So I recently posted about the idea of creating a TTRPG. I'm still plugging away at it in between art tasks. Not making a ton of progress or anything, but having fun thinking about things, and what I need to include v what I need to keep out.

Tonight, for fun, I sat with my nephew and we created a character for him. He didn't break the creativity bank, but in fairness to him, he's never played an RPG before, so he didn't have a whole lot of experience to draw from. He started with 'like Indiana Jones' and moved into both pirate and ninja genres as we worked through character creation.

Mostly, he was responsive to things I suggested and his own flights of fancy.

My intent is to have him make up a couple more characters and I'll take him through a small 'adventure' (a couple of scenes) with all of them so he can learn about keeping separate characters in his head and go from there.

So far, the system is heavily influenced by the OSR, Knave 1.0, and several others like Shadowdark. KISS is my starting point, but it already feels like I'm making it too complicated, so I will probably do several rounds of cuts after I get the rough draft completed.

ETA: Our December Kickstarter is up and funded! Check it out to see the finished cover! (below is an early version)

Working on this month's Kickstarter book cover. Gone Sleighin' will be a cozy side quest / one shot where your party can take part in a sleigh race with different kinds of animals pulling for fun and prizes.

ETA: Related question - what do you guys think - with snow (light blue) or without?

I don't watch or draw anime. Like, ever.

So, of course, that's the only kind of drawings my nephews seem to want. 😂

This one is, as you might have guessed from the subject, a character called Kokushibo Demon Slayer. I've never seen the show or movie, and I willfully took some liberties when drawing my version, but... what the hell. 

If you're an 'anime person', feel free to tell me all the ways I'm wrong!

And for those who like process videos...

Just watched a YouTube video that some my my linquistically oriented nerdy friends might really enjoy. I certainly did. The channel seems like something I'll be paying more attention to going forward in large part because of this video.

Edit: Hmmm. Looks like the link for videos isn't working (I tested the url). Well, ye olde copypasta should work (just add your own https://)...

youtu.be/UAT-eOzeY4M

I've wanted to create a TTRPG for a while now. I'm using the fact that my nephews are coming for Thanksgiving as an excuse / motivation to Do the Damn Thing.

My intent is to make it:

• Uncommonly simple - we are talking about kids (2 teens and 2 pre teens) so attention span is a thing. Also, this is without a screen and doesn't beep, so... challenging. I'm not trying to make it a one page (there are many out there) but... close.
• Universal - I'd like to make it flexible enough to be used for any genre of game play.
• Flexible - I want the players to have more input into their skills / abilities once they're comfortable with the system. As long as they keep balance in mind, they can make up things like spells, skills, and ancestral abilities.
• Fun - I mean, it's a GAME. But more specifically, here, I guess I mean 'cinematic' (though I HATE the generic nature of that term). I want to try to create those moments at the table where the whole group roars when one of the players rolls a 20, and they feel the story that their teammates tell...

Anyway, I'm working on a very rough draft, but I know some of you are gamers, so if you're interested in seeing what I've got so far, let me know, and I'll share a (Google Docs) link.

For those who haven't seen it elsewhere:

I want to make a winter holiday themed coloring book, and I could really use your help!

Specifically, what are some of your favorite (fantasy) winter holiday creatures and/or characters? Let me know below, and they might just be in the coloring book (which will be free / PWYW)!

• I'm not looking for any religious themes / characters.
• Fantasy / High Fantasy for bonus points.

ETA (unrelated):

Still working on #Gobtober because I'm determined to finish, despite having not done so 'in time'. Today I did Day24 - dragon - and had a lot of fun with it, so I thought I would share the YouTube Short for it:

You know - like Inktober, but with goblins!

(More as I do them, but I wanted to share the list since the clock has ticked over to the first.)

Long story short: Last week, I had my first positive response to my job hunt efforts from a company called Aircall. They're looking for a tech support guy.

Today at 2:30pm I had my first interview with them. I was pleased to find that instead of someone in HR, the (Zoom) interview was with the guy who would be my boss if all goes well.

We chatted. It went generally well. It became clear to me that the thing I could use the most improvement on is my (never finished) CCNA studies that I mentioned on my resume.

CCNA certification, for those who don't know, is costly in both time/effort and financially for the testing. So I told him that I wouldn't register for the course until we had things a little more solidified (I should hear back in ~1 week according to him) but that I would get on refreshing myself via YouTube and other resources. He seemed to really like that.

So that's what I'm doing now. I found this CCNA Full Course on YouTube and dove in.

Wow. It's amazing how much of this is coming back to me and how quickly. I'm now actually a little worried that I undersold my networking prowess in the interview.

Sure, I'm only a couple videos into the playlist, but everything he's covered so far brought back very specific memories from my I.T. past.

I have to say - that feels really damn good.

Oh, and the starting pay is better than I hoped, and the job is fully remote, so I could work from anywhere! Please keep your fingers crossed for me. :)

Think I'll do some live streaming as I draw tonight. Free and open to all. 
Details: 

Brad and I pulled all of our LL stuff from Patreon and started over.

I'm kinda glad we did. While we haven't started posting again yet, I feel MUCH happier about the finished products. They feel more professional. We have more of them. They're better refined.

They're just way more gooder-er.

We also wanted a way to talk about the Pages without just copying and pasting the same stupid links to all our social media, and I kinda like the plan we developed.

We created a collection of 'NPCs' and they're going to be interacting across our social media in a variety of ways.

Lexx Keenleaf

Lexx is the one writing in her Location Lexicon which seems to lose Pages on occasion. Adventurer, Explorer, and Scribe, she's gathering information for Covenant Arcanum. She's also mentor to Sylas Emberwood.

Sylas Emberwood

Sylas is apprentice to Lexx, and avidly wishes to follow in her footsteps - literally. Still, he remains at the Arcanum since she took off recently to head back out into the wilds without a word to him. He suspects that the Powers That Be within the Arcanum are trying to pull her back home for some reason and so he's doing everything in his power to run interference. He knows what she wants is to be out exploring, not within the confining walls of the Arcanum.

Rione Vyrethorn

Rione has always felt herself an outsider - even within the Arcanum, and despite her uncle being one of the Archons. She feels she has much to prove, and she would just as soon do that 'out in the world'. So when her uncle tasked her with tracking down Lexx? She jumped at the opportunity. She will not be disuaded from her task.

The Blade of Mar

Little is known about the Blade of Mar, and that's just how he likes it. A sentient being, a master of illusions, and a magic device which grows in power by...

...well, I guess you'll just have to follow along to find out, won't you? ;)

So what questions do you have?