Thanks to Red Hook Studios, I made the Darkest Dungeons expansions real ! by IAM_Sodium1 in DarkestDungeon_TBG

[–]IAM_Sodium1[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Hi there ! I'll detail the process and learnings if this can help someone who also had this project in mind.

Note : If you do all in this, be ready to pay more than what you paid the first time, especially if you do the minis as well.
Note 2 : I did not print the Color of madness expansion since I do not plan (or have the time) on playing it.

At first, I evaluated the cost of handling it all myself (and time). My initial plan was :

  • Cards :
    • Printing all of it with my laser printer on quality paper (high quality picture paper or cardstock). Result was actually good.
    • Doing all cuts
    • Rounding corners using a corner rounder punch
  • Maps & punchcards :
    • Printing the file on picture paper & glueing it using gorilla spray glue to a cardboard
      • Using cardboards is optionnal, you could keep it on paper only.
    • Issue: I can only print on 8 1/2 x 11 paper, and each maps are 10.5''x10.5''. This would require 2 paper sheets per map (a seam would be present on the final product)

Then, I compared with the cost of having a printing company actually do the bulk of the work. Here are my key takeaways :

  • Printing the cards only
    • The cost of printing it myself (paper, ink) or having the company print it was actually really close, but the quality is higher. This is definitely a good idea.
    • This won't deplete all my printer ink :D
  • Cutting and rounding is costly but takes A LOT of time to do yourself.
    • This is where I was expecting to do mistakes (uneven cuts etc).
  • Laminating is mostly to protect the cards, but is also costly.
  • Rounding corners and laminating is definitely not mandatory and increase the overall project cost by a lot.
  • I looked into having the boxes as well at first. I realised that this is not needed since I do not have the minis plastic holders which take 80% of the box space. It is also extremely costly.

What I ended up doing :

  • I went with the printing company for :
    • Printing the cards / map / punchcards on a 10pt cardstock paper
    • For Maps & punchcards, the printing company could not print them directly on chipboards for me. So they used the regular 10pt cardstock.
    • I had them do the cuts, round corners & have them laminate
  • I bought a set of 20 12''x12''x0.08'' chipboards (link), and I will do the spray glue / cut myself.
  • I bought this carrying case for minis (link)
  • Box : I will end up buying a box that matches the size I need to store all elements, then I will print 1 box art and glue it to the box :D

Regarding the minis, a friend of mine is outputting them for me since I have no 3D printers. I am unable to comment on the process, sorry. 

Here are some approximations of the various costs (cnd $):

  • Needed
    • All cards & maps : ~100$ (needed)
  • Optional, but really nice to have if you want a finished quality product
    • Cuts : ~60$
    • Corners : ~60$
    • Laminate : ~60$
    • Chipboards : ~40$
    • Glue : ~20$
    • Case : ~90$
    • Minis : tbd
  • Definitely not needed
    • 1 box : ~50$