James Pianka • EM|NCD
@jamespianka.bsky.social
Systems, narrative, and content designer for video games (TMNT: Splintered Fate, State of Decay 2, MtG). Publishing TTRPGs as Empty Mountain (Nothing Can Die). Opinions my own. He/him.
SHRINES v1.0.0 (digital): https://emptymountain-ncd.itch.io/shrines
SHRINES v1.0.0 (digital): https://emptymountain-ncd.itch.io/shrines
She got older very quickly this year, and I think I wrote The Pembroke's Tomb from Shrines about how I imagined feeling now. I didn't realize how precise it would be.
November 18, 2025 at 5:11 PM
She got older very quickly this year, and I think I wrote The Pembroke's Tomb from Shrines about how I imagined feeling now. I didn't realize how precise it would be.
We lost the brightest light in our lives today, and the pain is unspeakable. We thought we had at least another year. Lila, I will love you for all my life.
November 17, 2025 at 10:30 PM
We lost the brightest light in our lives today, and the pain is unspeakable. We thought we had at least another year. Lila, I will love you for all my life.
Fulfilling some walking-distance retail backers ahead of the mass shipments, seeing Shrines on a shelf for the first time
October 31, 2025 at 9:03 PM
Fulfilling some walking-distance retail backers ahead of the mass shipments, seeing Shrines on a shelf for the first time
Quick creature design for anyone populating a treasure hoard
October 27, 2025 at 9:05 PM
Quick creature design for anyone populating a treasure hoard
They're here
October 26, 2025 at 9:55 PM
They're here
Kill the Wizard's gameplay systems, and honestly the majority of its content, feel pretty finished!
The player abilities that live on equippables need some iteration, but all in all decisions seem interesting, outcomes feel fair, and both tempo and duration reeeeally hit the mark.
The player abilities that live on equippables need some iteration, but all in all decisions seem interesting, outcomes feel fair, and both tempo and duration reeeeally hit the mark.
September 29, 2025 at 7:38 PM
Kill the Wizard's gameplay systems, and honestly the majority of its content, feel pretty finished!
The player abilities that live on equippables need some iteration, but all in all decisions seem interesting, outcomes feel fair, and both tempo and duration reeeeally hit the mark.
The player abilities that live on equippables need some iteration, but all in all decisions seem interesting, outcomes feel fair, and both tempo and duration reeeeally hit the mark.
Photography by the radiant www.instagram.com/ibeeasian/
September 21, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Photography by the radiant www.instagram.com/ibeeasian/
This weekend I helped my sister run a silent disco across downtown Lancaster, PA, and let me tell y'all something: public levity feels really good right now.
September 21, 2025 at 6:36 PM
This weekend I helped my sister run a silent disco across downtown Lancaster, PA, and let me tell y'all something: public levity feels really good right now.
DOGMA needs a "What's our setting anyway?" Prologue even more than SANCTUM did, but I finished it in time to sneak it into the latter's reprinting for Shrines, so it looks like anything in this hypothetical series will include the following:
September 19, 2025 at 7:56 PM
DOGMA needs a "What's our setting anyway?" Prologue even more than SANCTUM did, but I finished it in time to sneak it into the latter's reprinting for Shrines, so it looks like anything in this hypothetical series will include the following:
I love that abjuration is still an actual word but totally misapplied
September 18, 2025 at 10:41 PM
I love that abjuration is still an actual word but totally misapplied
here we gooooooo
September 9, 2025 at 6:15 PM
here we gooooooo
Framed up this gorgeous original from @perplexingruins.bsky.social
September 2, 2025 at 10:46 PM
Framed up this gorgeous original from @perplexingruins.bsky.social
I'll take this one, @perplexingruins.bsky.social, please and thank you
August 20, 2025 at 7:48 PM
I'll take this one, @perplexingruins.bsky.social, please and thank you
he's gotta go
August 18, 2025 at 1:33 AM
he's gotta go
Someone hire ya boi
August 8, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Someone hire ya boi
This is Mezcal, a "reddish-brown stag beetle" (that's their actual name) who found the hyacinth within a week. There are also a shit load of tiny aquatic snails I didn't buy. It's just so cool how quickly habitats populate on their own.
July 23, 2025 at 10:24 PM
This is Mezcal, a "reddish-brown stag beetle" (that's their actual name) who found the hyacinth within a week. There are also a shit load of tiny aquatic snails I didn't buy. It's just so cool how quickly habitats populate on their own.
Prepping a micro-biome for an old stone fountain that my dad and I are resealing. Why should we keep draining the rainwater and shmutz, over and over, when some rad little dudes could self-sustain and draw more little dudes?
July 23, 2025 at 10:04 PM
Prepping a micro-biome for an old stone fountain that my dad and I are resealing. Why should we keep draining the rainwater and shmutz, over and over, when some rad little dudes could self-sustain and draw more little dudes?
Yeah I fucking love that foreground character design, dude. The silhouette and proportions remind me of Kingpin in Into the Spiderverse, which is a huge villainy win. I kinda love this direction for you!
July 22, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Yeah I fucking love that foreground character design, dude. The silhouette and proportions remind me of Kingpin in Into the Spiderverse, which is a huge villainy win. I kinda love this direction for you!
I'm kicking around a 1-page solo hexcrawler, and I wanna share two design thoughts:
1. Terrain visibility feels KEY for both realism & interesting choices (I wanna know SOMETHING about adjacent hexes before I choose which to enter).
2. Over-designing feels so easy. Refinement is gonna be a massacre.
1. Terrain visibility feels KEY for both realism & interesting choices (I wanna know SOMETHING about adjacent hexes before I choose which to enter).
2. Over-designing feels so easy. Refinement is gonna be a massacre.
July 18, 2025 at 6:10 PM
I'm kicking around a 1-page solo hexcrawler, and I wanna share two design thoughts:
1. Terrain visibility feels KEY for both realism & interesting choices (I wanna know SOMETHING about adjacent hexes before I choose which to enter).
2. Over-designing feels so easy. Refinement is gonna be a massacre.
1. Terrain visibility feels KEY for both realism & interesting choices (I wanna know SOMETHING about adjacent hexes before I choose which to enter).
2. Over-designing feels so easy. Refinement is gonna be a massacre.
Damn cover sheets look super sick lol
July 16, 2025 at 9:31 PM
Damn cover sheets look super sick lol
Oh man, that stuff looks great! His Pantheon zine reminds me of this little tool I made. SANCTUM, DOGMA, and whatever series they begin would help GMs similarly, but differ as standalone conversation games. I appreciate your insight here.
July 13, 2025 at 7:56 PM
Oh man, that stuff looks great! His Pantheon zine reminds me of this little tool I made. SANCTUM, DOGMA, and whatever series they begin would help GMs similarly, but differ as standalone conversation games. I appreciate your insight here.
The meat/content would be totally different, but the rules and layout would be the same. Here's SANCTUM's skeleton, and then what I have so far for DOGMA:
July 13, 2025 at 7:41 PM
The meat/content would be totally different, but the rules and layout would be the same. Here's SANCTUM's skeleton, and then what I have so far for DOGMA:
I iterated on SANCTUM's format, maybe starting a series that I could sell as a lil 'worldbuilding games' bundle, but despite people's optimism I just can't shake two feelings:
1. This isn't different/new enough to exist
2. I keep hammering the same themes
Maybe 1 is wrong and 2 isn't bad? Pls advise
1. This isn't different/new enough to exist
2. I keep hammering the same themes
Maybe 1 is wrong and 2 isn't bad? Pls advise
July 13, 2025 at 6:07 PM
I iterated on SANCTUM's format, maybe starting a series that I could sell as a lil 'worldbuilding games' bundle, but despite people's optimism I just can't shake two feelings:
1. This isn't different/new enough to exist
2. I keep hammering the same themes
Maybe 1 is wrong and 2 isn't bad? Pls advise
1. This isn't different/new enough to exist
2. I keep hammering the same themes
Maybe 1 is wrong and 2 isn't bad? Pls advise