iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Johnstone Metzger @chthonstone.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

I released revised versions of these zines to the patreon, after making changes based on the most recent playtest campaign. The Company of Monsters is a PbtA fantasy game where you play the monsters instead of the adventurers.

The first two issues of The Company of Monsters rpg in zine format. Both have monsters on the cover.

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Johnstone Metzger @chthonstone.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

The ultimate culmination of my Monthly Monsters patreon isn't the game where you play the monsters, it's the monster manuals I will write for that game.

A hardcover US Trade sized book with a green cover entitled The Kill List Issue 1 Goblins. It features an illustration of a goblin.

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Johnstone Metzger @chthonstone.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

Maybe a long shot to post here, but: Is there somebody in or near Vancouver that would want a near-complete run of Giant Robot magazine?

The cover of Giant Robot magazine number 9 featuring "the return of Maggie Cheung."

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Johnstone Metzger @chthonstone.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

Break into the necromancer's mansion, I dare you.

An illustration of a necromancer's mansion.

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Johnstone Metzger @chthonstone.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

Or you could worship the gods of luck, instead. Or you could get this illo on a t-shirt, I seem to remember my artist made one.

A hand holding open a page spread from a halfletter-sized zine. On the left page is an illustration of a weird snake-tailed goddess holding a 20-sided die in each clawed hand. On the right page is text entitled The GODS of LUCK.

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Johnstone Metzger @chthonstone.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

You could be worshipping the bat god, like that guy on the carpet. Or fight against the bat god's cult!

A hand holds open a zine. The left-hand page has text and is entitled "The BAT GOD" while the right-hand page features an illustration of a gigantic bat-winged humanoid towering over a man kneeling before it on a carpet.

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Johnstone Metzger @chthonstone.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

After a long delay, the latest issue of my Old-School Essentials monster manual zine has been released. Essential Enemies 10: Temples of Greed showcases a bunch of greedy monsters, cultists, criminals, and mercenaries. Available now at DriveThruRPG and Lulu.

A half-letter digest-sized staplebound zine entitled Essential Enemies 10: Temples of Greed liesup on a bright blue surface. The cover illustration depicts an animated bronze statue in a cave surrounded by fire, lava, and flying bats.

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Johnstone Metzger @chthonstone.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

Look at these weirdo jerks. In the Outlands.

Page of 8 pre-generated characters for a role-playing game.

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Johnstone Metzger @chthonstone.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

Maybe something is finally coming together, I dunno, but once it's done I can use it to move on to the next thing, at the very least. In the Outlands.

First page spread of a rules light rpg listing the six steps to character creation. Design includes abstract ink and paint textures (black and white).

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Johnstone Metzger @chthonstone.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

Get the pdfs of zines like this one:

Half-letter sized staplebound zine. Essential Enemies 8: From Underground. Illustration featuring a bird-beaked worm with large yellow eyes coiling around a stalactite in the dark.

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Johnstone Metzger @chthonstone.bsky.social · 06/01/2025

Dozens of original weirdo monsters in the Old-School Essentials format with full-colour illustrations.

Essential Enemies 4: Between Two Worlds, a halfletter digest sized staplebound zine on a blue background. On the cover is an illustration of Mouth Eyes a puffy white floating extraplanar monster with tentacles.

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Johnstone Metzger @chthonstone.bsky.social · 02/09/2024

The latest issue of my Old-School Essentials monster manual zine is out. Essential Enemies 9: Not of This Earth.

Cover of Essential Enemies 9: Not of This Earth. A digest-sized monster manual zine for Old-School Essentials and thus B/X D&D. The Art depicts a mass of purple tentacles, with yellow eyes, and yellow teeth and blood coming out of their mouths.

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Johnstone Metzger @chthonstone.bsky.social · 02/07/2024

Game design amirite? (And even this is the simple version.)

Flowchart style operations reference for castings spells in a tabletop role-playing game. Shown as a two-page spread with incantations on the left and rituals on the right. Page number references are all XX.

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Johnstone Metzger @chthonstone.bsky.social · 01/03/2024

Here's a demon cat familiar. He's not undead but he hangs out with someone who is.

Two pages from the Old-School Essentials monster manual zine, with an illustration of Camindor, a purple cat with yellow eyes and a large, singular horn sprouting from out of his forehead.

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Johnstone Metzger @chthonstone.bsky.social · 01/03/2024

Here's some death cultists posing for a group photo that I put in the middle of the zine so it's all on a single piece of paper (in the staplebound version anyway). I like to include old style photography in my "medieval" fantasy settings.

The middle spread from the Old-School Essentials monster manual zine Essential Enemies 7: Far Beyond Death, depicting a group of death cultists posing for a photograph.

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Johnstone Metzger @chthonstone.bsky.social · 01/03/2024

This issue is a collection of undead monsters and the death cultists who work with them.

Two pages from the Old-School Essentials monster manual zine Essential Enemies 7: Far Beyond Death, depicting a zombified dinosaur with four humanoid zombies instead of a head.

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Johnstone Metzger @chthonstone.bsky.social · 01/03/2024

The latest issue of my quarterly Old-School Essentials monster manual zine is now available: Essential Enemies 7: Far Beyond Death.

The cover of the Old-School Essentials monster manual zine Essential Enemies 7: Far Beyond Death. The illustration features three zombies in their own individual vats of green liquid, inside a cluttered workshop.

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Johnstone Metzger @chthonstone.bsky.social · 30/01/2024

I made a third one: the Wayfinders.

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Johnstone Metzger @chthonstone.bsky.social · 23/01/2024

The original Dwellers Below tables were pretty simple, so I added some more names and some extra dice.

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Johnstone Metzger @chthonstone.bsky.social · 16/01/2024

It's been close to 6 years since I started messing around with this idea, so I guess it's probably about time I made a book or something.

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Johnstone Metzger @chthonstone.bsky.social · 25/12/2023

It's the one that looks like this:

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Johnstone Metzger @chthonstone.bsky.social · 30/11/2023

Essential Enemies 6: In Darkening Woods is now available. This is the second forest-themed issue of my quarterly Old-School Essentials monster manual zine.

Cover of Essential Enemies 6: In Darkening Woods a digest halfletter sized monster manual zone. Bird monsters with long skinny legs flank a strange hut in the woods at night. A robed figure stands in the open doorway.

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Johnstone Metzger @chthonstone.bsky.social · 22/11/2023

Well it's November guess I better get a new issue of my monster manual zine out the door by the end of the month.

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Johnstone Metzger @chthonstone.bsky.social · 13/09/2023

Started making a new game, in the hopes it will help me finish making an older game. Outlanders, fantasy PbtA. www.patreon.com/posts/outlan...

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