After about twenty-five sessions and a year of DMing Tomb of Annihilation, we have finally got to the city of Omu and the shrines of the Nine Trickster Gods. As a prop, I decided to make the cubes to hand out to the players as they progressed.

First, find some old, unloved d6 dice (I used some cheap poker dice). Then, smother them in filling plaster to obscure any indented dots or designs and to provide some texture. Once dry, use your fingers to break off any ugly lumps and optionally sand them a little with fine sandpaper.

Next, mix up some regular builders sand with white PVA glue and water and paint this on with a crappy brush (to avoid spoiling your good ones). Then go back with the filling plaster and add some more to smooth them out a bit (assuming you do what I did and add a bit too much sand).

Once you're happy with the finish, base coat in a natural grey (I used Citadel's Dawnstone) and drybrush with a lighter grey (Administratum Grey). Use some natural greens and browns, heavily watered down, to add splashes and splodges of colour. Finish off with a couple more light drybrushes of a light grey and a bone/light tan colour (Administratum Grey and Ushabti Bone).

Finally, finish off by adding the emblems of the nine gods themselves. I used a cheap black ink-flow pen, but this gave off a bit of a shine which I had to matte down with a tiny bit of medium. If you're better than me at freehand, you could also paint these symbols on in a colour of your choosing.

Happy delving!