4/29/23

Stupid-Hell, a new setting for your favorite TTRPG

I am now blogging from Stupid-Hell.

Stupid-Hell is a location.

This is the status of my being.

Located in the midst of a Stupid-Hell.

People are constantly mad when a person is trying to explain something when they don't have some message.

Most adventures are like kiwi.

No message.

I have no message to the people of Earth.

In Stupid-Hell people want easy adventures, they want easy-to-understand adventures with bright lovely messages to go along with them.

In Stupid-Hell everything is easy, you get an adventure. 

You are like 'I am a thief' or 'I am an elf'; there is armor, swords, taverns, and dungeons. 

The whole adventure is there to supply you with what you need to be that stone sinking to the bottom of the ocean. 

I don't enjoy prototypical adventures. 

Shit that goes down in Stupid-Hell:

Stupid-Hell is facing an overpopulation problem. 

In Stupid-Hell they have four million TV shows about how great it is to have babies.

You go to Tavern Bell. 

If you get nachos bell grande and ask for jalapeños the price goes up, but if you have items taken off, the price stays the same.

A lot of taverns won't hire you if you have bad credit, but the world expects you to pay bills.

Some Taverns won't hire you if you have worked at three taverns in the past year, even if you worked at two simultaneously.  

*

thinking back on what i'm currently working on

or have posted here

or have published

i tend to think of a title first

and then write the thing

this is how most of the bands i used to play in

would name our songs

or albums

we would have lists of song titles

when we finished a song

we would pick a title

here are some book titles that would make good adventure titles

some of these books i have read, some are articles or micro-fiction or poetry, some i haven't yet read but want to, and some i know fuck all about

1. the songs of distant earth (1986) by arthur c clarke
2. animals make us human (2009) by temple grandin
3. animals in translation (2005) by temple grandin and catherine johnson
4. the big fat surprise (2014) by nina teicholz
5. wandering star by (2022) tommy orange
6. sad sad boy by (2022) michael o'brien
7. they ate the children (2021) first by madeline cash
8. omg the day (2022) by theo thimo
9. the easter parade (1976 
[one of my all time favorite books]) by richard yates 
10. i fear my pain interests you by stephania lacava
11. animal blood (2022), issue 4
12. the fat of the land (1946) by vilhjálmur stefánsson
13. a garden of creatures (2022) by sheila heti and esmé shapiro
14. lost star of myth and time (2005) by walter cruttenden
15. jfk vs predator (2022) by stacey levine
16. bearfish (2009) by sarah schneider
17. night life (1977) by rosalind d cartwright
18. the incantations of daniel johnston (2016) by ricardo cavolo and scott mcclanahan
19. i see satan fall like lightning (1999) by rene girard
20. year of the rat (2022) by kaye howe
21. everything is totally fine (2022) by zac smith
22. exit carefully (2021) by elizabeth ellen
23. who built the moon (2005) by christopher knight and alan butler
24. hawai'i one summer (1987) by maxine hong kingston
25. milk fed (2021) by melissa broder
26. bad lawyer (2021) by anna dorn
27. flush (1933) by virginia woolf
28. fuccboi (2022) by sean thor conroe
29. my mind is not a billboard (2021) by sam pink
30. the hold (2020) by hiroko oyamada
31. two million shirts (2021) by zac smith and giacomo pope
32. very cold people (2022) by sarah manguso
33. bro please i'm so dead get me that fuckin cheesesteak bro please man please (2021) by cavin bryce gonzalez
34. people from my neighborhood (2021) by hiromi kawakami
35. body high (2021) by jon lindsey
36. the inner life of cats (2017) by thomas mcnamee
37. undrowned (2020) by alexis pauline gumbs
38. i could be your neighbor, isn't that horrifying (2020) by cavin bryce gonzalez
39. a completely nonexistent carnival (2021) by cavin bryce gonzalez
40. returning the sword to the stone (2021) by mark leidner
41. the chains are where the people go (2011) by misha glouberman with sheila heti
42. the tragedy of the moon (1972) by isaac asimov
43. superdoom (2021) by melissa broder
44. the goddess and the bull (2006) by michael balter
45. jell-o girls (2018) by allie rowbottom
46. but did you die (2022) by precious okoyomon
47. raking leaves (2019) by joseph grantham
48. territory of light (2019) by yuko tsushima
49. mountain road, late at night (2020) by alan rossi
50. vagablonde (2020) by anna dorn
51. the sacred depths of nature (2000) by ursula goodenough
52. chilly scenes of winter (1976) by ann beattie
53. sad janet (2020) by lucie britsch
54. trauma in metro (????) by theo thimo
55. barn 8 (2019) by deb olin unferth
56. bugs, bowels, and behavior (2013) edited by teri arranga
57. when watched (2016) by leo poldine
58. the garbage times (2018) by sam pink
59. tonight i'm someone else (2018) by chelsea hodson
60. all our happy days are stupid (2015) by sheila heti
61. m
agic medicine (2018) by cody johnson
62. unstable neighborhood rabbit (2018) by mikko harvey
63. a hummock in the malookas (1995) by matthew rohrer
64. the lonesome bodybuilder (2018) by yukiko motoya
65. get out your hankies (2016) by gabrielle bell
66. everything is flammable (2017) by gabrielle bell
67. breaking open the head (2002) by daniel pinchbeck
68. the revolution will not be microwaved (2006) by sandor ellix katz
69. blood and soap (2004) by linh dinh
70. crisis without end (2014) by Helen Caldicott
71. the city and the stars (1956) by arthur c. clarke
72. mind children (1988) by hans moravec
73. hallucinogens and shamanism (1983) by michael harner
74. the butterfly hunter (2008) by klea mckenna
75. killing and dying (2015) by adrian tomine
76. did you ever have a family (2015) by louisa hall
77. star maker (1937) by olaf stapledon
78. the title of this book is an inside joke (2015) by sophia katz
79. vicky swanky is a beauty (2012) by diane williams  
80. hiding man (2009) by tracy daugherty
81. color of darkness (1957) by james purdy
82. wide eyed (2005) by trinie dalton
83. loving the ocean won't keep it from killing you (2016) by rachel bell
84. the rock paintings of tassili (1963) by jean-dominique lajoux
85. second skin (1964) by john hawkes
86. his name was death (1947) by rafael bernal
87. the atrocity exhibition (1969) by j.g. ballard
88. winter in the blood (1974) by james welch
89. the shadow of the coachman's body (1960) by peter weiss
90. wolf tracks on the welcome mat (2003) by paul zarzyski
91. my heart hemmed in (2007) by marie ndiaye
92. the seven madmen (1929) by roberto arly
93. resurrection at sorrow hill (1999) by wilson harris
94. story of the eye (1928) by georges bataille
95. the terrors of ice and darkness (1984) by christoph ransmayr
96. a sarrow beyond dreams (1972) by peter handke
97. the last wolf (2016) by laszlo krasznahorkai
98. the hills reply (1968) by tarjei vesaas
99. teeth under the sun (2007) by ignacio de loyola brandao
100. the obscene bird of night (1970) by jose donoso

check out my friend's post on world building as well here

(if you'd like to support me there are links on the right to purchase my zines)


4/22/23

what i've been up to lately

our zine 'her heart in a porcelain jar' has appeared online via 3 blog reviews you can find here, here, and here (it's about to be out of print so visit the itch link i tagged to get a copy if you haven't yet).

i've been photo-questing a lot too

this one i call 'cigarette pie'


looks delicious right?

and it's okay to feel sad...

in other news i just finished the 7th draft of my next adventure for troika that is pretty horrific (as far as troika goes [no one is really doing horror with troika but off the top of my head i think this subway adventure that someone submitted to the troika city jam we hosted last year is pretty creepy]).


what else is new?

i've been keeping a smaller circle of friends.

what else is new?

i started doing watercolor paintings.

(this one is titled 'wizard giving words of encouragement to man with chainsaw') 

people might think i'm really busy but i'm not. i just ignore what i don't want to focus on and try to do less and do things slow and carefully and have a lot of time for people and things already in my life.

thanks for reading.

(if you'd like to support me there are links on the right to purchase my zines)


4/7/23

a new background for your Troika! games...

 


grassroots marketing representative for a new cutting-edge energy drink company

The demand for energy in a can (made from healthy things that come from the earth [like vitamins, vegetables, plants, and miscellaneous non-synthetic elements]) never ends. You basically find events where teens are hanging out, then go there with your cooler truck, play some really fun tunes by relevant buzzbands, and encourage people to try your brand of drink. What you do betters the world.

Possessions:
a branded SUV cooler truck with ice
d666 energy drinks
polo shirt with the brand on it

Advanced Skills:
4 understanding of marketing, human nature, and local cultural event economy
3 brand building
1 trench fighting

Special:
You make $15 an hour when you set up your 'tailgate party'.