iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

I feel like other board game publishers don't need this many solo cups

Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

I believe this is the only place I'm mentioned on wikipedia, a paragraph down from Daisy Ridley, Michael Sheen, and Rachel Bloom that feels about right lol sometimes it really hits me what a strange, wonderful life I get to have

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The team have also been approached about adapting the material into a film.[26] Based on the "Footnotes" episodes the team have postulated, "Elijah Wood's playing the youngish man. Daisy Ridley's the Duchess. Michael Sheen's Dr. Robbins, he was very excited about that. Thomas Middleditch wanted to be Dr Robbins too, so they'll have to fight for that. Rachel Bloom in prosthetics wanted to be Jim Sterling."[16] At the Edinburgh TV Festival, Cooper said they had also considered musical and animated versions of the podcast, and had previously attempted a pilot for a British broadcaster but this had not worked out.[27]

Belinda's Big Bonus: A Belinda Blinked Game, a boardgame by Amabel Holland, was published by Hollandspiele[28] in October 2025.[citation needed]

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

Got these couple of comments and it reminded me how incredibly fortunate I am that talented people whose work I respect will lend their voices to my weird little documentaries.

comments from Furore2323:
On my Thousand Clowns video: CHRIS FRANKLIN DETECTED
On my Hard Mode video: RANTASMO DETECTED

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

This feels more rat than mouse, and I'm reminded of how rats were blamed for the spread of the plague. (Slander!) And I thought, well, I can have some fun with that, and came up with Malingering Rat:

Malingering Rat, 3 cost rodent, Speed 1, Fight 1, Guard 1, Magic 1, one aether.
When played, your rival's drolleries which cost 6 or more are returned to their hand.
While this is in play, your rival cannot play drolleries which cost 6 or more.
"Oh, I hope some big mighty elephant doesn't squash my tiny plague-ridden body. She'd get soooo sick." - Whiskers Sam

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

So, let's add another rodent that will be an answer for elephants. I already know it's going to be a cheap, weak critter like the squeak-sneak - 1/1/1/1 stat line. I actually don't have that many good illustrations to choose from when it comes to these guys, but I find one that works:

a chubby rat getting into some... eggs? I think?

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

I added another elephant so that the manticore's exception would have some meaning in the competitive space. But this powerful top-end card needs to have a counter of its own. So, like, what are elephants weak to? Well, there's that myth about a fear of mice. And I only have one rodent in the set:

Squeak-Sneak, 3 cost rodent, Speed 1, Fight 1, Guard 1, Magic 1, creates one aether.
When played, look at the top card of your rival's deck. You may exchange it with a card from your hand. If you choose not to, or have no card in hand, put it back on top of their deck.
Everything they took, they replaced, hoping Long Tom wouldn't look closely enough to know the difference.

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

For (2), she has "while this is in play, drolleries that return to hand are burned instead". (Burned = removed from the game). That's a different kind of counter than dragonslayer just cancelling flight, and is applicable to a wider variety of creatures. This card is a bomb.

Dragonsbane Elephant, 7 cost elephant, Speed 3, Fight 4, Guard 4, magic 1, produces 3 aether.
While this is in play, drolleries that return to hand are burned instead.
Fever: when this recovers, remove one wound only. While wounded, it makes no aether.
Dragons thirst for the blood of elephants, colder than the frost, to refresh themselves on hot days. This blood boils with fever.

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

For (1), I originally considered "Hunted", an ability that some powerful drolleries have that prevents them from healing altogether. But this elephant is not being hunted, it *was* hunted, and it won. It doesn't feel right thematically.

Regal Lion, 6 cost cat, Speed 2, Fight 3, Guard 4, Magic 1, two aether.
Ambush: when played, attacks a drollery of your choice (your rival cannot protect it).
Fearsome: when played, choose a rival drollery & return it to your rival's hand.
Hunted: this does not recover.
"Like all kings, lions are vicious brutes. Nobility is just lies and poetry." - Whistletuft Manslayer

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Okay, so let's get back to elephants & the manticore. Again, I didn't want just one card to be immune to the manticore, so I had to add one or two more elephants, & many of those illustrations feature them being strangled by dragons. But in one of them, it kinda looked like the elephant won!

A dragon wrapped around what appears to be a very alive, if irritable, elephant.

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

This "can't fly" ability also of course applies to birds, which are less powerful than dragons but can sometimes have good "when played" effects. You don't want Devil Owl to keep bouncing from play and then returning to strike again.

Devil Owl, 4 cost bird, Speed 2, Fight 3, Guard 1, Magic 1.
Flight, plus Ambush: when played, attacks a drollery of your choice (your rival cannot protect it).
The worst part is, you know it's coming. There's nowhere you can hide, for it can see you from that other place.

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Flight lets the card escape back to your hand provided the attacker doesn't also have flight, so that you might be able to play it again on a later turn instead of having it removed from the game. I needed a way to counter that, and one of my earliest card designs was dragonslayer.

Dragonslayer, 5 cost human, Speed 2, Fight 4, Guard 1, Magic 1, draws a card.
While this is in play, your rival's drolleries cannot use Flight.
"More important than lance or shield is a steady gaze to hold the beast. Blink once, and die." - Captain Wyles

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

The drawback in the case of my War Elephant is that if you flip over a "6" or more, it defeats itself. And I kinda assumed it was going to be my only elephant card, though not the only featuring elephants in the art. Elephants and dragons actually show up a *lot* together in medieval art.

Fearsome Dragon, 7 cost dragon, Speed 3, Fight 4, Guard 4, Magic 3, creates 3 aether.
Flight: if attacked, can return to hand unless the attacker has flight.
Fearsome: when played, choose a rival drollery & return it to your rival's hand.
"Don't run. It's been so long since I've had roasted elephant." - Grenclaw VI

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

A card with 4 guard is actually pretty hard to deal with because attacks are always one creature against another targeted creature, and wounds *usually* disappear at the end of the turn. So I tend to give my big guys & gals some kind of drawback or reduced healing, like Fever:

Blood Fever Knights, 6 cost human, Speed 3, Fight 3, Guard 4, Magic 1, creates two aether.
Fever: when this recovers, remove one wound only. While wounded, it makes no aether.
When played, it must deal three damage to one drollery (rival, friendly, or itself).
"We kill to live, boys, and we die for life. But them knights live and die only to hack things red." - Whistletuft Manslayer

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Now, I had one elephant card in the set already, and it's a pretty good card! It makes your opponent discard every time you swing with it, & against cheap, aggressive decks it will pump your other cards reliably.

War Elephant, 6 cost elephant, Speed 3, Fight 4, Guard 4, Magic 1, creates two aether.
If this attacks, your rival discards the top card of their deck. If its cost is less than this card, give your other drolleries +1 Fight for this Combat Phase. Otherwise, defeat this card.
"Elephants have long memories. Do you?" - The Book of Riddles and Mysteries

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

I had a similar situation yesterday I needed a drollery that would kill anything that attacked it - it's a classic kind of guy. Manticore is a shoo-in for this, because its sting is supposed to be instantly fatal, except elephants are immune. Okay, that's weird & fun, let's use that.

Manticore, 5 cost monster, Speed 3, Fight 2, Guard 3, Magic 1, creates two aether.
Protector: if not attacked, this may replace another as an attack target.
If this does damage to a non-Elephant drollery during your rival's Combat Phase, that drollery is defeated.
"I felt it nick me in what was left of my arm. The sting works quick, Ban. I knew what I had to do." - Captain Wyles

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

So I search the folders of hundreds of images I saved for this project and find a weasel. I gave my muskwitch a discard ability that removes wounds, countering the basilisk's poison ability but at a cost.

Muskwitch, 4 cost weasel, Speed 1 Fight 1 Guard 2 Magic 2.
Sneak: its attack targets cannot be protected.
Discard (Combat): each card discarded removes one would from a drollery. You may do this to avoid its defeat.
"You called, cousin, and so we came. But once we've wriggled you out of your mess, we will talk of the price." - Galanthis

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Another huge concern is building a competitive environment - every card having answers. Often, these two concerns dovetail. For example, the image I used for my basilisk features a weasel because in folklore basilisks are weak to the musk of the weasel.

Deadly Basilisk, cost 6 monster, Speed 2 Fight 2 Guard 2 Magic 1, creates 2 aether (circle symbols).
Gaze: at the start of your rival's Combat, choose a drollery; it cannot attack this turn.
Poison: while this is in play, drolleries do not recover from wounds.
"He's set his monsters on his own people, and mine. Cousins, we need you, and will pay any price." - Whistletuft Manslayer

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Another design 🧵 for the card game whose working title is Majascule. Unquestionably one of the things that shapes this design is the art, which is all taken from medieval bestiaries & marginalia (drolleries, miniatures, grotesques).

Headtraders, a 4 cost grotesque with Speed 3, Fight 2, Guard 2, Magic 1, which generates a card draw each turn (diamond symbol).
Immortal: whenever this card is burned or defeated, discard it instead.
When played, look at the top card of your deck. You may swap it with the top card of your discard pile.
"An equal trade! Mine for yours!"

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

The subject of my next documentary - the first-known trans woman to work as a game designer, way back in the early 1970s - also made a number of toys, including this one for toddlers

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

I would say this has to be on purpose but back when I had a day job and worked with bank VPs on a daily basis the absolute dumbest of them were at Bank of America

Bofa rewards
Open or enroll your account

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Now, this isn't enough. Clearly I need some cheap stabilizers - things that are a little more stubborn, or cost something to remove. And some high-end critters are too strong. These Doctors of Philossify originally had 3 fight & 3 guard (now 1), which made it easy to pick off any new critter.

Doctors of Philossify cannot be protected, or take damage for a Holy drollery. When played, they return one of your burned cards to your hand.

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Mousers is pretty weak, and if none of the other player's drolleries are wounded, it will defeat itself immediately. And wounds usually go away at the end of the turn. I say "usually" because the bigger, tougher creatures tend to not remove their wounds or have restrictions on their removal.

Golden Stag doesn't remove wounds, Blood Fever Knights only removes one wound at a time and doesn't generate aether when wounded, Great Snail doesn't recover.

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Here are two such cards - Mousers and Bullied Bunny. I've given the Mousers the aether ability (that's the circle) and the Bunny a card draw (that's the diamond).

Mousers: when played, this does one damage to a wounded drollery, or one damage to itself.
Bullied Bunny: This drollery cannot attack when you discard a card from your hand. If you ever have no other hares in play, return this card to your hand.

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Kaiju Table Battles is OOP for the moment because I have to stuff a bunch of envelopes with cards and standees, which I hope to do soon. This morning, I was thinking about where that idea came from, and how central @sbmakesstuff.bsky.social was to me committing to it, so I dug up this bit from 2023:

Like I said up top, queer art can allow others to see themselves in the reflection. So obviously, at least one of my monsters was going to be textually trans – designed to help eggs recognize something of themselves in her. But which her would it be?

Because for me to see Amabel, I needed to see two reflections, each existing at different points in time. I needed to recognize that the thing I was feeling – the thing I had felt my whole life, the thing I couldn't name and seemingly no one could relate to – was felt by other people. I needed to be given words to describe who I was. But I also needed to be shown who I could be. I needed to hold the terrible present and the glorious future in my head simultaneously, so I needed to see both. Trans people talking about gender dysphoria – particularly trans people who came out later in life – gave me the first part, and trans people being unapologetically themselves and living their best lives gave me the second.

But what if I had a single monster who changed? We see her pre-transition, then something happens, and we see her after. Well, obviously I'd need to hide that post-transition self in an envelope or something, and then between matches, after accomplishing something or another, you'd open it and swap them out. The differences would not just be cosmetic or narrative, but mechanical. The pre-transition monster would emphasize its pain, and the ways it fails to relate to those around it – easy enough in a game that revolves around teamwork and synergies. But once she comes into her own, she would be more powerful than anyone — herself included – could imagine. Instead of feeling small and constrained, she would feel full, brimming with possibilities – possibilities that would have echoes of what came before.

"Holy gosh", I said at the time. "This is like the best idea I've ever had." But I was afraid to share it with people. It felt too intensely personal. Like the very act of talking about it would leave my belly exposed and vulnerable. If I told the wrong person – if someone thought it was dumb or, worse, couldn't relate to what I was on about – it would wreck me.

So it was a jealously-guarded secret for a couple of weeks. Around this time, I started dating this one trans girl. Well, actually, I started dating four trans girls – discovering I was poly and then starting four relationships in the course of a few days, because of course I did – but only one of them is relevant to this part of the story, and she's the only one of the four that I'm still with today, so let me tell you about Samhain Bones.

First of all, holy crow, that name. What an absolute power move. Like her, I also chose my whole name, and sure, "Amabel" is a little bit extra, but the "Holland" is a normal name, chosen both for sentimental and for business reasons. But Samhain Bones? That name is a shotgun blast to the face: I get to be who I want to be, so I'm going to be me as hard as I possibly can.

She's always herself as hard as she can. Confrontationally queer, visibly trans. The kind of girl who describes herself as "clocky" and takes pride in that. I was about to say that the early weeks of our relationship consisted of her revealing new ways in which she was rad, prompting me to fall for her even harder, but really, that's still the way it is.

Samhain and I are both queer trans women. But more than that, we're both queer trans women for whom "queer" and "trans" are the most important parts. We've zero interest in assimilation or making ourselves palatable for a world that's against us. We talked a lot about this, especially in those first couple weeks, and about queer horror – about monsters as metaphors for queerness. And it felt like if there was anybody to tell about my monster-in-the-envelope, it'd be her.

And so, terrified out of my mind, I shared my secret. She was as enthusiastic about it as I was. She saw what I saw. And so, I committed to the idea.

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

did end-of-quarter royalty payments this morning, and I'm proud to confirm that our bestseller City of Six Moons has surpassed over 6,000 copies sold. I decided to mark the occasion with a little data crunching - here's a look at the top 15 games from a small POD publisher.

Top 15 titles, correlated with player count and duration. City of Six Moons (1200 min, solo), Table Battles (20 min, 2P), Agricola (60 min, solo), Wars of Marcus Aurelius (90 min, solo, OOP), Charlemagne (180 min, solo), An Infamous Traffic (60 min, multi, OOP), Supply Lines of American Revolution (180 min, 2P), Field of the Cloth of Gold (30 min, 2P), Stilicho (90 min, solo), Horse & Musket (60 min, 2P), NATO Air Commander (90 min, solo), This Guilty Land (60 min, 2P), Meltwater (60 min, 2P), Nicaea (90 min, multi)

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

You attack, then, to deplete the other player's ability to generate aether. And the bunny player can just not attack the Bonnacon, and concentrate on whatever else the other side ends up playing. Except. Now there's that Devil Owl on top of the discards.

Devil Owl. The relevant ability is "Ambush": when played, attacks a drollery of your choice (your rival cannot protect it).

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

When played, Devil Owl will attack a drollery of your choice, but since his speed is "2", he's too slow to do much about these mutant bunnies. But the player also has a Bonnacon:

Bonnacon, monster. When defeated: all drolleries receive two wounds.

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

This made it difficult for the other side to keep any cards on the board. And they came into their next turn with six cards in hand. Now, how this works is you pay for cards by either discarding other cards from your hand (the discard pile will cycle eventually), or you spend "aether".

A hand of cards, including a Devil Owl and a Bonnacon. We'll get to those.

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

This time around, I'm working in a very TCG-type space, which means I get to make a lot of fun weird toys for people to play with. This afternoon's playtest saw a bunnies deck take an early advantage. Hares are weak critters (usually die in one hit) but with their fast speed of "1" hit first.

Five cards in play. A Giant Snail, a Hunting Hare, a Bullied Bunny, a Gang of Hares, and Crosshares.

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

prototyping the card game about the funny lil guys

A mass of cards printed on card stock, with strips of discards and scissors in view.

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Just finished playing through all of Shnik (from the team that did the delightful Plungeroo). Some early puzzles to give you a taste:

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I stg this clip has been playing in my head all this last week

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I'm on the mend and need some company & distraction. Ask me questions - about games, art, life, anything really.

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

after ten years, for the first time, Hollandspiele is putting the "board" in "board game"

The honest-to-gosh folding board for Dragon Pizza.

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

gotta finish up the illustrations for the holiday game I'm frankly a little concerned by how much "a symphonkny of horror" has me in stitches

A card from "That Chrumbo's Gonna Be A Star" depicting a scene from "Gosferatu: A Symphonkny of Horror (1922)", with the title card "Gosferatu. Does this word not sound like the midnight honk of the Bird of Death?"

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

(tom waits voice): what's she building in there

Six cards from a work-in-progress, using medieval marginalia as illustrations. Each has a cost, title, type, speed, attack, guard, magic, listed in this alt text in that order.
2 mousers (cat) 1/1/1/1: When this is played, it deals one damage to a wounded drollery, or one damage to itself. ("Now that we've got you, you'll lead us to the colony. We have ways of making you squeak." – Long Tom)
4 crosshares (hare) 1/2/1/1: Handburn (Alchemy): count your hares in play, then defeat an enemy drollery whose guard is equal to or less than the count. ("For every one of theirs we hit, the boys also hit one of ours. Glad their aim is improving." – Whistletuft Manslayer)
5 wandering mystic (fox) 2/2/1/1: Holy: if attacked, another of your drolleries may take the damage instead. Defeat: discard it to your rival's pile instead. (He was guided by visions to new places. What luck they always conspired to bring him to the wealthy and gullible.)
4 wheat thrashers (human) 2/2/2/1: Protector: if not attacked, this drollery may replace another as an attack target. (Manslayer showed the rebels that flails, used to beat the grain from their husks, could also separate a tyrant from his.)
5 mad dancers (grotesque) 3/3/2/1: When played, you and your rival each draw a card face-down from your decks and place it on the table. Choose one to put in your hand; your rival takes the other. ("Come dance with us, stranger! We saw you from acrost the field, and we are drawn to thy spirit!")
4 wyrmling (dragon) 2/3/1/2: Flight: if attacked by a non-flying drollery, can be returned to your hand. Aether created by this drollery during your Alchemy is not removed in your end phase. ("I took pity on a poor, helpless hatchling, and stayed my hand. And that, dear Ban, is how I lost it." – Captain Wyles)

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

congrats to Elaine and Efka of @nopunincluded.com for what is unquestionably one of the greatest thumbnails on their channel

Thumbnail with Efka's face on the seat of a chair

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

I feel like I follow people who could answer this authoritatively, breaking it down across all continuities

Searching for "is scooby doo named after scooby snacks in diegesis"

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

someone in a discord saw this bit from the dragon pizza rulebook and asked if all hollandspiele games are this funny and, like, not *all* of them - some of them are about corporations evading culpability for a hundred million deaths - but the ones that aren't a bummer? yeah, I think so

Info box labelled IMMERSIVE LORE: You'll note the Dragons for orange and purple are slightly different colors than the discs and Heroes, and you might think this is some kind of production mistake. Turns out it's not! These dragons are, uh, worshiped by their humanoid employees, and it's considered sacrilege to usurp their holy colors. There's no mechanical effect, but it's cool world-building, right? It certainly has nothing to do with the fact that we used two different wood suppliers this time around.

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Just saw a "realistic" painted version of the Serlo's Keep cover that I am pretty sure is generated by ai and man, what an incredible bummer like, I'd *love* to see other people draw their own version of these two dorks, that sounds rad, but it has to be *people* doing it y'know?

The dorks in question: a skeleton hoisting an axe overhead and a big guy with a deer skull head holding a caduceus, both dressed in fur.

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

at long last, coming this november

The box cover for Dragon Pizza, designed by Amabel Holland & Mary Holland, with art by Wil Alambre & Donal Hegarty. The cover has a public domain dragon breathing fire upward, and reminds you this this game is both "DELICIOUS!" and "HOT!"

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Time to layout the rulebook for Dragon Pizza

OUR HISTORY
Once the great dragons reigned over the earth, delighting in cruelty and avarice. Many nations tried to break them; each was broken in turn. But these pieces were brought together, and a great coalition at last scattered the great houses, beginning the Age of the Free Lands.

The dragons did not return until they had been forgotten. The memories of men are short, and what are a few centuries to the patience of a dragon? In that time, they reflected on their crimes, and what their vices had cost them. They will not make such mistakes again. This is not a time for banners and bloodshed; this is a time for mascots and synergies.

They will not rule as great houses. They will be brands.
COMPONENTS (pictured): 2 Dragons, 2 Heroes, and 6 Discs in each color; 4 Cows, 4 Wood, 4 Stone (one for each player); The Pig of Time

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Peter Cullen had a long career with many highlights but I will always remember him as the first voice of Mario in the shitty Donkey Kong cartoon on Saturday Supercade he might be the only one on the whole show actually putting in any effort

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

One of the sweetest things Samhain did when we started dating was put labels on boxes

Northern Pacific, a game by Chewbacca Expert Amabel Holland

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

The next day we talked about what we each wanted, and what that would look like. Once we had agreed on the details, I gave her a small task to make it real.

Handwritten and underlined: Miss, I am ready to be owned.

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