The Singing Pickle sings "Santa Claus (I Still Believe in You)" by Alabama

Below is the longest animation endeavor I've ever accomplished! When I was 12 years old, I was messing around in front of the camera when my family was decorating the Christmas tree and I made a pickle sing one of the carols that was playing in the background. Thus began a weird tradition of "the Singing Pickle" that made an appearance each Christmas season. And today, for the first time, he makes an appearance in animated form as part of my family Christmas Eve talent show. Enjoy!

Deities of Hearth: Artifacts

Among the legendary magic items of Hearth, none are more renowned than the possessions of the gods themselves. These artifacts embody divine will and the power of the Pentatheon. Where they appear, these weapons change the tide of wars and the course of history.

Typically a deity bestows their weapon only on a favored champion or devotee. Depending on the champion’s piety score, the mortal can tap into hidden properties of the weapon. Alternatively, those who don’t worship the weapon’s divine owner often find themselves cursed for their lack of proper devotion.

EDIT 2023: AI art illustrations added!

Deities of Hearth: Lawbringer

Lawbringer

God of Order

Lawbringer is an ambiguous, androgynous god of absolute order, the deity of cities, civilization, technology, crafting, and nobility. Lawbringer does not care for mercy or circumstance: only justice and equality. Lawbringer is the patron god of judges, kings, and those who crave justice, or sometimes even vengeance, and are sometimes called even to settle disputes among the gods or devils. Lawbringer finds beauty only in straight lines and hard angles, never in shades of gray or in wavering. Lawbringer is also the god of fire, which refines metals and turns the wood of the wilds into warmth and light for civilization.

Lawbringer is depicted as a bald, androgynous being with brassy skin holding scales in one hand and a hammer in the other, wearing a robe with geometric symbols across it.

Deities of Hearth: Deepwarden

Deepwarden

God of Death

Deepwarden is the god of the ocean, darkness, treasures beneath the earth, secrets, and death. He is the overseer of dying souls who pass through the underworld, the patron god of underground peoples and monsters in dark places, and the merciless deity who stirs up nations to war against each other. Warriors on both sides of battles pray to him for guidance, and he often favors those who sacrifice to him or who have secrets of their own to share with him or tribute to pay his churches.

Deepwarden is depicted as a stern man with ashen skin, eyes that glow like blue embers, and golden armor studded with diamonds. He is often shown holding two black swords or riding his giant skeletal dragon, Kalsedne.

Deities of Hearth: Moondancer

Moondancer

Goddess of the Wilds

Moondancer is the daughter of Skyfather and Hearthmatron and the goddess of animals, the chaos of the wilds, the moon, and the hunt. She is the patron goddess of hunters, herders, rangers, and those who live far away from civilization. She is also the goddess of revelry, lust, and wine, as well as the patron goddess of thieves, who pray to her when sneaking about by moonlight.

She is depicted as a beautiful elven woman with pale skin covered with markings of many colors across her body, wearing a suit of skins and holding a bow and arrow. Her pet, Silversong, is said to be able to take any bestial shape, but is most often a silvery falcon, leopard, stag, or zebra.

Deities of Hearth: Hearthmatron

 

Hearthmatron

Goddess of Life

Hearthmatron is the mother of all living, the soul of Hearth itself. She is the patron goddess of midwives, farmers, and families, and the force of unselfish good in the world. Peasants pray to her for fertility, both in themselves and in their crops, and all those who are sick beseech her healing powers. Of all the gods, Hearthmatron has the most clerics, all of whom wander the land ridding it of disease and purging it of undead. 

Wise and even-tempered, Hearthmatron values community, stability, and the balance of nature. She is the god of maternity, family, orphans, domestication, and agriculture, as well as defense of the home and territory.

Hearthmatron is depicted as a pregnant, middle-aged woman wearing green robes and flowers in her hair.

Deities of Hearth: Skyfather

Skyfather

God of the Skies

Skyfather is the embodiment of the uncaring elements from above. Sunlight, snow, lightning, wind, and rain do not distinguish between law and chaos. They merely exist to run their course, and so does Skyfather.

Pride and self-assurance radiate from Skyfather as light floods from the sun. He is cheerful and sociable, forming bonds easily with those who prove themselves strong and honorable. His friendship can be as easily lost, though, turning him from ally to enemy as the consequence of a single misstep or perceived betrayal.

He is often depicted as a strong, bronze-skinned warrior with clouds for a beard, eyes as bright as the sun, and wielding a spear of lightning and a swirling shield of wind.

The Pentatheon: Deities of Hearth

In this new series, I'll be exploring the aspects of the five gods of my homebrew D&D world, Hearth, collectively known as The Pentatheon. I've organized each article like the sourcebook Mythic Odysseys of Theros, so consult that book if you're not sure how things like piety work. I personally highly recommend limiting your homebrew pantheon to just a few gods like this. It's much easier for the players to remember and much simpler for fleshing them out as the DM.

Shaarzahn Races: Hathinors

 I've always loved the idea of a "good demon" subversion of a race, but these Hathinors ended up basically being draenei from World of Warcraft.

Shaarzahn Races: Tibaa

These are definitely the weirdest race I made for Shaarzahn. I like the idea of their nature as cave-dwelling and uncaring of most aspects of life except tinkering with stuff, but I also made them almost insect hive-like in their sociology, which I've since realized just feels too alien for a humanoid race.

Shaarzahn Races: Golems

And last of all, the Golem races. I've always thought it would be interesting to roleplay as a construct. There's the Warforged race in the Eberron setting, of course, but what if the setting was in the bronze age? Marble and clay golems would be their equivalents!

Shaarzahn Races: Gro:ghim

Here's another race made by my cousin. I thought his descriptions of them were a bit too human, so to set them apart I made them more colorful and made the assumption that they had wings instead of arms, instead of in addition to them.

Shaarzahn Races: Skendarn

 The quintessential "beast race" of Shaarzahn! These were my creation, and I'm pretty impressed with how they turned out.

Shaarzahn Races: Schleem

 My cousin made up this race. I hope I did it justice on the appearance based on his descriptions.

Hourly Comic Day 2020

There wasn't much going on while I was doing this, but more than that, my heart just wasn't in it, so I didn't finish. Work's been frustratingly boring lately and I think it carried over. At least what I did come up with was pretty funny, and I'm proud of the drawings.

Shaarzahn Races: Humans

 More fun with Hero Forge! This time I decided to go back to my cousin's Bronze Age forum RPG setting and mine, Shaarzahn, for inspiration. The next few posts will be the races we designed several years ago. We tried for a much more outside-the-box approach to inventing these races, rather than leaning on old Tolkeinesque stereotypes.

D&D: Infernal War Machine Tokens Expansion: Warlords of the Avernian Wastelands

My basic tokens for the infernal war machine tokens for Roll20 were a huge hit, both with my party and with some folks I shared them with. I decided to make some extra tokens for the other Avernian warlords you encounter in the game and to make them have unique looks to them. There's something about video games with different-skinned models where a little change can go a long way in evoking a different feeling. Also, a few of them have different upgrades swapped around.

Making these made me think of the files inside a map editor that let you find the models exclusively used in the campaign. Perhaps I'll make an HD expansion someday in the future and give all the models more subtle differences beyond just coloration. That could be fun.

1d20 Interesting Ships

 I marathonned all the Pirates of the Caribbean movies this year and really, genuinely enjoyed them. I remember being so confused when I watched them the first time, but they're meant to just be fun adventures, not sensical-plot films. Anyway, them and reading through Ghosts of Saltmarsh gave me some ideas for some interesting ships you might encounter on the high seas of D&D.