Pixel Grotto

@pixelgrotto

Jeremy • TTRPG designer • Three Sails Studios developer, editor and co-owner • Rock Paper Shotgun guides writer

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Pixel Grotto@pixelgrotto· May 31

On my way home from UKGE and my feet are killing me, but as always it was a real joy to witness the enthusiasm of folks buying and playing our games We got more coming from @threesailsstudios.bsky.social, but for now, check out my favourite spread from Gallows Corner!

A lovely spread from Gallows Corner showing peasants in a wheat field bathed in the brilliance of the setting sun. The text reads: “Living England: The Point Crawl”

Pixel Grotto@pixelgrotto· May 29

As promised, @theneoncaster.bsky.social is at our stand coming through with City of Espers! Come through if you like Static Shock meets ballroom culture meets psychics in a found family!

Nathan Blades at the Three Sails stand promoting City of Espers alongside some colourful breakdancer miniatures

Nathan with Three Sails Studios founder George, striking some cool poses

Pixel Grotto@pixelgrotto· May 28

The Three Sails corner is looking way more impressive than ever before this year at UKGE. All thanks to hardworking @iamloufryer.bsky.social! Mappa Mundi, Gallows Corner, and City of Espers by the great @theneoncaster.bsky.social (pics of that to come) - we got all sorts! Stand 3-743!

The UKGE stand for Three Sails Studios, featuring several crates full of colourful Mappa Mundi prints

More crates showing striking boxsets of Gallows Corner, with an anti-AI, human-made red stand up top

The Three Sails crew, dressed in their high-vis shirts, poses in front of signs for Mappa Mundi and Gallows Corner

Pixel Grotto@pixelgrotto· May 9

Finished a three year Pathfinder campaign today. Here’s my wife’s character, Lobi the leshy, living happily ever after. The book on the bed is entitled “Gentle Mob Bossing,” and in the endgame Lobi took over the city’s mob and used it as a funnel to get troubled young men into gardening

A screenshot of a character token showing a small gourd-like creature named Lobi with a blank expression on their face in a room. On a nearby table are many plants, and there’s a mushroom familiar on a pirate ship model and a big red book on the oversized bed. ‘Tis rather cozy

Pixel Grotto@pixelgrotto· Apr 28

I quite enjoy reading the bestiary entries in Final Fantasy XII. Aside from the occasional unorthodox capitalisation (used to add old timey Ivalice flavour), they are succinct and often witty. A nice standard to strive for when working on monster manuals in TTRPGs.

The bestiary entry for the Chocobo in FFXII. The yellow ostrich-like bird is shown on the left, which the right bears the following description:

"What creature, fair or foul, has affected the lives of the common man more than the noble Chocobo?

Though the yellow Chocobo is by far the most common, and the only domesticable sort, many other wild breeds of differing hues have been identified. In general, the other colorations of Chocobo tend to be quite violent, giving rise to the saying: ‘Yellow, best for riding; aught else, best for hiding.’"

Pixel Grotto@pixelgrotto· Apr 17

Been playing Final Fantasy XII and got to the part where you meet Reddas last night; sincerely wish this series featured more baldies because on the very rare occasions that they do, they bring us some top tier characters Make a hairless character the star of FF17. Do it you fools

Rude from Final Fantasy 7. Bald tan-skinned dude in a nice black suit with shades and a short beard. He is pretty fuckin cool

Reddas from Final Fantasy XII. Bald darkskinned guy with grey beard mutton chops and a flamboyent outfit with a big collar and pink pants. He is also pretty fuckin cool

Pixel Grotto@pixelgrotto· Apr 12

It’s rare that a comic makes me want to step up my own writing game, but Dark Patterns is a BOOK. I waited until all 12 issues were out before reading this and am glad I did. The best Scarface story in years lies within these pages, along with some really thought-provoking takes on modern mythology.

The trade paperback edition of Batman: Dark Patterns lying aside a black and white print of the Batmobile driving towards Gotham City, signed by writer Dan Watters and artist Hayden Sherman.

Pixel Grotto@pixelgrotto· Apr 11

Watching Artemis II touch home last night. Feels like ‘80s Space Camp vibes all over again. 50 years late but we back up amongst the stars again

A cozy home living room decked in green and orange with prints on the wall and floor and a television displaying the Artemis II as it returns to the big blue and green marble known as Earth. Also the head of a chonky French Bulldog is visible as it lies across my legs.

Pixel Grotto@pixelgrotto· Mar 22

At least some sick Katsuya Terada box art is relatively affordable. (Alas, I did not buy this as I have no Super Famicom at the moment and did not want to pay for what would amount to an expensive bookshelf decoration…but I came close)

The Super Famicom version of Prince of Persia, featuring an awesomely illustrated box showing an Arabian Nights warrior raising his scimitar around an array of other fantastical characters, including a veiled vizier, a princess, a busty harem woman, a muscular guard, and a skeleton with a fiery sword. Price is £65.

Pixel Grotto@pixelgrotto· Mar 22

Went to the London Retro Gaming Market and spent most of the time being depressed at the price of Game Boy games. Look at this shite. Yes I too would love a PAL copy of Dragon Ball Advanced Adventure (one of the best Dragon Ball games ever made) but not enough to pay £250 for it

A selection of overpriced Game Boy Advance games, with most falling into the £100 to £200 plus range

Pixel Grotto@pixelgrotto· Mar 19

My character revealed his secret survival ability in today's Draw Steel game @kreimnat.bsky.social @evilcleverdog.bsky.social @drakoniques.itch.io @isfriday.northsky.social

Several tokens on a TTRPG battlemap. The dragonoid character with a sword is proudly proclaiming: "one of my skills is cooking so i can MAKE donuts to bribe any cop we meet"

Pixel Grotto@pixelgrotto· Mar 9

Finally met @bigprawn.bsky.social in the flesh after having worked on multiple tabletop projects together. We ate Taiwanese chicken and went to the shops to see books we’d worked on. These are the baldies that you are trusting to make your TTRPGs!

Two guys with glasses and no hair holding up the Pathfinder: Season of Ghosts hardcover book

Pixel Grotto@pixelgrotto· Mar 4

Took this photo of my wife walking this AM and was reminded of a fixed camera angle in a PS2 survival horror game

A woman wearing a long dark brown coat walks along a foggy green path with a crossroads in front of her. Mist obscures the cars and buildings in the distance, and towering winter trees reach towards the sky as a lone bird flaps its wings overhead.

Pixel Grotto@pixelgrotto· Mar 2

Found my handwritten notes on beating the original Resident Evil 2 and REmake while covering Resident Evil Requiem for work. I played the entire series back-to-back about 8 years ago so this isn't some childhood discovery, but I still enjoy looking at my lil doodles

A notebook showing handdrawn maps and notes for Resident Evil 2, including the Raccoon City Police Station.

More handwritten notebook drawings for Resident Evil REmake, including a little doodle of a chibi Chris Redfield running from zombies under the caption "CRIMSON HEAD ZOMBIES SUCK"

Pixel Grotto@pixelgrotto· Jan 23

Nice view of Orion’s Belt from the garden tonight. (Not the best pic, but my phone camera is only capable of so much!) This is the only constellation I know thanks to a school project I did long, long ago where I drew Orion as He-Man

A view of Orion’s Belt, composed of three central stars that are almost in a perfect line, forming the “belt” of the hunter Orion, whose torso and waist are composed of other nearby stars. The picture is sort of blurry and taken above some trees

A homemade poster called Orion: The Hunter that I made when I was a kid. The text talks about Orion being a winter constellation in the Milky Way galaxy, and there is a drawn diagram showing the stars of the constellation as well as a goofy picture showing He-Man, who for some reason was Orion in my mind back then

Pixel Grotto@pixelgrotto· Jan 2

Visiting The Compleat Strat in Midtown for the first time in years. When I was last here I was just a TTRPG player; now I can find several books I’ve contributed to. Some of which I still have not been sent contributor’s copies of, lol. (Not this one, the Renegade GI Joe folks are class!)

The staff page of the GI Joe RPG: Intercontinental Adventures Factions in Action vol. 2. My name (Jeremy Blum) is listed in the authors section.

Pixel Grotto@pixelgrotto· Dec 18

This thing is still awesome. Found it in my folks' house in the summer of 2023 and brought it out for the niece and nephew. Look at this guy!

A creature made from the Mighty Men & Monster Maker stencil and color set. He's got a brain that resembles the Mars Attacks aliens, a buff upper body breaking free from chains shackling his hands, and little tiny ostrich legs

Pixel Grotto@pixelgrotto· Dec 7

Penned a comparison between the retro-styled ninja games of 2025, Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound and Shinobi: Art of Vengeance. Who comes out on top? Also a special shoutout to @kimimithegameeatingshemonster.com for their excellent critique of Shinobi, which I mention here www.tumblr.com/pixelgrotto/...

A screenshot of Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound, showing a pixel perfect Kenji standing under a torii gate, his blue ninja scarf flapping in the breeze behind him. Some deceased jarheads lie on the ground not far away by two stone lions.

A screenshot from Shinobi: Art of Vengeance, showing Joe Musashi standing on a boat that's arriving on a pier. A gorgeous lantern festival city looms behind him in a diorama of reds and yellows.

Pixel Grotto@pixelgrotto· Dec 4

Draconic Codex is out and I wrote the new lore/stats for the Horned Dragon, so go check it! I made it so that Horned Dragons shed fragments of their horns and then throw them as projectiles against enemies. I was inspired by Gambit using Kinetic Card in Marvel vs Capcom, thank you very much

An image from Pathfinder Lost Omens - Draconic Codex showing the Horned Dragon, a massive green behemoth with a horn on its snout and moss growing over its wings. Various arrows on the page highlight key aspects of the dragon, like its split tail and grass-like scales

A piece of text from the book: "When poison doesn’t suffice, horned dragons are quick to crush or impale their enemies with a solid headbutt. A select few also shed fragments of their horns, which
they hide beneath the crevasses of their scales, using them as impromptu weapons in the same way that a human would wield hidden throwing daggers. These projectiles are used to impale enemies on high points that overlook the dragon’s domain, such as tall trees or cliffsides. The body remains there until consumed by birds of prey,
and when the corpse falls, the dragon recovers the horn “dagger” for future usage. This practice is common in the Maharev region of Qadira, where horned dragons rub sand on their horns in an act that seems to facilitate the shedding process."

Pixel Grotto@pixelgrotto· Dec 3

I asked my wife what her brain would look like if it were a video game. She surprised me with MANIAC MANSION, of all things, because she'd seen the game's map on social media and thought the multicloured, many-doored rooms were a fun representation of her ADHD 😁 Anyway, this is why I married her

A selection of brightly-coloured rooms from the NES version of Maniac Mansion, all placed together in a grid.

Pixel Grotto@pixelgrotto· Nov 20

Get ready for a real blast from the past. Me circa…1993, 1994? Not sure when. All I know is that this Batman coloring book mask + He-Man jumper look is something that will never be surpassed

A picture of a much smaller me from long ago. I have an Asian bowl cut and am wearing a ridiculous costume which includes a blue cardboard Batman mask that barely covers my face, a red cape, and a Masters of the Universe jumper. I also have big boots on. I have a weird grin on my face and look supremely proud of my cosplay

Pixel Grotto@pixelgrotto· Nov 12

Got my contributor’s copy today! It was fun to revitalize and redo the Caypin for 2e; I like my tentacle-faced friends very much 😀

A page from the Starfinder 2e Alien Core book showing the description and abilities of the Caypin, a reptilian creature with a huge collection of tentacles. The tentacles can separate from the head and a few of them are slithering across the page

Pixel Grotto@pixelgrotto· Nov 8

What awesome paper. Also, the poster highlighted in the interview is incredible; what I would do to get a copy of it...

A Japanese poster from the '80s for the first NES Ninja Gaiden. It shows a cool image of Ryu viewing a dark castle on a faraway mountain as lightning strikes in the background, as well as a foreground image of Ryu standing before a demonic statue.

Pixel Grotto@pixelgrotto· Oct 31

This year’s pumpkins are Baba Yaga’s hut on chicken legs and a frog/toad…a froad?

Two carved pumpkins glowing with light; one resembles a small house with chicken legs and feet while the other looks like a smug frog fella

The pumpkin of Baba Yaga’s hut up close. Three windows, a roof, a wonky chimney, and stubby chicken legs

The frog fella up close. He is spotty and has bulbous eyes. Carved out pumpkin bits were also used to make his feet

Pixel Grotto@pixelgrotto· Oct 16

I remember first reading Tomonobu Itagaki's interviews in EGM in the early 2000s and marvelling at the balls on this guy. Ninja Gaiden's Xbox revival came out around then and I'll always remember this ad which embodied all of his attitude. 58 is too young to go. A real loss for the game industry.

An ad for Ninja Gaiden on the original Xbox, showing a black leather-clad Ryu Hayabusa kneeling in a cool pose while the words "Back...in black" are draped above him.

Pixel Grotto@pixelgrotto· Oct 8

Moving house and found the busiest character sheet ever for one of the many iterations of my first D&D character He started out as an emo ranger suffering from PTSD who thought his dwarven wife was dead. Ended as a jolly fellow who rescued her from the Shadowfell and shot Demogorgon in the face

An extremely busy 5e D&D character sheet showing handwritten stats and notes for Dyne Cinderpaw, a human ranger

Two pages of meticulous, very packed handwritten notes and sketches showing Dyne’s abilities and the various encounters he had in his many quests. Somewhere along the line he reincarnated into a half-orc!

Pixel Grotto@pixelgrotto· Oct 1

October is upon us. Truly the only month worth a damn

A screenshot from Quest for Glory IV: Shadows of Darkness showing the Hero standing outside of Mordavia's town gates at night. Pumpkins with Jack-o-Lantern faces shine in the darkness near him next to stays of hay and a scarecrow, exuding an eerie autumnal atmosphere

Pixel Grotto@pixelgrotto· Sep 25

This site ranks me as a 4.2, which is about the average that Electronic Gaming Monthly gave Resident Evil Gaiden back in the day I like RE Gaiden as an underrated experiment, I'll take it

A screenshot of Resident Evil Gaiden from EGM issue 155 showing either Chris Redfield or Barry Butron (I honestly cannot recall whose sprite that is) standing near some pipes with a big hole in the ground and two pixelated zombies nearby. The game's best feature is its "interesting battle system." The worst feature? "Graphics are dark and outdated."

The reviews that EGM gave RE Gaiden. Respectively a 5.0 from John R., a 3.5 from Jonathan, and a 4.0 from Mark. None of them have great things to say about the game and they are all a bit picky

Pixel Grotto@pixelgrotto· Sep 16

What other game lets you play as these incredible character options. Bill shall rise up to make the world a better place for those amongst the dung!

A Heroforge miniature of "Bill the Dung Farmer," a smiling fellow with a Friar Tuck haircut and mutton shops holding a sausage and a tankard of air. he wears dirty rags and sits on a big pile of what may very well be feces

Pixel Grotto@pixelgrotto· Sep 15

The wind is blowing, the leaves are turning shades and finally I feel like we are entering the season of this Quest for Glory IV: Shadows of Darkness screenshot. Autumn makes me feel so much better