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noseatbelts.bsky.social
mike j
@noseatbelts.bsky.social
170 followers 400 following 83 posts
Western Mid-West storyteller, father, husband, soccer fan, and muppet of a man.

Design and play primarily with Cairn 2e. He/him https://noseatbelts.itch.io/
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noseatbelts.bsky.social
November 21, 2025 at 2:53 PM
noseatbelts.bsky.social
Day 31: Pumpkin. Overall, very pleased with my output for #mörktober. Going to clean them up, fix some mistakes I found along the way, and tie up a few loose ends. The full compendium will be released on my itch soon.
October 31, 2025 at 2:21 PM
noseatbelts.bsky.social
Day 30: Star. For the first time this month, I was working down to the wire on this one. I still don't know if I consider it *finished* per se, but I finally have an idea I'm happy with. #mörktober
October 30, 2025 at 4:14 PM
noseatbelts.bsky.social
Day 29: Hole. A little Lovecraftian Existential dread? Don't mind if I do. #mörktober
A black and white edit of a painting with a knight in full arms and armor, astride a horse, standing before a very dark cave. Yellow text says: "And there it was. A mere hole, nay, for no hole has ever been so vast. A chasm, perhaps, and yet it seems ill-suited to the thing I found. A tremendous nothingness. So voluminous I saw not the end of it. No light, no noise, no breath could surpass it. Dark it was, an Ink-black moonlit shadow. Empty and yet, it beckoned me closer. Its voice in my head I drew my sword, my horse reared, screaming in terror, and threw me to the ground. It fled. As I should have done. Alone now, I stared into the void and -on my solemn oath- it gazed back. I felt it. It could see me. It knew me. I know not how long I stared but when I awoke, it was morning. A night had passed, perhaps more. I walked from that place and even could I find it again, I would not. I feel its presence still. And, I fear, it me. "
October 29, 2025 at 8:15 PM
noseatbelts.bsky.social
Day 28: Bloat. Surprised it took me this long to fit in a fart joke during this project. #mörktober
October 28, 2025 at 8:02 PM
noseatbelts.bsky.social
Day 27: Ice. Pig faced goons in armor. Not sure how I got there from Ice, but :shrug: #mörktober #morktober #fuckice
in blackletter print: eishaufen, Ice Company. stormtrooping thugs who act with impunity, hired by an pretend king. the populace fears them as much for their ferocity as they do their ineptness & smell. they wear masks to hide their identities that only make them look like pigs, farming the humorous nick-name “scweinentrupen” or simply “pigs.” accompanying an illustration of a pig person wearing armor and holding an flintlock gun. Fuck ice.
October 27, 2025 at 4:48 PM
noseatbelts.bsky.social
Day 26: Torch. It’s armor! And it’s
on fire! That’s it. #mörktober
October 26, 2025 at 4:34 PM
noseatbelts.bsky.social
Day 25: Hermit. Climb the tower if you dare, and see the guy with greasy hair! An all knowing, all powerful Hermit who will answer one question if you earn it. #mörktober
October 25, 2025 at 1:55 PM
noseatbelts.bsky.social
Day 24: Stump. Not entirely sure where the idea to make a tongue twister came from (perhaps reading Dr Seuss to my kids) but this was fun to write. A little puzzle for your party to kill some time. I wonder what happens if you ask the stump how to get off of it? #mörktober
October 24, 2025 at 3:33 PM
noseatbelts.bsky.social
Day 23: Flower. A meadow of asphodels as a campaign/session starter, mood enhancer. #mörktober
while traveling, you come across a meadow of gray plants with pale yellow flowers. despite their drab appearance, the meadow is quite beautiful. familiarity with plants will recognize them as asphodels. make a presence check DR 12. success reminds you they are associated with death. as it begins to snow, despite the season, make a presence check DR14. a success makes you realize this is odd. continuing on through the meadow, you hear no sound. no chirping of insects nor song of birds. even the wind is still. make a presence check, DR 10. on a success you realize you have died and are now in purgatory. failure at any stage does not change this fact, but you can proceed knowing you died.
October 23, 2025 at 4:03 PM
noseatbelts.bsky.social
Day 22: Thief. Often, when I prep for a prompt like this, I will just look up the word and then start following a rabbit hole of wiki articles or related words, anything that catches my eye until inspiration strikes. I'm not sure how I got there, I rarely do, but I really like this class. #mörktober
Grungy illustration of a man being crucified. it is titled "impenitent thief" in messy blackletter font, followed with a short description in a slightly cleaner serif font. "strung up alongside as a symbolic slight to a would-be martyr, you were crucified and then forgotten. you survived, somehow, but now you are different in ways that are hard to explain. "
October 22, 2025 at 2:57 PM
noseatbelts.bsky.social
Day 21: Beak. I found this image of a hawk with a broken beak while looking for inspiration for this prompt and couldn’t not use it. Just look at it. So mad. #mörktober
October 21, 2025 at 3:40 PM
noseatbelts.bsky.social
Day 20: Ash. I had a completely different idea for this one for a while, but I just couldn’t quite crack it. Settled on this, though I think my fondness for Cairn sort of came through. A guardian of an Ash grove isn’t 100% on brand for Mörk Borg but who’s to say? #mörktober #morktober
October 20, 2025 at 2:08 PM
noseatbelts.bsky.social
Day 19: Broken. When I saw this prompt, I immediately thought of one thing and one thing only, The Shards of Narsil, as I often do. To put that Mörk Borg grime on it, and fit in with what I rolled on the creator’s kit, it’s a legendary goblin “sword”. #mörktober #morktober
Bright yellow image with lots of grungy elements of a knife line drawing, broken into five pieces. Distorted and grungy black letter text says “Tha Sord What Got Brok,” and continues in a childlike scribble “sord of cheef fluopfang king a redhand tryb. it are magik sord, made by forjer far far ago. brok far ago, no ficksin til cheef fluopfang com bak or him Son. Or him son. or him son. mitee magiks. kill lotsa mans, dorfs, elfs.” And finally in a rough serif font it explains “when reforged it is a +1 knife to anyone other than a goblin. in a green hand it is a +3 Longsword and a strong symbol of leadership that will reunite the tribes. “
October 19, 2025 at 1:49 PM
noseatbelts.bsky.social
Day 18: Wither. Had a lot of fun with this one once I remembered that either doesn’t just mean dried or shriveled. #mörktober #morkborg
A Mörk Borg style graphic, stark grungy black, white, and yellow. Grotesque goblin figure with its head turned 180 degrees. Text reads: Mr Withershins. know ye round the church go right else to receive a wicked fright a visit from withershins ye’ll get a trickier fella ye’ve never met head turned ‘round to see ye plain good luck ye’ll never have again nothing so grand to he than this a withered path and soul amiss remember child and watch ye feet or mr withershins ye’ll meet hp ??? moraLe ??? armor ??? attack ??? lurking around church yards, mr withershins is a trickster with countless stories told of his mischief making. his favor-ite is tricking people into circling a holy place to the left, an ill omen recognized by many. dr 12 presense check to avoid his tricks. if you fail this test and follow in his games, misfortune is sure to follow you.
October 18, 2025 at 2:06 PM
noseatbelts.bsky.social
Day 17: Warden. Struggled a little with this one, as the only thing I could think of involved prisons (ick) or a protector (boring), and then I stumbled upon the Vörðr. #mörktober #morktober
Dark image, robed man seated with a skull for a face. In bold Blackletter font the word "vörðr" followed by the following text: this spirit follows a person their whole life, protecting them from DEATH. but when the time comes, when DEATH has become too strong to ward off, the vörðr offers what it considers mercy; a fight. winner decides the fate of the person. if the person loses, they go with DEATH. in the unlikelly case of the person winning, they would be immortal. but the vörðr never loses.
October 17, 2025 at 2:29 PM
noseatbelts.bsky.social
Day 16: Obelisk. Possibly my most ambitious entry yet. A one shot/campaign starter with warring religious factions and the PCs in the middle. #mörktober #morktober
October 16, 2025 at 2:24 PM
noseatbelts.bsky.social
Day 15: Nails. A ̶u̶s̶e̶f̶u̶l̶?̶?̶?̶ item for all your not-going-anywhere needs. Actually came up with the design concept much earlier in the month, but didn’t have a place for it until this prompt #mörktober #morktober
October 15, 2025 at 1:07 PM
noseatbelts.bsky.social
Day 14: Anchor. A plot hook, story starter, imagination teaser for Borgs, Pirate, Mörk or otherwise. #mörktober #morktober
October 14, 2025 at 1:43 PM
noseatbelts.bsky.social
Day 13: Web. A cave system map for all your spelunking needs. #mörktober #morktober
October 13, 2025 at 1:49 PM
noseatbelts.bsky.social
Day 12: Binding. A character class who can pull books apart and make new ones, mixing and matching powers with unstable effects. Tbh I have not 100% figured out how this one works yet but I love the vibe. #mörktober #morktober
October 12, 2025 at 5:09 PM
noseatbelts.bsky.social
Day 11: Scales. A scenario/encounter you can drop into a game or use for large SCALE combat. It’s a pile of bodies and mud and fighters and awfulness that must be SCALEd in order to escape. #mörktober #morktober
October 11, 2025 at 2:10 PM
noseatbelts.bsky.social
Day 10: Beetle. Ok. Hear me out. Mörkship Trööpborgs. Starborg Morktroops? Giant insects have been hibernating underground for a thousand years and make the hellscape of Mörk Borg somehow worse when they wake up. #mörktober #morktober
October 10, 2025 at 1:31 PM
noseatbelts.bsky.social
Day 9: Thorn. The word association involved with the genesis of this idea is wild, might write about it later. Had a lot of fun with this one writing the poem in iambic pentameter (see Alt Text). #morktober #mörktober
He hails from Wästland thornéd coat array'd, He did betray his liege with turncoat blade. A lessor grown too fat, his oaths betray’d. Trust not the man In thornéd display, If thou dost let the land and let greed sway.
October 9, 2025 at 3:29 PM
noseatbelts.bsky.social
Day 8: Wizard. Had a wild idea for today’s prompt and made a weapon for wizards. Or is it a weapon to use against them? Wait… #morktober #mörktober
October 8, 2025 at 12:17 PM