Is a subscription box service like Dungeon Crate worth it?

We’ve all been there: Checking out the awesome wares promised by a subscription box then eyeballing the actual numbers on the “subscribe now!” page.

It kind of seems too good to be true.

We get it. The idea that you drop a few gold coins and then someone sends you a whole box of stuff seems like you’re being swindled. There’s gotta be some kind of catch, right?

There’s not. Really. We really will send you a bunch of cool RPG accessories for  less than what you’d pay for them retail. Here at Dungeon Crate, our box retail value exceeds your cost every month. But that's not entirely the point. More on that in a bit. 

Let’s take a look at November’s Dungeon Crate box:

You pay us $29.95 or less plus shipping (subscribe for a longer period for cheaper boxes!). In return, we sent you:

●     Game Master badge

●     Critical Hit deck

●     Velvet dice bag

●     Card Caddy

●     Laser-cut Game Master coaster

●     5e Mini Dungeon adventure

●     Status effect markers

Altogether, those items have a retail value of more than $50. (And we’re not even mentioning how much it would cost to get each one shipped on its own.)

Fellow geeky sub boxes are similar. Loot Crate advertises a $45 value in its monthly box. Geek Fuel guarantees a $50 value. Comic Block runs about $50 as well.

So you’re definitely getting more than what you pay for. But again, that's only one part of the benefit of the box. 

Then there’s our favorite part of subscription boxes: They’re curated by people who love what you do, so they’re filled with RPG accessories we like and hope you’ll be stoked about, but maybe would have never found on your own.

We love the items we send out every month, and we’re guessing some of you have never heard of our vendors. Many are small companies, but they do incredible stuff.

How many of you were shopping for tokens from Advanced Deployment or flat plastic miniatures from Arc Knight before you got Dungeon Crate? Dungeon Crawler’s miniatures are amazing, and the more 5e mini adventures we can get from AAW Games, the better.

And how awesome is that Card Caddy? It’s currently protecting the all-important Tarokka deck for our ongoing Dungeons & Dragons Curse of Strahd campaign.

See, that's another benefit that many don't think about. Your subscriptions help support our company for sure, but did you know that your contributions have helped some of our small vendors stay afloat? Mom and Pop makers that would have shut their doors if Dungeon Crate subscribers had not offered the opportunity to purchase their items in bulk. You have no idea how you as a customer have helped the livelihoods of others. 

“But what if I don’t like everything?” you ask.

That’s fair. It’s a curated box where all subscribers get the same thing and are unknowing of the contents from month to month. You may not love every single item or find every item useful for your gaming table.

But you should know this going into it. One benefit is getting items you don't normally use or wouldn't have thought of using, only to discover new ways to expand your game and new inspiration for creative fun. 

Plus, now you can also trade items. We set up the Dungeon Crate Trading Post on Facebook so you can trade items you don’t need for those you want more. Also, our online store offers items from our past crates as well as exclusive items. 

Dungeon Crate wants to build more than a successful business, we want to foster a thriving gaming community. We've taken many suggestions from our subscribers that has made our crate better. We offer all sorts of social media contests and fun, engaging promotions. Just ask fans on our page. We love giving stuff away. We love doing things different than other box companies. And with your help, will continue to do so. 

So yeah, if you like what we’re offering, why haven’t you subscribed already?

It’s too good of a deal to pass up.

January Box Overview

Happy New Year!

A new year means new gaming loot from Dungeon Crate.

We’ve been working on January’s Dungeon Crate subscription box for a while. We hope you dig it as much as we do. It includes a shirt to show off your love of gaming, a deck of cards to add some flavor to your D&D sessions, a sweet coin to use your next time at market and an adventure to run at the table.

What do you think of January’s Dungeon Crate? Let us know on Facebook or by e-mailing info@dungeoncrate.com.

Yin-Yang D20 T-shirt

Sometimes the dice go your way. Sometimes they don’t. We love this shirt from ArmorClass10, which features the yin and yang of rolling critical hits and critical failures. Not to mention it's our first shirt offering since we started! 

Critical Fail Deck

Completing our run of decks from Nord Games, this little guy will add a little excitement every time someone rolls a 1. While it’s fun to mock your pals when they screw up, actual in-game consequences are entertaining. Some are amusing while others are downright life-threatening.

With 52 cards in the deck and four outcomes on each, there are 208 possibilities every time the dice come up with a measly 1.

We love the design of these decks, especially how they’re divided into four sections: setback, dangerous, life-threatening and deadly. Want to make the deck a little less harsh on lower level parties? Remove the deadly part of the deck. Or want to amp up the danger for powerful players (or sadistic DMs)? Remove the “setback” cards.

This is a fun one.

Ki-Rin coin

K-Rin are magical beasts, luminous and golden flying unicorns that dwell on the winds. These 100-denomination coins are part of Rare Elements Foundry’s alignment currency set. The full set of coins features monsters and creatures representing each of the classic Dungeons & Dragons alignments. Ki-rin, for the record, are lawful good.

Adventure A Week

Hollowbone the Vrok has retreated to the Pententieyrie to change his demonic ways. The large, bird-like demon serves a penance in the lofty temple at the top of a mountain, and though he’s not necessarily in for a fight, his frightening demonic visage could provoke unknowing adventurers. The temple itself is also full of all kinds of traps and a few scary monsters being held there by Hollowbone himself.

Now let’s put it all together.

For some fun, you could use the entire box contents together.

First, arrange a game night to run “The Pententieyrie.” Second, put on that shirt. Remind those players of the fickle nature of the dice gods.

To get to the temple, the players need to climb to the top of a mountain. While the adventure text suggests giving each player one level of exhaustion from the climb, you could also give them a critical fail card. (We highly suggest one of the lighter consequences rather than something life-threatening.)

The temple is also full of traps and glyphs of warding. Perhaps instead of getting hit with the spell, some other malady hits them, also drawn from the Critical Fail Deck. That may make the place feel incredibly foreboding.

So, how to get the coin into the mix? According to the adventure text, Hollowbone will attempt to talk the party out of attacking him. You could use the coin to make a heads-or-tails flip to determine how vigorous he is in those attempts.

Hope you enjoy January's crate. If you want more items, check out our ONLINE STORE or our Facebook Trading Group. 

Building a World for Dungeon Crate

By Wayne Brekke


I love maps.

I've always had a fascination for maps. Whether they be Old-World maps, fantasy maps, or dungeon maps, they have always captured my imagination. I started creating maps when I first started playing Dungeons and Dragons. I've always been an artist and mapping was to me, an inspiring way to create functional art for my game.

Here's an early map I made either in high school or shortly thereafter. This was my first attempt at world building and land map making. I now use it as background for Dungeon Crate images. Somewhere between my moves, I've lost the lower part.

Recently, I've started to follow other cartographers in various Facebook groups. Some creating fascinating imagery by hand, others making detailed digital maps. Below is an example of a map by the intrepid Dyson Logos. He made this one for a Dungeon Crate Digital offering.

This year, Dungeon Crate will start producing our own line of adventures and I thought it would be fun to create a world for them to live in. A world where followers can help add unique elements and rich details.

So I bought a book about drawing world maps, went to Michael's for supplies, taped paper to board, and set up my drawing area. It's kind of a daunting thing, once you realize you are in control of every aspect of this world. I was, and am, faced with filling this world with environmental details, civilizations, and a myriad of cultures.

Thankfully, I have friends that are into world building and will be helping me put together a rich world full of adventure. In the meantime, I have a lot of drawing, inking, and painting to accomplish. I'll be detailing the formation of our world here in this blog, so subscribe and keep up with how we are doing. It will also be sort of a sandbox world, where we can place our adventures as well as ideas and contributions from followers.

The world we are creating is called Halcyon. I've started a rough sketch of the continent and some of the details in the mountains, forests, kingdoms, and capitol cities.

A basic continent form surrounded by seas.

Details of the first kingdom. 

I'll try to post often as I get more of the world filled in. If you have ideas or want to share tips, feel free to leave a comment or email me at wayne@dungeoncrate.com. Feel free to also share images of the worlds you have created. 

Here's a fantastic map that's one of my friend PFloyd's favorites. He found it on a cartographer's guild page. I like the continent layout, but love the look and design. 

Thanks for reading. Let the adventure begin!

Braille D20 review by Chuck Winstead

Note from the editor: 

Chuck emailed me a while back asking about some of our Dungeon Crate items and the textures they have as he loves to play Dungeons and Dragons, but is blind. This was interesting to me as most of my early role-playing years, we relied on the storytelling to paint a picture in our mind's eye. Today, the game has evolved to incorporate terrain, a variety of dice, miniatures, and maps. All well and good if you can actually see them. 

Chuck's email got me thinking that there is an undeserved community of gamers that need some specialized accessories to complement their gaming. I started researching braille dice and found a Shapeways maker. I bought one and sent it to Chuck to test out and review. In the course of our communications, we brainstormed other ideas that would allow blind players to easily read their character sheets, keep track of hit points, and even a textured mapping system that could help better paint the picture. 

Chuck was kind enough to write a review of this particular die and we will be working together to find more items and develop others to cater to this demographic. Here are Chuck's thoughts on the braille D20 I sent him from Beckah DM's Shapeways site.  - Wayne Brekke 

 http://www.shapeways.com/shops/JGoldsmith

Disclaimer:

I have been doing Product testing from Dungeon Crate. Dungeon Crate has been graciously providing the products to review.

I have been playing Dungeons and Dragons for some time and have enjoyed playing. Since Dungeons and Dragons needs a set of gaming dice such as the D20, D8, D6, D4, D10, percentile D10, and D12, finding braille gaming dice is kind of hard.

It has not been until recently that braille dice have been made readily available, but thanks to lower prices on 3D printers and online outlets for makers to sell their wares, there are a few options. A few people have had Kick starters to fund producing them. It is nice to see this become a thing. In the past the choices have been to buy printed gaming dice and use a braille labeler to braille out the dice, which unfortunately may not be an option for everyone.

A description of the die:

The D20 is slightly larger than a normal golf ball. It still holds the same traditional shape of a D20 with the triangular faces. The only difference in this die compared to a normal printed die is that it is in braille.

Things I like about the die:

Recessed faces - Since the die is in braille, the face is recessed enough to have a raised edge. Kind of like a fence around the braille. This helps keep the die random, since each braille number will have certain dots in a certain pattern. Not having this could have affected the die when it is rolled.

I also like how the die is actually in braille - I have not really found many dice for Role Playing games in braille. You are easily able to find your D6 or six sided die in braille. However, many six sided dice has pips that you can feel. Role Playing games use more than just a D6. You can use an app, or have a sighted fellow gamer play tell you your number, but in some instances of role playing. You may not want to have someone know your dice roll, so having it in braille I find to be a nice and good thing.

Things that can be better:

These are not things I dislike, but more so things that could be better in my opinion. The die is a pretty solid and good die. It does what it needs too.

Adding some weight - While you’d think that with this die being slightly larger than a golf ball it would have a bit of weight, but it is very light. This isn’t a bad thing to an extent. I say that it could be better with some weight is because of when you roll it, the die will bounce and roll for a bit. Yes, dice do need to roll and that is what they do. Adding some weight to the die will allow it from bouncing and rolling off of the table.

Removing the triangle inside of each face - The die is a normal D20 die and has the triangular faces. Inside of each triangular face is a sub triangle so to speak. The reason I think it would be nice if it was not there is because it would have allowed more room for the braille, as some of the markings do seem confusing.

In short, braille 4, 6, and 8s all can look very similar. When the die is turned a certain way, the 8 may look like a 4 or a 6, same for the 4 and 6. If turned another way, it may look different.

Thankfully the die does have a few things there to help with that. The face where a six should be there is a braille cell of all six dots.

Clearer braille - While the die does have braille, I would have liked to see maybe a tactile line under 4, 6, and 8 to help make sense of each number.

While roman numerals are not very common in RPG dice, I think having this in this case would have also helped.

On the face where the 11 is, there is a series of dots that one would probably think it is an X. maybe having Roman numerals for the 5, and 10 would be helpful. 5s and 9s in braille like 4, 6, and 8. Depending on how they are turned it can look kind of confusing.

You can refer to the surrounding numbers to see what your actual result is, but having the clear braille would have made things that much easier.

While this die can be better, it is a great thing. I cannot weight to use it in more Dungeon and Dragons sessions in the future. 

UPDATE ON JANUARY'S CRATE: 
Greetings Adventurers! So this month we had all products come in on time! Unfortunately, our fulfillment center that makes, packs, and ships our crates made an error and didn't have enough of our boxes made and printed (we typically get 3 months done in advance). So we were able to ship almost 200 of our crates out at the end of last week and the balance of your subs will go out this week.

These are the kinds of challenges I have to overcome each month. While it's not convenient, I hope you all understand and will bear with us as we work through these snafus and watch as we continue to improve both with our logistics and crate offerings. I have a kick-ass team, but mostly, I'm a one-man operation and some things are out of my control. So I try to make sure I relay this critical info to you the customer since it's your hard earned gold that I am responsible for spending.

I won't reveal what items are in January's crate, but for those that want spoilers, there are already a couple unboxing videos out there. Yes, there are less items in this month, but each was an expensive item to add, so I am hoping subscribers appreciate the actual value that went in.

We have our boxes in production and have lined up items for the next 3 months, so if all goes as planned February's box will come in well before Feb 15. Let's cross our fingers shall we?

UPDATE ON DC IN GENERAL:
It's a new year and I am working hard to mix it up and get some new and exclusive items lined up. We are working on our own gaming world where some of our products can live as well as our own publications. More on that later.

The "Quest for the Kraken" contest will be announced soon with some awesome prizes and a chance to help spread the word about Dungeon Crate while earning "Experience points" to advance your quest and chances to win.

Don't forget to check out our Dungeon Crate Trading Post group where you can maximize your subscription by trading items you don't use for items you do use from other subscribers. 
https://www.facebook.com/groups/580556115468648/

Here are some other links you may like:

Lords of Adventure and Wargames Podcast:
http://lordsofadventureandwargamespodcast.libsyn.com/

DND5e Podcast:
http://www.dnd5epodcast.com/

Adventure Poll Blog:
http://www.dungeoncrate.com/adventure-poll

Dungeon Crate Blog:
http://dungeoncrate.blogspot.com/

Lords of Adventure and Wargames Online Store:
http://www.dungeoncrate.com/store

Once again, thanks for the support, subscriptions, suggestions, videos, comments, likes, emails, ideas, and for just being an amazing group of gamers. You have helped create something that wasn't there before, and I am listening to you (as I am one of you) to make this the best product it can be.

I salute you.

Wayne Brekke
Founder - Dungeon Crate