For a couple of months I’ve indulged myself with two different subscription crates – the Dungeon Crate and the RPG Crate. Both of them send me monthly minis, coins, trinkets and adventures for me to enjoy and play.

The playing part hasn’t exactly happened. Being a grown up with a job trying to get other grown ups with jobs to coordinate gaming has never been easy.

That said, if I’d had access to this service when I was at my most gaming intense, the relief of having monsters and plots sent to me monthly would have been awesome.

The RPG Crate is the crate that on the surface is the most value packed. The latest offering contained the regular T-shirt (no women’s sizes or cuts though, only straight up T-shirts of a fairly thin material) a mini from Reaper minis – this time it was a succubus with the expected boob armour and semi-sexy attack posture, the start of a new narrative season and a recipe for fantasy foods. There’s also a D&D compatible adventure tucked into the box, making it a good deal for anyone enjoying Dungeons & Dragons.

Yes, I should have mentioned, all of the contents are for D&D or similar fantasy games. It’s like it’s a popular RPG here in North America or something. In other words, a lot of value for your money, especially if you like T-shirts with monster or skull prints.

Dungeon Crate is more understated and doesn’t contain a T-shirt. Instead you’ll get useful trinkets, coins and as in November’s crate – a notebook and a pen. Dungeon Crate is admittedly smaller, but to my mind both the trinkets and the adventures are higher quality. Dungeon Crate is also D&D compatible.

I think ultimately it’s a question of taste. If you want stand alone adventures that are slightly off the beaten track, I’d recommend Dungeon Crate. If you’re looking for continuous campaigns and lots and lots of T-shirts, the RPG Crate is probably your thing.

Personally I prefer the smaller and more trinket-y Dungeon Crate. I admit that a lot of that comes from having been sent a pen and a notebook. It’s totally my speed.