It was recently my daughter’s birthday, and as she started playing Dungeons & Dragons earlier this year. I thought it would be a good opportunity to make her something a little different for her present. I decided to build her a dice tower and paint up a Halfling miniature to represent her D&D character.
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| The completed dice tower. The blue spider is attached to the lid which can be removed. |
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| The drawbridge is hinged to drop down. |
After looking online for some ideas, I settled on a straightforward castle tower design, complete with a working drawbridge to catch the dice as they tumble through. I was going to use a combination of MDF and cardboard to make the tower.
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| The tower in use. The drawbridge has sides to keep the dice from escaping across the table. |
The sloping shelves inside the tower, which break the dice’s fall as they travel through, were made from some leftover upholstery foam I had from a previous project. I cut the foam into triangles, covered them with grey felt, and glued them into position. The reason for this approach was that my daughter did not want a noisy dice tower. I also covered the inside surface of the drawbridge with felt to help minimise any noise.
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| A closeup of the painted halfling. |
Before gluing the foam shelves in place, I decorated the tower with various bits and pieces from my bits box to give it a little more character and colour.
A very nice dice tower Peter. I 3D-printed mine and can that method makes a really noisy tower when the dice are on their way. Your way is much better. How many bafflers are there to obstruct the dice?
ReplyDeleteI used three bafflers which seem to work well.
DeleteA lovely gift and MUCH nicer than the bought plastic ones that you can get. I have made a couple of low grade efforts and have found the thing of soundproofing the internals is essential - the foam sounds an excellent material.
ReplyDeleteNot only does the foam work well, it is also much easier to fit than using wood/MDF.
DeleteWhat a super gift, very nice piece of modelling and a really thoughtful present.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter liked the present and quickly tested it and fortunately rolled high making her even happier.
DeleteLovely looking dice tower!
ReplyDeleteIt was an enjoyable model to make.
DeleteThat is a pretty cool present and nicely modelled too:).
ReplyDeleteThank you, and it was enjoyable to make.
DeleteWhat a great present for a gamer!
ReplyDeleteMay her dice roll high.
DeleteThat's just brilliant! My kid has been playing D&D for a couple of years off and on now. I think that's given me an idea. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteEric
They are a useful and fun present.
DeleteWonderful work Peter and very clever with the foam baffles and grey felt.
ReplyDeleteLovely little figure as well.
I could not resist adding the spider and I found the halfling on line.
DeleteLiterally the coolest! 😄 Thanks again, Dad! 💜
ReplyDeleteThanks and may your dice roll high.
DeleteThat's very cool Peter - and nice to have a family member sharing the hobby! My friend Julian has two daughters in their early thirties and both of them are open to boardgames, and the younger one, who is in the UK, plays DnD RPG type games - so when she was home for Christmas 10 months ago, he painted up a batch of figures for her and the group of friends she games with.
ReplyDeletePretty much all of the family like boardgames so we often catch up to have monthly games days.
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