Super-Sketchy D&D Advent Adventure!

[Scubasteve0209]

I want you to come with me on a wild ride this advent season.

Back in September I saw a Facebook ad for a Dungeons & Dragons-themed Advent Calendar. (my first thread) (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?635939-Sketchy-D-amp-D-Advent-Calendar-ads-Anyone-else-seeing-these)

I thought, "hey, that's cool, & my kids have been showing a lot of interest in my gaming nights, so why not?" I pulled the trigger. In retrospect, I realized it must be a scam. The more I looked at the website the more red flags popped up (fortunately I used PayPal instead of a credit card, so there's not much risk there)

I figured I'd wait a few weeks, & then ask for a refund when nothing showed up. Disappointing, but whatever.

LO AND BEHOLD, I find a confusing package on my porch in mid-November containing a super janky-looking tackle box with a plastic sheet of D&D cover-art and few cracks where it was handled roughly. This is clearly what I purchased, but definitely not what I bought...
https://i.imgur.com/poD6YGd.jpg https://i.imgur.com/sAZFA3M.jpg https://i.imgur.com/pGzL9Po.jpg

I figure you can either be mad about it, or find humor in it, and I'm choosing the latter. So My plan is to take us through the holiday season updating daily with all the joy this little box brings us.

And so, here begins our D&D Advent adventure.....

Roll for initiative. :D

[Scubasteve0209]

Day 1: My oldest daughter was super excited to be the first kid to open a calendar window. I have three kids, 8yo boy/girl twins, and a 5 year old son. They've been really jazzed about this advent calendar since it arrived.

I probably didn't properly prepare her for the fact that while the things in the calendar will likely be hilarious, they will almost certainly be disappointing as well.

Today for instance, the first window was.... EMPTY!
https://i.imgur.com/coTKwkp.jpg?1 https://i.imgur.com/ofl2frt.jpg?1
Whoever built the box failed to add a wall between day 1 and day 7, so we had to dig down into next week to find it.

Inside we found a small plastic egg. When my daughter first pulled it out I saw a flash of yellow & orange, and I thought there was a Charizard toy, but noooo. It was a bunch of tiny rubber dinosaurs!
https://i.imgur.com/sQ3yaXo.jpg

Looking down into the gap, I can see there are several other missing walls, and at least one more capsule of dinos. I also saw a little blue rogue miniature. I'm not sure what game it's from, but none that I'm familiar with. I guess we'll get a closer look once we hit Day 7. Stay tuned. :smallbiggrin:
https://i.imgur.com/q2Z7Ru5.jpg?1

Day 2: My oldest son got to open this one. As he was opening it the window stuck to the treat, and ripped. That was when we realized that the decorative covering was actually just a giant sticker, so the backing is really sticky.

Either way, the prize was a cute little "That's how I roll" pin. I like how every face of the d20 is 20. That's a power gamer move right there.
https://i.imgur.com/kFlmS6T.jpg?1

Day 3: This time it was my youngest's turn. He snagged the best treat we’ve seen thus far. Not even being ironic.

Another lacquered metal pin featuring the ampersand dragon on a cool green background. It doesn’t look or feel cheap at all. I would absolutely put this on my own laptop bag if this kids didn’t already love it.
https://i.imgur.com/5L9DnpT.jpg?1
The only downside is that the pin backing is a cheap plastic without any catches, so it would slide right off without any resistance. That’s an easy enough fix though.
https://i.imgur.com/QpwhTNf.jpg?1
Stay tuned!

Day 4: Another pin? This one is a neat dragon with a d20. At least by the end of this advent season any one of my kids will have enough Flair to work at Chotchkies.
https://i.imgur.com/DJeMa5r.jpg?1
https://i.imgur.com/vl5ZNjZ.png

Day 5: Yesterday was yet another capsule full of tiny rubber dinosaurs. This all but guarantees the the next time I DM a game there will be a magic item that summons a swarm of tiny Dinos to harass your enemies. Maybe call it the “Minimus Rexi pouch?” I think it'd be like Bag of Tricks, but on a 1-9 on a 1d10 it's a swarm of tiny dinosaurs. On a 10 it's a T-Rex. :smallbiggrin:
https://i.imgur.com/gjlCk5K.jpg?1

Day 6: Today. Today! My son pulled our very first miniature! It even looks D&D related! It appears to be a skeleton wielding a pair of knives while standing in fire. There’s a lot going on there, but I dig it.
https://i.imgur.com/kjllf0L.jpg?1
I’m not sure who the manufacturer is, but under the base it reads “COTD and 2018 Sideshow inc.” so I guess I’ll do a bit of research & post what I find.

[Scubasteve0209]

Day 7 Wait. What? Another miniature? A rogue even? This is coming dangerously close to actually providing content similar to what was advertised.
I actually recognize this mini, or a variation of it. This one is by Privateer Press, and based on the soft plastic I know it's from one of their Iron Kingdoms roleplaying box games (This one is "The Undercity" I believe). I think it's a variation of a Croe's Cutthroats mini from Warmachine, but was modified for the box. The game is *technically* steampunk, but the mini fits in nicely with a fantasy setting.
https://i.imgur.com/WeJ1qle.jpg

Day 8 This is a new one on me. It’s another miniature, but appears to be from a sci-fi game. It looks a bit like Infinity in scale & style, but it isn’t. The character has some kind of tuning-fork/energy-wand sword-thing, and under the base it reads LMM. I haven’t been able to track any of it down yet, but I'm looking.

My wife says that at the end of all this, I need to run a short family adventure that incorporates everything from the advent calendar.
https://i.imgur.com/bZnIPYL.jpg https://i.imgur.com/ApWag73.jpg
In a game I think she’d be a mini-boss who, on a successful hit, would force a con save vs dropping your weapon.

[Scubasteve0209]

Reserved for Days 13-18

[Scubasteve0209]

Reserved for Days 19-24

[JNAProductions]

I look forward to seeing this.

Hope it didn’t cost too much! :)

[Batcathat]

My favorite part (so far) is that they didn't even bother finding a clean copy of the illustration and just straight up used the cover version. I somehow doubt the calendar includes "Everything a player needs to create heroic characters for the world's greatest roleplaying game". :smallamused:

[Anonymouswizard]

My favorite part (so far) is that they didn't even bother finding a clean copy of the illustration and just straight up used the cover version. I somehow doubt the calendar includes "Everything a player needs to create heroic characters for the world's greatest roleplaying game". :smallamused:

True, but then again my copy of the Player's Handbook is also missing BECM rules :smalltongue:

But yes, none of this is that surprising, although still amusing. I shall be following with interest.

[Imbalance]

I am so, so grateful to you for being the kind of person to document this. Part of me also wanted to get one just to see how stupidly awful it would be (I'm not alone in this masochism - we collectors are often fascinated by truly terrible knockoffs). Subscribing to thread, praying your children don't find anything that scars them for life...

[KorvinStarmast]

Excited, I am. :smallsmile:
(Sorry to see the quality control stank to high heaven) :smallfrown:

[Anonymouswizard]

I went back to the EN World thread I found last time, to see if anybody else had one of these and looking for updates in general. Apparently some people got the wrong 'version' entirely, and I believe there's a version with a D&D movie poster for the cover.

But this train is crashing over three and a half weeks, I shall put on the popcorn and wait.

Although on that other thread somebody suggested a spell to summon small cat-sized dinosaurs, which gives me an idea. I shall have to work on this after work.

[Lord Torath]

@Scubasteve0209: Thanks for looking into this, and taking one for the team!


Although on that other thread somebody suggested a spell to summon small cat-sized dinosaurs, which gives me an idea. I shall have to work on this after work.If you ever get the spell working, please let me know. My son will pay big money for a cat-sized dinosaur pet that isn't also a modern bird (aka chicken).

[Anonymouswizard]

Huh, I wonder why they didn't start with the pin. It would be nice if all the faces of the d20 were the same colour, but if I saw it in a shop for a quid or so I might buy it. It's the kind of thing I might actually expect in a £30 advent calendar.

[oxybe]

Someone on Reddit bought a similar product, likely by the same company (https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/r7upv8/i_am_one_of_those_that_bought_a_dd_calendar_from/). Only their advent calendar had the D&D movie for it's cover.

I'm guessing it's the same company because the physical design of the box looks similar AND they have the same taste of plastic dinosaur toys.

The D&D movie box didn't get a pin though it got

A Gomamon digimon fig of surprising build quality.

[Scubasteve0209]

Hope it didn’t cost too much! :)

About $40, not including shipping & handling. Will I get my money's worth back? Probably not? But I hope the entertainment value for myself & everyone else on the internet will be value enough. :smallbiggrin:

[Scubasteve0209]

Interestingly, while looking up D&D pins to see how much value there might be in the pins I've seen so far I found these links:
A set including at least three pins I know are in the calendar-
https://www.wish.com/product/dungeons-and-dragons-enamel-pin-dungeon-master-twenty-sided-dice-brooch-d20-dnd-tabletop-gaming-gifts-5da1442195be712cb008e307?hide_login_modal=true&share=web
The dragon pin-
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002773564699.html

Other searches have found that these pins generally retail anywhere from $3-9 each, depending on where you find them. I'm guessing there are at least three more pins we haven't seen yet. Hopefully not the "You're F***ed" pin since these are for my kids.

I guess we'll see.

[Anonymouswizard]

Interestingly, while looking up D&D pins to see how much value there might be in the pins I've seen so far I found these links:
A set including at least three pins I know are in the calendar-
https://www.wish.com/product/dungeons-and-dragons-enamel-pin-dungeon-master-twenty-sided-dice-brooch-d20-dnd-tabletop-gaming-gifts-5da1442195be712cb008e307?hide_login_modal=true&share=web
The dragon pin-
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002773564699.html

Other searches have found that these pins generally retail anywhere from $3-9 each, depending on where you find them. I'm guessing there are at least three more pins we haven't seen yet. Hopefully not the "You're F***ed" pin since these are for my kids.

I guess we'll see.

Not taking the box or sticker into account, each item should in theory be worth $1.67, so likely bought by the company for $1 with some more expensive items.

The pins are significantly higher quality than I'd expected, and honestly I'd pay decent money for a pin advent calendar. But sadly I suspect there likely aren't more than six in here.

They have kind of scuppered my 'advent spellbook' plans though.

[Scubasteve0209]

Not taking the box or sticker into account, each item should in theory be worth $1.67, so likely bought by the company for $1 with some more expensive items.

The pins are significantly higher quality than I'd expected, and honestly I'd pay decent money for a pin advent calendar. But sadly I suspect there likely aren't more than six in here.

They have kind of scuppered my 'advent spellbook' plans though.

One of the corners of the calendar is busted, & I saw another pin when I looked inside, so there's 4 at very least. I'd also be interested in seeing that summon dinos spell you're working on. I'm proposing the idea of "Bag of Tricks" style pouch that almost always produces tiny dino swarms, but occasionally pops a T-Rex.

[Scubasteve0209]

Alright, Found the mini's source.

It's from a board game called Court of the Dead: Mourner's Call. The skeleton guy from day 6 is from the "Conclave of Shadows," so maybe he isn't standing in fire?
https://www.amazon.com/Court-Dead-Mourners-Call-Board/dp/B07VFKM5ZL

[Batcathat]

Day 6: Today. Today! My son pulled our very first miniature! It even looks D&D related! It appears to be a skeleton wielding a pair of knives while standing in fire. There’s a lot going on there, but I dig it.
https://i.imgur.com/kjllf0L.jpg?1

I'm assuming you're correct, since you can see the back of it, but to me that really looks like a skeleton being burned at the stake.

[Anonymouswizard]

One of the corners of the calendar is busted, & I saw another pin when I looked inside, so there's 4 at very least. I'd also be interested in seeing that summon dinos spell you're working on. I'm proposing the idea of "Bag of Tricks" style pouch that almost always produces tiny dino swarms, but occasionally pops a T-Rex.

Im.mainly being stalled the fact that I don't own the monster books, so I have no idea what dinosaur stats there are already. I can stat a tiny raptor if needed, and then try to work out what spell level is appropriate for 1d6 brightly feathered dinos. Material ingredients include a fresh egg from several different birds.

I'm torn between higher level slots summoning more dinos or having the raptors gain amusingly useless proficiencies.

[Scubasteve0209]

I'm assuming you're correct, since you can see the back of it, but to me that really looks like a skeleton being burned at the stake.

That's what I thought at first, but I'm pretty sure it's a pair of daggers. Here's the side view:
https://i.imgur.com/33UCmGR.jpg?1

At second glance I thought maybe it was a miscast, but I found a picture of the digital file, and it doesn't appear to be the case.
https://scontent-sjc3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/31945954_1911216188923041_1483377697110360064_n.jp g?_nc_cat=104&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=2c4854&_nc_ohc=DtohUL6wu1oAX_K9tZe&_nc_ht=scontent-sjc3-1.xx&oh=5580c0409eb1ff5590b50f992904a1ae&oe=61D2E2BA

Maybe I'll paint it as a gloomstalker-style assassin, exploding from shadows.

[Scubasteve0209]

Anyone else familiar with a Sci-Fi board game or gaming company with the initials LMM? If I'm right, I'd guess that all the minis I'm getting are from board game boxes.

Also that symbol under the base makes me think of two shrimp fighting each other under water... I feel like that's a weird rorschach-revelation about myself...

[Imbalance]

Mght be these guys:

https://ludusmagnusstudio.com/

[KorvinStarmast]

Also that symbol under the base makes me think of two shrimp fighting each other under water. Doing battle in the aquagon! :smalleek:

[Anonymouswizard]

OP, are you okay?

I hope the fact that this calendar is apparently half tiny rubber dinosaurs hasn't driven you to the worship of Azathoth.

[Batcathat]

OP, are you okay?

I hope the fact that this calendar is apparently half tiny rubber dinosaurs hasn't driven you to the worship of Azathoth.

If the OP is indeed okay and not overthrown by their children, demanding a better calendar, I'd like to suggest making a new post with every update instead of editing old ones. I want to follow it, but I keep forgetting that it exists (which has more to do with the quality of my memory than the quality of the content, I assure you :smalltongue: ).

[Bacon Elemental]

Excited to see that this box of tricks actually has some non-crud contents, just to keep us all guessing. What fun!

[The Glyphstone]

Day 9: The box is actually a mimic, and has devoured the OP.