When D&D and LEGO Meet
As you can tell from a previous post showing off my LEGO centaur, I'm as much a fan of LEGO bricks as I am of D&D.
There are many ways to use LEGO in your Dungeons and Dragons game. And thanks to a number of LEGO sites for AFOLs (Adult Fans Of LEGO, hey, they have their own lingo too!), it's not hard to find great ideas and get the pieces you need in an easy, cost effective manner.
The top LEGO site out there is LUGNET.com. This site has an extensive forum broken down by theme (Pirates, Castle, Vikings, and many other) and topics. This can be a great site for getting advice on building large or small projects and seeing pictures of fan creations, (also known as MOCs or My Own Creations).
Another great site is Brickshelf. This is kind of like Flickr for the LEGO crowd. Here you can find a massive amount of images featuring large and small projects on any subject AFOLs can think of, from Lord of the Rings custom figures and dioramas to actual wedding cake toppers made out of the little bricks. This is a great site for inspiration. As I mentioned in my post on the centaur, some of the design came form other sources... those sources were primarily other images from Brickshelf.
The last important site to mention is Bricklink (since LEGO is a trademark the company strictly enforces, "Brick" has come to be the common synonym for LEGO bricks). Bricklink is a collection of various aftermarket resellers of LEGO throughout the world. You can search for individual pieces or complete sets. Do you want the LEGO whip piece that was created for the Indiana Jones sets? There are currently 283 different stores selling it. Are you looking for the Train Rescue set from the Spider-Man 2 set? There are currently 8 stores selling this.
The way I incorporate LEGO into my game is to add a few pieces of "set decoration". For a forest combat, maybe I'll use some tree trunks and trees along with a few rocks to give the terrain map some dimension.
For a dungeon, I can add treasure chests, individual weapons, coins, more coins, or even a few strange items (and tell me if this piece doesn't scream Hand of Vecna?)
Lastly, while you can't find every D&D creature, you can find a lot of "critters" like spiders, rats, bats, birds, and scorpions and even a few more iconic creatures like dwarves, orcs, dragons, other dragons, and even a pretty good looking earth elemental.
With a little planning and a few dollars, you can start to build up a collection of LEGO pieces that can add more visual flair to you games in many ways.
If you currently use LEGO in your games, let us know what you're using.
There are many ways to use LEGO in your Dungeons and Dragons game. And thanks to a number of LEGO sites for AFOLs (Adult Fans Of LEGO, hey, they have their own lingo too!), it's not hard to find great ideas and get the pieces you need in an easy, cost effective manner.
The top LEGO site out there is LUGNET.com. This site has an extensive forum broken down by theme (Pirates, Castle, Vikings, and many other) and topics. This can be a great site for getting advice on building large or small projects and seeing pictures of fan creations, (also known as MOCs or My Own Creations).
Another great site is Brickshelf. This is kind of like Flickr for the LEGO crowd. Here you can find a massive amount of images featuring large and small projects on any subject AFOLs can think of, from Lord of the Rings custom figures and dioramas to actual wedding cake toppers made out of the little bricks. This is a great site for inspiration. As I mentioned in my post on the centaur, some of the design came form other sources... those sources were primarily other images from Brickshelf.
The last important site to mention is Bricklink (since LEGO is a trademark the company strictly enforces, "Brick" has come to be the common synonym for LEGO bricks). Bricklink is a collection of various aftermarket resellers of LEGO throughout the world. You can search for individual pieces or complete sets. Do you want the LEGO whip piece that was created for the Indiana Jones sets? There are currently 283 different stores selling it. Are you looking for the Train Rescue set from the Spider-Man 2 set? There are currently 8 stores selling this.
The way I incorporate LEGO into my game is to add a few pieces of "set decoration". For a forest combat, maybe I'll use some tree trunks and trees along with a few rocks to give the terrain map some dimension.
For a dungeon, I can add treasure chests, individual weapons, coins, more coins, or even a few strange items (and tell me if this piece doesn't scream Hand of Vecna?)
Lastly, while you can't find every D&D creature, you can find a lot of "critters" like spiders, rats, bats, birds, and scorpions and even a few more iconic creatures like dwarves, orcs, dragons, other dragons, and even a pretty good looking earth elemental.
With a little planning and a few dollars, you can start to build up a collection of LEGO pieces that can add more visual flair to you games in many ways.
If you currently use LEGO in your games, let us know what you're using.
