Just spouting off on idle ttrpg thoughts, but I find the Trophy Gold/Dark approach of leading prompts kinda funny. Like “What does your character see that reminds them that this opium den is a place where the social classes meet?” Ok, well, it sounds like you already have some ideas for this one GM

Throne of Bones by Brian McNaughton is probably one of the best fantasy story collections ever written and The Infernal Desire Machines of Dr. Hoffman by Angela Carter is one of my favorite books ever but they both require you to get Very Cool with a lot of transgressive stuff extremely quickly

Oh my God I was all locked in on the Grimalkin in Dolmenwood being my favorite player option but then I saw this art of a woodgrue look at him LOOK AT HIM

The bottom half is the "Keep on the Borderlands" wilderness map with the individual caves spread out. The top left is D&D 3rd edition's "Forge of Fury" adventure module, which features a ruined dwarven fortress that has become a dragon's lair. What are you putting in the top right?

I'm ready to pull off some bad combos with Urborg

I'm ready to pull off some bad combos with Urborg

The ideal follow-up to a movie where a giant whale smashes an evil boat is a sequel that goes “he‘s actually one of the smaller whales”

It’s cringe but I like the Sully children calling each other “bro” and doing operator-speak. The aliens encountering and then repurposing random bits of stupid earth culture is fun.

The Owlbear. What is it? Did a wizard make one as a prank? The answers are simple: the owlbear is a flightless griffin species adapted to life in dense forests. The forelegs are covered with downy owl feathers, while the creature's sturdy hindquarters are actually those of a giant lynx!

If YOU want gripping comics by Simon and co. AND great illustrations (like this one!) by me, @tomkilianart.bsky.social, @vor-bokor.bsky.social, @pradaldi.bsky.social, @gnarlyghost.bsky.social, @sawyerleeart.bsky.social, @malachiward.bsky.social, @evelmiina.bsky.social and MORE, grab a copy!

I thought I'd do some Bestiary / Handbook entries for the Dragon Quest creatures I drew, because I greatly enjoy writing little blurbs and making page layouts. Here are two demons from DQII. The stats have been rounded and simplified (i. e. Silvapithecus' HP in the game = 89 > 90 > 9).

I was looking at some Bill Peet drawings before I started this guy

Against the armed night of Eveningstar and its wizard-lady stand… a bunch of misfits hiding in a cave.

Rick Grimes: “I’ve often said there’s nothing better for the outside of a man than the insides of a zombie”

Some of the variant wood elf heraldries

I’m not typically one for long articles detailing NPCs, but a solo game affords you all sorts of indulgences.

What blue card should I illustrate to finish the cycle? A) frost titan B) entity tracker C) other

There he lay

Some great bargains at the Patti Pogodzinski shop this Christmas season. Consider, for example, these jolly cards: a bargain at any price, a steal at $5

I've got an open illustration schedule at the moment, and I'd love to work on some book projects. Are you/do you know an art director? Let's get in touch!

I continue to have no sympathy left for whinging about how the public are rude about AI and feel threatened by it when the biggest players in the AI space have spent years very vocally and constantly *threatening the public*

Mules in Old D&D: 1) They’re too cheap. Mules should cost more than horses, they’re more complicated to produce. 2) It’s weird that there’s no donkey (or pony) on the list, given the prevalence of mules (and also the existence of dwarves and halflings).

I was looking at some Bill Peet drawings before I started this guy

Qillipheist

My next MtG portfolio card, the Bog Serpent

I want to give a huge amount of thanks to @radiofreelunch.bsky.social for the years of reference-heavy illustrations he assigned me for Six Ages - between the extensive clothing and architectural reference and David's exacting eye to detail, Six Ages is in my artistic blood (and informs my work now)

Okay I have one more.

My next MtG portfolio card, the Bog Serpent

Where this breaks for me is “can I intuit something useful about the setting from the new terms?” A calendar with Wet, Dry, and Storms does that, while D&D’s Mystaran calendar is just the normal one with an extra step where you look up to confirm that “Nuwmont” is January.

All the custom rules I’m using in my solo D&D game (so far).

My most controversial literature take is that The Lord of the Rings was written in English by John Ronald Reuel Tolkien.

Exalted Funeral invited me on to the Dolmenwood launch party, which (it turns out) is a livestream that you can watch rather than a covid-style office get-together!

For my third sample I wanted to interpret a card in a way that fit the mechanics but felt tonally distinct from the original art. The result: cute bug jewelry.

I‘ve engaged in opinion writing: I disagree with the common no-magic-shops-in-D&D attitude. I think item shops are cool!

You don’t see Batman teaming up with the Scooby Gang anymore. What’s up with that

For my third sample I wanted to interpret a card in a way that fit the mechanics but felt tonally distinct from the original art. The result: cute bug jewelry.

My solo game takes a turn! On the borders of Eveningstar, war is preparing

A little side jaunt in my solo game, where Eveningstar's C-tier adventuring party fights some three-headed goblins to win a magical singing teacup.

The Gunslinger is a funny book because it neatly answers the question of what Stephen King would read like if he had an editor who could get him to cut anything, and the answer is “really good”

The party takes a break from the Haunted Halls for a dip into the equally dangerous but far more treasure-filled Caves of Chaos

Check out these cool bugs

After the drama and narrative developments of the past few sessions, my PCs return to their roots (fighting bugs in the dark for pocket change)

I did a cool comic for this!!

The second card in my sample portfolio, Dragon Mage

I don’t know where Duo Owl got the idea that he can talk to me like that.

Sketches for my next portfolio card. I appreciate the Magic art team providing a lot of public examples of their art direction over the years, as that helped me to refine my sketches and pick which one to go with.

Using Holmes Basic’s scroll creation rules to add a magic item shop to my town

Dolmenwood moss dwarves

My most Tolkienesque trait is that I need to swap the names of two rivers around in my solo D&D game in order to get something to work right

The second I saw this artwork, I pounced on @tomkilianart.bsky.social (who must’ve thought I was a crazy person) to find out if the original or prints were available. When they were, I immediately had to have one! It’s now finally framed and on the wall where I can enjoy it. Thanks so much, Tom!