Collected Fan Art: She Ra and the Princess of Power

 She Ra and the Princess of Power

All the items in my series inspired by She Ra and the Princesses of Power.

The Netflix reboot of She Ra is great and is a much better reimagining of the source material than the early 2000’s reboot of He-Man. The kitchy 80’s series is also a delight, but only for the nostalgia factor.

You can find the collected color item cards here, and the black and white collected file here.

I hope you enjoyed the break away from the Zelda item series recently. Don’t worry though, the Zelda project continues. I’m still drawing the items from Wind Waker and I will get back to posting the items from the Oracle of Seasons regularly as I finish posting some of my side projects.

These dips into smaller projects help me keep my creative energies flowing and help me feel some sense of completion and accomplishment while I tackle the massive undertaking that is drawing each item from every Zelda game.

Check out every complete set of item cards I have published here.

Make the world better, be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

Fan art: Three more items from She Ra and the Princesses of Power to complete the set

Fan art: Three more items from She Ra and the Princesses of Power to complete the set 

Battle staff: When the Sword of Protection is unavailable, Adora must use this staff in the Princess’ war against the Horde. The staff is telescoping and can retract into the central handle for easy storage.

Not an artist: Five items from Oracle of Seasons you can find in an inter-dimensional competition.

Five items from Oracle of Seasons you can find in an inter-dimensional competition.

Huge Maku Seed: This magical seed is given to Link by the Maku Tree after Link gathers all eight Essences of Nature. The seed acts as a powerful focus for the Maku Tree’s power, allowing Link to penetrate the dark forces that have kept Link from entering General Onox’s Castle to save Din and defeat the evil threatening Holodrum.

Every generation there is a grand tournament to determine which realm is truly superior. The throngs of spectators watching the competitions need to drink something, so merchants from across the multiverse come to peddle their wares. Some drinks are sweet, others bitter, and some are even a bit magic.

Fan Art: My contribution to the Bernie’s mittens meme

The Twin Fists of Malaphon in the Aspect of Sanders

Twin Fists: These fist weapons knew a different aspect when they were used by the gods in their fight against the titans. In this aspect, they are being used to fight against mortal tyrants, societal inequity, and the cold.

This is both my take on the Twin Fists of Malaphon from Hades and my contribution to the the internet’s eager response to the mittens Bernie Sanders wore to the Presidential Inauguration on January 20th, 2021. If I had to do some light game design for what this aspect’s special power could be, I would say the gloves  either do increased damage to elites while doing decreased damage to non-elites or the damage dealt by the special is evenly distributed to all enemies.

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I sincerely hope that the 46th president is a far better president than the 45th. Not that it will be that hard, but I want to make sure that real positive change that improves life for all people actually happens. Here’s to equal and available access to healthcare, education, shelter, food, and all other basic human rights.

Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

Fan Art: The Leviathan Axe to ride the viking vibes from all the Kaldheim spoilers.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Ragnarok, everywhere you look.

Leviathan Axe: Kratos traveled into the far north to escape the shadow of the Olympian Gods. Not wanting to bring the corrupting influence of Olympus to his new home he gives up the Blades of Chaos and uses a hefty axe to defend his family from bandits, predators, and monsters.

Two notes. I. took artistic liberties with some aspects of the design and stuck very close to the original design in other places. This may be jarring for some die hard God of War 4 fans, but I still hope it follows the rule of cool. I have never actually finished any God of War game and I haven’t even played God of War 4. The PS4/Xbox One generation of consoles missed me. I’m still trying to find the time to finish the Witcher 2 on my Xbox 360. I did watch all of God of War 4 get played, and it was one of the first times I have ever enjoyed watching someone else play a video game.

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Magic the Gathering’s new setting is a viking inspired mini-multiverse called Kaldheim, which effectively just means the land of cold. Seeing a major fantasy property with that direct of a naming structure reminds me to spend less time being super precious about what I name things while world-building and GMing.

All the amazing art coming out of the Kaldheim set along with all the amazing screen shots from Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla have really put me in a viking mood. Makes me want to read Beowulf or run a one shot of ICRPG in Alfheim. It also makes me want to rewatch the 13th Warrior, a film that I whole heartedly recommend to anyone.

It also makes me want to talk about the fact that white supremacists are eager to co-opt the norse/Scandinavian iconography and how hate groups shouldn’t be allowed to ruin more things. I like norse mythology and I loathe white supremacy. People who think they are better than others simply because of the color of their skin totally miss the nuance of the norse myths. The gods are interesting and also flawed. Their problems are often of their own making since they are too proud to deal fairly with the Jotun or  Vanir. Their arrogance is a fundamental flaw. Their us vs them mentality literally leads to the end of the world. Their world, the world of hard and fast divisions between groups, needs to be burned away to reveal a better world, a world where we all come together and lift each other up.

Don’t stand by and allow hate to thrive. Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

Collected Fan Art: A page of magic stolen from the Owl house

Collected: A page of magic stolen from the Owl house

The Owl House collected

I absolutely loved every minute of The Owl House. The absurdist fantasy setting of the Boiling Isles is ripe for pillaging. If you want to bring the staves or portal into your game, you can download the collected page of items from the Owl House at the links below.

Here are the item cards in full color, and here is the black and white set that may be a little more printer friendly.

Check out every complete set of item cards I have published here.

Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

Fan Art: Enjoy Stygius, the blade of the underworld, as things go to hell

Stygius, the blade of the underworld

Stygian Blade: This sword was the first infernal weapon wielded by Zagreus in their ceaseless attempts at escaping the realm of Hades. Long before it was given to Prince Zagreus by his tutor, the blade was Lord Poseidon’s trusted weapon in battling the titans. When Poseidon was given dominion over the seas, he took up the trident as his favored tool and left the Stygian blade to gather dust in the depths of Tartarus.

I love a good action rogue-like, so I got myself Hades on the switch for Christmas. I love it. I could do a whole series of drawings just on the items in Hades. I might even do that eventually, but for now I don’t want to add another giant project onto my to do list, so I give you the Stygian Blade. The least spoilery thing I could draw from a game I thoroughly recommend.

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I have been uncharacteristically quiet lately after the violent mob attempted a coup at the US Capitol during a ceremonial count of the electoral college votes. It is because I had prewritten the last blog post and been in a constant doom-scroll new binge to stay up to date on the teetering of American democracy.

I am both shocked and not surprised at all by the violent insurrection perpetrated by white-supremacists, alt-righters, conspiracy theorists, and Trump supporters. I whole heartedly believe that Trump and his supporters incited violence and tried to change the result of the election by violent means. Trump has actively lied about the results of the election and is not willing to  peacefully surrender power. If you supported what the insurrectionists attempted in Washington D.C., you are on the side of nazis and that is the wrong side.

If you are thinking to yourself, “I wish I could just enjoy things without politics being brought up” you are in the wrong place. Existence is political, electing to not talk about politics is a political choice that supports the status quo.

Also, COVID is still a huge problem. Wear a mask, don’t tolerate incitement to violence, and be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

Not an artist: Four items from Oracle of Seasons that make you a monster.

Four items from Oracle of Seasons that make you a monster.

Zora Flippers: These flippers allow Link to swim in the many waterways of Holodrum. Link must complete the Master Diver’s trial to earn the right to use the flippers. The trial sounds simple enough, return the Master’s Plaque, but that ignores the fact that the plaque is atop a waterfall that Link can only ascend with the help of Dimitri the swimming dodongo. With Dimitri’s help, Link can earn the flippers, and the whole wet world of water is opened to him.

These gloves appear to be silly costume details when not worn. After they are donned, they become stuck on the wearer, transforming the hands into monstrous claws. If the gloves are not somehow removed, they will eventually transform the wearer into a terrifying aquatic monster.

Not an artist: Five items from Oracle of Seasons that are tools of the apocalypse

Five items from Oracle of Seasons that are tools of the apocalypse 

Magnetic Glove: Found in the Unicorn’s Cave, the magnetic gloves allow Link to push and pull metallic objects based on their weight and polarity. Every time Link activates the gloves, they switch polarity from positive to negative which means the object, or Link if the object is heavy enough, is either repulsed or attracted to the glove. I have used a similar mechanic in my games, but I just gave the glove the ability to manifest a limited form of telekinesis that only works on magnetic metals.

This mechanical fist is a poor replica of the hand of an immortal watcher. With this approximation of the divine, gifted mortals might focus their limited abilities enough to momentarily pierce the veil separating the mortal world from other realms. The wearer might lure a lesser being from the other realms into our world, but even a lesser spirit has the power to unleash untold destruction in the mundane sphere.