[#TabletopThursdays] A FREE LEAGUE PUBLISHING/EXALTED FUNERAL Art Showcase.
Intro
No Joke: This Art is Helpful. For This Bird-Brained Game-Master, Anyway.
You’re in luck! For once, my completely bonkers and nocturnal sleep schedule has decided to be Normal People. Phew, I can get a decent little preamble in this morning, then later fenangle some fiddly blog-post-admin done. That is of course, before the Vyvanse wears off after work and My One ADHD Braincell (Last of two, other being ASD) won’t hit the wall harder than an unsuspecting Xenomorph under an APC’s treads.
Like Tabletop Thursdays itself, this domain writ-large has been one that I’ve admittedly found a lot of difficulty providing content for in the face of such a relentless stream of music-related material. I know. It’s really terrible, man. All this fantastic media which we’re privy to in advance. Please, no need to weep up for us; we’re poor sarcastic lost souls.
Now, onto the article proper.
I could (and will, eventually, see above and also, starting a business etc etc) expound on the virtues of Swedish publishers Fria Ligan (Free League Publishing) at exhaustive length. Heck, you’ve got in-depth reviews of Alien: The Roleplaying Game, Mutant Year Zero and Forbidden Lands to look forward to in future - from a campaign retrospective at that.
Alack, like any good ‘high-functioning’ (?unemployment and mental health issues are apparently that) late-diagnosed Autistic ADHDer, I’m a bundle of cumulative micro-trauma-induced unconscious/reflexive overcompensation. And there that little flavour of over-the-top exudes itself most, is in my bigger podcast episodes and reviews.
So ah, apologies for not getting those done, but you’ll understand that those are leviathan tasks for me.
Putting aside the fact that The Year Zero engine may just very well be the most accessible auDHDer blend of tactical crunch and ADHD I HATE NUMBERS dyscalculia, I’ve been reflecting a lot on our tagline: ‘Art, Hobbies, Riffs, Mental Health’. There’s a whole damn word right there ripe for promotion, for exonerating, for exploring.
I did so recently in our Welcome To Country, by way of sharing local Mid North Coast NSW First Nations artist Tulli Stevens, a Gumbaynggirr woman producing some seriously-rad and culturally-influenced Indigenous artwork. Given her art celebrates the spirituality of the ocean (totemic of the Gumbaynngirr Nation as ‘Gaagal’), it really got me thinking about the richness visual arts bring to our lives.
Richie Black’s shit-hot photography work on our most recent gig review (i.e. of Testament, see here for metalhead RPGer art weirdos such as myself. No? Anyone? No worries :P) is one of many where I’ve included an important onus/stipulation from me: support your local photographers, they’re the ones bringing richness and vivid sensory input into my ditherings about on a keyboard.
And lo, on that note, I’m going to shut up shortly and let the artists speak for themselves.
It truly must be said, first - as I’ll further elaborate on in the future, someone remind me this article exists - I do think it’s the crisp, digital-analog hybrid, well-textured and atmospheric art of Free League’s frankly stupidly-good artists/contractors that
Pushes me over the ‘but there’s maths in there! I’m scared!’ needle (site note; really not that much comparative to other systems bro),
Gets the brain-go-brr worldbuilding part of my double-drop neurospicy brain and just ignites it on a whole new level,
Acts as great narrative/descriptive input in and of itself when I’m game-mastering and describing characters, scenes, and
Just visually appeals to me so hard. Alien is absolutely metal, don’t even get me started on Mork Borg (a title reportedly literally intended as tabletop-roleplaying game in psychedelic doom-metal form).
I’ll be sharing snippets lifted straight out of some of the PDF products, as well as some Internet-sourced material.
To the fantastic folk at the not-WotC tabletop RPG publisher I regularly stan and adore more than most, primarily because of their fantastic system/setting design, and the to the WTF-level talented artists that nourish and perpetuate my completely-bonkers seat at the table? On behalf of myself and my players, thank you.
See below for some galleries and images, with artist links included at the bottom of course.
Time for me to shut up and hand you several small novels worth of visual verbiage ‘cause, after all, a picture’s worth a thousand words.
It should go without saying but just in case, please be sure to follow through with the artist links below and if interested about commissions, prints and the link - hit them up! Visual artists deserve our support too.
Peace, Love and Driving Players Insane In Visually-Rich Sci-Fi/Grimdark Fantasy Worlds, xoxo - Brady.
Alien: The Roleplaying Game - Official/Concept ART:
Artist/Link: Jarek Kibucki (source: Jarek’s ArtStation profile).
Caption: “A Mantis ship, heading down to a green jungle moon.”
Artwork officially licensed under Fox/Free League Publishing for The Alien RPG: Colonial Marines Operations Manual.
A book I damn well need to make sure I get a physical copy of in future for sure!
Artist/Link: Jarek Kibucki (source: Jarek’s ArtStation profile).
Caption: “Armoured Soldier.”
Artwork officially licensed under Fox/Free League Publishing for The Alien RPG: Colonial Marines Operations Manual.
(THERE’S MECHS IN THIS MF?! REEEE-)
You can check out Jarek’s official portfolio of baller sci-fi/fantasy-based graphic design and other visual media over at this link.
Credit: John R. Mullaney, c/o Free League Publishing.
Concept artwork for one of many new vehicles (the Corbelan) featured in the upcoming 2nd edition of the Alien RPG - aka the Evolved Edition, see here for info from the recent Kickstarter campaign site!
New variant on the Armat Pulse Rifle, to be included in the upcoming Rapture Protocol content included as part of the Revised Edition of Alien RPG. Credit once more to John R. Mullaney, for Free League Publishing.
Check out John’s official artist portfolio/site, particularly this section for Alien artwork! He’s also included an interesting essay on said site (alongside some similarly great concept/schematic art), detailing his involvement with the franchise as a long-term fan.
Forbidden Lands - Nils Gullikson (Gallery)
I’m not huge into fantasy as a genre overall, but Nils’ incredible line-art style is just so damn evocative and detailed. Together with the mechanics/setting, it’s truly Nils’ art that got me hooked on entering into (and still running) a campaign in the grimdark, quasi-post-apoc setting.
MORK BORG - aka The Most Metal RPG Ever.
Mork Borg as an RPG is hugely influential in the indie OSR RPG scene. Hence, there’s a whole wealth of fantastic artworks around the place! I recommend peeping Exalted Funeral’s selection in particular, as they have a huge focus on platforming independent artists/publishers.
First up, just peep how friggin’ thrash/black-metal band logo-coded Augury of Agony is (a third-party supplement available via EF):
Another one of many, many fantastic community-made ‘zines below, Trapped Within has gorgeous cover-art and very, very metal art designs within. Checkout the ‘zine page here for artist credits - Mork Borg co-creator Johan Nor himself had input on this one!
Above image is the cover art for the FREE Barebones Edition of Mork Bork RPG, provided for free by FLP here in PDF form.