Dungeons & Doggies Bring Some Very Good Boys and Girls to 'Dungeons and Dragons'

A new Kickstarter campaign is introducing some very good dogs to the world of Dungeons & Dragons.

"Dungeons & Doggies" is a new project by Russ Charles and April Prime that will create 13 miniatures that combines D&D and doggies, along with a set of new rules to bring the dog characters into the game. Each of the miniatures features a different dog breed taking on the role as a different D&D class. For instance, there's a St. Bernard Cleric (with healing potions held inside a barrel around its neck) a corgi warlock, and even a chihuahua rogue.

"I feel dogs have always been part of the fantasy landscape, but they've generally played a more passive role as part of general world building, as enemies, or as the companions of adventurers," said Prime in an email interview. "It clicked in my head one day as I was trying to come up with an interesting character from my next D&D campaign, why can't the dogs be the heroes of their own stories?"

"We started work on Dungeons and Doggies back in March when I reached out to April who wanted to trade character art for miniature sculpts," added Charles. "April's gorgeous art had me hooked and she sent a fabulous Golden Retriever wizard sketch which set the whole thing in motion!"

Most D&D fans will probably recognize some of Charles' past work. He founded the PaintingPolygons Twitch channel with Mat Hart and has made sculpts for companies like Reaper and Steamforged Games. Charles' most recent work was designing the miniatures for the crazily successful Critical Role Kickstarter that wrapped up just over a week ago.

Unlike most Kickstarter campaigns, there's only one pledge level. By pledging about $35, supporters will get all the miniatures and supplies being made for the new campaign. "We are very proud to be offering a really affordable and accessible project," Charles said. "My experience on Critical Role showed me that the most important thing was finding a way to make the project open to as many people as possible. That meant taking the big decision to switch from a fairly simple metal based production to a plastic production. That's meant I put a lot more capital in at the start but I think it will be worth it to give as many gamers as possible a chance to be part of the project."

Each dog miniature features a different breed and design, with a ton of focus on how a dog character would actually function in a fantasy world. "One of the overall challenges was that obviously, dogs don't have hands," Prime said. "But if you've ever seen an assistance dog, you'll know that they're amazing manipulating even human-made objects with their bodies and mouths."

Prime pointed out that, while the spellcasting classes have magic to help with complex actions, the other classes have designs that allow them to get by on teeth and paw alone. "A majority of the armour the dogs wear is fastened with snaps as opposed to buckles," Prime noted. "The swords have wider places and thick, leather wrapped pommels, and pouches are easily accessible, mostly based off real-world saddle bags and harnesses you can get specifically made for canines."

Each canine character also has a complex and sometimes touching backstory. Prime noted that Corneil (the golden retriever wizard) wears his old master's hat, while the backstory for the German Shepherd druid Freya explains her harness made of living roots. Even the French bulldog fighter has hints of a sad story. His body is covered in scars, but he also carries his favorite stuffed animal on his person.

As for how the duo picked out which breed would represent which class, Charles noted the process was pretty difficult. "Choosing breeds is a literal nightmare!" Charles said. "There are so many, many more dogs we could do than there is room for, that I feel I could do another ten kickstarters and not run out of options!" Charles picked the dogs of friends and family (along with his own dog, which is represented as a bard) and then made sure tehre was a good diversity of sizes and genders. Prime also pointed out that they chose not to enforce stereotypes when picking out the martial classes, so you won't see a pit bull barbarian or another miniature that implies that a dog breed is predisposed towards aggression.

As a bonus figure, Dungeons & Doggies will also include Tonka from the popular Dungeons & Doggos webcomic. Tonka's miniature will only be available to those who support the Kickstarter campaign.

While the Kickstarter just launched on Wednesday, it has already raised nearly $200,000 at press time and has reached its campaign goal. Luckily, the pair have plans for even more miniatures in the future. In addition to making a counterpart product for cats (tentatively titled Cats & Catacombs), Charles also expressed interest in making a full campaign setting for the animal characters and more dog miniatures.

"I have a whole canine world in my head of divine dog deities, demonic dog monsters, in-world dog-based mythology, and even an entire origin story for all the canine weapons used by our good boys and girls in the adventure," added Prime.

The Kickstarter will run through July 31st. If you miss out on the initial Kickstarter campaign, Charles and Prime plan to eventually sell the miniatures as a retail item, with the rules and campaign also sold separately.