raven haunts / Arty
@ghost-spark.itch.io
(he/him)
Ghostwriter of Ghost Spark.
Known to some as Arty.
Currently writing WARDEN.
@GhostSpark_off and @ravenhaunts on Twitter.
https://ghost-spark.itch.io/
Ghostwriter of Ghost Spark.
Known to some as Arty.
Currently writing WARDEN.
@GhostSpark_off and @ravenhaunts on Twitter.
https://ghost-spark.itch.io/
Pinned
WARDEN - The d20 RPG for All Settings
WARDEN is a genre-agnostic and cinematic d20 RPG, designed for tight, tactical and fluid gameplay.
www.backerkit.com
I'm doing a Backerkit campaign now!
It's a pretty cool d20 game, not probably what you expect!
www.backerkit.com/c/projects/g...
It's a pretty cool d20 game, not probably what you expect!
www.backerkit.com/c/projects/g...
Reposted by raven haunts / Arty
Reposted by raven haunts / Arty
OKAY DO PHONES NEXT
2026, THE RETURN TO CD/CASSETTE FUTURISM!!!!!!!
2026, THE RETURN TO CD/CASSETTE FUTURISM!!!!!!!
Amazingly, reaction times using screens while driving are worse than being drunk or high—no wonder 90 percent of drivers hate using touchscreens in cars. Finally the auto industry is coming to its senses.
Rejoice! Carmakers Are Embracing Physical Buttons Again
Amazingly, reaction times using screens while driving are worse than being drunk or high—no wonder 90 percent of drivers hate using touchscreens in cars. Finally the auto industry is coming to its…
wrd.cm
December 28, 2025 at 3:59 AM
OKAY DO PHONES NEXT
2026, THE RETURN TO CD/CASSETTE FUTURISM!!!!!!!
2026, THE RETURN TO CD/CASSETTE FUTURISM!!!!!!!
Reposted by raven haunts / Arty
For those who have just left twitter/X and are afraid for their financial security as they try to rebuild, I want to share my experience as it will hopefully provide a bit of comfort.
Earlier this year I ran a Kickstarter. Bsky outperformed Twitter for backers by more than 3x.
Earlier this year I ran a Kickstarter. Bsky outperformed Twitter for backers by more than 3x.
December 27, 2025 at 10:50 PM
For those who have just left twitter/X and are afraid for their financial security as they try to rebuild, I want to share my experience as it will hopefully provide a bit of comfort.
Earlier this year I ran a Kickstarter. Bsky outperformed Twitter for backers by more than 3x.
Earlier this year I ran a Kickstarter. Bsky outperformed Twitter for backers by more than 3x.
Reposted by raven haunts / Arty
We were in first place in this film award voting.
A film made purely with AI just netted over 150 votes in 12 hours.
Now it's personal.
Please. Help us kick this THING's ass fair and square. ART FOR ARTISTS.
Reshare? VOTE!
www.shortoftheyear.com/audience-cho...
A film made purely with AI just netted over 150 votes in 12 hours.
Now it's personal.
Please. Help us kick this THING's ass fair and square. ART FOR ARTISTS.
Reshare? VOTE!
www.shortoftheyear.com/audience-cho...
Audience Choice Awards | Short of the Year
Vote for your favorite short films in the Short of the Year Audience Choice Awards. Watch, vote, and support independent filmmakers.
www.shortoftheyear.com
December 27, 2025 at 6:44 PM
We were in first place in this film award voting.
A film made purely with AI just netted over 150 votes in 12 hours.
Now it's personal.
Please. Help us kick this THING's ass fair and square. ART FOR ARTISTS.
Reshare? VOTE!
www.shortoftheyear.com/audience-cho...
A film made purely with AI just netted over 150 votes in 12 hours.
Now it's personal.
Please. Help us kick this THING's ass fair and square. ART FOR ARTISTS.
Reshare? VOTE!
www.shortoftheyear.com/audience-cho...
Reposted by raven haunts / Arty
I won't be a Baker, I won't be a Gearing, and I won't (thankfully) be a Mearls.
The only choice I have is to be me.
The only choice I have is to be me.
December 27, 2025 at 8:55 PM
I won't be a Baker, I won't be a Gearing, and I won't (thankfully) be a Mearls.
The only choice I have is to be me.
The only choice I have is to be me.
Check this out, I do all of these WITHOUT trying to network in the scene! Flawless plan!
in order to network in the ttrpg scene, you must:
- accept that you are not everyone's cup of tea
- reinvent a mechanic from first principles
- make games that drive 10-30 other designers mad
- speak with the confidence of someone who thinks very long and hard about how to play pretend more good
- accept that you are not everyone's cup of tea
- reinvent a mechanic from first principles
- make games that drive 10-30 other designers mad
- speak with the confidence of someone who thinks very long and hard about how to play pretend more good
December 27, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Check this out, I do all of these WITHOUT trying to network in the scene! Flawless plan!
Reposted by raven haunts / Arty
in order to network in the ttrpg scene, you must:
- accept that you are not everyone's cup of tea
- reinvent a mechanic from first principles
- make games that drive 10-30 other designers mad
- speak with the confidence of someone who thinks very long and hard about how to play pretend more good
- accept that you are not everyone's cup of tea
- reinvent a mechanic from first principles
- make games that drive 10-30 other designers mad
- speak with the confidence of someone who thinks very long and hard about how to play pretend more good
December 27, 2025 at 5:48 AM
in order to network in the ttrpg scene, you must:
- accept that you are not everyone's cup of tea
- reinvent a mechanic from first principles
- make games that drive 10-30 other designers mad
- speak with the confidence of someone who thinks very long and hard about how to play pretend more good
- accept that you are not everyone's cup of tea
- reinvent a mechanic from first principles
- make games that drive 10-30 other designers mad
- speak with the confidence of someone who thinks very long and hard about how to play pretend more good
The thing holding me back most in drawing is simply the wholeness of it.
Every day you can learn something new, but it never ends. And I feel the impatience to already know "enough".
But I also know that day will never come. Not if I strive for more. And it kind of paralyzes me.
🧵 I guess?
Every day you can learn something new, but it never ends. And I feel the impatience to already know "enough".
But I also know that day will never come. Not if I strive for more. And it kind of paralyzes me.
🧵 I guess?
December 26, 2025 at 9:24 PM
The thing holding me back most in drawing is simply the wholeness of it.
Every day you can learn something new, but it never ends. And I feel the impatience to already know "enough".
But I also know that day will never come. Not if I strive for more. And it kind of paralyzes me.
🧵 I guess?
Every day you can learn something new, but it never ends. And I feel the impatience to already know "enough".
But I also know that day will never come. Not if I strive for more. And it kind of paralyzes me.
🧵 I guess?
Reading my notes for my magnum opus (Endless Expedition) and I'm realizing how it still influences my design works today. What a strange feeling.
The game was never finished, but maybe now that I've written a game double its length the width of the game doesn't daunt me anymore.
The game was never finished, but maybe now that I've written a game double its length the width of the game doesn't daunt me anymore.
December 25, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Reading my notes for my magnum opus (Endless Expedition) and I'm realizing how it still influences my design works today. What a strange feeling.
The game was never finished, but maybe now that I've written a game double its length the width of the game doesn't daunt me anymore.
The game was never finished, but maybe now that I've written a game double its length the width of the game doesn't daunt me anymore.
Reposted by raven haunts / Arty
If you read enough hagiographical work about very specific men gamers in the 1970s and couple it with a lifetime of people dismissing your (freeform larp / "storygame" / Erzählspiel) game tradition as "not really games" in part due to their community's gender, then you see where I'm coming from.
Indeed. The purchaseable *product* we call the TTRPG begins in the 1970s with Western Gunfight, Chainmail, and D&D.
Yet role-playing "parlor games," simulations, and similar are centuries old and draw from a well that resembles all the positive stuff about D&D.
Parlor games were feminized...
Yet role-playing "parlor games," simulations, and similar are centuries old and draw from a well that resembles all the positive stuff about D&D.
Parlor games were feminized...
December 23, 2025 at 12:22 PM
If you read enough hagiographical work about very specific men gamers in the 1970s and couple it with a lifetime of people dismissing your (freeform larp / "storygame" / Erzählspiel) game tradition as "not really games" in part due to their community's gender, then you see where I'm coming from.
Reposted by raven haunts / Arty
To no one’s surprise, the secret history of RPGs has always been women innovating ideas that men “discover” anywhere from 10-400 years later! Fantastic thread from one of the hobby’s coolest academics.
Indeed. The purchaseable *product* we call the TTRPG begins in the 1970s with Western Gunfight, Chainmail, and D&D.
Yet role-playing "parlor games," simulations, and similar are centuries old and draw from a well that resembles all the positive stuff about D&D.
Parlor games were feminized...
Yet role-playing "parlor games," simulations, and similar are centuries old and draw from a well that resembles all the positive stuff about D&D.
Parlor games were feminized...
December 23, 2025 at 1:13 PM
To no one’s surprise, the secret history of RPGs has always been women innovating ideas that men “discover” anywhere from 10-400 years later! Fantastic thread from one of the hobby’s coolest academics.
I've started to make my first game using my own native language (Finnish). It's really weird to be basically lost with my own language since I've learned how to write rules in English for a decade.
But, getting to use a whole different vocabulary has given the game very different texture.
But, getting to use a whole different vocabulary has given the game very different texture.
December 23, 2025 at 10:13 AM
I've started to make my first game using my own native language (Finnish). It's really weird to be basically lost with my own language since I've learned how to write rules in English for a decade.
But, getting to use a whole different vocabulary has given the game very different texture.
But, getting to use a whole different vocabulary has given the game very different texture.
Reposted by raven haunts / Arty
I love passionate people, who transmit their passion to others.
I love enthusiasm, which builds and compounds with others.
I HATE "hype."
I love enthusiasm, which builds and compounds with others.
I HATE "hype."
December 19, 2025 at 3:49 PM
I love passionate people, who transmit their passion to others.
I love enthusiasm, which builds and compounds with others.
I HATE "hype."
I love enthusiasm, which builds and compounds with others.
I HATE "hype."
Reposted by raven haunts / Arty
YEARS OF FONT DESIGN yet NO REAL-WORLD USE FOUND for using anything other than BEBAS NEUE AND MONTSERRAT
December 17, 2025 at 3:07 PM
YEARS OF FONT DESIGN yet NO REAL-WORLD USE FOUND for using anything other than BEBAS NEUE AND MONTSERRAT
The art direction in some PC-98 games just fucking RIP.
Goals.
Goals.
December 18, 2025 at 8:13 AM
The art direction in some PC-98 games just fucking RIP.
Goals.
Goals.
Reposted by raven haunts / Arty
“AI is ok as long as it’s not taking anyone’s job” and whose work is it trained on. Did you forget that it’s a bunch of stolen fucking shit? Are we moving the goalposts already? “it’s sticking around so you have to get used to it, be realistic” no I don’t. Eat my shit and hair
December 17, 2025 at 7:51 PM
“AI is ok as long as it’s not taking anyone’s job” and whose work is it trained on. Did you forget that it’s a bunch of stolen fucking shit? Are we moving the goalposts already? “it’s sticking around so you have to get used to it, be realistic” no I don’t. Eat my shit and hair
Man, what a joyful time to be learning art.
December 17, 2025 at 4:40 AM
Man, what a joyful time to be learning art.
Art journey update: I started doing sketches daily, and now I hit 100! I'm thinking of aiming for 200-300 before I start advancing into full-body sketches, clothes, and even *thinking* about colors outside of values.
December 9, 2025 at 9:18 AM
Art journey update: I started doing sketches daily, and now I hit 100! I'm thinking of aiming for 200-300 before I start advancing into full-body sketches, clothes, and even *thinking* about colors outside of values.
Reposted by raven haunts / Arty
I played Horses this weekend and I wrote down some messy thoughts not only on the game but especially on the specter of formalism that emerged to haunt us all for a moment.
transgamerthoughts.com/post/8023277...
transgamerthoughts.com/post/8023277...
I Hope You Get To Live Your Entire Life As A Human
I thought this was going to be a review of my time with Santa Ragione's Horses, the controversial art game recently banned from Steam and the Epic Store. To some extent, this will be that but after...
transgamerthoughts.com
December 8, 2025 at 2:06 AM
I played Horses this weekend and I wrote down some messy thoughts not only on the game but especially on the specter of formalism that emerged to haunt us all for a moment.
transgamerthoughts.com/post/8023277...
transgamerthoughts.com/post/8023277...
My rig is going to waste with my gaming habits LOL
7800XT running Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss (1992) on a CRT monitor
7800XT running Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss (1992) on a CRT monitor
December 8, 2025 at 12:15 AM
My rig is going to waste with my gaming habits LOL
7800XT running Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss (1992) on a CRT monitor
7800XT running Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss (1992) on a CRT monitor
I've been doing daily sketches to get comfortable with drawing different body parts, I use Sketchdaily as the site of choice, I think it's really good.
But this fucking site wants me to become a foot fetish artist. I checked the numbers, and I should not be getting this many foot references.
But this fucking site wants me to become a foot fetish artist. I checked the numbers, and I should not be getting this many foot references.
December 7, 2025 at 2:01 PM
I've been doing daily sketches to get comfortable with drawing different body parts, I use Sketchdaily as the site of choice, I think it's really good.
But this fucking site wants me to become a foot fetish artist. I checked the numbers, and I should not be getting this many foot references.
But this fucking site wants me to become a foot fetish artist. I checked the numbers, and I should not be getting this many foot references.
Of the games I know and know how to run (in chronological order!):
- DREAD (It just hits different)
- Shepherds (PbtA without Playbooks)
- Fractures (A scene setting game I made)
- Genesys (For the funky dice and otherwise trad gameplay)
- DREAD (It just hits different)
- Shepherds (PbtA without Playbooks)
- Fractures (A scene setting game I made)
- Genesys (For the funky dice and otherwise trad gameplay)
If you wanted to run say, four different games that weren't Dungeons & Dragons in hopes of showing people the breadth of the TTRPG hobby, what games would you run for them? Assume that they are sort of familiar with 5E.
December 5, 2025 at 10:34 AM
Of the games I know and know how to run (in chronological order!):
- DREAD (It just hits different)
- Shepherds (PbtA without Playbooks)
- Fractures (A scene setting game I made)
- Genesys (For the funky dice and otherwise trad gameplay)
- DREAD (It just hits different)
- Shepherds (PbtA without Playbooks)
- Fractures (A scene setting game I made)
- Genesys (For the funky dice and otherwise trad gameplay)
No! Not again!
Beset by another game idea. These just never end, do they??
Anyway this time it's a migration and fantasy evolution -based solo (?) game, where the Vo' people migrate from The Heartland to form the different fantasy peoples in the setting, and gain traits depending on player choices
Beset by another game idea. These just never end, do they??
Anyway this time it's a migration and fantasy evolution -based solo (?) game, where the Vo' people migrate from The Heartland to form the different fantasy peoples in the setting, and gain traits depending on player choices
December 3, 2025 at 5:30 PM
No! Not again!
Beset by another game idea. These just never end, do they??
Anyway this time it's a migration and fantasy evolution -based solo (?) game, where the Vo' people migrate from The Heartland to form the different fantasy peoples in the setting, and gain traits depending on player choices
Beset by another game idea. These just never end, do they??
Anyway this time it's a migration and fantasy evolution -based solo (?) game, where the Vo' people migrate from The Heartland to form the different fantasy peoples in the setting, and gain traits depending on player choices
Reposted by raven haunts / Arty
