I suggest all up-and-coming artists to harbor critical skepticism every time a for-profit organization uses the word "community." Even well-meaning individuals within a corporation cannot escape the economic incentives that structure demands. The end point invariably leads to the hijacking…(1/2)

the world is 'y̶'ours

The first batch of signed Crescent and Exile orders is going out today. 🖤 Thanks to everyone who's ordered. Store is still open over at ema-acosta.bigcartel.com

i hope ocarina of time 2026 is just unrecognizable and over-ambitious and takes big swings that upset some people because if you’re spending resources and dev time only for link to leave that tree house and enter a one-to-one layout of n64 kokiri forest in UE5 im gonna be really bummed out

Fun fact - Exile has a homage to this illustration

1. You need these books if you don't already have them 2. I can't say with certainty, but I would bet money that em has a great signature

More pictures from the storefront photoshoot because they came out cool. This time featuring the serigaph print.

These games are lush af. You really should give them a shoofty.

Hey all, select signed copies of Crescent and Exile are now available to purchase directly from my website. 🫶✨ ema-acosta.bigcartel.com

Elena Wuest - An Afternoon Tea II, 2026 - Oil on canvas

Paintings by Nizo Yamamoto for Sherlock Hound (1984–1985), dir. Hayao Miyazaki and Kyosuke Mikuriya, Tokyo Movie Shinsha

You are an Exile. A teenage misfit who barely ekes by at society’s edge. You grew up in a world that cast you aside and deemed you perverse. You learned to hide or fight, never able to live free. from @ema-acosta.com and @mythworks.bsky.social

emptiness

Save the date y’all!

Band-Aids & Bullet Holes is live on Kickstarter! Tell your own bloody, John Wick-inspired revenge story in about as much time as it takes to watch one. It's a deckbuilder RPG named after a Taylor Swift lyric. Check it out now!

I had an amazing conversation with @ema-acosta.com about two of their games from @mythworks.bsky.social. We walked through the creative process that went from idea to books on your gaming table. Listen on any pod platform or here: open.spotify.com/episode/7LCt... #ttrpg

Meditation, by Je Shen.

"After school program" by artist tofuneers,

I've been enjoying editing this season's @diceexploder.com and am considering taking on more audio work. Feel free to reach out if you need someone for editing and such 👋

Through the Window by Arthur Wasse

CRESCENT 2e and EXILE arrived a few weeks ago and I finally cracked em open to read at the park on the first warm spring day in Toronto. @ema-acosta.com is brilliant and has written the best GM section I have read in ages (moon guidance💛). I will be sharing with librarians & library kids alike :]

www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47311/... #April #poetry from The Waste Land T.S. Eliot

Night Garden by Quentin Stipp www.artstation.com/a...

Untitled https://www.wikiart.org/en/andrew-wyeth/not-detected-52

Underneath by Svetoslav Petrov www.artstation.com/a...

Jan not only happens to be a lovely individual, but All The Problems In This World is a delight to visit. The RPG and comics selection is fantastic; simply put, there's nothing else like it in Europe. If you can spare a bit of money this month to help keep this place afloat, please do.

Peter Birkhäuser - The Observer

More stuff from Eastern Turkey, these are mostly Kars Province and near Trabzon

With these reaching me, a whole chapter of my return to role-playing games comes to its lavishly illustrated end. Joining a playtesting campaign of what would become @ema-acosta.com's EXILE as a complete nobody was an enlightening and beautiful experience I will forever be thankful for.

Rudolf Sieck, 1923

Today on the Maelstrom: a first crack at using questions to build short story arcs ("adventures," if you will) thepsychicmaelstrom.pika.page/posts/where-...

More wok i did for Where the Water Tastes like Wine. 2015-2018

Thinking about this quote from Persepolis creator Marjane Satrapi again.

Compositions that go hard (Faeries and Elves, 1984 - via archive.org/details/fair...)

The Dragon Dance by Justin Gerard www.artstation.com/a...

Today on the Maelstrom: an early draft on character-sharing thepsychicmaelstrom.pika.page/posts/relati...

What Use Is a Broomstick? thepsychicmaelstrom.pika.page/posts/what-u...

i used to Walk Around And Look At Things because it made my art better. now it feels more like making art takes away from the time i have to do the actually-important work of Walking Around And Looking At Things

*Reposts appreciated” My webstore heycentaur.com is finally up! This took so many months of labour (mostly my partner’s), but it is all ready and running. Physical copies of Kala Mandala are now available, shipping to most of the world.

It's 968 AC. An artificial sun shines down upon Doskvol. Autopods cruise down rows of peaceful, prosperous houses. Beneath it all, strange actors and twisted conspiracies work their shadowy agendas. Blades '68. The future is now. Don't miss it: www.backerkit.com/c/projects/e...

Have you ever wanted something so bad but knew you can't have it? JUNJI ITO PINBALL is part selfish wish-fulfilment, part internet art, part game. And it's shaped entirely by people like you 🌀 Curious? Confused? Go check out the readme doc on the page above.

Exile's crying-based economy is just one element that marks the "feelings-based RPG" as unique. Designer @ema-acosta.com puts her whole heart into our gauntlet of questions in the latest Rascal 7.

BTW I have a blog now, I’m part of the blogosphere. So if you prefer, you can read this whole ramble in blogpost form, like it’s 2008: blog.olddog.games/posts/the-vi...

i know i've been pretty quiet but here's the result of my January: a totally handmade, fully-functional marionette created for a local winter-themed puppet show. she's called the Winter Maw & she'll eat you alive, just like real winter

an axe with heart-shaped holes in the blade, japan, 14th century

Announcing a new podcast: Rascal Reading Club! Join @newmadras.bsky.social as he analyzes RPG texts in an inviting, conversational framework. First up: the Warden's Operations Manual for @mothership.bsky.social.

New! Crescent: Feelings-Delving Role-Playing (2nd Edition) is an RPG of lost children in a magical dreamworld, seeking a way home Exile: Dark Fantasy Role-Playing is a fairy tale RPG of sharp blades, cutthroat kinship, and bloodied tears www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/

Burnout is genuinely life-destroying and I really can't say, on this website, what I think should happen to managers who not only let it happen to one individual worker but who systemically make it happen on large groups of workers.

I think this gets lost in a lot of these discussions. Crunch isn't just a bad experience in the moment or a bad job situation. Burnout has long, lingering effects on the brain and body that can last for years.

So cool!