Stout Stoat

@stoutstoat

International awards winning gamesbook publisher.

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Stout Stoat@stoutstoat· Jun 26

In the annual tradition, I'm putting on a sale for my birthday! Get 31% off of EVERYTHING in my store with the code "BIRTHDAY2026", running from today through to July 3rd :) www.stoutstoat.co.uk/discount/BIR...

Stout Stoat@stoutstoat· Jun 6

I'm at @cymerafestival.co.uk in Edinburgh at the Pleasance till 5pm! Come say hi!

Photo of a convention display, with bright artwork pinned onto display boards.

Stout Stoat@stoutstoat· Apr 16

These copies of Border Riding are also include signed bookplates from the author, Jo Reid:

Photo of signed and editioned bookplate for Border Riding.

Stout Stoat@stoutstoat· Apr 16

Border Riding is a GM-less collaborative map drawing game. Create two communities, Us and Them, and follow how both evolve, change, chafe, and grow together as generations come and go, and leadership pulls in new directions with every round. UK / EU / INTL - www.stoutstoat.co.uk/products/bor...

Photo of Border Riding game and hand drawn maps generated during play.

Stout Stoat@stoutstoat· Apr 16

Spring Clearance Mini-Stock Sale! I'm clearing out my stock cupboards and using up spare bits, so there's a limited number of One Breath Left and Border Riding available at stoutstoat.co.uk 📚

One Breath Left. Cardboard box with card slip cover.

Border Riding. Game printed on a large folded sheet, like a hiker's map.

Stout Stoat@stoutstoat· Mar 20

It’s official - Carved in Stone is finally available in the USA, through the one and only @ipr.bsky.social ! You can order your copy directly from them (alongside a host of other beautiful books and games!) www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Carved...

Text reading “USA Shipping now available from Indie Press Revolution” over the cover of Carved in Stone. Cover shows a precision of ancient Scots hiking through a forest, but with badly drawn USA flags in their hands.

Stout Stoat@stoutstoat· Dec 10

Heads up! Final orders at stoutstoat.co.uk need to be placed before 12pm GMT this Sunday (14th December). After then the store will be going into hibernation till January.

Screenshot of the Stout Stoat Press website.

Stout Stoat@stoutstoat· Dec 3

Dragonmeet mystery: who left this on my table and why

Photo of a plastic silver token, sort of like a doubloon

Stout Stoat@stoutstoat· Nov 29

I'm here! I'm queer! I'm not caffeinated!

Selfie of Brian in front of a display for Carved in Stone.

Second selfie of Brian in front of the bright orange Stout Stoat Press banner.

Stout Stoat@stoutstoat· Nov 28

I'm at Dragonmeet this weekend! L22. I'm bringing Carved in Stone and that's it, so buckle in for the longest Pictish rambles you've ever heard yet.

Close up of a hand drawn map. A large orange stoat is hanging out with Odin's ravens on top of a tavern.

Hand drawn map of Dragonmeet's trader hall. To get to stout stoat press go straight from the entrance for 7 rows, turn right, and then a little further to table L22

Stout Stoat@stoutstoat· Nov 13

I was gushing about how good the panelling and negative space was here with some comics friends the other day, it's just such a lovely step-by-step process, broad enough to capture all the important bits of casting a brooch, but with such care and attention to the small things too!

Four panel sequence showing an artisan casting a bronze penannular brooch. They make a mould from clay, cast molten bronze into it, break it open, and then file down the rough cast shape.

Stout Stoat@stoutstoat· Nov 12

You can also pick it up on @itch.io ! stoutstoatpress.itch.io/carved-in-st... You can read the first part and a selection of topics right now for free!

Stout Stoat@stoutstoat· Nov 12

You can buy the book from my web store! www.stoutstoat.co.uk/products/car... You'll get the PDF immediately and physical fulfilment will go out towards the end of November 📦

Photo of pages inside Carved in Stone, showing a topic titled Hearth and Home and a large illustration of the inside of a Pictish house.

Another photo, showing the topic "Writing in Ogham" accompanied by different illustrations of the ogham written on different materials like stone and bark.

Stout Stoat@stoutstoat· Nov 12

Carved in Stone is officially out! In this comprehensive setting guide you'll be able to see, touch, taste, hear and smell your way through everything that modern-day scholars currently know of the enigmatic culture of the Picts, from the perspective of someone living in the late 7th Century.

Stout Stoat@stoutstoat· Sep 28

OH YEAH did I mention that pre-orders have a 20% discount until the 5th of November?? Probably the best price you could grab this actually physically massive tome for. This book is 300mmx260mm. It's bigger than the D&D PHB. It's encyclopaedia sized!!

Screenshot of the Carved in Stone listing on the BackerKit pre-order page, with the price marked down from £50 to £40.

Stout Stoat@stoutstoat· Sep 26

Thanks Jonah! You were stellar to work with, and I love how your pieces in the book came out (especially this little boar tattoo 🐗 💕)

Illustration of a long-haired, muscular fella washing themselves with damp cloth. On their shoulder is a tattoo of a boar, rather crudely shaped. It is a close replica of the Pictish boar from the stone Old Scatness 3.

Stout Stoat@stoutstoat· Sep 26

Good question - distribution is a bit complicated with BackerKit, because you don't actually pay until I lock orders and charge cards. Folks will be able to buy the PDF directly via itch.io soon after the 6th of October - I just want to square up fulfilment for the KS / first round of preorders.

Screenshot of an itch.io page for Carved in Stone

Stout Stoat@stoutstoat· Sep 24

(4) Shameless self promotion. www.carved-instone.backerkit.com/hosted-preor...

Cover artwork for Carved in Stone. A series of Pictish travellers hike through an ancient temperate rainforest, conversing with each other.

Stout Stoat@stoutstoat· Sep 24

This charming boar is also a personal hero, because despite not looking the same as its peers, it was (and remains) worthy of a place of pride, to be displayed where everyone can marvel at how wonderful it is.

A repeat of the Scatness boar image from the start of this thread.

Stout Stoat@stoutstoat· Sep 24

There's lots we don't know. Why it was drawn, who made it, if they were amateur or professional, making art for fun or for work, or even if this style was accidental or intentional. We do know that by being part of the hearth, it would have been seen every single day by that building's occupants.

Illustration of a bisected Pictish house, with a hearth in the centre of the living space. People work, rest, cook over and play by the hearth. Artist: Letty Wilson.

Stout Stoat@stoutstoat· Sep 24

Now, compare these boars from the Knocknagael, Old Scatness, and Drosten stones. The wandering swirls along its body, the attempt at a realistic leg that was abandoned for sticks instead, the comically flat ridge of hair along its back; I think the artist of Old Scatness 3 was trying make a Symbol.

Left; Knocknagael Boar Symbol. Right; Old Scatness 3 B/boar figure.

Boar from the Drosten stone. It has no swirling parts to its body, and its silhouette and mark making style is different to that of a Boar symbol. It also has a raised foreleg, breaking from the feet-on-the-ground trend seen in Symbols.

Stout Stoat@stoutstoat· Sep 24

This brings us full circle back to Old Scatness 3. Originally found in 1998, it was carved on a kerbstone as part of a hearth inside a multicellular Pictish building (5). For context, hearths were HUGELY important to Pictish homes, both on a practical and symbolic level. They were always in use.

A different drawing of the Old Scatness stone, this one more representational, to scale, and using stippling to create tone and depth. It is by Ian G Scott.

Stout Stoat@stoutstoat· Sep 24

There are, of course, Boar symbols. They tend to feature a strong figure with a rounded back capped with a bristling mane, and flanks bearing dramatic swirls that follow the natural contours from their legs up, over and across their body.

1st of three boars. Similar to the Bulls earlier, all boars have defining swirls, a similar silhouette, and all four legs on the ground.

Stout Stoat@stoutstoat· Sep 24

There's lots of different symbols, and sometimes they get combined (like the snake & Z-rod). These are some of them, skilfully drawn by the extremely talented @elemei.bsky.social for my book, Carved in Stone, available for pre-order now 👀👀. (4)

Various animal symbols , as part of a larger cropped page from Carved in Stone. The animals include: wolf, snake, bull, salmon, stag, boar, eagle, goose, horse, a "bird" (quite duck-like), a "cat" (quite monkey-like) and a "beast".

Various geometric Pictish symbols (like crescents, circles, and lines) and representational symbols (like a mirror and comb).

Stout Stoat@stoutstoat· Sep 24

SHOW US SYMBOLS, you cry with rapturous fervour. Image 1 is part of the Drosten Stone; these are regular figures, not Symbols; that's a carving of a deer, a bear, a boar, and so on. Images 2-4 are Bull symbols. There's small differences, but they are clearly the Bull, not just any bovine.

Part of the Drosten Stone. Its scene shows Pictish symbols besides wild animals, and a hunter with a crossbow trying to shoot them. All images from the Ian G Scott collection.

1st of 3 Bull carvings from Burghead. Characteristic swirls define the belly and shoulder; the cow stands with all four feet planted on the ground.

2nd of 3 Bull carvings from Burghead. Similar but slightly different to the other bulls.

3rd of 3 Bull carvings from Burghead. Similar but slightly different to the other bulls.

Stout Stoat@stoutstoat· Sep 24

Pictish Symbols are specific shapes, patterns or characters that are replicated across stones. There's no current consensus for what purpose or meaning they held, but some comparisons could be made to other iconographies, like heraldic crests, hieroglyphics or modern day brand logos.

Illustration of a crescent and V-rod Pictish symbol. It look like a crescent, with an arrow bent at angle to piece into and then out of it.

Stout Stoat@stoutstoat· Sep 24

There were Picts that lived on Scatness (2) and did all the usual things that the Picts did, including building houses and carving stones. Though Pictish stone carving traditions are very broad, they can be categorised. One such group are Symbols.

Illustrations of three Pictish stones, with knotwork designs, Celtic crosses, and Pictish symbols. Art by Elemei.

Stout Stoat@stoutstoat· Sep 24

Old Scatness is an archaeological site on Shetland, which is an island that's quite hard to get to (for the Picts). The North Sea is extremely rough, and it will sink boats. Even so, Old Scatness was regularly seeing activity, from the Iron Age through to the early medieval period, and even later.

Photo of modern day ruins of a stone building at Old Scatness. There is a hearth in the middle of the excavated ruin, central to several off shoot pod rooms.

Stout Stoat@stoutstoat· Sep 24

Distraction from Today's News. Let me infodump about my favourite Pictish stone carving, called "Old Scatness 3" after where it was found. He is one of my favourite drawings, and he has a very important lesson to teach us. I tear up just thinking him because he's so wonderful. (1)

Meme, photo of Autism Announcement news blast from Fox News, with Trump and RFK Jr visible.

Stout Stoat@stoutstoat· Aug 24

PICTS PICTS PICTS