Before you lies a long hallway. It is pale and thin and the walls are stacks of frail brick. The entrance caved in once you passed the threshold. On the left side of the hallway is a shut wooden door. At the end you see only darkness. Your sword is fixed to your belt and your eyes are fixed on adventure!

Announcing Tales of Lost Ages!

An anthology of Diorama Dungeoncrawl Adventures! Explore mysterious dungeons, battle fantastical monsters and avoid devious traps in these Low-Poly 3D Action-Adventure games!

Wishlist on Steam

Featuring:

Tomb of the Devourer:

The Treasure Hunter had traveled a long way. In the Valley of Kings, the tombs lay defiled, despoiled of all treasure. All but one. One tomb had remained impervious to looting. A tomb of a nameless king of an age lost to history. Not one would-be thief who had ever challenged its depths had returned. Tannic was determined to be the first. When he stood before the entrance to the tomb, half buried in sand, he had expected difficulty getting inside. To his surprise, the ancient stone gate rose open under its own power like a gaping maw. An open invitation. Perhaps this would be easier than he thought...

Ruby in the Mire:

Ruby is an adventurer-for-hire who does the dirty jobs no one else will take! A malignant force has corrupted the ruins of an ancient temple, half-sunken under a muddy swamp. The corruption has spread to a nearby town and poisoned their water supply. The town has pooled their money together to hire someone to venture into the temple's depths and battle the demon which has taken root there. Ruby is the one woman for the job!

The Waystone's Toll:

The Mercenary had hoped to find rest in the town of Knights Passing. However, when he arrived, he felt the telltale tension in the air that told him all was not well in this small town. A week prior, the town's relic known as the Waystone had been stolen, and some of the townsfolk went missing. Each night since, demons have emerged from the manor of Erstel Krestalor, a wealthy merchant who was among the missing villagers. The guards have barely managed to fight off the nightly onslaught. It looks like The Mercenary will have to earn his rest!

And more!

The Butterfly in honored Dust

Assuredly will lie

But none will pass the Catacomb

So chastened as the Fly –

E. Dickinson

Coming to Terms with the Terms

When dealing with tombs and graven things one can happen upon many evocative terms. What exactly is a sepulcher vs a sarcophagus? Sometimes these things are conflated within the popular tongue. But a true grave-robber knows the difference!

TOMBSTONES & CAIRNS

They are mostly the same. A cairn is an ancient version of what tombstones are today. Yet both retain that they are a grave marker of sorts. Smattered across the earth; they are simply the image-burn of an eons-lived sapience.

Cairns

As simple as a stacked pillar, pile or structure of stones. Beyond this, they are diverse. Some have passage-ways, while others appear as a wall.

Tombstones

Carved headstones. Upright or lain into the earth. They are beautifully made stelae with depictions of art and written epitaphs. Six-feet below, in the earth, lies the resting dead. With all their macabre possessions especially chosen to forever collect dust and grime with the interred.

CEMETERIES & GRAVEYARDS

These two are mostly the same. A plot of land, above the ground, where many cairns or tombstones are laid bare. The one difference being this: Cemeteries exist on their own plots of land, open to all. Graveyards exist on the plot of land surrounding an important structure. Such as an abbey or a manor house.

MAUSOLEUMS, BARROWS & CATACOMBS

These are great cemeteries, cities for the dead. Where the interred rest in chambers and not wrapped in dirt. Cut-off from daylight and fresh air. Sealed away, in the dark and the dust.

Mausoleum

A grand monument and structure to store the venerable interred. Usually above ground as a fortress. More often than not, they are plundered and long ago re-purposed.

Barrow

The Ancient version of a Mausoleum. Usually designed as, or inside of, a hillock. They boast numerous earth hewn passageways as well as false entrances, purposely crafted to confuse the unwary vandal.

Catacomb

Here lies the true tomb-stalker’s delight! They are an underground cemetery with numerous corridors and chambers containing the resting dead. Along with many a lifetime’s trappings, treasures and travesties. They lie in wait, within their complex halls, both pilfered and untouched alike.

TOMBS, CRYPTS, OSSUARIES & OUBLIETTES

These are the diverse chambers and corridors that form the final resting place for the interred. Usually as part of a greater complex within a mausoleum, barrow or catacomb. Here are some of the differences between them:

Tombs

Also known as Sepulchers. They are the singular chambers & rooms where the interred settle into their final resting place. These spaces can be of any size and house any number of resting dead. They are typically entered via an archway or, very rarely, a door of some sort.

Crypts

Possess the same qualities as Tombs with one crucial difference. Crypts, by their nature, are hidden or sealed away. They are exclusively entered via Sealed Stone Doors or Hidden Secret Doors.

Ossuaries

They can be either a Chamber or a Corridor. These are spaces to inter the venerable bones of the nameless dead. Each skeleton, skull and individual bone is placed with care into the architecture itself in reverence.

Oubliette

This is a malevolent place to inter the forgotten dead, forever to oblivion. Often buried alive and locked away in the dark or a maze. Other times a mass grave, thrown to darkness with a forgetful curse. They are often entered from a trapdoor in the ground or a locked and barred door, with no easy way to get back out of.

SARCOPHAGI, COFFINS, LOCULI & GRAVE NICHES

The specifics of how and what contains the resting dead inside of their chambers and hallowed halls.

Sarcophagus

The most ornate and regal way the dead can rest forever. Usually a stone boxed container, covered with a stone slab. Made of limestone or granite, and in rare cases marble. In very rare cases, the container is carved into the likeness of the interred.

Coffin

The same as a sarcophagus except it is made of wood and nails. Usually for the more commoner types of interred. Most often buried in the earth, or lined up in a single chamber.

Loculi

Ornate coffers built and lined into chamber walls. Made of small squared recesses carved into stone. Sealed or locked with square doors of stone or copper. Sometimes embellished with epitaphs or bas relief. Appear as many together, rather than just one or two.

Grave Niches

The lesser version of Loculi. Simple horizontal and rectangular niches carved into stone walls. The dead rest open to the air of the chambers and corridors they are in.

URNS & COLUMBARIUM

Allright, time to write about a personal project for this year. And that is to make a shirt comic again! I’ve already written an outline and now I need it to fit 8 pages. And why 8 pages? Well, I want to make the comic as an A5 sized zine, so the number of pages is determined by increments of 4 (as a standard A4 sheet holds 4 A5 pages). And I will do it in a classic 6 panel grid. And in black and white.

Why not publish it digitally, as a webcomic then? I first thought about that, but then I started listening to IKO’s The Lost Bay podcasts about TTRPG zine creators; and Chris Schweizer started posting about his swashbuckling comic project. I decided I wanted to try and print my comic, first in DIY fashion at my decent home printer.

So, what will it be about? A group of ratcatchers dying horribly in a dungeon, basically. It isn’t complex. I’ve been doing a lot of OSR/NSR inspired art lately and formed a short story idea in my head. 

What inspired me to do this? Honestly, it was KINGLY and SCRIBES, the comics by Nick Edwards. To make a comic in such an abstracted style suddenly seemed very doable to me, as I saw some of my own current artstyle reflected in his. Other stylistic abstraction influences for this will probably be Benjamin Schipper, Artyom Trakhanov, Brüno and my past Secret of Kells obsession.