dognappers incompetent (Not wanting to sever the story thread), but left him unaware of the dinosaur tracks in the woods.
Halloween would probably be a good time to find cheap monster figures -- I know the dollar store around me always have super cheap packs of little skeletons/mummies with various weapons around that time of year.
I'm boutta ball out at dollar tree now
Lots of spiders and skeletons.
If you need a miniature of a “man sized spider”
Also great for atmospheric pieces,
There are small candles in the shape of skulls being sold.
Cool for lighting on the board, as well as representative of an evil altar of sacrifice.
Just dont leave them lit too long or they’ll start to misshape and dripping with wax overflow.
this is where i got all my mummies and skeletons lol
Back in 1976 when I started playing D&D we used a checkerboard as a play mat , dominoes as dungeon walls and doors and ANYTHING as miniatures! When Heritage minatures came out with “ The Fellowship “ it was a source of humans , elves, hobbits, dwarves and wizards !
This is EXACTLY how we used to play!
Borrowed rules, pen and paper, pennies for characters. Snacks a plenty and many many sleepless weekend marathon sessions. Ahhh you sir have your finger on the pulse of the “Spirit of Gaming” !!! Keep it up 👍
There is a certain charm to this that I love. I'm so used to custom minis, fancy modeled terrain, and customizable digital character sheets. It brings me back to the first time I played dnd we had a little white erase board, some hodgepodge of minis from various games, only the Player Handbook, and some poorly photos canned and printed character sheets from the back of the book...
When I was like 5 I convinced my parents to get me the DMs Guide.
I couldn't understand a lot of it but I was able to make some pretty sick dungeons out of cardboard and LEGOs for my brother.
Since real lead figures are out of production, we've started using Lego people. We have a third party Lego store nearby that has bins of people parts... Heads 50 cents, bodies a dollar, weapons a quarter, helmets and things... Everything we need to make and customize Paladins, rangers, wizards, whatever we need... And when a character gets a new weapon or new shield, we can change the figure to match.
When I saw the title, my first tough was "of course you can!" And yet I still troughly enjoyed the video. Shame we don't have dollar stores here.
Same... I wish other countries would have dollar store like shops.
me too, cose a notebook and pen is all you need, beside love :D
@Barlmoro
that's how prisoners play D&D
This is actually so helpful! As a broke college kid who wants to get into DMing so I can play D&D with my friends, I have been STRESSING about how expensive everything is, but this really puts into perspective how a bit of creativity can do a lot even with cheap materials! I didn't even know there was a free online rulebook! I was planning on investing in the three core rulebooks, but if I can't get my hands on them right away, having that available is sick!
Wrapping paper is easily the best hack for some budget dnd games. Great for drawing full maps ir adjusting terrain on tge fly with secondary cut-outs.
I love the wrapping paper battle map. One of the things you can do is pre-draw the maps you need for your sessions; that way, you can go the extra mile adding little details, which can add so much to the map. And it saves time at the table, because all you have to do is have the players clear a spot, then roll out the map all scroll-like, and watch the joy spread in your players' faces as they behold your masterfully rendered map!
Oh! And! AND! You can draw on the map any changes to the site, like if a bomb blew up a section of the wall; and if the party ever revisits that location, you can roll out that same map, and it'll have all of the little changes! And if you don't revisit the site until the end of the campaign, it'd be awesome to see the old map, and reminisce about the time Dave spilt dew on that corner of the map, or Mike got cheeto finger prints all over the place! And if the location gets destroyed, you can rip it up in front of the players... then tape it back together, so you can use it as a surprise final battle, but all messed up and stuff!
Oh my G, the possibilities are endless! And one roll of the stuff will make multiple maps! All for $1.25!
Easy to make cheap dungeon tiles too if you draw a bunch of generic 2x2, 2x4, 3x3, 4x4, 5x5, etc. patterns on the wrapping paper, cut foam board to the appropriate sizes and glue the grid to it. Use leftover pieces to make extra items like doors, furniture, etc.
And at the end of the campaign, the whole roll is a scroll, the linear tale of your journey together. So lovely!
For fog of war keep a folder of black paper to set over the map if your players can't see that space yet.
Fun fact: 1"x1" is actually 25mm scale in metric comparison (1" = 25mm), not 28mm. But it is often called 28mm because of its "heroic scale" miniatures, with your standard human standing just over an inch in height.
I would've looked a bit more in the stationary section before making due with the wrapping paper, i have seen grid poster boards on sale before. I don't know if it would've been the exact same size needed though
it is still a good idea for not much money
@@jamjar1726 oh absolutely! I didn’t even know they made wrapping paper with guide grids on the back until I seen this video
@@duane_313 Its a nice little thing mostly done for the kinds of wrapping paper that people who aren't familiar with wrapping things would get. So, affordable.
Agreed. I've gotten poster boards with grids before, at Staples if perhaps not the dollar store. The grids can be half inch too if you wanted to scale down the figures you were using.
You could also get plain foam board and use a glue stick to fix the gridded wrapping paper to the foam board to make it stiffer.
Back in 1988 I collected each dice 1 or 2 at a time for $0.20 a piece at a local bookshop. I would carry them around in a crown royal bag my dad gave me. I never really saw a character sheet, it was just a well organized sheet of notebook paper inspired by an example in one of the 1st edition books we had. Between 8 kids we owned roughly 9 books and the rich kid owned 6 of those. We had no idea what a DM screen was and dreamed of miniatures which some of us collected when possible. D&D on a budget was how I grew up in middle school.
I still keep my dice in a crown royal bag. It's the fancy reserve, but still crown royal.
My husband still stores his dice in a crown royal bag haha
@@nedlyest I just upgraded from my old 750 purple bag to the green 1.75 bag. It's my favorite way to store dice, even though it's a pain to pull the set I want out.
I love how creative this is. I want to try to play dnd but its not in my budget. But thanks to this video I now have an idea on how to play in a budget friendly way.
Dnd has no monetary barrier
You can easily play it for free
The rulebooks are the only thing you actually need (which can be pirated on the internet)
Free mobile apps for charecter sheets, dice rolls and the like
Normal paper with gridlines drawn on them yourself for battlemaps
You can use any board game pieces like chess for miniatures
Or you can again use mobile apps for battlemaps and minis
lost mines of phandalin starter set is extremely cheap, like less than $10, and is a super fun adventure, like months of weekly sessions worth of content, with everything you need
The first thing to remember is that DnD is played with the imagination. As long as you can find the rule books online, which like others have stated are free, then it's a free game. For now, I'm looking at you WotC >.>
Also there are websites, such as dmguild and others, that offer free modules and books.
Honestly the worst thing about DnD is the time scheduling
Worlds Without Number is free.
All you need is pencil, paper, and the dice. Everything else is free online
I saw those polyhedral dice once at my local Dollar Store two years ago, and they sold out within a few days and haven't been able to restock them since. This INFURIATES me, as my inner dice Goblin MUST collect all the various colors they offer, just to say I have them!
A few years ago I found a tube of miscellaneous game dice to include unusual options in the little toy section at Walgreens.
Dollar tree surprisingly has a website! They should be available on there.
Man... back in like 2013/2014 before the D&D boom really started to happen me and my brother found a huge bag of minis at Goodwill for 99cents. There was like a huge minotaur and a bunch of townfolk and my dumbass was contemplating too hard over spending a dollar (both of us were still in school) and put it back. It was gone within the hour lol, the dumbest decision I've ever actively made tbh.
Man I've never seen them, and I can't find them on DT website either!! 😩
My inner dice monster got all the colors when I first saw them. Went to the dollar store for a cheap lunch came out with six sets of dice instead
With me and my friends being highschoolers, this is almost exactly our setup, lol
You don't have to spend a lot of money to have fun
Dollar Tree often sells shelf paper, which is a vinyl sheet with an adhesive backing. The backing paper has the cutting grid on it just like that gift wrapping paper.
The interesting part is that it is available in a clear version, and you can see the grid lines through it, so it is essentially "pre-laminated".
When my oldest son was in highschool, I bought him and his brother a heroscape beginning set for Christmas. Of course they came out with expansion sets and new minis. I couldn't afford to buy all the expansions, but the kids were ok with that. They would go through their toy box and invent their own new character sets. Any figures that would fit the playing tiles was fair game. It was never boring.
They're both grown men now and have found their way to D&D.
Seeing a hand written character sheet hit me with so much nostalgia. Awesome!
What else is there?
@@mrmicro22 D&D beyond
More than once while at the dollar store I have asked myself the same question. It always seemed totally possible to create a D&D experience with the many wares available there.
This is one of the things i love about dnd. Its nice to have minis and things to be a closer representation for what they are in game, but i remeber the first campaign i ran for minis it was whatever could fit in the 1x1 square and easily be identifiable as the player. I had people use bottlecaps, cool rocks, a tiny shell, or boardgame pieces. This is very inspiring i love the dm screen art
There are a lot of teacher and game design kits out there that make it easy to buy a bunch of generic board game pawns. A lot of people have a fair number of coins laying around the house. Cut a piece of poster board the same size, draw or write on it and then glue it on to the coin.
My dad bought me a set of dice from the dollar store like those, but more of a bronze color, and the first day I used them I rolled 2 nat 20s in a row, followed by 2 nat 17s
All die are different, you might have gotten one of those rare sets a lot of people hunt for
This video was way bigger than it should be. In a good way. It's fantastic. Good shit man.
This is incredibly charming and creative. I see those wrapping paper squares all the time but never would have thought about using them for a map grid.
Same here - Its a great idea 😀
Man the Half in the Bag piano incidental music hit my brain just right, subscribed. Great video concept, very fun!
An alternative to the lamination: Buying another one of those foldable poster boards you got for the DM screen and taping the wrapping paper to it for the board. Not as versatile as being able to use dry erase markers, but easier to get in one dollar store run.
Great video! I adored the DM screen decorating.
I love this so much. Speaking as a now EX dollar tree Assistant manager I love videos showing off the cool and weird stuff the stores sell. There's a ton of crap in those stores but also a ton of gold if you know where to look!
I have those glass beads you put in vases that I use for large groups of enemies. Anything works if you are creative. Skeleton army? Bunch of oozes? Rats? Works great. Cost me a dollar.
I will say, the DM Screen is my favorite part of this.
Finally, D&D as it was meant to be, an affordable hobby for all who learn the rules
I'd love to see a group of players doing a full campaign with dollar store stuff.
I had a blast watching this video! Kid in a candy store kind of excitement when you revealed everything and told your story! You have such a creative imagination and I really wanted to be at that table. Well done sir!
Totally running my campaign this way, and your wrapping paper idea has saved me so much time with the combat maps. I salute you because i couldnt find anything with the right sized grid quite yet until now
In the earliest days of DnD miniatures had to be done this way. We had a few 25mm metal ranges like Minifigs Middle Earth and Hyperboria, which could be supplemented with medievals. Anything else had to be improvised. 54 mm plastic figures made good giants. Dinosaurs appeared occasionally; I still have a giant sabre tooth tiger that I painted up. My favorites were my Hell Hounds, which were modified Britains sheep dogs!
I love this so much. It captures all the unbridled excitement and imagination that brought so many of us to DnD. It's just sheer joy.
Short answer: Absolutely if someone at the table knows the rules. Absolutely not if nobody at the table knows the rules. (I work at a dollar tree)
I'm so used to doing theater of the mind for tabletop RPGs that I was struggling to think of what you even need besides a book and dice, LOL.
I've played a ton of TTRPGs and D&D has been the only one that seems to have such a high number of players that can't even function without a playmat in front of them.
8:00 - Another thing that you can do with the paper is cover it in clear plastic packing tape. Essentially, the poor man's lamination. At an old job of mine, we had to do that with sewing patterns in order to make them last longer. Just cover the back of the wrapping paper with a layer of clear packing tape and you've got a reusable sheet of paper that you can write on with dry erase markers.
Yes you can make anything while spending less than 99.9% on it’s original price, rule applies for anything and everything all of the time.. nice art btw
At my dollar store I actually found a pack of five _official_ D&D die-cast figurines for $5. They're about 40mm tall, so a bit bigger than normal minis, but still!
They also had a couple of plastic figurines from Kong vs. Godzilla that were just the right size. I got a warbat and a hellhawk.
Now the hard part; finding friends...can you get those at the dollar store?...😭
Just pick up the homeless dude outside the store 🙄
@@chonflis3834 He's too heavy for my weak nerdy arms.
@@bobbyrice its ok just give him a week for the hunger to kick in hell be thin enough to carry
Bro, I am absolutely in love with the idea of Dollar Store DND.
I wanna shout out the channels Blandco, Dungeon Miser and Miniature Mashup who all have a lot of content on using affordable options or making your own. Excellent videos and great dudes!
Everything in this video is great - your creativity, your engaged but not maniacal delivery, the comprehensive handling of the setup, etc. The fun encounter at the end was the cherry on top. One of the most enjoyable tabletop crafting videos I have seen in a while. Subbed. I can't wait to see what's next!
This is great and I love it. But I always have to say that your arts and crafts, as well as your illustration skills, are amazing. Love it.
The art on his custom GM screen was colorful and charming. I really liked it. It would be easy to print out a few cheat sheets to tape/glue to the inside.
When i saw the playmat was on the shopping list, my brain immediately went to gift-wrapping paper. I use those lines RELIGIOUSLY during the holidays. The dino squishy being an undead monster was a stroke of genius too.
Well made video, all-in-all.
Love this! I have literally played tons of on the fly rpg sessions using basically notebook paper, pens and even soda caps for minis and a simplified "coin flip" system for dice, great ideas, loved the undead Dino!
15:05 I love what you were able to pull off, and I was genuinely invested in the little snippet of story at the end. Well done.
If you want to limit yourself to just the dollar store most of them sell clear drawer liner you can use to laminate your grid paper. In highschool we would make dungeon tiles but cutting out squares of graph paper and then putting the drawer liner on top of it. Another option is that a lot of dollar stores sell very cheap checkers sets that will land you a grid and a bunch of tokens you can mark with stickers to make goblins or whatever.
I love that you used the same theme that RLM uses for Half in the Bag lol. Cool video!
Cheap plastic poster frames are large enough and dry erase marker friendly. I framed wrapping paper and used that for a long time!
The poster frame is an awesome idea.
This is genius. Thank you for this. Hmm
I'm a huge fan of minimalism in games and this really shows how a little know-how can minimise the entry barriers! Cracking video Kohdok :D
I've never actually played D&D but I have been creating and playing my own tabletop RPGs for a couple years. It's honestly pretty fun to be cheap and create it yourself. I've played it with friends for hours.
Me too! I always try to make a set of very different rules, to make unique experience with every game.
Oh my god is that Etrian Odyssey music! This is one of my favourite dnd videos I've seen in a long time, amazing effort and work put into this!
Damn, I did not know about the wrapping paper grids!! That DM screen though, the coolest thing I have seen in a long time no lie.
This was sooo enjoyable. I really enjoyed this video and wanted to see what happened next. Please continue! New subscriber.
This is amazing. I think plenty of people have asked themselves how to get into this game cheaply and I will be sharing this video to those individuals.
I've been trying to get into D&D for a while, but due to my limited budget I've had a hard time. This is exactly the video I've been looking for. You have earned my subscription.
I just thought of this, So A While back Nerds (The Candy) did a Collab with Wizards of the Coast doing 6 mini 1 player Campaigns and one giant 6-player campaign coming with Pre made characters and enemies. I wonder if that woulda counted towards The Dollar Store Thing even if you have to upload a pic of your Receipt 7 times to access it. It DOES only cost like a Dollar for each box of Nerds to unlock said content.
Just something to consider
Yooo that DM screen is absolutely mwah!!! (chef’s kiss)
This is so charming! Makes me wish I'd had friends to play with as a young teen who still had ideas and serotonin lol
The wrapping paper thing was worth the price of admission. Genius.
A nice flash back to my starting play, and I really love the panache of the big dice for stats!
*unrolls wrapping paper "There! You see?"
Me: No, but I'm a master at wrapping gifts so I already know.
Haha this was like watching my own life. I buy my fair share of Nolzurs at the hobby shop, but I have almost all of those Disney/He Man toys that you used. I just bought a Rex and an armored Batman to use for a T Rex and Shield Guardian. Those paint supplies are no joke, either. I'm looking for a reason to use the little jars. And the fairy garden stuff! 🏡 I have ALL the ones you pictured! Just used the little crops and the clock when I did a battle in the Abbey garden of CoS.
We were doing some combat for our DND campaign the other week and let me tell you. Eraser caps, extra dice, ripped up paper and even a ring was used to showcase pcs, npcs and enemies. It was a ton of fun and worked out really well. I do wish I rolled better inititive though, I got an 8 so I was the last at combat, even behind the Ettercaps and our own horses.
I've watched students at my school play a simplified version of DnD where the DM told the story and the players just rolled a D20 to see if they would hit and another die for the amount of damage. It was literally a notebook and a set of dice.
That's roughly similar to what I did when I tried DnD in high school! Though we had full sets of dice, which some party members, like me, had to borrow since we didn't have any dice ourselves.
That is more or less most Powered by The Apocalypse Games. Though 2 D6 instead of the D20.
Dnd with only dice is the normal way to play the game, miniatures are not required, everyone has it on their head that minis are needed because of critical role and stranger things
That's how it's done. I do usually draw a dungeon on graph paper though.
Honestly what you tell has been my DnD since...well, forever. 90% of the stuff is make believe. When there is a battle, DM pulls a empty paper and quickly draws the map or they have battlemaps printed on it. Minis are bottlecaps but if the DM has laptop they usually show what we are fighting.
The only budget was snacks, printing stuff and dice sets which are expected from the DM but welcome on a player to have one. I usually see two DMs agreeing to buy a cheap 20-set dice from Amazon, split the price and have 10 sets each to pay 50 cents for each set.
Quick tip for the battle mat that I used for the first few years when I started. Clear packaging tape works as dry erase, so just cover the back of the wrapping paper with it and you've got a dry erase battle mat for cheap
I've been making my own tokens using these small wooden letter tiles (from Michaels) with color printed paper on top. It looks REALLY good and is dirt cheap. I made 80 3/4" tokens for about 10$.
1 part admonishment and 2 parts accolades to you! This is stupid and awesome at the same time! Good point on the snack types. Fantastic idea for cheap-ass grid map. I thought the foam dice was a hilariously stupid touch; I'd love to use those! I giggled when you started DM'ing. I love the DM screen!! 10/10 for quirky and awesome!
ive been thinking of how to set up a dnd game with lego, the system from the heroica theme is a promising start, it was like baby’s first ttrpg
It ain't cheap but you can order those 2x2 one stud tiles from lego shop. I am so tempted but it's extra expensive to ship to where I live...
Big problem is that heroica is cancelled so you'd need the stupid expensive set resale market
@@yaoiboi60 well, you see, that’s the fun part… i got all the sets already >:D
Heroica was awesome and so was the rest of the Lego Board games lines. Shame that it was cancelled and almost no one remembers.
This makes me so nostalgic for the first D&D game I ever experienced. I was the DM and was in high school so everything had to be super cheap and DIY. We used hand drawn graph paper, old children’s toys and things like legos and funny bones. All of our materials were printed at the school library. There’s so much charm for this kind of thing.
and I now have no more excuses to avoid DMing and building myself an in-person D&D group damn it. Sigh, well thank you Kohdok, you've given me the kick I need to kickstart my DMing career, I just hope I don't make too many mistakes at the start.
This is a really cool video. There is interesting stuff to be found at the Dollar Store if you know how to look.
I don't think they still do, but they at least used to sell Army Men style figurines at the dollar store. I have gotten soldiers, firefighters, and police men from the Dollar Store when I was younger.
Chess sets also work well for game maps, and they come with figurines.
You can play with just the basic rules, a set of dice, a pencil and a pad of paper. That's how we did it when we walked uphill both ways in the snow.
Thank you so much for this! My 7 year old son really wants to play d&d. He asked for it for Christmas. I've never played and don't know anyone that does play. I've been doing tons of research trying to figure out what to buy and this was one of the best videos! It showed me how little is actually needed! Thank you again
I've only really noticed people standardly use battle maps in D&D pretty recently. Even though I usually play 5th edition I still never use battle maps, which is notice is pretty strange now.
The energy of your videos is very friendly and wholesome, I wish for only the best things for you
Over the years, I have bought more than enough plastic plants from our local equivalent of dollar stores (Tedi and Kik mostly) to cover two entire gaming tables in jungle terrain. 😅
Love the Mr.Plinket's house music around 3:50
$30 for an amazing opening session, this is genius.
The gift wrap was a clever idea
Man does this bring me back! I would use heroscape figures in tandem with knights and dinosaurs to create all kinds of adventures! Never had D&D until after I graduated high school, it was banned in my good Christian household. Thankfully I lived in close proximity to a comic shop that had everything I needed for D&D! RIP Infinite Monkeys and thanks for the memories.
Okay, last 2 things 1I knew it was Dollar Tree. The first 5 seconds of the video cause I bought my kids those dice for their first sets of dice and 2I disagree with the snacks my D. And d group has met every other weekend for the past seven years, and and we always take shifts on bringing an actual meal. Example, one person will bring the main. Of course, everybody else brings other things, and we shift every other week. It works out really well. The messiness kind of irrelevant, as long as you have paper towels or wet wipes but whatever's clever, whatever floats your boat. Also, this needs to be said. Your video is great, very informative. I like it. I like it a lot for someone who play tons of DND and just used pencil and paper because he didn't have the Money other than to get the books this is great. This is very good way to get people into the hobby brother
now that is way cool. I live in NZ and we have $2 stores and other similar stores around. never noticed a full set of dice though. but def alot of good useable stuff for terrain and props.
I love how you went all extra on this, like making a DM screen AND decorating it! LOL. The minis were great, very funny, though yeah, as you said, some of this wasn't really necessary, especially if on a smaller budget (like bowls/snacks, too).
But anyway, very cool how you recreated everything like that, even little details, for your challenge! Great dedication to the concept! 🥰 (EDIT: And great arts & crafts work, BTW!)
I've always maintained that D&D and TTRPGs in general are exactly as expensive as you choose for them to be. You can play for nearly nothing, or spend thousands on the hobby. This video is an excellent exemplar of that.
Dollar store dungeon idea: evil off brand items come alive and rise up against shoppers.
Theoretically, you could play D&D for the staggering price of just a couple of dice sets.
Just use pen and paper, the free Basic Rules, said dice sets and theater of the mind.
If you need miniatures, just use toys, paper cut-outs, pieces from other board games you may have, or the dice themselves.
Or just coins with paper taped to them.
@@LupineShadowOmega
And with the current level of inflation, those coins would be worth more as minis than actual legal tender.
This handmade rpg set is awesome!!! I’ve started playing D&D in ‘94-‘95 with my classmates with no rulebook at all, no miniatures, nothing but a piece of paper sheet compiled by our master with some stats like fighting, wounds and something else. He was also the only who used only a D6 to take all decisions.
Fighting with monsters was simply “I attack that cobold!”, the master rolled the d6 in secret and “ok you stab him to death” or “you miss it!”
We had a lot of fun in those days, without spending no money at all, but living great adventures in our fantastical realms!
Basements & Lizards
Cribs and reptiles
I just found this video, and I've been using wrapping paper for several years now, for conventions that I attend as GM. Best trick I've ever heard from one of my gaming friends. I'm just glad to see someone else sharing the map hack!
10:21 Did I just go deaf or something?
Stumbled on this by accident, but I loved it.
I've been playing D&D since early 1977 (almost 46 years now). Early on its was very much a game of the imagination, not the heavily visually oriented game it is now. Stripping back the excess reveals that the truest gem of the game - imagination - still exists. As long as that survives, so will the game.
Thank you.
Considering one can play D&D entirely with one's imagination...
That's not the point
@@nohrianscum9791 I still liked the video. I guess I'm just use to Vampire masquerade.
@@nohrianscum9791 exactly, most players will have some varying levels of expectation, and this meets all of them
You still need dice
You still need the rule books, otherwise its just sitting around the table roleplaying...
Love this! I saw that they had the three main books at Walmart yesterday and was like “This is how you know that this is the top TTRPG”.