A Love Letter to Modular Realms ...

For those of you who don’t know me ... Hi!

I’m Annabelle. I’m a huge nerd, and Modular Realms is my business! 😀

Today is a very unusual blog post - I'm going a bit meta!

Today I want to tell you about Modular Realms, what it means to me, and why I love it so much. Call it a love letter if you will - it is Valentine’s Day after all!

Why I started Modular Realms

I never really intended to start a business. In fact, I had to be persuaded to start selling my magnetic dungeon tiles in the beginning!

Modular Realms began as a crafting project when I was a student at the University of Auckland.

I tried to buy magnetic, double-sided dnd dungeon tiles in 2019 and rather irritatingly couldn’t find any existing on the market.

So … I decided to make some for myself.

A weekend crafting project … or so I thought!

Then, a car accident and subsequent brain injury caused me to take time out of my studies whilst I re-learned to read etc.

It was a pretty gnarly time and honestly, designing my magnetic gaming tiles was the thing I clung on to and that kept me going. It was my "North star" that helped me navigate my way out of a pretty dark time. <3

What Modular Realms means to me

So you see, Modular Realms means a lot more to me than just being a business I run.

It’s proof to me that something wonderful can come out of the worst times. That I can create something that brings joy to lots of people, even when starting at a point when I struggled to find joy for myself.

And of course it shows that there are so many people willing to help you if you just try. 

Modular Realms something very precious indeed!

Many of my friends and family have helped me along the way, and so many people I’ve met on this journey became my friends and family.

Through Modular Realms I have met people that I truly admire and know will be life-long friends.

It's more than that though. When I’m stuck with the business I talk to my friends about it.

One of my players designed the awesome book box for me, my mum packages and ships orders for me, my dad helps edit videos for my YouTube, friends have given up weekends to help me run stalls at conventions ...

And so many more have helped in ways that would more than triple the list.

For me, Modular Realms is a sort of beautiful tapestry made of my friends and family coming together to help me achieve something we believe in.

Practically every part of the business has been touched or influenced by someone I love.

It’s a really cool testiment to the kindness and care of the people around me!

 I really couldn’t do it alone.

What I love best about Modular Realms

Perhaps my favourite thing about Modular Realms is that it really is the sort of business that I would want to support.

Uh huh, sure Annabelle, but what does that mean?

For me, that means producing seriously badass magnetic dungeon tiles as ethically as I can, to as high a quality possible, all for a reasonable price. 

I (Annabelle) design all the dungeon tiles and get them manufactured in Yorkshire, England. My dungeon tiles are injection moulded, and made partially from recycled plastic.

Because the terrain is injection moulded, it is way more durable compared to 3D printed pieces.

After all, I want my dungeon tiles to last many years of use!

I try to keep my dungeon tiles as affordable as I can.

Of course, making a high-quality product ethically and in the UK as a small business costs a lot of money!

It is a constant challenge for me to make my process as efficient as possible and I'm proud of what has been achieved!

Another thing I love about Modular Realms is that a tree is planted in managed woodland with with every order. It makes me very happy!

This is “phase 1” of the business environmental goals. I have a lot more environmental goals planned for the future of course! ^ ^

Business Values that I love

Modular Realms shares my values - compassion, integrity, innovation, adventure and growth. In many ways it is a reflection of myself!

I’m very proud of the reviews Modular Realms has earned. I try to grow the business by my values as much as I can, and it’s a genuine honor and delight to see that resonating with others.

You can never really be quite sure if you’re doing a good job on your own, can you? Outside feedback is a fantastic barometre that means everything to me!

I hope to continue to earn my customers respect and good opinion in the future! :)

I'm going to keep evolving what I offer and my customer service as I develop personally myself.

It’s really exciting for me to think about where the Modular Realms journey will take us all in the future!

So there we have it

Modular Realms is so much more to me than just my small business.

It’s something I’ve had to build from the ground up, taking me down paths I never expected. Sharing my product as a business has taught me so many skills and given birth to so many friendships!

Modular Realms is incredibly precious to me, and something I truly love. It’s such an incredible joy to see other people love it too!

Thank you for coming on this journey with me.   Genuinely, thank you.

Who knew my adventuring party could grow so large? 

Oh, and happy Valentine's day!