iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

J? @jquestionmark.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I just recently watched Nightbreed for the first time, and just... oh wow. That movie did things to my brain I was not expecting. I'm not really sure how I avoided it for so long, and I'm not sure if I'm sad I did, or if I'm ecstatic I finally saw it when my brain was ready for it.

Poster image for Nightbreed 1990, featuring the title in large yellow text and monochome images of Cabal and several residents of Midian.

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J? @jquestionmark.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

If you see this, post a vampire that isn't Dracula (figured I'd go for the father-daughter duo here)

Count Lee from the 1985 Vampire Hunter D movie, his face shrouded in shadows and portrayed in blues and blacks with red eyes narrowed to slits.

L'Armica Lee, daughter of Count Lee in Vampire Hunter D's 1985 film adaptation. She has short bangs and extensive gold jewelry with red orbs covering her ears.

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J? @jquestionmark.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Most of these were written as part of a team, under the pen name "L.A. Graf". According to an interview, this stands for "Let's All Get Rich And Famous". This group initially consisted of Ecklar, Karen Rose Cercone, and Melissa Crandall.

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J? @jquestionmark.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

There's also a hearty list of Star Trek novels. One of them even got an audio-book narrated by George Takei.

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J? @jquestionmark.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Back when I was talking about Space Heroes & Other Fools, I got a bit distracted... Sorry. So lets talk a little more about Julia Ecklar. She didn't just write/perform great songs (you did go listen to The Dark is Rising, right?). #filk

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J? @jquestionmark.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

But from a standpoint of being interesting in a ttrpg, they have very little to offer. The two major functions they serve that could be ported to ttrpgs are better covered in other scene types: world map for major travel and new battlefronts starting up, and ground missions for boss battles.

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J? @jquestionmark.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

For the next part of the #ttrpg design of this weird Drakengard game, we're going to pull a 180 and see what to do about Aerial Missions. Events are barely gameplay and lots of story, Cutscenes are all story, Ground Missions involve bouncing around a map, but Aerial Missions are a Different Thing.

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J? @jquestionmark.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

How exactly those will manifest in design is a bigger conversation for another time, but just know that pacts (or pledges or binds or whatever I wind up calling them) will feature heavily in this hypothetical game.

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J? @jquestionmark.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

There are two incredibly cool things about pacts that I want to focus on in this game (and maybe I should have started with this): sacrifice (perhaps unwilling) and conflicting souls bound together.

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J? @jquestionmark.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Instead, we should worry about the ramifications and properties of a Pact. There seem to be some pretty clear aspects that get outlined as you make your way through the game: 1. The pair now have a shared life (HP bar, one dying means both die).

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J? @jquestionmark.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

This is followed by another cutscene where the answer is given, and the two form their pact. By... uh... combining their souls. I don't really know what to make of that, so lets not worry about it.

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J? @jquestionmark.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

In another cutscene, we see Caim find the dragon and suggest that they form a pact (in spite of his past trauma with dragons). While the dragon drags-on (a clever reference to the Japanese title that I've made here, right?) with answering, a very short and tiny ground mission takes place.

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J? @jquestionmark.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

More than almost any other element (except the Red Doors), this is the thing that I want to capture - the defining aspect of the setting that makes this world exciting and worth trying to pull the pieces apart and recapture the core of that magic in a world where tales can be told again and again.

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J? @jquestionmark.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

You know, maybe this is what I should have talked about in Drakengard first - the pact relationship. This is the part of the game that made me go, "Wow! This isn't just a Dynasty Warriors from Squeenix."

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J? @jquestionmark.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

We have a decent chunk of local wildlife and some folks that let their cats outdoors, so occasionally we'll find evidence that critters met a grisly fate. I didn't think we had local wild hedgehogs, though...

A photo of a blue leg in a red and white sneaker that appears to be from a Sonic the Hedgehog plush. It sits on the grass, just next to a road.

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J? @jquestionmark.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Losing all of your health kicks you to a Game Over, and you have to restart the battle (or load a save). This doesn't make for a very interesting option to me.

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J? @jquestionmark.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Ground battles center on this brutal combat grind. You have to manage how much damage you take vs mowing through huge numbers of enemy troops (either on the way to the objective, or as part of the objective).

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J? @jquestionmark.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

It's normal that a new objective takes over when one is satisfied, but the main flow in a ground battle is to complete an objective, unlock the next objective, and complete that. This continues until the final objective is complete and the battle is won.

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J? @jquestionmark.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

First, we need to talk about the first playable moments of the game: a ground mission. You're placed on a large map (which you can check at any time) with hundreds of enemy soldiers (and no ally soldiers, but I'm fairly certain that's a hardware limitation more than an artistic choice).

The story selection screen for the first playable part of Drakengard 2 - Chapter 1, Verse 2, "Beginnings".

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J? @jquestionmark.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Drakengard scene types! For real, this time! The game (aside from special moments like that opening text) has 5 primary scene types. Well, 3 primary playable scene types, cutscenes/videos, and the world map. #drakengard #ttrpg #ttrpgdesign

The title screen of Drakengard for the PS2.

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J? @jquestionmark.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Gotta give it up for these weirdos from the beginning of Outlaw Star. Even through they're dealt with in the first arc, they felt menacing and intense.

The three Kei pirates from the beginning of Outlaw Star, with their strange masked footsoldiers in the background.

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J? @jquestionmark.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

This is gorgeous. Though, my poor Legend of Mana brain saw the name and immediately said "wait, that's not Teapo..."

An image of Teapo, the living tea-pot creature from Legend of Mana.
The text reads: "A magical life-form with a kind heart. She thinks she is a jewelry collector, but most of them are glass fakes that Niccolo sold to her."

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J? @jquestionmark.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

post something random or you’ll have an awful September

An image of the 1969 printing of The Universal Baseball Association, Inc. paperback book, with shockingly intense cover art. The main character is bound in puppet strings, that descend to a six-armed faceless umpire. Other figures form a collage around this, primarily baseball players.

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J? @jquestionmark.bsky.social · 19/11/2025

I have been very bad about checking and posting on here, but want to turn that around. What better way than to excitedly post that I finished my #NaGaDeMon game. After 2 weeks of struggling, a new idea struck. Now I just need to put together an itch page and share it with the world!

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J? @jquestionmark.bsky.social · 19/10/2024

I've been bad about posting anything on here, so now seems like an excellent time to start. Random is maybe generous, but I had to move it to grab anything else off my shelf, so here's an absolute classic that I should make time to play again:

Sonic and Knuckles cartridge fornthe Sega Genesis, sitting on a patterned rug with too much dog hair.

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