Christopher Helton
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dorkland.itch.io
Christopher Helton
@dorkland.itch.io
Nonbinary tabletop RPG designer, publisher, editor and fan of comics and music. Hire me for your projects! ENnie nominated blogger, one time ENnie winner. I used to write about gaming/pop culture at the Bleeding Cool & EN World websites. (they/them)
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Welcome followers, new and old, to my new pinned post! My name is Chris, and I design and publish artisan tabletop role-playing games. I am nonbinary, and I am a big fan of comics and music. In 2003 I started my Dorkland! blog, which is where the name for this account and many others comes from.
Reposted by Christopher Helton
Please be aware of possible scams! My client, Mel Curth, is not seeking any donations at this time. She is grateful for your support and instead requests folks that want to help to donate to the local organizations of your choice!
December 24, 2025 at 5:17 PM
The Itchio Winter Sale is still going on, so you can get my Action-Heores #TTRPG for half price in PDF. After the new year I'll be working on getting the new print version uploaded to DriveThru. so the game will be all shiny and ready to go.
Action-Heroes: Adventure Role-Playing by Christopher Helton
Be a Hero and change the world for the better!
dorkland.itch.io
December 25, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Reposted by Christopher Helton
12 days left on the Itch Winter Sale, and you can get the PDF of my Action Heroes #TTRPG for half price!

It is almost like a song, or something.
Hey, just a reminder that my Action-Heroes #TTRPG PDF is on sale at itchio for half price as part of their Winter Sale. Its a fun and fast-paced game of big damn heroes making their world a better place. The sale lasts for about 15 days, so you still have plenty of time!
Action-Heroes: Adventure Role-Playing by Christopher Helton
Be a Hero and change the world for the better!
dorkland.itch.io
December 24, 2025 at 5:31 PM
12 days left on the Itch Winter Sale, and you can get the PDF of my Action Heroes #TTRPG for half price!

It is almost like a song, or something.
Hey, just a reminder that my Action-Heroes #TTRPG PDF is on sale at itchio for half price as part of their Winter Sale. Its a fun and fast-paced game of big damn heroes making their world a better place. The sale lasts for about 15 days, so you still have plenty of time!
Action-Heroes: Adventure Role-Playing by Christopher Helton
Be a Hero and change the world for the better!
dorkland.itch.io
December 24, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Reposted by Christopher Helton
THE FUTURE IS CALLING!

One Clone. One Mission: Venus Bluegenes is back!!

Subscribe to 2000 AD now to make sure you never miss a Thrill! https://bit.ly/2Ws04uc
December 23, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Reposted by Christopher Helton
44 years ago
Bad Brains on stage during their Christmas show at CBGB, which they played on December 23, 24, and 25, 1981.

Photos by Glen E. Friedman

#punk #punks #punkrock #hardcorepunk #badbrains #cbgb #history #punkrockhistory #otd
December 23, 2025 at 4:09 AM
Want a game about big damn heroes working to make their world a better place? Check out my Action-Heroes #TTRPG! And the PDF is currently half price over at itch, while their Winter Sale goes on. Check it out!
Action-Heroes: Adventure Role-Playing by Christopher Helton
Be a Hero and change the world for the better!
dorkland.itch.io
December 22, 2025 at 11:25 PM
Reposted by Christopher Helton
So the EU is getting rid of de minimis for duties on small parcels next year. I had heard this is coming, but one of our international carriers, APC Postal Logistics, has provided more information. tl;dr, expect a €3 duty PER ITEM to be added to mail orders, Kickstarter rewards, etc. starting 07/26.
December 19, 2025 at 9:13 PM
Reposted by Christopher Helton
It looks like it's been scrubbed from every official 60 Minutes page now.

It's only a 30-second promo but here it is if you didn't get a chance to see it.
December 22, 2025 at 1:33 AM
Reposted by Christopher Helton
Hellboy Universe: The Secret Histories Volume 1 by @mikemignola.bsky.social, @getcampbell.bsky.social, Dave Stewart, Clem Robins, and more: bit.ly/3XXfd8r
December 20, 2025 at 10:00 PM
Hey, just a reminder that my Action-Heroes #TTRPG PDF is on sale at itchio for half price as part of their Winter Sale. Its a fun and fast-paced game of big damn heroes making their world a better place. The sale lasts for about 15 days, so you still have plenty of time!
Action-Heroes: Adventure Role-Playing by Christopher Helton
Be a Hero and change the world for the better!
dorkland.itch.io
December 20, 2025 at 7:32 PM
Reposted by Christopher Helton
Closing out my year with a journal editor shocker 🧵

Checking new manuscripts today I reviewed a paper attributing 2 papers to me I did not write. A daft thing for an author to do of course. But intrigued I web searched up one of the titles and that's when it got real weird...
December 19, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Reposted by Christopher Helton
Any work made ineligible for the Nebula Awards by them disallowing slop and slop-assisted work was never eligible in the first place.

"There are legitimate uses in translation, research"

If you consider 30-70% incorrect results that poison neighborhoods with new cancers "legitimate"
I really don't know what anyone in the SFWA was thinking allowing gen slop into the Nebula Awards in the first place, but I'm glad that decision has been reversed.
Dear SFWA and surrounding industry:

It's a two-mailout kind of day!

Thank you to everyone who wrote in.

The Board wishes to share the results of two votes held this afternoon, with further amendments to our Nebula Awards Rules.
December 20, 2025 at 5:38 PM
Reposted by Christopher Helton
Today is the 85th anniversary of Captain America! December 20, 1940, was the publication date of Captain America Comics #1. Created by Joe Simon & Jack Kirby.
December 20, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Reposted by Christopher Helton
It's #SelfPromoSaturday once again!
Say hi and feel free to share your #ttrpg projects, your art, your craft, your crowdfunding campaigns, your commission sheets, and anything else you're working on (as long as it's ai-free).

Repost what you like and boost your fellow creatives!
🖤
December 20, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Reposted by Christopher Helton
Gonna stop looking at the Epstein Files in a second because I'm frankly way too skeeved out to keep going but I will say this: the CSAM isn't blacked out nearly enough while the faces of guys in ties are obscured by vanta black rectangles the size of the sun.
December 19, 2025 at 9:43 PM
I see this @popversesays.bsky.social pop up on my Google feed on my phone and think "that picture looks familiar," and it is Comics Heaven in Willoughby, Ohio. That was a great place when I lived in Cleveland, years ago. Congratulations to the new owner.
How a father bought the comic book store he grew up with, and is bonding with his son in running it
Sometimes, you get your dream job - and you help your family discover their own dream jobs in the process, too.
www.thepopverse.com
December 19, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Reposted by Christopher Helton
When the NEA asked us to promise not to publish trans, nonbinary, or gender fluid authors, we told them to kick rocks. (Actually, formally, with a unanimous vote by the Board of Directors, we told them to kick rocks.) So the NEA rescinded our funding.
November 26, 2025 at 8:04 PM
As long as we're talking about Archie Comics, I would love to do a Mighty Crusaders RPG. I have ideas (and I own a game system that would be perfect for it. And my game is on sale at Itch right now.
Action-Heroes: Adventure Role-Playing by Christopher Helton
Be a Hero and change the world for the better!
dorkland.itch.io
December 18, 2025 at 11:59 PM
Reposted by Christopher Helton
This will be evil as hell!
December 18, 2025 at 11:32 PM
Reposted by Christopher Helton
A few weeks back I published — for free! — the first part of a series on how I make comics, as a writer. I will be publishing future chapters as I finish them, and those will be for paying subscribers only.

Here’s how it starts:

www.patreon.com/posts/144469...
HOW I MAKE COMICS: A Writer’s Guide/Prologue | David Avallone
Get more from David Avallone on Patreon
www.patreon.com
December 18, 2025 at 11:45 PM
Is Untold Tales of Spider-Man in print currently? This would make a nice Epic Collection run.
In order to "get" MJ's Stan Lee speech pattern (to the extent I managed it), I had to start every day of scripting by typing out all the MJ dialogue in 5-10 issues of the Lee/Romita Spider-Man to get the sense of it in my brain.

The next day, I had to do it all over again.
Mary Jane Watson can easily be a parody, but as he has all through Untold Tales of Spider-Man, Kurt Busiek finds a way to genuinely capture the fun of the original material but also add a layer of pathos. The legendary Dick Giordano steps in to ink Pat Olliffe—it’s a beautiful comic.
#UntoldSpidey
December 18, 2025 at 11:47 PM
Reposted by Christopher Helton
Super gross 👎
Okay yeah, This feels like a mix of AI Slop, Trace Photo Ref, and Actual (mostly rushed) Art, all made to hide the duct tape and glue.

Im kinda mad I backed the Kickstarter, checking that now they REALLLLLLY hid this.

AWA Studios really pocketed 100K in Kickstarter Money and ran with this.
December 18, 2025 at 11:34 PM
Reposted by Christopher Helton
SUAREZ (1985) page by Maestro GUSTAVO TRIGO, everyone! Look at those inks and use of zipatone.
December 18, 2025 at 11:33 PM
I picked up vol 3 of The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn't a Guy at All at B&N today, and discovered there's going to be vol. 4. But it means waiting. I just finished 3, so I guess it is time to reread them all again.
The Guy She Was Interested in Wasn't a Guy at All — Kinokuniya USA
usa.kinokuniya.com
December 18, 2025 at 6:48 PM