AJ Pickett

Illustration for the Super Atomic RPG, this character is called Alleycat.

4 days ago | [YT] | 249

AJ Pickett

Gotcha.
Happy April first everyone.

1 month ago | [YT] | 183

AJ Pickett

Great news, I will be partnering with a new publishing company in Shenzhen province that has a brand new tech to print a book directly onto METAL for the premium Kickstarter backers for the Super Atomic RPG... good thing we kept the content so lean and saved on page count, because this is going to be HEAVY!

1 month ago | [YT] | 125

AJ Pickett

The Giant Bombadier Beetle Riders of Gracklstugh

Deep in the Underdark, where madness festers and the air hums with the whispers of forgotten gods, the Derro—twisted, blue-skinned humanoids driven by paranoia and cruelty—have tamed a creature as volatile as their own minds: the Giant Bombardier Beetle. These hulking insects, grown monstrous in the dark caverns, scuttle through tunnels on six clacking legs, their glossy black carapaces streaked with veins of sickly yellow. At a glance, they’re a nightmare of chitin and menace, stretching eight feet long and standing waist-high to a human, with mandibles that snap like steel traps. But it’s the acrid stench wafting from their swollen abdomens that truly warns of their danger—a promise of the scalding, noxious spray they unleash when provoked.

The Derro didn’t domesticate these beasts out of patience or skill; they broke them with sheer insanity. Legends among the deep-dwellers say the first Derro beetle-tamers were savants, sorcerers whose fractured minds resonated with the beetles’ primal fury. They lured the creatures with heaps of rotting flesh—carrion scavenged from failed raids—and bound them with chains forged in mad rituals to their god Diirinka, the patron of deceit and stolen magic. Now, the Derro ride these beetles into battle, cackling atop crude saddles lashed to the insects’ backs, their crossbows and hooked spears gleaming with poison. The beetles aren’t just mounts; they’re living weapons, their chemical blasts turning cramped tunnels into choking killzones.

To the Derro, the Giant Bombardier Beetle is more than a tool—it’s a symbol of their warped genius. They call them “Diirinka’s Spitters,” believing each scalding spray is a gift from their deity, a blessing to burn away their enemies and their own endless fears. Other Underdark races—duergar, drow, even the mind flayers—give these mounted lunatics a wide berth, knowing the Derro’s recklessness makes them as likely to blow themselves up as their foes. And yet, the beetles endure, their armored bodies shrugging off blows as they charge, driven by hunger and the Derro’s relentless prodding. In the dark, where sanity is a luxury, the Giant Bombardier Beetle and its rider are a perfect, terrible match.

In the heart of the Underdark, where the air grows thick with heat and the clang of hammers echoes through stone, lies Gracklstugh, the City of Blades. This sprawling Duergar stronghold squats beside a vast, subterranean lake called the Darklake, its waters black and still, reflecting the glow of molten forges like a mirror of night. The city’s gray stone walls rise jagged and unyielding, bristling with spiked turrets and choked with the smoke of smithies that never sleep. Duergar, dour and relentless, toil here, their grim faces streaked with soot as they craft weapons of war and whisper of betrayal in shadowed alleys. But Gracklstugh isn’t theirs alone—lurking in its underbelly, festering in the cracks of this iron-clad order, are the Derro, a seething tide of paranoia and spite.

The Derro claim no grand district in Gracklstugh; they infest its fringes, squatting in crumbling warrens carved into the city’s outer walls or beneath its docks, where the Darklake’s damp seeps through stone. Their presence is a thorn in the Duergar’s side—tolerated only because the Derro’s madness occasionally births brilliance, and their Giant Bombardier Beetles bring a reckless edge to Gracklstugh’s defenses. These blue-skinned lunatics scurry through the streets, hauling chains and rancid meat to feed their mounts, their high-pitched cackles clashing with the Duergar’s dour grunts. The beetles clack alongside them, mandibles snapping at anything that strays too close, their yellow-streaked shells glinting in the forge-light as they drag crude sledges piled with scavenged junk or fresh kills.

Beyond the city’s walls, the Derro’s true territory unfurls—a sprawling fungal jungle that stretches into the tunnels west of Gracklstugh, fed by the heat and mineral-rich runoff of the Darklake. Here, the air hums with spores and the sickly-sweet stink of decay. Towering mushrooms, some as tall as trees, glow with bioluminescent veins of purple and green, their caps drooping under the weight of parasitic vines that drip viscous sap. The ground is a spongy morass, littered with the husks of lesser insects and the bones of unwary travelers, picked clean by the Derro’s beetles. These “Diirinka’s Spitters” roam freely when not saddled, their clawed legs tearing through the undergrowth as they hunt, their acidic sprays sizzling through fungal stalks to flush out prey. The Derro patrol this jungle atop their mounts, crossbows cocked and spears poised, shrieking battle cries to their god as they chase down intruders or rival clans.

At the jungle’s edge, where the mushrooms thin and the air grows sharp with sulfur, lies a scalding spring—a bubbling, steaming pool that spills from a cavern wall into a massive chamber beyond. The spring’s heat is unbearable, its waters laced with corrosive minerals that sting the lungs and blister the skin. Past its banks, the cavern opens into a surreal, jagged expanse, carved by centuries of acid rain that falls from fissures in the ceiling high above. The rain hisses as it strikes the stone, eating away at it to form towering, needle-like peaks that gleam with wet, eroded edges, and deep crevices that plunge into shadow. The floor is a pitted maze of pools and sharp ridges, the air thick with a caustic mist that burns the eyes and coats the tongue with a metallic tang.

This cavern is a crucible of faerzress—the wild, radiant magic that pulses through the Underdark’s depths. Its shimmering, violet glow seeps from the stone, bathing the peaks and pooling in the crevices, a raw energy that warps flesh and twists life. It’s here, in this hostile womb, that the Giant Bombardier Beetles mutated and evolved. The faerzress supercharged their glands, turning a natural defense into a weapon of war—their sprays grew hotter, more potent, their shells thicker to withstand the acid’s bite. The Derro see this place as sacred, a gift from Diirinka, and they raid it for beetle larvae, dragging the wriggling grubs back to Gracklstugh to raise in captivity. The cavern’s edges, where the acid rain thins, mark a natural barrier—keeping the fungal jungle at bay, its spores unable to take root in the corrosive ground.

The Derro beetle riders rule this borderland with frenzied pride. They charge through the jungle on their mounts, spraying foes and fleeing into the cavern’s crevices when pressed, daring enemies to follow where the acid rain and faerzress await. The Duergar of Gracklstugh watch warily, knowing the Derro’s territory is both a shield and a liability—a buffer against invaders, but a powder keg of chaos that could one day turn inward. In this corner of the Underdark, where steel meets madness and nature bends to magic, the Giant Bombardier Beetle and its riders thrive, a volatile symphony of destruction echoing through the dark.

1 month ago (edited) | [YT] | 148

AJ Pickett

I was approached by Resolution games via email asking me if I would promote their upcoming partnership with Hasbro to bring a version of their Demeo VTT game onboard, I declined to agree to their gag order until the announcement (coming soon). If I had known this sickening move by Hasbro was coming for their Sigil staff, I would have shouted my warning to them, but... too late. I will say this though, Resolution Games should RUN from this 'Partnership' because Hasbro WILL take their IP and it WILL fire them all shortly after. Mark my words.

This is why they nerfed Planeswalkers and other aspects of Magic the Gathering, this is why they made the changes to D&D 2024, this has been their plan all along... they want to turn Magic the Gathering and D&D into a video game, and this is how they are doing it, EVERYTHING else they have and will say, is a complete lie.

https://youtu.be/QpiunIuI7Rg?si=XituY...

1 month ago | [YT] | 53

AJ Pickett

www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/514583/player-s-ex…

Class expansions for Shadowdark RPG!
Barbarian, Bard, Commander, Druid, Monk, Paladin, Ranger, Shaman, Sorcerer and Warlock.


Ancestry expansions for Shadowdark RPG!
Avian, Atlantean, Bugbear, Centaur, Changeling, Construct, Dragonblood, Fairy, Fiendish, Firbolg, Gnome, Kobold, Minotaur, Ooze, Saurian, Troll and Turtloid.

Pay What You Want on DrivethruRPG right now!

1 month ago | [YT] | 86

AJ Pickett

First up, the Coffer Corpse, then some short stories from Dragon Magazine, then The Giant Velvet Worm for tabletop fantasy games. In the background, the Super Atomic RPG is going through a final edit and check before we lock in the text and I add illustrations. I feel like Obelix is my spirit animal.

1 month ago | [YT] | 321

AJ Pickett

If you are waiting for a review of the new Dungeons and Dragons 2024 monster manual from me... don't bother, I don't do negative reviews. That should tell you all you need to know from me on the topic.

2 months ago | [YT] | 436

AJ Pickett

I'm not sure when it happened exactly, but Baldur's Gate is a clear example of where a huge shift in gaming preference is staring us right in the face.

Players roll dice when told, and they roll them once, and it's always the identical dice.

Take away the little bonus and penalty points, and that's it; all the other dice are implied, and all the game mechanics are represented, but it's primarily automated because players don't need all the distractions when teleporting phase spiders are trying to eat their faces.

Baldur's Gate is either catering to, training, or pioneering (depending on your point of view) a new rules-light, narrative-heavy style of roleplaying.

Light, do you see the Light?

Sometimes, we need new editions not because the game changed... but because we changed, and the game needs to catch up or get left behind.

Currently, it seems like everyone is a bit overloaded with game mechanics. These are relics of wargaming we don't need because the concepts are all mainstream tropes now; I don't have to explain what every little thing is; players get it; they play fantasy games or read books or watch movies and series; they don't need the training wheels, so, Baldur's Gate took those training wheels off, they taught me a lesson on how to do it smoothly and without ruffling any feathers. It's not about politics or change for no good reason; it's just about adaptation and evolution in a living, hobby space.

So thank you, Larian Studios, for your excellent game and for keeping Dungeons and Dragons alive.

2 months ago | [YT] | 440

AJ Pickett

This month, The Batrachi and Bazim-Gorag. The Eye of the Deep beholder. A Tale from Dragon Magazine called 'The Ever After'.
More Classic Fiend Folio monsters, some Palladium Books Multiverse Lore.

Spookie, my familiar and fine upstanding citizen cat, turns 1 year old on the 22nd of Jan. He will be feasting on fresh meat, and indulging in a dish or two of full fat cream. Well done Spookie!

2 months ago | [YT] | 437