pm_me_your_happiness

I just started playing DnD a year ago for the first time at 31. I’d always wanted to play, ever since I was a kid, but never had the chance. So I decided to grab my wife and a couple of my wife’s friends and DM a short one shot, just to see if we enjoyed it. I spent a lot of time watching videos and looking at the DM communities, and after a couple weeks, we played it. It was a blast, and now a year later we’ve finished our first module and are midway through our second, and I’ve loved every second of it. We have three more players, two of which have played for years, and I’m still DMing.

If you’ve got some friends that play in person and they have an open slot, I’d 100% say go for it. Let them know you’re a total noob and just follow their lead; everyone was new at some point.

I think they sell mosquito nets specifically for this too, it can catch a ton.

I work with 20 year old legacy spaghetti code, the debugger has become one of my most treasured tools.

Oh I took this picture back when I first set it up. It looks much more used now.

This is definitely a beginner setup if you’ve got the funds for it. I got lucky and received the printer, wash, and cure machines as Christmas gifts, so I only had to buy the ancillary stuff.

Some people make due with just the resin printer, since you can manually wash and cure prints. Depending on the ventilation in your space, you may not need the grow tent either. Having the whole shebang is really convenient, though.

It’s an Elegoo Mars 3 Pro resin printer, Elegoo Mercury bundle for the wash and cure machines. The tent was just a plant grow tent turned sideways that I measured to fit. There is a vent fan to pull the fumes and ducting that runs outside through a window vent adapter. On top of that, I use gloves, eye protection, and a 3m respirator, which I’d say are the things that should definitely not be compromised on. I’ve seen some gnarly posts about people that skipped out on safety gear.

Then it’s just a matter of setting it up and figuring out the initial settings. There’s smaller QoL things you can buy, like better tools than the ones that come with it or a flex plate. It’s a lot to set up initially, but once it gets going it’s worth it. I realized I didn’t have any needle blights for my DnD session this weekend so I printed a bunch out over night. A quick coat of primer and some dry brushing and they’ll be ready to play with.

The red zone looks a little suspicious 🤔

99% alcohol. It’s probably the main reason for the vent and wearing a mask, since the resin fumes themselves don’t spread very far depending on how long I have the lid off.

I have wondered about it myself, but it hasn’t caused any problems in the 6 months I’ve been printing. The curing station cover is supposed to block 99.95% of UV rays according to Elegoo’s website.