02/01/2026
“Holly, you said this wasn’t going to be nerdy. This is super-nerdy. Look!”
Debbie, Stranger Things season 5 finale.
Most of you will know some of this story, some of you will know most of it.
Just over 20 years ago, I was putting together a Dungeons & Dragons game for a group of friends. I was using my collection of Dwarven Forge scenery, but something was missing. I needed a model of an idol, just like the one depicted in the iconic artwork of the 1st edition AD&D players’ handbook, but I couldn’t find one. So I decided to make my own.
It looked OK, considering my limited sculpting ability, and the game was a great success. But I started wondering how great one of these idols would look if it was sculpted by a professional miniature sculptor. I’d been talking online with Paul Muller earlier that year after giving him a digital camera, so I asked him if he would be interested in a commission.
The model that he made for me was superb, exactly what I had wanted to add a touch of horror to my game set-up. A took some photos and posted them on the Dwarven Forge forum. My in-box was quickly flooded by requests to buy a copy of the model. I hadn’t really considered this, I was just going to paint the master model for my own use. But I quickly worked out that if I could sell 25 castings, I could recover the cost of the sculpting commission, and my own model would cost me nothing!
So I found a mould-making and casting company and we got to work. Those first 25 castings sold out in days, so I ordered another 50, then another 50, then 100. Otherworld Miniatures was born! Over the next 18 years, that Demon Idol became the face of Otherworld, our signature product, and I even used it as the company logo.
The miniatures that I made were always really for me, the figures that I had wanted since starting to play D&D as a kid, but nobody else made. I only ever made a modest living from what was a very niche venture, and sometimes it was tough just to keep going, but it was a lot of fun making my monsters. I worked with some wonderful, creative people and made some great friends along the way too. And last year, after 18 years of Otherworld Miniatures, I retired and found new homes for all of my models.
So, now we fast-forward to New Year’s Day 2026. I was sitting at home with my family, enjoying the much-anticipated finale of the brilliant Stranger Things saga. And in the final, emotional scene, with the kids playing their last game of D&D together, there is my Demon Idol on their gaming table! I’m not afraid to say that it was an emotional experience, but a very pleasant surprise. It felt like a fitting ending for Stranger Things, and Otherworld Miniatures too!
