wires & chains @evrodyne - Tumblr Blog

redraw of an old sketch of Vance

messy sketch of tired Vance doing maintenance on his arm

#hey i have an art blog #and this is where i'll put art from now on #in case you want to see it #currently challenging myself to draw every day and git gud

Considering dissolving this blog because I just don't post here as much and I'm kinda tired of having sideblogs. Not sure yet. Not that it matters much. My main is scarecrowshindig if anyone wants to follow me there.

#talking to the void i know

designatedheckingadult

Listen Up RPG Nerds

Since it’s Black History Month, I’m making sure you folks know about Mike Pondsmith.

Mike designed, amongst other things, Cyberpunk 2020 and its wonderful spin-off Cybergeneration. He designed the critically-acclaimed Castle Falkenstein. A black man kicked off interest in two incredibly white-dominated genres in a white-dominated hobby is a remarkable achievement.

Which is why it bugs me that I didn’t know he was black until a couple of years ago. I figure the least I can do is make sure other folks know too.

asymbina

I’m actually kinda angry at the collective hobby for never communicating this to me before now. I recognized his name and of course immediately recognized the games he’s designed — Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0 and Castle Falkenstein are profoundly important and influential works. I don’t think there was much at all in the way of steampunk in the TTRPG world prior to the latter’s introduction (and after it came out I remember arguments over whether or not it “counted” as steampunk).

sarkos

Mekton 2 was the first time i remember seeing a black dude on a RPG cover

prokopetz

If anything, the OP’s description is underselling Mike Pondsmith’s influence. The guy is single-handedly responsible for creating enormous chunks of the tabletop roleplaying hobby: from Mekton, the first giant robot RPG; to the Urusei Yatsura-inspired Teenagers from Outer Space, the first anime style slice-of-life RPG; to the above-cited Cyberpunk, the first cyberpunk RPG; and even to Castle Falkenstein, which is often labeled a steampunk RPG, but is more properly considered as one of the foundational works of the then-nascent gaslamp fantasy genre. In a just world, the name Pondsmith would be spoken in the same breath as Gygax and Arneson - he’s Kind of a Big Deal!