One Vile Pile at a Time, Petty Gods Style

The Petty Gods project, as I'm sure most folks know by now, has BLOWN UP. Greg over at Gorgonmilk shot some emergency adrenaline into the heart of what had been a dead/indefinitely forestalled collection of less than commonly worshiped deities from all sorts of OSR folks. You can get the full story here.

I volunteered my scratching and markmaking, completing a total of four particularly foul or corrupt outer beings thus far with more on the way. My first two, the Twin Blasphemies Nug and Yeb, come from Lovecraft through a number of stories which harbor no physical description aside from 'they look like their mom, Shub-Niggurath.'

So I consulted the Mythos-corrupted scholar Robert Parker, tended to his recommended reading (I call it 'research' to those who question my time management), listened to Robert Price read aloud Joe Pulver Sr.'s channeling of "The Black Litany of Nug and Yeb," followed the faint scent of Mesoamerican mythology from the stories, and arrived at a mixture of Shubby and physical descriptions of the Black and Red versions of the Azteca god Tezcatlipoca (Black Tezcatlipoca and Xipe Totec, respectively).

Now keep in mind this was my personal path to crafting an image for the two, as the illustrious James Mishler is writing up the  full descriptions for the two!

This is what came out:

 I also completed The Beast of Unbidden Challenges, based on an excellent description from Nate, the creator of A Desolate Shrine. Here's the cutie:

Following with the mad, lost god Qu'pan, developed by Richard Iorio II, who runs Rogue Games (Colonial Gothic; Shadow, Sword & Spell).

Full stats and descriptions for these godlings can be found in the forthcoming Expanded Petty Gods over at Gorgonmilk. Cheers!

Foul Beastie for a Good Friend

Here's a piece of concept art I rendered back in March for Robert Parker's "Rogues and Reavers" blog, where he simultaneously dives off the deep end into the Old School Gaming Revival (OSR) and builds his own swords & sorcery world called Krul.

Mr. Parker has lived and breathed gaming and weird fiction for the better part of his life, and when he asked me to develop a critter for Krul, I happily accepted. You can check out his full description of the Varmints here; for now, gaze your eyes on this nasty little nightmare-eating beastie.

If you'd like me to mock up some monsters for your campaign world, game development, or story ideas, just drop me an e-mail; I would be happy to work within your budget or for trade. Check out Rogues and Reavers for a dose of pop culture sword & sorcery analysis and some old school gaming. Thanks!