#pdfs

CHAPTER SERF is a tabletop roleplaying game and adventure, set in Warhammer 40K, where you play those hooded peasant weirdos you sometimes spot in the backgrounds of the art.

Full PDF downloadable >>>HERE<<< Printer-friendly version >>>HERE<<< A5-booklet format version >>>HERE<<< (thank you @tubilak!)

+

Here's the pitch:

+

CHAPTER SERF is a game about candles.

As a fan of Warhammer 40K, I think about Space Marines a lot. Space Marines are:

Feudal aristocrats, with all the uncaring impunities that affords;

Literal grandsons of God, with monastic habits;

Genetically engineered super soldiers;

Children, kidnapped and brainwashed before puberty.

These are not well-adjusted, fully-developed persons. When do they ever get the opportunity?

What would it be like, to serve such persons? To run their supply chains? Keep their households? Satisfy their desires? Clean up their messes?

+

In artwork and cinematics; on miniature bases and in bitz boxes; described in comics and novels, Space Marine architecture is replete with candles. 

So many candles.

A Space Marine doesn’t think about where candles come from, or what candles cost. (They think about war and xenos and traitors, stuff like that.)

A Space Marine wants candles—so there should and must be candles.

CHAPTER SERF is a game about getting an emotionally-arrested, casually-genocidal bossman demigod—to whom it would be sacrilege to say no—the candles they want.

+

I keep trying to write fan TTRPGs for 40K.

The first was Paper Route, also set on a giant flying cathedral of a spaceship. I never finished it. It was called "Paper Route" because the ship was cargo hauler, transporting a planet's worth of office paper. There were orks with origami guns, and paper-wasp tyranids, and eldar scooped up alongside a whole forest.

Where my mind was at with Paper Route was: "40K should be funny."

The second 40K TTRPG thing I made was for Kieron Gillen / Rowan Rook & Decard's DIE RPG. It was an adventure called "POWERSWORD PURGATORY"---a bunch of 30-year-olds, former regulars at ye-olde-FLGS, get Jumanji-ed into POWERSWORD (ie: not-Warhammer 40K) for one last hurrah.

With "POWERSWORD" I was trying to work through how I felt about the fandom, and 40K's place in culture now. Its drift from Thatcher-era DIY nihilism to corporate-IP neatness; its earnest embrace of "xenophobia is justified actually" power fantasies.

+

CHAPTER SERF is my third attempt. And my strongest, maybe?

Because it isn't a piss-take. There are jokes in it, of course. It wouldn't be 40K without jokes. But I am taking the Warhammer 40K setting seriously. I'm not being meta, nor winking at the reader.

I finally have something genuine to say, through all that grimdark set-dressing---about the weight of inhuman institutions crushing ordinary humanity, and what we make of the scraps soul left us:

Forcing a mother to betray her own son; Saving a labourer from lobotomising servitorhood; Arranging the funeral of a Space Marine's discarded lover;

+

Design-wise, I am most pleased with CHAPTER SERF's favour mechanic.

The Imperium of Man is an extremely feudal network of bickering fiefdoms, each with iron monopolies on different facets of far-future life.

It made sense to me, to link what stuff you can have with how much factions like you. Buddy with the Mechanicus and you get access to fancy bionics and lightning guns. Piss off the astropaths? No psychic powers for you.

This is essentially a gear list married to a faction / major NPC relationship map. I like it because it removes the need for players to worry about dollars and cents---a thing that makes no sense in most 40K TTRPG framings.

+

I hope people find CHAPTER SERF a fun idea. I am pretty proud of it! I particularly enjoyed writing the various vocations / professions---thinking up what sort of servants Space Marines would want / need.

I started making some sketches for it, but I can't really spare the time to make all the art that I need---so the PDF is text, only, I'm afraid.

I did the layout myself, in Google Slides, which I know is the least efficient way to do things---but hey! If that isn't 40K I don't know what is.

Markets in the land of Barovia, a free PDF

Get it HERE, on my ko-fi!

This free PDF resource is a detailed merchant guide designed for Ravenloft 5e, built from a combination of tables I’ve developed over many years as a Dungeon Master and expanded through the work I’ve done running while my own solo Curse of Strahd campaign.

Across 32 pages, you’ll find stocked locations, pricing references, and immersive tools to help make Barovia (and beyond) feel more lived-in, grounded, and full of different possibilities. Inside, you’ll find:

A pricing and scarcity guide tailored to Ravenloft’s gothic survival tone

Breakdown notes and imported goods inspired by other Ravenloft domains

11 fully stocked Barovian stores, each with item lists and prices

A d100 table of eerie toys from Blinsky’s Toys, complete with pricing

Tavern and inn menus with costs, room options, and settlement-specific services

A mechanic for randomizing what the Vistani vardos offer each visit

10 rare Vistani vardos carrying imported goods from across the Demiplane of Dread

A d100 table of random imported Vistani vardo goods, with prices included

This guide is best suited for groups and solo players who enjoy in-depth world interaction, whether that means crafting, homesteading, running a business, exploring culture through trade, or simply diving deeper into Ravenloft’s atmosphere.

Drawing Resource Masterlist

hello artists ♡ I spent a long while putting this google doc masterlist together, and I hope it can be useful to others. If you know of any good resources to add, feel free to send me an ask!

these are resources that have helped me along the way 🌱

⭐My giant Drawing Resource Masterlist⭐ ₊˚ ✧ ━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━ ✧ ₊˚ ⭐Art Books⭐

⭐My giant bulk art book collection⭐

The books I’d recommend the most in this collection ⭐Morpho Series ⭐Stonehouse’s Anatomy ⭐Color & Light ⭐The Art of Over the Garden Wall ⭐Kim Jung Gi Sketch Collection ⭐Art & Fear ⭐Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain ⭐Force ⭐Henry Hensche Color Study ⭐Anatomy for the Artist ⭐Anatomy for Sculptors

⭐Manga Materials⭐

₊˚ ✧ ━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━ ✧ ₊˚ Bonus! My art notes when I draw Be free in your mild, no walls define you ~

🌱Sketch🌱 Ugly sketches are normal. The sketch is just thinking on paper. - use a small marker/watercolor brush to build up form - construction over clean line-work - don't be afraid to do multiple sketches, variety helps get your hand loosen up and you'll be surprised what you come up with as you go along.

🖊️Linework🖊️ Confident lines come from confident strokes, not perfect accuracy. One line ≠ one stroke. It’s fine to try a line 5+ times. - turn your canvas as you draw - use more curve than you think, exaggeration looks livelier than accuracy - line-weight = thicker where shadows hit, thinner on lights - when lining, think of sculpting out the form - zoom in to do line-work - use reference on Procreate to have a zoomed out version  - border the outside

🌓Values🌓 - dark and lightest value on the main focal point

🎨Coloring🎨 - color like you're coloring a coloring book - intuitive drawing - values first, darkest and lightest values on the focal point - use moodboards for reference - detailing- check details and add watermark

🌈💡✨☀️Feeling stuck? ☀️✨💡🌈 You’re not blocked, you’re tired. - go for a walk, drink some tea or caffeine - look at pinterest moodboards - look at adopts on deviantArt and pinterest - find prompts and moodboards on pinterest - listen to my playlists - read/watch tutorials online - automatic drawing - reference studies (reference other artists and life drawing) - look through favorites on deviantArt, or in my inspiration folders - draw with a candle or dim light for cozy vibes - set a 5-minute timer to break perfection paralysis

💛 MINDSET SHIFTS EVERY ARTIST NEEDS 💛  “I don’t have to be original. I just have to be expressive.” “My style shows up naturally when I stop forcing it.” “Bad drawings are compost—everything grows from them.” “My art isn’t behind. It’s on its timeline.” “Every artist I admire has hated their art at some point.”

✏️ Anatomy & Posing Tips - gesture first, anatomy second - keep the spine fluid, not straight - think in bean shapes, not outlines - overlap lines = depth - push the pose 10% more than you think - mini mantra: “If the gesture is alive, the drawing is alive.”

Posted a new print PDF on my Patreon, for backers at the $10/month print tier. This time it's the NERD INFERNO cover. You can print it out at whatever size they want and on whatever paper they want.

Free backers and those backing the Patreon below the print tier can do a one-time purchase to access the Nerd Inferno print post/PDF.

Link to the print purchase post is below:

batty.about.books and Another Story Bookshop put out lists of book recommendations and here they are

From Whole Cloth / Muneera and the Moon / Thyme Travellers (edited by) by Sonia Sulaiman

Nayra and the Djinn / Mis(h)adra / Wallflower by Iasmin Omar Ata

The Ordeal of Being Known by Malia Rose

The Skin and its Girl by Sarah Cypher

The Philistine by Leila Marshy

Against the Loveless World by Susan Abulhawa

Between Banat by Mejdulene Bernard Shomali [PDF]

Love is an Ex-Country / A Map of Home / Him, Me, Muhammad Ali by Randa Jarrar

Whispers Beneath the Orange Grove / Blood Orange / Sage / Inara: Light of Utopia (edited by) / Descrated Poppies by Yaffa As

Hazardous Spirits / Belladonna / The Salvage by Anbara Salam

This Arab Is Queer: An Anothology by LGBTQ+ Arab Writers / This Queer Arab Family (another anthology) edited by Elias Jahshan

Are You This? Or Are You This? by Madian Al Jazerah

Birthright / The Specimen's Apology / The Homosexual Intifada (edited by) by George Abraham

Halal if You Hear Me, edited by Fatimah Asghar and Safia Elhillo

My Mama's Magic by Amina Awad

Where Black Stars Rise / Confetti Realms / Squire by Nadia Shammas

The Twenty-Ninth Year by Hala Alyan

Shell Houses / Who is Owed Springtime by Rasha Abdulhadi

Queer Palestine and the Empire of Critique by Sa'ed Atshan

You Exist Too Much by Zaina Arafat

To All The Yellow Flowers by Raya Tuffaha

Guapa by Saleem Haddad

Rughum & Najda by Samar Habib

Dear God, Dear Bones, Dear Yellow by Noor Hindi

Fire In Every Direction by Tareq Baconi

Rock Flight by Hasib Hourani

Three Parties by Ziyad Saadi

Decolonial Queering in Palestine by Walaa Alqaisiyav [PDF]

Queer Palestine edited by Eman Abdelhadi, Kaleem Hawa, Jasper Saah, and the Pinko Collective 

Most are links to the authors' websites, links to purchase the books, and bolded are free pdf versions of the books/articles