Christian Hendriks
@cerhendriks.bsky.social
Work & volunteering: arts admin, grant writing, museum collections.
Education: MLIS, English lit MA.
General: Ontarian, Anglican, autistic, leftist, TTRPG hobbyist, he/him/his.
Opinions are never wholly one's own, but I'm responsible for mine.
Education: MLIS, English lit MA.
General: Ontarian, Anglican, autistic, leftist, TTRPG hobbyist, he/him/his.
Opinions are never wholly one's own, but I'm responsible for mine.
Pinned
I have not often been asked what I meant by the things I've written, but you can quote me if you like: I meant all the metaphors I intended and several of the ones I didn't.
Another post about my ttrpg setting, detailing the different traditions that player characters (or their enemies) might follow in the Lakelands: advantageonarcana.bearblog.dev/esoteric-and...
Esoteric and Exoteric Traditions in the Lakelands
In the broadest strokes, there are four approaches to understanding, avoiding, confronting, and harnessing the Weird: scientific experiment, exoteric tradition, esoteric tradition, and invented
advantageonarcana.bearblog.dev
February 2, 2026 at 10:22 PM
Another post about my ttrpg setting, detailing the different traditions that player characters (or their enemies) might follow in the Lakelands: advantageonarcana.bearblog.dev/esoteric-and...
Reposted by Christian Hendriks
Take me down to the Parallax city where the far moves slow and the near moves quickly
February 1, 2026 at 3:40 PM
Take me down to the Parallax city where the far moves slow and the near moves quickly
Reposted by Christian Hendriks
friends if you are into comics, Stephen is very cool and chill
Less than a week in my first YouTube video hit 150 views. I honestly can't believe it. Thank you to everyone who watched it, and I promise there is more to come soon.
How Good Are Teenage Mutant Ninja Turles Comics?
Week 1 of the Comics Challenge 2026: TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES Black and White Classics vol. 1
Next week's video: MONSTRESS vol. 1
Full list of Categories: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1R8r6CzsoprKOSZi7Bj1GEfYtmZjR-XkE/view?usp=drivesdk
@mattwith4ts video on TMNT: https://m.youtube.com/watc
youtu.be
January 13, 2026 at 3:11 AM
friends if you are into comics, Stephen is very cool and chill
Re: this post, I just learned that the Walters Art Museum has ~100 pictures from their collection up on Unsplash.
Over the holidays @nickdrawthing.bsky.social and I were talking about finding public domain or Creative Commons-licensed images for #ttrpg blog posts, so I wrote about it: advantageonarcana.bearblog.dev/how-i-find-p...
How I Find Pictures For My Posts
When it comes to pictures for my blog posts, I'm committed to only using images in the public domain or ones with Creative Commons or similar licenses, such as Unsplash's license. How I find these...
advantageonarcana.bearblog.dev
January 30, 2026 at 4:58 AM
Re: this post, I just learned that the Walters Art Museum has ~100 pictures from their collection up on Unsplash.
Reposted by Christian Hendriks
Last term I tried an experiment: I walked into my Tech and Design Ethics class, admitted that I had *no idea* what to do about ChatGPT - so I would let them figure it out.
As in: their first project was to decide and write the ChatGPT policy for the class.
Here's what happened:
As in: their first project was to decide and write the ChatGPT policy for the class.
Here's what happened:
January 22, 2026 at 11:36 PM
Last term I tried an experiment: I walked into my Tech and Design Ethics class, admitted that I had *no idea* what to do about ChatGPT - so I would let them figure it out.
As in: their first project was to decide and write the ChatGPT policy for the class.
Here's what happened:
As in: their first project was to decide and write the ChatGPT policy for the class.
Here's what happened:
TTRPG fantasy setting idea: when paladins break their oaths, they don't lose their powers but instead accrue afflictions (banes, mutations, misfortune).
January 28, 2026 at 10:56 PM
TTRPG fantasy setting idea: when paladins break their oaths, they don't lose their powers but instead accrue afflictions (banes, mutations, misfortune).
Reposted by Christian Hendriks
I love doing an autism podcast and having an against malaria foundation fundraiser and some spends $2348 over 24 days in order to send you a cryptic set of messages
January 27, 2026 at 12:56 AM
I love doing an autism podcast and having an against malaria foundation fundraiser and some spends $2348 over 24 days in order to send you a cryptic set of messages
When I initially posted this, in response to the theories of Rene Girard, I somehow was not thinking of current affairs. But I think it should be obvious to anyone today that a person at the top of a hierarchy can drag the whole society below them into their conflicts.
So what about rivals at the top of an hierarchy? What's to stop them from dragging their subordinates into their conflicts? It seems to me that hierarchy makes it inevitable that specific rivalries will involve whole societies.
January 27, 2026 at 2:34 PM
When I initially posted this, in response to the theories of Rene Girard, I somehow was not thinking of current affairs. But I think it should be obvious to anyone today that a person at the top of a hierarchy can drag the whole society below them into their conflicts.
It's late, but I've got a contribution to this month's RPG Blog Carnival, on the topic of Fantasy Locations: advantageonarcana.bearblog.dev/my-plan-for-...
I'm resolving to improve my ttrpg locations. Feedback (appropriate to what've written) is welcome.
I'm resolving to improve my ttrpg locations. Feedback (appropriate to what've written) is welcome.
My Plan For Better TTRPG Settings
I've decided that in 2026, as something of a new year's resolution, I will work to have better locations in my tabletop games. For the month of January 2026, Duncan S. Rhodes at Hipsters & Dragons is
advantageonarcana.bearblog.dev
January 26, 2026 at 6:14 AM
It's late, but I've got a contribution to this month's RPG Blog Carnival, on the topic of Fantasy Locations: advantageonarcana.bearblog.dev/my-plan-for-...
I'm resolving to improve my ttrpg locations. Feedback (appropriate to what've written) is welcome.
I'm resolving to improve my ttrpg locations. Feedback (appropriate to what've written) is welcome.
I would need to sit down and comb through the class options to be sure, but I think there's a gap in the kinds of heroes you can play in DRAW STEEL, which is noticeable to me because the kind of PC I often prefer sits right in that gap.
(This is a minor complaint, so don't take it too seriously.)
(This is a minor complaint, so don't take it too seriously.)
One thing in DRAW STEEL I'm thinking a lot about is the hakaan optional ancestry trait Doomsight, which allows you to describe the encounter in which your hakaan PC dies. I would be tempted to play as a hakaan just so I could dictate nonsense the GM had to incorporate into the game somehow.
For Christmas @nickdrawthing.bsky.social got me the two DRAW STEEL books, which I've been trying to get my head around. There's a lot I like about it, but what I'm realizing is that I don't know how anyone plays more than four systems of ttrpg. They are each a lot to fit inside your head.
January 23, 2026 at 7:13 PM
I would need to sit down and comb through the class options to be sure, but I think there's a gap in the kinds of heroes you can play in DRAW STEEL, which is noticeable to me because the kind of PC I often prefer sits right in that gap.
(This is a minor complaint, so don't take it too seriously.)
(This is a minor complaint, so don't take it too seriously.)
Initially my idea for a devil fury DRAW STEEL PC (who took up heroics as a way to spite the villain who dumped her) was a joke on the phrase, "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."
But "fury" in that phrase makes me think of erinyes, right? You could do something more interesting with that...
But "fury" in that phrase makes me think of erinyes, right? You could do something more interesting with that...
One thing in DRAW STEEL I'm thinking a lot about is the hakaan optional ancestry trait Doomsight, which allows you to describe the encounter in which your hakaan PC dies. I would be tempted to play as a hakaan just so I could dictate nonsense the GM had to incorporate into the game somehow.
For Christmas @nickdrawthing.bsky.social got me the two DRAW STEEL books, which I've been trying to get my head around. There's a lot I like about it, but what I'm realizing is that I don't know how anyone plays more than four systems of ttrpg. They are each a lot to fit inside your head.
January 23, 2026 at 4:13 PM
Initially my idea for a devil fury DRAW STEEL PC (who took up heroics as a way to spite the villain who dumped her) was a joke on the phrase, "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."
But "fury" in that phrase makes me think of erinyes, right? You could do something more interesting with that...
But "fury" in that phrase makes me think of erinyes, right? You could do something more interesting with that...
Reposted by Christian Hendriks
One thing in DRAW STEEL I'm thinking a lot about is the hakaan optional ancestry trait Doomsight, which allows you to describe the encounter in which your hakaan PC dies. I would be tempted to play as a hakaan just so I could dictate nonsense the GM had to incorporate into the game somehow.
For Christmas @nickdrawthing.bsky.social got me the two DRAW STEEL books, which I've been trying to get my head around. There's a lot I like about it, but what I'm realizing is that I don't know how anyone plays more than four systems of ttrpg. They are each a lot to fit inside your head.
January 23, 2026 at 12:08 AM
One thing in DRAW STEEL I'm thinking a lot about is the hakaan optional ancestry trait Doomsight, which allows you to describe the encounter in which your hakaan PC dies. I would be tempted to play as a hakaan just so I could dictate nonsense the GM had to incorporate into the game somehow.
When I started this project however many years ago, I had chosen integralists as one of the villain factions because I thought they represented an ideology that would be terrifying, except for the fact that they had no real chance of implementing their politics.
Things feel a bit different now.
Things feel a bit different now.
I got less written over the holidays than I had hoped, but here finally is the next post about my weird fiction + post-apocalyptic ttrpg setting, providing on overview of religion in the Lakelands: advantageonarcana.bearblog.dev/religion-in-...
Religion in the Lakelands
Some were surprised by the increase of religiosity in the Lakeland post-Arrival, given that the Unbound's appearance upended many assumptions about the universe, but they shouldn't have been:
advantageonarcana.bearblog.dev
January 20, 2026 at 2:16 AM
When I started this project however many years ago, I had chosen integralists as one of the villain factions because I thought they represented an ideology that would be terrifying, except for the fact that they had no real chance of implementing their politics.
Things feel a bit different now.
Things feel a bit different now.
For Christmas @nickdrawthing.bsky.social got me the two DRAW STEEL books, which I've been trying to get my head around. There's a lot I like about it, but what I'm realizing is that I don't know how anyone plays more than four systems of ttrpg. They are each a lot to fit inside your head.
January 19, 2026 at 10:49 PM
For Christmas @nickdrawthing.bsky.social got me the two DRAW STEEL books, which I've been trying to get my head around. There's a lot I like about it, but what I'm realizing is that I don't know how anyone plays more than four systems of ttrpg. They are each a lot to fit inside your head.
I have another post up about my weird fiction / post-apocalyptic ttrpg setting, this time outlining the half-nymphs: advantageonarcana.bearblog.dev/half-nymphs/
These are humans who, having suffered a terrible injury, found their wounds were closed, or their organs grown back, with fungal tissue.
These are humans who, having suffered a terrible injury, found their wounds were closed, or their organs grown back, with fungal tissue.
Half-Nymphs
The Lakelands are not a safe place. They're safer than the Unbound’s petty empires to the south, or the tracts of wasteland beyond them, but this does not make them safe: death and injury are ...
advantageonarcana.bearblog.dev
January 19, 2026 at 10:18 PM
I have another post up about my weird fiction / post-apocalyptic ttrpg setting, this time outlining the half-nymphs: advantageonarcana.bearblog.dev/half-nymphs/
These are humans who, having suffered a terrible injury, found their wounds were closed, or their organs grown back, with fungal tissue.
These are humans who, having suffered a terrible injury, found their wounds were closed, or their organs grown back, with fungal tissue.
Reposted by Christian Hendriks
Am I the only one that thinks this cartoon by Charles Addams (the guy who created the Addams family) is legitimately creepy?
January 19, 2026 at 2:27 AM
Am I the only one that thinks this cartoon by Charles Addams (the guy who created the Addams family) is legitimately creepy?
I don't love it when I get a whole blog post nearly written up, only to realize that it is actually a thought exercise useful for me to have written but not for a reader to read.
It's good that I wrote it! But it would be a lot nicer if it weren't meant for the monthly blog carnival...
It's good that I wrote it! But it would be a lot nicer if it weren't meant for the monthly blog carnival...
January 18, 2026 at 11:52 PM
I don't love it when I get a whole blog post nearly written up, only to realize that it is actually a thought exercise useful for me to have written but not for a reader to read.
It's good that I wrote it! But it would be a lot nicer if it weren't meant for the monthly blog carnival...
It's good that I wrote it! But it would be a lot nicer if it weren't meant for the monthly blog carnival...
Reposted by Christian Hendriks
Windows make all our buildings into human aquariums for the birds. They love to peep in and watch us work, it seems very entertaining for them.
January 9, 2026 at 8:22 PM
Windows make all our buildings into human aquariums for the birds. They love to peep in and watch us work, it seems very entertaining for them.
Reposted by Christian Hendriks
Charlie has figured out how to make the printer print test pages and now it’s all he wants to do.
January 12, 2026 at 5:12 PM
Charlie has figured out how to make the printer print test pages and now it’s all he wants to do.
Here's my next post about the immediate past (~12 years) for my post-apocalyptic weird fiction setting: advantageonarcana.bearblog.dev/the-bad-years/
I have these posts' topics scheduled well in advance, but it just so happens that this one fits in the (anti-)colonialist dungeon discourse a bit.
I have these posts' topics scheduled well in advance, but it just so happens that this one fits in the (anti-)colonialist dungeon discourse a bit.
The Bad Years
"Ant-sheep" is the common English name for one of the domesticated extraterrestrial insectoid animals, about as big as ewes, that the amazons and drakemantids brought with them to the...
advantageonarcana.bearblog.dev
January 10, 2026 at 9:32 PM
Here's my next post about the immediate past (~12 years) for my post-apocalyptic weird fiction setting: advantageonarcana.bearblog.dev/the-bad-years/
I have these posts' topics scheduled well in advance, but it just so happens that this one fits in the (anti-)colonialist dungeon discourse a bit.
I have these posts' topics scheduled well in advance, but it just so happens that this one fits in the (anti-)colonialist dungeon discourse a bit.
I got less written over the holidays than I had hoped, but here finally is the next post about my weird fiction + post-apocalyptic ttrpg setting, providing on overview of religion in the Lakelands: advantageonarcana.bearblog.dev/religion-in-...
Religion in the Lakelands
Some were surprised by the increase of religiosity in the Lakeland post-Arrival, given that the Unbound's appearance upended many assumptions about the universe, but they shouldn't have been:
advantageonarcana.bearblog.dev
January 6, 2026 at 2:55 AM
I got less written over the holidays than I had hoped, but here finally is the next post about my weird fiction + post-apocalyptic ttrpg setting, providing on overview of religion in the Lakelands: advantageonarcana.bearblog.dev/religion-in-...
As I'm writing for my post-apocalyptic setting, it is becoming clearer and clearer to me that the post-apocalyptic genre is in many ways the modern western. That's part of why it feels so American, I think?
There are, of course, real problems with the western that I'm going to need to address.
There are, of course, real problems with the western that I'm going to need to address.
January 2, 2026 at 9:56 PM
As I'm writing for my post-apocalyptic setting, it is becoming clearer and clearer to me that the post-apocalyptic genre is in many ways the modern western. That's part of why it feels so American, I think?
There are, of course, real problems with the western that I'm going to need to address.
There are, of course, real problems with the western that I'm going to need to address.