Damn I Am Pretty Art Laboratories

More of a meditation on things to do with Crux, rules and the like I think. Classes and Such A core conceit for Crux has been the idea that classes- the long used rules mechanic in our world- was an actual metaphysical concept in-setting.  Having a Class in Crux is something you state.  It's like discussing the weather or social etiquette.  It just is. This idea still feels important to Crux to me.  But using the term Class (and other d20 terminology) in-world has its difficulties.  I think the concept can still remain, but could be easier to convey if the setting term for classes had the sobriquet "Path."  Calling them Paths has a nicer ring.  And it allows class to be used for more sociological use, rather than a mechanical concept. The other part would be for me to try to embed Paths a bit more into the setting.  Each time I've come to do rules for the game, I manage to realize I need to do more.  But I don't want the granula...

It comes and goes.  The fire one needs isn't a fixed thing like the sun.  The fire needs to be stoked.  Kindled unless it dies to the harsh cold of doubt. All things created have a life to them.  Even those fictions and artworks we regard only for their beauty.  They exist, they breathe and they die for our sake.  They are fires.  Each is a fire that needs to burn. It is easy to douse them.  To put them out.  To place them and let them die.  It is even easier to push other to douse the embers of new stories.  To silence unrealized dreams with but a phrase. The fire of a dream needs kindling.  It needs eyes.  It can only live on by being told, by being seen, felt, tasted... Believed. In this life, one must help throw kindling on the fires of the dreamers.  There is plenty out to douse them.

Another Week, another pile of Inksketches done. On twitter and instagram I post these sorts of images every day.  If you are looking for some place to follow and get these in your feed, check those out. Also, if you want to support images like this, the stories on this blog and more, check out my patreon .  It isn't necessary for this stuff, but it'd help with expanding some of my projects a bit.  I also take commissions, so don't be afraid to message me about that. 1. Very tired, I crafted this Grave Scorpion last saturday.  A friend got to see my process of uploading these on my phone.  Between an app and some minor photo editing, most of my inksketches are as they are on paper.  I just use some photo editing tricks to get rid of most pencils. "With their eggs place'd in the corpses to hatch and protect the dead. Such is what the Kirgan do to keep back the Bokor." 2. Got in a good mood on Sunday.  This matched how I f...

Upon the path you tread, you stand above the waters of the Cursed Sound.  The Tinkerer's Bridge glimmers, high above the waters.  Still new, the massive bridge has enabled countless new machines to dash out of Crux, Westward. I haven't run Crux in awhile.  The Dark Fantasy Western game I ran had problems.  But it also did succeed in some other areas.  My setting was robust enough it seemed to survive contact with the enemy (read: players). This is more of a ramble on my thoughts on what to do with Crux.  Some of the ideas I have for Crux benefit from the fact I own the setting, and I can do anything I damn well please with it.  So, I feel like my alterations feel apt. There are also lessons I need to learn from it.  I think I could run Crux at some future point, again.  I don't know when or if that'll happen, given that my gaming group has dwindled due to life stepping in.  Without that itch being satisfied, I guess I have to res...

7th Sea.   I chipped into the Kickstarter.  I received it the other week.  And considering my tabletop gaming life is kinda sparse right now. Have I enjoyed it? Considering I'm up to the point where I've made a 7th Sea character, I think I've enjoyed it. I never read or bought the original 7th Sea.  It existed before my first tabletop RPG experiences, with 3rd edition D&D around 2002.  7th Sea never bubbled into my collection to read or check out.  And at some point I drifted into White Wolf stuff.  By that point, my focus had moved from "some sort of medieval fantasy" to "anything different." But the allure of Pirates, Swashbucklery and general 17th century awesomeness works on me.  Just one thing, though.  Ever since I first dived in the 7th Sea kickstarter, I knew 7th Sea wasn't the kind of the game I'd want to run.  This, this is the sort of thing I love to play in. The part where your character gets rewarded for c...

Another Week, another pile of Inksketches done. On twitter and instagram I post these sorts of images every day.  If you are looking for some place to follow and get these in your feed, check those out. Also, if you want to support images like this, the stories on this blog and more, check out my patreon .  It isn't necessary for this stuff, but it'd help with expanding some of my projects a bit.  I also take commissions, so don't be afraid to message me about that. More inksketchness!  More I say!

#Crux, City of Curses   is a dark fantasy setting I've been working on for two years now- inspired by the Jacksonian Era America, Legend of Korra, Pathfinder the Roleplaying Game, Hellboy and more- full of dark intrigues, horror, magic and weirdness.  Here's a bit of #flashfiction!   Iblis Kirgan is a undead thing visiting the city for the first time!  Yays!  Horrible undead monster things! The wooden plank hit the dockside rather hard.  Dark mists had dominated the small bay the dock encircled.  The sun had long down.  The sailors aboard the Maliphi freighter stood back. They waited. Once he came out of the cabin, they moved away from him.  Fearful stares as bones cracked.  Long dead flesh moved like a living person.  Bandages and robes covered him. He didn't stand that tall.  No higher than any of the dark-skinned Ramelin sailors.  The dead Ursyklon 's golden earrings shined.  One assumed him to be ma...

Another Week, another pile of Inksketches done. On twitter and instagram I post these sorts of images every day.  If you are looking for some place to follow and get these in your feed, check those out. Also, if you want to support images like this, the stories on this blog and more, check out my patreon .  It isn't necessary for this stuff, but it'd help with expanding some of my projects a bit.  I also take commissions, so don't be afraid to message me about that. Here's a bit of August-flavored inksketches for your perusal:

What made Mad Max Fury Road refreshing for me?  It was how its female and male protagonists had a measure of equality.  That was why so many felt the movie was feminist.  Max and Furiosa shared the spotlight.  Even the subthemes in Fury Road touch on these ideas.   It's great to see something that reminds what good media can do.  It can shock you.  It can get you to think about some neat things. Stranger Things reminds me of great 80s stuff I grew up with.  And it reminds me of stuff like Fringe and Twin Peaks .   Stranger Things touches on the notion of lost loved ones.  That is something that is in one of my favorite tabletop RPGs, Changeling the Lost . But when I think back to Fury Road , I can't help but ask Stranger Things about how it treats two female characters.  I loved the show.  Couldn't stop watching it.  But two characters felted underserved.  Should female characters be defined by the men in...

Another Week, another pile of Inksketches done. On twitter and instagram I post these sorts of images every day.  If you are looking for some place to follow and get these in your feed, check those out. Also, if you want to support images like this, the stories on this blog and more, check out my patreon .  It isn't necessary for this stuff, but it'd help with expanding some of my projects a bit.  I also take commissions, so don't be afraid to message me about that. Here's what I did this week: This week, some character design, one piece of fanart, and certainly some strange images that almost are dreamlike.   Friday's image also caused me to do some poetry, which usually doesn't happen, so that's out there somewhere. Another week down.  Kinda fell off the writing wagon this past week.  Let's see if I can get back on track!