arsene-inc

[arsene-inc]

One of the piece of art that inspired my 2024 Nagademon project of well...witch knights. It is sadly paused for now, but I will go back to it

witch-knight

[arsene-inc]

they removed posting from tumblr. now there's only scrolling down through the vast blank expanse. great

[arsene-inc]

A haunted theme park bestiary

Here it is, the update to my haunted theme park game "Where the magic never ends?".

10 more pages about the beings you can meet inside these parks, rust witches, fair beings, coaster dragon, etc… Example :

Now the next strech goal is more premade theme parks for you all to visit.

[arsene-inc]

Abolish Tesla.

[arsene-inc]

anyone who told you much ado about nothing is good and worth watching was RIGHT and you should listen to them

[arsene-inc]

your parents don't get to decide for you what does and does not count as private information about you that they are allowed access to.

[arsene-inc]

[arsene-inc]

Plans for the immediate future of A.N.I.M. as of February 26th, 2025:

Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy

Work on editing and polishing Eureka is continuing at a steady pace and in fact finally picking up speed again after a bunch of hiccups in development. The fact that it is being played by a bunch of people in the A.N.I.M. TTRPG Book Club right now has given us a lot of very useful playtest data that has been super helpful in polishing the rulebook.

Another beta build of the game will release on itchio on February 27th, 2025 with the last little bits of the module writing guide finally completed, just in time for submissions to open on the module writing game jam.

The Eureka Mystery Module Game Jam opens up submissions on March 1st, 2025, but the submissions don't close until April 1st, 2025, so there is still plenty of time.

Silk & Dagger: A Sensible Drow RPG

I have been busting my butt getting Silk & Dagger ready for alpha release on March 10th, 2025. It is not currently available to the public, but you can get it by signing up to our patreon. Normally I would not want to release a game publicly like this while it’s still in an alpha state, but our financial situation is such that we cannot really afford to keep it patreon exclusive any longer. We do better than most, but TTRPG game development does not make a lot of money.

Since Silk & Dagger will be releasing in alpha, not beta, it won’t be as polished, or even as finished, as Eureka for some time. The game is functional enough that it can be played, and is very fun and funny, but it has only been playtested like once and a good number of features have not even been written in yet. It is very much a work-in-progress/proof-of-concept, so do not set your expectations too high.

We will be holding more playtests on our official patreon-exclusive discord server soon as well.

After we release the Silk & Dagger alpha on March 10th, I will be shifting focus off of Silk & Dagger to work on A.N.I.M.’s third game, Death Bed, while I collect feedback on Silk & Dagger and apply it as needed. Patreon subscribers will get these improved versions monthly, while with the public alpha you will probably have to wait many months as I turn Death Bed from a bunch of scattered notes to a playable alpha version.

Once Death Bed is publicly released in alpha, my main focus will shift back to Silk & Dagger with the goal of implementing the rest of the feedback and bringing it from alpha state to beta state, while I wait for Death Bed feedback to roll in.

Death Bed: A Souls-like RPG

Death Bed is our attempt to actually bring Dark Souls-like feel and gameplay to the TTRPG medium, where so many others have failed before us.

You will start to see early pre-alpha versions of this game on our patreon as soon as April.

[arsene-inc]

Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy doesn't want you to think of the events of the game in terms of heroes, or a grand narrative, or even really a story that you are crafting, but as a peek into the lives of ordinary people going through extraordinary events.

[arsene-inc]

This is huge: You can now buy ebooks from Bookshop.org, a website that helps boost sales to local independent bookshops!

To read an ebook purchased from Bookshop.org, you must use their own app (for a mobile device) or read it in a web browser. So, unfortunately, you can't (yet) send it to your ereader, but still, you're able to buy ebooks and also share a little bit of that profit with your local bookstore, if they're an affiliate!

[arsene-inc]

Working on the layout. Notice the difference that comes from putting things into shapes.

Meeting the Vagabond

I continue to work on my bestiary for Where the magic never ends?, my game of abandoned magical theme parks and coaster mages.

Rounding out the Guests part of my bestiary, here comes the Vagabond.

Various reports from theme park’s expeditions tell of the same figure roaming multiple parks. Always the same shape, always the same face, always the same voice. A vagabond-looking humanoid, looking like a bearded middle-aged man, with an acoustic guitar. They are obviously Magic-adjacent, yet the parks all treat them like a Guest and not an Outsider.  Their voice a choir, their guitar an orchestra. Ancient echoes in modern trappings. Wisdom meant for wood and steel. The earworm breeds in open ears, burrowing deep. Sound is solid, air moves.  Siren’s song, no ambulance. Silence speaks, void listens. The deal is made when you step on the crossroad. Siren’s song, drowning ocean. Lullabies for the deaf, colors sing. Close your eyes, shut your ears. 

Moves :  Songs in the Key of Magic Everybody's Got a Peaceful Place Uncover the Light

What are you ? What are you ? What are you ?

What may happen when you fall to 0 Health in front of this being :  Join the orchestra Become a melody Wake up

Can you guess I'm having fun ?

Find the game here

[arsene-inc]

I have finished writing the Meeting points section for Where the magic never ends?

I just need some eyes to check for mistakes, get some reviews before I go into adding it to layout

[arsene-inc]

Art Communities and TTRPGs

I recently read an article by @toyourstations (which you can read here) about art revolutions, both online and in physical space. It makes the point that art communities online are generally fairly insular, rarely reaching out beyond a small circle of other artists. To combat this, the article argues that you as an artist should find a way to exist in physical space around people who are not in your small group and share your art there. It's a topic that I had been thinking about a lot lately as I've been making a conceited effort to connect more people in the indie ttrpg space and encourage more community amongst artists.

I've noticed a trend that relates to both of these topics. It seems to me that people in the indie ttrpg community online rarely interact with other's works. I see in other art mediums an outpouring of interaction on even the most sophomoric works. Yet amongst ttrpg writers, I see posts of well made projects with little to no interaction or feedback. This is purely subjective and my experience may be skewing my view on the topic but it seems to hold true.

I have a few theories.

This is obviously a fairly small community, but there are at least other artists here that would have opinions about the projects they see. Are people scared to interact; to give criticism, both good or bad? You would think in such a small community of creator/artists that people would be sharing ideas and writing critique.

The most cynical theory is that creators don't want to boost up other projects as they see them as competition. There is a feeling that there is only enough oxygen in the room for one or two projects to exist and you don't want to lift up other projects when it may result in the starvation of your own.

There is also the time investment. It takes time to read and interact with ttrpgs. Playing/testing them is a whole other level of commitment. But there must be some people who at least read or skim projects. Why do they not leave comments. Does it really come down to the size of the community? Are there just not enough people interested in projects outside of their own?

----

I do feel that I need to state that this opinion is not a reflection of my personal project's engagement. I am fairly happy with how they have performed considering my size and reach. This frustration is mostly a product of seeing other projects and artist gain zero traction when I think their projects are worthwhile. This also goes beyond Tumblr as a platform. Obviously there are a million factors that play into this, but I think a community initiative to engage more with smaller works could change the landscape of the ttrpg community online.

[arsene-inc]

SHE KNOWS

[arsene-inc]

Dino cube :)

[arsene-inc]

[arsene-inc]

After cooking with my writing all afternoon, it's time to just cook.

Tricolored spaghetti with tomatoes and apples, little bits of onions and parsley, salad in the center