Rook is working on Fantasy in My Backyard

The cover of Vampire: The Masquerade 5th edition Core Rulebook. The color scheme is largely reds, pinks, and cool purples. A face takes up most of the composti9n. The person wears red lipstick, black mascara, and purple-ish (maybe blue) eyeliner. They seem to be reclining, looking at the viewer, and they wear an ornate collar of golden butterfly-esque shapes. Blood splatters across most of the image, and a ring of black encircles most of the top left corner of the cover. The title is written in white text at the top, while "Core Rulebook" is written in smaller text at the bottom, below the World of Darkness logo.

4. Vampire: the Masquerade 5e Core Rulebook and Player's Guide. I am currently having a blast playing a campaign of VtM set in Dallas-Forth Worth. I can see why so many people get so deeply attached to their PCs when playing this game.

The thumbnail image for melancholy Island. Black text with a white highlight behind it states the title, with "Island" in bold. The background is mostly white and brown-green. It looks like the leaves of a tree against a clear sky when viewed from below, craning your neck back.

A dyptich of two images (perhaps one image split in two, slightly offset) with text over them. The photos are close-ups of leaves with the sun making a camera bloom behind them. Sans serif text on the left reads: "it comes for," with some letters bolded. On the left, smaller serif text reads: "I dreamt I was a wolf / And I was free / To taste the blood of the sheep / That ran from me." A page number reads 65 at the bottom right.

3. Melancholy Island by @snow117.bsky.social and its accompanying handwritten journal. This is a hurricane of a literary game. "Melancholy" is the right word, and as I said in my itch comment on the game, this is one of the most affecting pieces of media I've ever experienced.

The cover of a zine called Glatisant, which is written in ornate, swooping red type at the top of the cover. At the bottom, blue text reads "Lucas Zellers." Yellow, blue, and red illustrations take up boxes between the title and the byline: a standard blowing in the wind, a knight's helmet with a plume, a heraldic shield featuring a leafy branch and beastly footprints, another smaller helmet, another example of a beast's footprint, and a sword with a ribbon on its hill overtop of a pair of antlers.

2. Glatisant. I'm not at home rn, so this image will have to suffice. The design -- both mechanically and visually -- is elegant and compelling. I am planning to play this with my partner ASAP.

The book Blades in the Dark sitting on a desktop with visible wood grain. The cover shows a hooded scoundrel wielding two daggers and smiling at the viewer. The art is in grayscale, mostly dark tones, save for an orange-ish glow illuminating part of the character's left side and their eyes. Text at the top shows the title, text at the bottom reads "John Harper."

The back cover of Blades in the Dark. White text describing the game on a black background. At the bottom of the cover, three logos are clustered together next to a barcode. The logos are for One Seven, Forged in the Dark, and Evil Hat Productions. Game description text available elsewhere online.

1. Blades in the Dark. We'll start with this game because it's what I'm devouring right now, and it was already in front of me. I know I'm late to the party!! The clear influence from Arkane's Dishonored, Deathloop, and even Prey = my shit, along with the Lies of Locke Lamora vibes. I wanna run it.

1 like = 1 TTRPG in my library

My physical library is a little limited, but I'll post those before I dive into PDFs, if I get that many likes lol

!!! Hell yeah, this is also one of my favorites of all time (although I'm slightly biased, but I'm speaking specifically about the writing/design)

A stray black and white tuxedo cat stands on grey asphalt near a curb, beyond which the ground is covered in dried leaves and bits of green grass. Towards the top of the image, a bit of chainlink fence and a makeshift, blue cat shelter are visible. The cat looks at the camera, tail curled a little bit around his back leg. His ears are perked up.

Tyson, as promised!!

Based!! Extremely good picks!!

EXACTLY!! It's definitely "[You might] as well ask..." What the hell

Omg this is so exciting!! You should consider backing! Yes, you!

dandelion 🌼

Mountain path watchtower

I need every single male artist that follows me to read this. It's not very long. You need to bear witness to this shit. You have to see it with your own eyes because you never will in your everyday life.

I'm serious, read it all please

I got to smack the Architect on my second run, though

KIDS Act Passes Energy and Commerce along Partisan Lines, COPPA 2.0 Postponed Additional bills on kids online safety and cybersecurity passed with bipartisan support

The package of censorship and surveillance bills brought up in todays markup has been advanced

Continue to contact your representatives and demand this legislation be opposed. Tell your family and friends, explain how these bills are not what they appear, and ask them to join us in opposition!

Uploading Pirated Books via BitTorrent Qualifies as Fair Use, Meta Argues * TorrentFreak In an ongoing lawsuit, Meta now argues that uploading pirated books to strangers via BitTorrent qualifies as fair use.

In 2013 Aaron Swartz committed suicide for facing 35 years in prison for mass downloading scientific articles.

13 years later, Meta is almost getting away with an infraction orders of magnitude larger.

The law didn't change.

torrentfreak.com/uploading-pi...

Literally pulling the "well we're just going to wait and hope people forget"

23 year old Ruben Ray Martinez’s last words? “I’m sorry sir”.

ICE shot him 3 times and killed him.

Renee Good’s last words? “It’s ok I’m not mad”.

Alex Pretti’s last words? “Are you ok?”

These are the people DHS calls domestic terrorists. Threats. Aggressors.

Abolish ICE

This Is Your Stop by Basil Wright One day, you will arrive, but for now: This Is Your Stop.

This Is Your Stop, a Wretched & Alone solo game about public transit, is here!

For the price of an all-day pass in my city, you can ride along and try to reach your stop in time. Ignore passengers. Be nice to the driver. You definitely didn't pass that tree twice.

kobanya.itch.io/this-is-your...

Sir Gawain Fucks the Green Knight Here’s a tale ripe for telling. Can’t say where I heard it first—in pretty French or Dutch. Perhaps as a young lady walking ‘longside the Rijn. I’ll spin it for you in an English tongue, fine as frost on lace, sweet as malmsey wine. So it goes that young Gawain, strength kissed into his limbs, fresh as the bright dawn, comes trembling down to the Green Chapel. You’ve heard this tale, I know. His breath makes peach fuzz in the air, fear into him like worm to apple. Christmas Morn is too soon, time is short. You have your own life to save, he says, picking through thorn and bough to an ivy-clad cave. The creature is the Jack O’ the Glen / forest prince / the wood’s own laughter. Beard of lichen and eyes like dark elder. I need not repeat their exchange—my boy’s flinching heart—a songbird in a rattled cage. It is after the blows are dealt, he asks, what god is worshipped in these green trees? Boy, the Knight replies, boy, were you not just down on your knees? The Knight is the tang of sap / bark rough and petal soft / everywhere leaves scatter / easily crushed / Gawain clings / hardly knows what he clings to / he is the forest and the flower / a turmoil of roots / where god and tree meet and melt / the birch the oak the fern the deer / mushroom maggot crow / here Gawain is branch and bud / blow returned for blow

This is a sheer indulgence on my part, but it turns out I never actually shared the poem here, so:

🍃

My first run of Slay the Spire 2 ended in Act 3 because I read a card as "Gain 50 Block. Die if you take unblocked damage this turn." when it ACTUALLY said "Gain 50 Block. Die if you take unblocked damage this combat." or something to that effect.

I was suddenly dead three turns later lol

If an artist isn't able to visualise their ideas on paper (or on the screen) without the use of genAI, they are not an artist. I know some artists who aren't capable of visualising things in their head, yet they can still create stunning art. I know others who brainstorm their ideas and compositions with literal scribbles and stick figures, only to end up with a beautifully rendered piece. There is absolutely no excuse for a self-respecting artist to use genAI at any point during their process.

Someone over on Instagram saying that genAI is bad for art, but can still be used by artists who have trouble visualising their ideas.

I had to reply.

A huge problem is that this is the first skeet I've seen on my timeline this morning to reference HR7661 as something other than "this bill". People cannot contact their reps about "this bill" - they need the number. Anyway here's a handy script if you don't know what to say when you call.

Yay! Thank YOU!

There's also a tuxedo cat named Tyson, but I can't find photos of him in my camera roll rn. Stay tuned

A grey and black cat eats wet cat food on grey concrete. A yellow leaf sits on the ground near him, and more autumn leaves and sticks are on the ground behind him.

This lovely lad used to be named Puma, but he was renamed to Dex when he was ADOPTED!!

A fluffy orange and white cat and a large possum share some cat food. The possum is on the left and the cat is on the right, standing on a curb. A pile of snow in the foreground, a bent metal tray on the asphalt in the background.

Mellow made a friend. The possum is chewing here, not screaming

A tan, grey, and white tabby cat sits on a light grey book cart outside. The concrete ground is brown-ish, close to some of the shades in the tabby fur. Behind the cart, a silver chain link fence.

This is Peachy. She's a little boopa

A fluffy orange and white cat sitting next to a makeshift cat shelter made out of a blue plastic box with holes cut in the sides, a brick on top for wind, and straw and insulation inside. The ground is covered in dry grass and roots. A curb and asphalt is visible in the foreground, while the trunk of a tree and a green chain link fence are in the background.

This is the same cat as above, shown clearer. His name is Mellow

Hmmm much to consider and troubleshoot