D&D Adventure Board Games - Custom Heroes Box
last updated April 22nd, 2024 — created October 22nd, 2017
For each insert we create, we have a few standard design goals:
- Reduce setup time as much as possible
- Have separate component trays for "setup components" and "gameplay components"
- Allow for vertical box storage without components crushing each other
- Fit sleeved cards
We created a box to store all the heroes so we'd be able to easily select any hero from any of the sets no matter which game we pulled off the shelf to play. The hero cards are sorted by class because heroes of the same class can use each others cards. Our box is 12.25" x 12.25" x 3.25" so it would fill the extra space on our double-wide Ikea Kallax shelf.
How To Build Foam-Core Inserts
We learned how to make foam-core inserts primarily by watching the videos from The Esoteric Order of Gamers. He has created these wonderful tutorials that will help you get started. We have tried a few methods and prefer his practices over any other. Pro tip: Although it is tempting to skip gluing when building inserts to save time, we really REALLY recommend that you don't. We have built a couple inserts using only dress pins to hold them together and they don't last very long.
D&D Adventure Board Games
Puppets of the Balor CampaignWe wanted to construct our own campaign-style game involving all of our D&D games. The result is this adventure book for the first four games.
Other Insert Projects
NEWStarCraft: The Board GameThe highlight of this insert is the faction towers. Each faction gets its own tower with reference info on shields for some room to strategize.
NEWTyrants of the UnderdarkThis insert fits the first edition box. It has player trays for the houses and organizes the cards (including the expansion decks) to make setup a breeze.
Twilight Imperium Fourth EditionThis insert is designed for optimal setup speed. It has a few setup trays to pull components from, and then all play trays go straight from box to table.
Star Wars: RebellionThis is most certainly our best insert ever. It has a lot of cool features that we'd never be able to do with foam-core, like sets of miniatures drawers.
Runebound Second EditionThis design covers every expansion, limits the boxes needed to play, and features boxes for Adventure Variants and Character Decks.
DungeonQuest Revised EditionThis insert is one of the first that we did with multiple trays. It has card drawers for each mini-deck as well as small trays for all tokens.
Wiz-WarFor this game we decided to store the base game and both expansions in one box with an overflowing insert (the lid doesn't fit on all the way).
Harry Potter: Hogwarts BattleThis insert houses the base game and both expansions in the base game box. Setup is quick with several play trays that go straight from box to table.
DrakonThe best part about this one is the dungeon tile stacks bin. It makes setup much, much swifter.
EnigmaThis was the first insert we ever made. If we ever remake this it will be very different. But it was certainly a useful learning experience.
World of WarCraft: The Adventure GameWe designed custom faction boxes for the character decks and tokens. We also made draw bins for challenge decks, and a neat drawer bin for discovery tokens.
Runebound Third EditionThis design covers every expansion, has tokens sorted for convenience, and features boxes for each scenario.
Risk: Star Wars Black EditionThis was our first crack at making a 3D printed insert. It features rounded edges for easy component scooping and a draw deck space for each player.
SanctumThe best part of this insert is how fast it makes the hero skills table setup. 5 seconds, no joke.
ChessWe got a gorgeous new fossil stone chess set, but it came in a decrepit green box, so we made our own.
ChaostleWe kept the original plastic insert in the base game box and built this insert for the Melee Expansion box.
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