John Harper

@johnharper

Game designer and graphic artist in Seattle, WA. Blades in the Dark, AGON, Lasers & Feelings, Lady Blackbird. johnharper.itch.io

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John Harper@johnharper· Jun 29

Book cover artists QRP with your book covers. Here are a few for games that I didn't write. The Fiasco anthology linked triptych covers were so much fun to do. For Undying, I tried to make something as minimal as possible that still read as "vampires."

A triptych design for three Fiasco playset anthologies, rendered in a Saul Bass, 2d style, depicting the stages of a crime: heist, escape, and jail.

The cover for "Fiasco Classic" depicting a heartbroken figure bungling their planned revenge, rendered in a 2d Saul Bass style, with a black silhouette figure over a red background.

The special edition cover for Candela Obscura, featuring a complex clockwork mechanism, printed in gold foil on a green faux leather cover.

The cover for the Undying rpg: all black with the title in a white flare serif typeface, with the split diamond glyph of eternity above and below.

John Harper@johnharper· Jun 29

It's a shame that this TV show, MATRIX, from 1993 isn't available anywhere. A hitman, back from the dead to right his wrongs and avoid Hell? Definitely my jam. Also: co-starring Carrie-Anne Moss (her first Matrix).

A promotional image for the 1993 TV series MATRIX, starring Nick Mancuso as a hitman back from the dead to right his wrongs and avoid hell. It depicts Nick threatening a guy, with artistic devil horns and tail painted over him.

A screenshot from the 1993 TV show, MATRIX, showing Carrie-Anne Moss holding up some city planning papers.

John Harper@johnharper· Jun 28

Mitchell got new fan art! Thank you, @aaronmfking.bsky.social 💙

Mitchell, a gray and white tuxedo cat with a black nose, poses next to a pen drawing of his cute face.

John Harper@johnharper· Jun 23

I mean, look at this design! Compact and instructive, with a great style. ❤️ Getting this in zine form will be rad. dngnclub.itch.io/hows-my-driv...

A sample page from the zine, showing the inciting incident and the basic mechanics.

A spread with GM and Player summaries, plus a cool, moody photo-illustration of cars driving at night.

John Harper@johnharper· Jun 23

Same. A (partial) balm I've found is a dose of The Loveless.

Willem Defoe in a bar scene, wearing a motorcycle jacket and holding a cigarette

Willem Defoe on a red Harley Davidson motorcycle.

Willem Defoe and Marianne Kanter driving in a red Corvette.

John Harper@johnharper· Jun 21

If you see this, post a vampire that isn’t Dracula. (It's hilarious that this is his main image in the wiki.)

A photo of Geraint Wyn Davies as Vampire Detective Nick Knight on FOREVER KNIGHT. He has a ridiculous look on his face like he's stoned.

John Harper@johnharper· Jun 21

Artists, drop some creepy art

A black and white illustration of a zombified person wearing a hood and corroded gas mask. Their torso is heavily damaged, and you can see through the wound to the ribcage

John Harper@johnharper· Jun 20

THIS FACE

A close up shot of Mitchell's incredibly cute face.

John Harper@johnharper· Jun 19

Day Mitchell, night Mitchell

Mitchell, the gray and white tuxedo cat, lounges on a blanket during the day.

Mitchell, the gray and white tuxedo cat, lounges on a blanket at night.

John Harper@johnharper· Jun 16

Doing this on my phone, so it's a mess, but I'd start by collapsing the stats block into a narrower column and bringing the left margin of the moves over. If you reduce the type size to be like other text, you can maybe do 3 columns for the moves. It could look too crowded, but worth a shot.

A rough layout suggestion for a more condensed character playbook.

John Harper@johnharper· Jun 14

Saw this artwork and was suddenly inspired to make an homage to @paperbackparadise.bsky.social.

A mockup of a fake pulp sci-fi book cover depicting an astronaut on a ship at sea with a menacing figure behind him pointing a pistol at his back. In the sky behind the astronaut, a huge ghostly skull looms over his shoulder. The book is titled "Pull that trigger and the giant ghost skull that follows me around with stomp your ass."

John Harper@johnharper· Jun 7

Nice. I'm going with whiskey. :)

John Harper@johnharper· Jun 5

Mitchell chooses goblin mode

Mitchell, a grey and white tuxedo cat, crouches next to a wooden console, waiting to ambush a person's hand that's just out of sight overhead.

Mitchell misses his target and sprawls out as he drops down

John Harper@johnharper· Jun 5

Earth, Wind, and Fire know how to do album art.

The cover of Earth, Wind, and Fire's album, I Am. It depicts a blazing star over the ruins of ancient Egyptian ruins.

The interior art of Earth, Wind, and Fire's album, I Am. It depicts a blazing star over the band members, dredsed as religious or prophetic figures assembled beneath a glowing holy
symbol.

John Harper@johnharper· Jun 1

Apparently Lasers & Feelings was a clue in the AP News crossword?! Wild.

A screenshot of the AP News crossword showing the clue: "Tabletop pastime like 'Lasers and Feelings': Abbr.

John Harper@johnharper· Jun 1

This is a cat check point. Relinquish your most recent cat picture on your phone.

Mitchell, a gray and white tuxedo cat with a black nose, is blissing out from chin scritches while cuddled up on the couch

John Harper@johnharper· May 29

Ride or Die challenges are (usually) resolved with one-roll, ranking all the participants' outcomes before each player narrates their action and consequences in the challenge.

A layout spread rendered in orange and purple sunset colors, illustrating the various outcomes of a challenge roll, from a "slammed" driver getting blown up by a rocket to a hero car smashing through an attack helicopter in mid air.

John Harper@johnharper· May 23

Those who die choking on the toxic miasma and ash of the deathlands sometimes rise again as foul Wretches.

A black and white illustration of a Wretch: a formerly human creature, wearing a blood-stained uniform and shattered gas mask, revealing a corrupted skeletal visage beneath.

John Harper@johnharper· May 20

Mitchell, a gray and white tuxedo cat with a black nose, is upside down looking at the camera underneath a chair.

John Harper@johnharper· May 13

A great and terrible place to scavenge in the deathlands -- the wreck of a leviathan hunter. (This is the main adventure site in Requiem for the Wretched Dead.)