greenhollowrpg

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RPG Talk: The Challenge of Emotional Communication for Adults

"Honesty is the best policy", or so the old chestnut goes. But when it comes to getting adults to discuss and dissect their emotions, goals, dreams- is that really the case? The TTRPG can be silly, frivolous, crunchy, yes, but most often, it does involve some degree of role-playing, of getting in touch with emotions personal and interpersonal.

The reason I bring this up today? The central character of our adventure, Jemu, is heavily based on Fred Rogers. He's most famous, of course, for Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, but he did produce a show intended for adults in the late 70s: Old Friends, New Friends. Very little of this show is accessible today.

There is one episode on Youtube (embedded here) focusing on musician Lorin Hollander and his work with prisoners. It is fascinating to watch. You see barriers erode under the simple usage of music, talking, listening. Some resist more than others. But there are ways to reach people, even very hurt and violent people.

A lot of contemporary criticism calls Old Friends, New Friends something of a failure, and Fred grew frustrated with it quickly. A lot of critics say that his approach doesn't seem as effective with adults as with children. I don't see as much of that in this example. Direct emotional interrogation does make many people wilt, but in the right context, with the right support, it can be healing like no other form of conversation.

Funnily enough, playing an RPG can break down some of the defenses that adults build up. I've seen people who are very guarded in real life become much more emotional beings in the world of D&D. I wonder what Fred would have been able to do in the world of RPGs if they had clicked with him.

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Creating an RPG: Working with an Artist, Part 3 (Final)

Last time, we talking about starting work with your artist, and doing it in an honest and clear manner. Let's pick up from there! The artist has started work, you've seen some sketches and maybe a final or two. But there are some common challenges that pop up around this point.

First, you may find you're disappointed with the artist's work. Maybe it just doesn't have the level of polish you saw in their portfolio. Maybe you've asked for subjects or styles that fall too far outside of their skillset. Or maybe things just aren't coming together the way you imagined in your head, no matter how specific you get.

Don't freak out. Take a deep breath, and think about what's really bothering you. Maybe you just need to adjust your mindset. If not, come up with a clear but polite way to phrase your problem. For example:

"I do feel that the perspective on the castle continues to look skewed. Are you comfortable with that particular piece?"

"I like how this is developing, but there are some finishing touches and details missing from it that I saw in [portfolio example]. Do we have the time and resources to continue working on this?"

Miscommunication is also common- yes, even when you do your best to be crystal clear up front. Your artist might feel you're asking for more than you agreed upon. Your description of a character as "Jack Sparrow-like" might result in the artist getting the image of Johnny Depp stuck in their head when you merely meant to conjure a cunning and lithe piratical sort.

Always err on the side of overly detailed when speaking to your artist. You can even prepare your own diagrams and sketches. When miscommunication does happen, be as gracious as possible. An interpretation that seems ridiculous to you can genuinely be the thought pattern of someone else.

Finally, what if worst comes to worst? Either the artist is unable/unwilling to deliver a satisfactory or complete product, or they ghost you. Be kind to the artist, but kinder to yourself. If you didn't get anything remotely like what you paid for, you can seek a refund. You have a contract for exactly this scenario.

The opposite is also true. If an artist goes above and beyond to give you what you want (or more), reward them. Honor their value and their hard work however you possibly can.

If you have any questions or advice of your own, feel free to reply below or message us. We've really only scratched the surface!

[greenhollowrpg]

Creating an RPG: Working with an Artist, Part 2

Last time, we talking about finding an artist and making sure they seem like a good fit. So okay, you're reasonably sure you know who you want to work with, they're ready to work with you, and you agree on the basic terms of the deal.

It's time to write a contract. Boo, I know, boring, and scary too if you've never done it before. But this is a vital part of protecting both of you. Some artists will already have a contract to base the deal off of. Ask to take a look at it, and request changes as needed.

If your artist doesn't have a standard contract or one that will fit your needs, here is a decent template to work off of. If you're really concerned, have a lawyer or notary look over the document, but in almost all cases, something a little rough around the edges will be fine.

When creating the contract, think about what's important to you. How often does the artist need to contact you? What happens if they decide they want to quit partway through, or disappear? Who actually owns the art and what can each party do with it? Be fair, but be firm. You need to get this stuff down on paper. If you can't come to terms with your artist, as much as it stings, don't just hope for the best. Look for a new option who is in alignment with you, or re-evaluate your terms to make sure you really need everything you're asking for.

Once your artist agrees to a contract, make sure you hit the ground running. Ideally, you'll already have your references, descriptions, and key information ready, but if not, make it happen ASAP. Even if your artist won't be able to start right away, you want them to have all the information at their fingertips.

A lot of artists are not great communicators of words- their specialty is pictures, and you'll often be working with relatively inexperienced ones if you have a low budget like us. You want to be crystal clear, encourage them to ask questions, and to use references, diagrams, and sketches of your own whenever possible.

We'll end this little series next time, talking about how to deal with challenges midway through the project and wrapping things up.

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Juniper’s Massive World-Building Resource List

(Shamelessly cribbed from a dozen different sources)

1. The Checklists

These are the kinds of things that present you with a list of questions about your world, that you then answer as creatively as you want to. I find myself continually having to go back and add to them, because goodness sometimes I just want to write and not think about stuff that isn’t directly relevant to the plot…until it is. And then suddenly I have to think about the ramifications of that.

CRV’s Worldbuilding Checklists (originally from btot.de) - obviously more fantasy-focused Patricia Wrede’s Worldbuilding Lists - a good balance between fantasy and other genres

2. The Masterlist

This link has nearly everything you can think of. It’s not the be-all-end-all, because nothing is, but it’s damn good.

r/Worldbuilding’s Resources List

3. The Visuals

Yes, there’s the ever-present AI-generated images, things such as Artbreeder or Wombo Dream, but sometimes you need something more concrete. Like maps. Or people.

Also, pay artists to make beautiful things whenever you can. AI art is designed to remove the actual humanity from the creative process, and while it’s fine for face claims or inspiration, I would never ever use it as, say, my book cover.

Alsoalso, learn a little something about graphic design. Please. Color theory. Rule of thirds. I beg of you.

Things I have used for maps:

Inkarnate - Browser-based, but almost entirely fantasy-focused

Wonderdraft - Large-scale mapping for countries/continents/worlds

Dungeondraft - Smaller scale mapping that shines when doing smaller areas, especially interiors (both ‘drafts are from the same creator, and are desktop only) There is not, as of yet, a Towndraft, although the community is ravenous for it!

I highly recommend the art packs from Cartography Assets, although if you’re going to use them in a commercially released work, do be a good human and pay the artists for their work! If you want to do sci-fi or modern maps, this is where to get your assets!

Things I have used for people:

HeroForge - A 3D tabletop miniature creator with a vibrant modder community. The free version lets you create as many figures as you want, but their Pro deal lets you organize them into folders, which I absolutely love. It also lets you save specific colors/materials to use across multiple figures, which saves a lot of time when creating folks with a shared uniform. You can even import people/outfits/poses from other figures! I’m told that facial feature modification, clothing patterns, and kitbashing are coming this year! (I’m a little addicted, as you might’ve noticed.) Best on desktop, but you can get a quick “sketch” done on mobile.

Picrew - A truly massive collection of portrait creators. The Discord associated with it is really helpful, in that you can frequently get links to creators that meet your specific requirements, like ‘must have elf ears and POC skin tones’ or ‘must have heterochromia and vitiligo’. This site got me through the roughest parts of 2020. Great for mobile.

Meiker.io - Similar in scope to Picrew, Meiker has a few treasures, including a lot from the now mostly defunct DollDivine, which relied entirely on Flash. There are a few that I return to again and again, but not many. Best on desktop and very easy to create your own creators.

Neka.cc - A Chinese-based site with a lot of similarities to Picrew, although a lot less diversity, both in skin tones and bodies. Great for mobile.

Storior gets an honorable mention because it has a ton of potential, with a lot more options in some respects, but precious few in others. Best on desktop. Can you tell I really love these things?!

4. The Organizers

It helps to have somewhere to store all this information, right? Preferably in an easily accessed database? Perhaps with links or prompts?

These are the ones I’ve used:

World Anvil - Browser-based, incredibly detailed and complex, even for the free version. I found it to be too complicated to figure out, but maybe it’ll be your cuppa!

Campfire - Browser-based, mostly focused on writers, and has a suite of options that you can opt into or out of. This also wasn’t as useful to me, since there’s nowhere to put an outline!

Kanka.io - Browser-based, and just this perfect sweet spot between bare bones and overloaded. There are specific modules you can enable or disable, like in-universe calendars, dice rollers, character journals, etc. It’s my preferred option for organizing my world-building, outside of things like Google Docs.

I also understand a lot of writers like using Scrivener for their work, but as I have Linux, I don’t have any experience with it.

5. The Rest

So, a lot of world-building comes down to how well you know our world. I love world-building because it means I get to use all my education and interests together to create something that feels realistic to my readers and players. This is a time when ADHD is absolutely useful! Chase those squirrels! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve ended up reading an article on, say, rivers, only to end up with an idea for how leylines function in my world!

So here are my top 5 recommendations for figuring out how our world works:

Sociology! - If you want to know how different cultures interact, why certain customs come about, or just how a population reaches a decision, learn about sociology. It’s probably my favorite subject, and most useful to very culture-focused world-builders.

Geology! - If you want to know how your world fits together, what it’s made of, where things like mineral or gem deposits might be or how they might form… in addition to how rivers, lakes, and “strange” geographical features form, geology’s a great place to start.

History! - Okay, maybe this one is cheating, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read about something in history and thought “what if it went this way instead?” BAM, there’s a premise for you. (I have an entire novel idea built around that, told mostly through a writer interviewing a famous figure in this alt-history for their biography. After seeing the popularity of Dracula Daily, I almost want to release it like that…)

Ecology! - Oh man, if you want to figure out the botany and zoology of your world, ecology is a great place to start. It builds very nicely off of geology, and covers such a broad range of topics and how each of these pieces interact with one another - like how hydrology affects meteorology affects climate affects plant distribution affects animal distribution… which of course then affects culture!

I’m going to be sacrilegious in the eyes of some of my fellow world-builders here and NOT put linguistics - not because it’s not useful, just because it’s not a field I know much about. Instead, I’d suggest looking at world myths and religions. Yeah, it’s technically part of sociology, but if you’re developing a world from scratch, the creation stories that the sentient species tell themselves can inform a lot of their culture.

For instance, the world that Starcrossed, Amongst the Goblins & the Fishes, and The Silver Hand are all set in is an alternate Earth where magic never left the land. The creation myths in this world are much more centered around humanoids living in harmony with nature, rather than dominating it. In fact, some of the human societies have a specific taboo against desecrating the earth that is taken to such an extreme that other species, like elves and dwarves, occupy that niche instead, acting as stewards of the forest and mountain because they don’t have that same taboo. Part of these myths explain the existence of ley lines, and why they wither and die out (because of excessive logging, destructive farming/mining, or large-scale slaughter of creatures). Will this ever come up in Starcrossed? I highly doubt it. But it figures into the other two VERY prominently.

Phew! That was quite a tangent. Anyway - did I get any of your favorites? Do you have something you’d like to add? Should I make this all a separate page so it’s easy to access and update it regularly? Tell me things! Ask me things! I am an open book and love talking about world-building! Tell me where you’re stuck and maybe we can figure out a way forward together! (Also hmu on Discord, I am so mediocre at Tumblr.)

[greenhollowrpg]

Creating an RPG: Working with an Artist, Part 1

So you want to write and publish a TTRPG book all on your own? Nice! We just finished that. And while we can't call ourselves experts, we do have a fresh, first-time experience we just came off of.

One of the most integral parts of a successful TTRPG book is the art, of course. When it comes to finding an artist, there's many sources to sift through. Tumblr, Twitter, DeviantArt, and Instagram all have large communities, so you can try sorting through your favorite topics, selecting your favorites, and seeing who is open to commission. Even if they're not, they might have a friend to recommend.

If you're like us and have a low budget, though, you'll probably need your artists to self-select so you can avoid a lot of disappointment and wasted time for both parties. For this, we'd recommend hitting up the hungryartists subreddit. Read the rules, be clear and upfront with your requirements, and you'll get good quality submissions to choose from.

Ultimately, however, artists are going to be optimistic about what they can accomplish with the time and money you're able to present them. You've heard the old chestnut about only being able to pick two from the list: fast, cheap, and good. Most of us will choose cheap and good. We're in no rush. But even though many ambitious artists will say yes to that proposal, most of them will sour on it in the long run.

It's not really your fault nor theirs. It's just human nature and our desire to do a lot with a little. So make sure you are very, very honest from your first message. Let them know you'll need revisions. Tell them to be pessimistic about what they can accomplish. Get the disappointment out of the way up front so no one has to feel as if they got an unpleasant surprise later on.

Next time, we'll talk about what to do once you and your artist have come to a basic agreement to move forward. And feel free to share any experiences you've had as either artist or producer!

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Inspirations: The Phoenix Empire

While the antagonists the players interface with the most are our mercenary band The Crows, led by Helios, they are not the true villains of the story per se.

That role goes to the Phoenix Empire, a holdover from Matt's homebrew campaigns fleshed out into our central foes. Visually and in its conquering spirit, the Empire draws on both the genuine Roman Empire as well as its various bastardizations such as in the Legion of Fallout New Vegas.

Its core role, however, is financing and directing The Crows to pursue its own goals. They want to crush Green Hollow, both to prevent the formation of a new rival and to allow themselves a geographical pathway to check their current rival, The Azure Marches. In this way, the Phoenix Empire was born from all the "black flag" operations of the late 20th century and beyond.

This may or may not be common knowledge at this point, but the CIA is responsible for dozens of coups around the world for this exact reason and in these exact operations. Many legitimate democratic leaders have been deposed, or worse, for the sake of the US but without the visible involvement of the US.

A more modern (and obvious) example was the invasion of Crimea in 2014, where Russian forces pretended to be of mysterious origin and did not bear any identification of their country. At least, until the job was done.

While all war is disturbing, we find these operations doubly so for their subterfuge and their nakedly manipulative motivations. They made good fodder to form the center of a distant, Imperial evil that treats the good people of Green Hollow as disposable game pieces.

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Our Favorite Art: Part One

Today we've just got a short post, highlighting some of our favorite fantasy art from the past. Please feel free to share your own in the comments, we'd love to see it!

Poster by Richard Hestcox

Marjorie Miller

Harry Clarke

Fritz Baumgartner

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The Monsters of Green Hollow

Our campaign setting is a relatively low-fantasy sort of place, so the interactions the players have are decidedly humanoid in nature. However, there are a few prominent strange creatures that play a part in Heroes of Green Hollow!

Most prominent are Rockcrawlers, the culturally significant mounts and partners of the Stoneflower Tribe. While visually we did think of Kodos, we took care to think of how the Rockcrawler would have adapted to its environment and how it ties into the folk stories of the Stoneflowers. Once we realized they would have laid their eggs in mountain clutches, it made sense to connect them to the Tangata manu tradition of Rapa Nui. (Art from our book, by Kleber Oliveira)

During one possible story path, the players are obliged to escort the evacuating villagers of Green Hollow to the safe grottoes in the mountain. Along the way, they are beset by a group of predatory ice mephits, classic irritating D&D baddies. (The above art was purchased from Dean Spencer)

The antagonists, the Crows, face a grim passage to Green Hollow through a series of mountain passes and tunnels. While we never defined exactly what preyed on them, and D&D has no shortage of tunnel-dwelling beasts, I can't deny I was thinking of the hilarious scene from Big Trouble in Little China.

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**PUBLIC RELEASE**

"Fields of Greed"

Gouache on Arches paper

60 x 30 cm

2023.

this piece was commissioned to be used as cover artwork for the upcoming debut LP by progressive death metal band Fleshvessel

, to be released via I, Voidhanger Records.

the visuals of this piece are meant to evoke the concepts of mindless wealth accumulation, predatory hostile competition, and the effects of it on the world.

first seen on Patreon on february 24th.

all patreon supporters can see my new works weeks ahead of public release, the full 28K resolution scan of this painting is now available for Patreon supporters. and you can find prints here

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Inspirations for a Farm Town (Pt. 2)

So we've spoken about our inspirations for the moral dilemmas of Green Hollow, but what about the the setting and mood?

A small farm town is ubiquitous in fantasy stories, so we looked for ways to both differentiate ours and root in some of the most beloved examples of the past. Harvest Moon and Stardew Valley were of course huge inspirations, in terms of setting that comfy and safe mood. We wanted the players to connect to the village of Green Hollow and desire to protect it. Like Stardew Valley, we created a wide range of NPC residents with individual outlooks, roles, appearances, and personal flaws that players could grow close to.

Another key inspiration came from Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, and the PC's home town of Tipa. The highly defined family roles stand out and really make you appreciate how the community functions through cooperation. The same can be said for the collaboration of the different families, who come together to protect the endangered village.

In terms of smaller inspirations, the fishery in Green Hollow came from the "Sanctuary" episode of The Mandalorian. Those krill ponds were just such an interesting and distinctive way for the population to support themselves! We also drew from Ryan's childhood to describe the Daley home. When he was a kid, a family friend's home became more and more cluttered and took on a musty smell as the family's wealth and attention got tied up in divorce proceedings and other hostilities between each other.

One example we very consciously DID NOT want to remind people of was Jim Jones's cult. We went out of our way to show examples of how disunity is tolerated and how the privilege of leadership is very precarious in Green Hollow.

If you see this post, we'd love to hear about your favorite farm towns in fantasy fiction, and any inspirations you took for your own campaign!

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Inspirations pt. 1

Hey, hey, Matt here! Me and my good buddy Ryan are working on Heroes of Green Hollow, a 5e adventure coming this February! You can learn more about our upcoming release at green-hollow.com 

Previously I talked about how our campaign's story works - now I want to give my personal take on some of my biggest influences. 

The biggest and most immediate reference for our campaign is Seven Samurai.

Our initial premise is almost identical, but there are a few other takeaways. The biggest probably being the story’s meditations on violence. Despite being a classic good guys vs. bad guys tale, I always treasured this film's nuance. For the samurai specifically - they constantly question "what is the cost of this bloody battle? Are the villagers as innocent and helpless as they claim? Is this unga bunga he-man warrior life all it’s cracked up to be?" 

Those were all questions that are apparent within Heroes of Green Hollow’s campaign, questions I wanted players to ask throughout the campaign, that I drew from this archetypal action film.

In addition, I take a lot from the  A Song of Ice and Fire novels, though explicitly A Feast For Crows.

This novel zooms the camera in on the commoners of Westeros and how the grandiose Game of Thrones impacts them directly. It inspired me to flip the script a bit on what would be a typical D&D adventure. Players aren't just saving a village on behalf of a king. They're helping a group of people who lack the means to help themselves, and players must truly think about how their choices will affect their way of life beyond "not getting killed by an enemy army". 

The last big inspiration for me was funny enough Knights of the Old Republic II.

No, Jemu has nothing to do with Kreia and I don't think he'd like her. But at it's best moments that game really pushes that same long-game mentality ASOIAF and Seven Samurai do. How do player actions shape the world around them? How do you resolve the tension between choosing to fight for others vs. teaching them to stand for themselves?

KOTOR 2 can be almost acidic in how it constantly critiques players choices and while we did our best to avoid being naggy, we wanted to make our adventure one where players couldn't take their actions for granted.

In any case, those are my story inspirations. You can find out if I did a good job of copying my faves when Heroes of Green Hollow releases this February. Learn more at green-hollow.com

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Thoughts on Recent D&D Events

Hey folks, it’s been a minute. Ryan and I have both been busy with the holidays and life, but we’re back! 

…To the D&D community being on fire!

While the recent events don’t yet impact our upcoming book, many of our friends and comrades have been affected, so here are some rapid fire thoughts on the WOTC killing OGL controversy.

TLDR: WOTC sucks. Avoid supporting OneDND or any other post 5th edition products. Support 3rd party creators instead. 

# For full disclosure: Ryan and I are gonna go ahead with selling Heroes of Green Hollow on DM’s Guild this February. As far as we know, most of the 3rd party publishing (3pp) community is still comfortable supporting that platform. That said, I don’t see either of us doing any work for OneDND. And while I’d be happy to publish for the new ORC license or whatever Black Flag turns out to be, those need to exist before we can act.

# At the end of the day this boils down to WOTC (and Hasbro, but also WOTC) execs seeing their massive growth the last few years, attempting to get a stranglehold, and failing to understand that growth hinged on collaborating with and respecting the D&D community. 

# I also want to stress there’s a big vibe of WOTC kicking sand in the face of all the 5th edition creators who helped get them where they are now. Even in their big “walk it back” message, they keep harping on how they never planned to make  “competitors” - the same "competitors" like Kobold Press and others who they hired to help make books for them. That's vile.

# Amidst the calls to action, please show empathy and humanity. A lot of WOTC employees who had nothing to do with this are suffering right now. A lot of 3pp creators are struggling to pay rent right now. Even if this all proves to be a bunch of corporate bullying, it’s corporate bullying that has hurt this community emotionally. Be bold, but be kind to the folks caught in the crossfire.

# If you feel motivated, take action. Support 3pp publishers and creators and companies that help grow the community. Avoid seeing or hate watching the D&D movie, or buying in on a brand new shiny D&D Beyond. WOTC actions have been cruel. Don’t reward them for that. Most all, remember all this mess a year from now when OneDND comes out and is the talk of the town. 

That’s all,

Matt (and Ryan)

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Branching Storylines

Hey, hey, Matt here! Me and my good buddy Ryan are working on Heroes of Green Hollow, a 5e adventure coming this February! You can learn more about our upcoming release green-hollow.com 

Today I want to talk about one of our major features - Green Hollow’s branching story. 

TTRPGs tend to avoid branching stories. Instead they opt for what I’ll call - an agnostic park trail. Here’s a well-trodden main path that leads to a destination. You can go off it, but it’s on you to figure out where you are, what that plant is, what to eat, how to handle bears, and to find your way back home. Might as well stick to the proper trail right?

Agnostic park trails have their use, but my problem with this structure is that it piles extra work onto the DM. You have to predict whether your party will stay on the path or not. You may not like where it leads, but must work harder to forage in the wilderness. And if your table is completely off the beaten path - you have to make up content to replace whatever is skipped or irrelevant. 

This can be fun, but it can be a lot of work. 

With Green Hollow, we opted for what I call a flag based story. Players follow the same main path, but we provide them opportunities to gain certain flags - choices that represent their philosophy, relationships with NPCs, or major actions they’ve taken. Maybe they opt to be peaceful or at the very least, honorable in combat. Maybe they have a toxic relationship with a major npc. Maybe they make a big money deal for protection from the mob.  

These are all activities baked into the main path. We then set up payoff situations for the flags they grab along the way. Maybe it’s an additional scene in the next chapter. Maybe the final battle gets easier or harder. Maybe they change the ending entirely. 

For players, this creates a campaign that feels incredibly responsive and dynamic. For a DM it gives them a clear sense of focus. The flags can help you gauge player behavior, choices, and interests. In turn you only need to prep content your players got the flags for. This as opposed to having to come up with a bunch of reactions to player choices all by yourself. Though you certainly still can.

It’s not a perfect system, but it’s something I’m very proud of. Our beta players appreciated how much it felt like the campaign seemed to react to their shenanigans and one of my good writer friends Scott Mcclintock described how it was more similar to modern games like Mass Effect, which is great, because early aughts Bioware was one of our big inspirations. 

Anyway, that’s just one of the many cool features in Heroes of Green Hollow. You can learn more at green-hollow.com. We hope you’ll buy our game when it comes out.

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We're working on a 5e adventure called Heroes of Green Hollow!

We had the ambitious goal to ask what it costs to leave a lasting legacy of goodness, and challenges players to recognize the consequences of drawing their sword.

The story centers on an idealistic figure named Ler Dolis, and the community that has come to treasure him in his twilight years. They seek the help of a band of adventurers to dissuade mysterious raiders scouting the village. However, everyone finds themselves in over their heads when these raiders turn out to be only a small part of an army of well-trained mercenaries.

Players must recruit allies, heal local wounds, and confront the looming threat- all while they reckon with the brutality that lurks inside and out. We're excited about the reception previews are getting after 2 years of work and it's in layout now! Here's a banner featuring our cover art:

What are you working on?

It is what it says on the tin! If you're working on an indie ttrpg project, idea, art, podcast, stream, whatever, drop links, wips, and talk about it in the comments!

I just finished the first draft of a playbook that's part of the Apocalypse Keys stretch goals, and am going to be working on some secret space pirate stuff very shortly 👀

I've also got a few other projects in some very early stages that I've talked about HERE and HERE.

It's been great seeing so many new and returning ttrpg people pop up on tumblr, and the best way to continue that momentum is to keep talking, posting, and reblogging all the cool stuff everyone is working on!

So, what're you working on??

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Stop normalizing the grind and start normalizing whatever this is

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Character Inspirations: Helios (Part 1)

Post by designer Matt

Art by artist Kleber

Our main villain, Helios, has a couple of different inspirations.

One that may have even slipped through even my co-writer, Ryan's notice was Alexander the Great (Or Iskandar). The Fate franchise and Civilization games were my introductions, but I'm also a history fan and I always found Alexander an interesting figure. Smart enough to impress even Aristotle. A brilliant military commander, charismatic leader, and party animal. At the same time - he was a monster who committed countless atrocities across the world in the name of conquest. To me, Alexander represented the seductiveness of war. Someone so admirable, a pinnacle of standard masculinity and yet utterly deplorable when you view his actions through a modern lens.

I even named Helios second in command (and lover) - Hephaes, after Alexander's body double and childhood friend (and also probably lover) Hephaestion.

That said, you'll notice Helios is a little more gothic and less bright and shiny than both his historical or anime counterparts. That's partially because I'm a Star Wars nerd, and while I can be kind of ishy on their presentation in the movies- I've always been interested in the aesthetic, mindset, and philosophies of the Sith in the old EU. Essentially, I liked the idea of people dressing grimdark and edgy, living on raw id, but doing so with a sense of self awareness and purpose, and in some instances community. If you've read the Star Wars: Legacy comics that feature Darth Krayt, you may find some similarities to our big bad Helios.

To me Helios embodied an interesting antithesis to Jemu. Where Jemu was a student of war and chivalric romanticism who came to realize the danger it presented and chose to instead focus on caring for others, Helios, like Alexander, has been completely consumed by war. Despite their intelligence, despite their charisma and talent, despite their love for those who serve them, Helios and Alexander lack a fundamental humanity to see their enemies or vicitms as humans whose needs equal their own. That to me made Helios an interesting villain. Depending on the party, he can be a dark mirror of the violence that erupts in D&D. Where someone is out to do a job, has things they care for, or even good they want to achieve but do not care who gets hurt on the way there.

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Welcome to Green Hollow. We can't wait to learn more about you!

We'll be posting here every so often to share art, stories, and vibes from our upcoming indie DND book, Heroes of Green Hollow. You can see our website and find out more here, for now: https://green-hollow.com/mailing-list/

We are super excited to share this world with you all and any boosting is dearly appreciated!

Artist: Kleber Oliveira