Evan
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adrawnnovel.bsky.social
Evan
@adrawnnovel.bsky.social
640 followers 250 following 74 posts
Art and game design. Making ttrpgs with Turtlebun. Verrrry into baduk. He/they 🏳‍🌈 🌸 https://turtlebun.com
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adrawnnovel.bsky.social
Evan @adrawnnovel.bsky.social · Nov 14
Hello, allow me to introduce myself! I'm Evan, I've been designing and illustrating tabletop RPGs for a while. I'll attach some examples of my drawings to these posts!
A drawing of two silhouetted goblins looking out from the edge of a forest, seeing a field, clouds, and distant castle. The cover of a tabletop RPG. It's titled Questlandia: A game of ill-fated kingdoms, and credits Hannah Shaffer and Evan Rowland. The illustration shows a massive stone pillar rising over a desert river, with green fields and small buildings along its edge. In the blue sky, hot air balloons are rising. In the foreground, a silhouetted figure surveys the scene from atop a ledge. In their left hand, they hold a spear. Ribbons tied to the spearhead flap in the breeze. Their right hand holds the reins to a giant turtle. The cover of a tabletop RPG, titled Noirlandia, by Evan Rowland. The black and white illustration shows a cityscape of massive bones, with lights reminiscent of skyscraper windows. Behind the city, a huge skull lies looking upward. In the foreground, a silhouetted figure wearing a trench coat and fedora stands atop a ledge, surveying the city. He is lit by the headlights of the car beside him. A sketch of three goblins. A tall goblin stands with arms on hips, and a cape billowing in the wind. They ask, "so, do I look cool?" A second goblin looks impressed, saying "oh, it suits you! Really!" The third goblin is walking away from the others with a skeptical expression. They say, "I thought we were going for 'inconspicuous'..."
Reposted by Evan
hanbandit.bsky.social
Not only do we get to design our first horror game, we also get to incorporate my dream/nightmare mechanic of losing symbolic teeth!
A snippet of a character sheet with a space to fill in a goal, to track ticket quantities, and a space with three teeth images that can be filled in.
June 10, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Reposted by Evan
hanbandit.bsky.social
New Design Doc today! In the episode @adrawnnovel.bsky.social and I talk about how even the ToC of a roleplaying game can help tell the game’s story and set the tone.

open.spotify.com/episode/3Sfs...
The Rules Tell a Story
Design Doc · Episode
open.spotify.com
June 4, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Reposted by Evan
turtlebun.com
The latest Design Doc is about epilogues!

How do you end a game on the best possible note, while also letting the players pick the tune?

Is it unbearable to introduce new rules at the end of a long session?

Why do games need to end, anyway??
May 28, 2025 at 4:55 PM
adrawnnovel.bsky.social
Sketching for Wonderland
A black and white drawing of a skull with cracks and mottled texture
May 14, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Reposted by Evan
turtlebun.com
The latest episode of Design Doc is about how mechanics can swing from one extreme to the other. Adjusting your rules *just enough* is an art form in itself!

You can find it here: pod.link/1298080097/e...

...or wherever you get your podcasts!
May 14, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Reposted by Evan
epidiah.bsky.social
Heading into the final week of the Kickstarter with just under 15% to go!
April 21, 2025 at 1:50 AM
Reposted by Evan
hanbandit.bsky.social
New Design Doc today 🎧 Ep 91. Don’t Stop Making Art!

I’ve been feeling disconnected from making art and my values after having to get a full time job. I sat down with @JoshuaACNewman.xeno.glyphpress.com.ap.brid.gy to talk about art as a nonnegotiable. It helped!

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/d...
Don’t Stop Making Art! (Feat. Joshua A.C. Newman)
Podcast Episode · Design Doc · 04/09/2025 · 1h
podcasts.apple.com
April 9, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Reposted by Evan
turtlebun.com
The latest Design Doc is about pacing in TTRPGs! We talk about session counts, story arcs, and how to linger on the best moments.

You can listen to Design Doc wherever you download podcasts!
March 21, 2025 at 3:59 PM
adrawnnovel.bsky.social
Goblin stroll
March 8, 2025 at 1:29 AM
Reposted by Evan
turtlebun.com
Our latest episode of Design Doc is about rewarding players with information. When making rules for intangible rewards, it's tough to make sure they'll match the mood at the table. We discuss and do some designing on the fly!

Out now in all the podcast places 💡
February 27, 2025 at 7:32 PM
Reposted by Evan
turtlebun.com
Our latest episode of Design Doc is about rewards and prizes! We talk about the difference between character and player-level rewards, and do a little live design for claw machine prizes!

Listen wherever you get podcasts! Or here, on Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/4lFH...
February 14, 2025 at 7:13 PM
Reposted by Evan
hanbandit.bsky.social
Good morning! It’s my birthday and we have a new Design Doc up about Rewards and Prizes in roleplaying games! 🎁 Your character can be getting absolutely walloped while you as a player are like Hell Yea. Give it a listen! podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/d...
Rewards and Prizes
Podcast Episode · Design Doc · 02/12/2025 · 45m
podcasts.apple.com
February 12, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Reposted by Evan
turtlebun.com
Our latest episode of Design Doc is about perfection in art - what people expect of artists, and how we can define perfection for ourselves.

You can find it here on Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/3R8N...

Or listen wherever you get your podcasts 🎨
February 2, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Reposted by Evan
hanbandit.bsky.social
We made a dedicated account for Turtlebun news and updates. Nothing there yet but follow if you’d like to keep current with our things! @turtlebun.com
January 20, 2025 at 3:35 PM
adrawnnovel.bsky.social
A few stills for an animation I made
A black and white illustration of a mountain and forested valley with dark clouds overhead. A black and white illustration of a cluttered bedroom, starkly lit from an opened door. A silhouetted bearded man stands in the doorway. A black and white illustration of a forest clearing, with silhouetted trees in the background and densely rendered foliage in the foreground. A bearded man lies on the ground beside the remains of a campfire. He appears sickly or deceased.
December 24, 2024 at 4:20 PM
adrawnnovel.bsky.social
A dark planet
A greyscale digital painting of a dark planet resting within black clouds. The surface is riddled with craters and ravines, some filled with a silvery liquid. Dark blotchy patches might be forests or some other kind of flora.
December 19, 2024 at 11:55 PM
Reposted by Evan
hanbandit.bsky.social
One of the pieces of art @adrawnnovel.bsky.social made for Noirlandia that never made it into the book. It’s still one of my favorites and we’ve been trying to think of something we can do with it for years
Black and white image of a line-drawn city on a forced perspective grid. Above the city is an illustrated sketched skull surrounded by a circle of flower and root flourishes. Below the image is the title Noirlandia
December 17, 2024 at 3:47 PM
adrawnnovel.bsky.social
A monochromatic digital painting of a forest. A path through the underbrush leads to an arced wooden bridge. A silhouetted rabbit sits upon it, wearing a scarf that billows in the wind.
December 13, 2024 at 1:17 PM
Reposted by Evan
priscillapage.bsky.social
once again thinking about this passage from David Lynch's book Catching the Big Fish
excerpt reads: "I hear stories about directors who scream at actors, or they trick them somehow to get a performance. And there are some people who try to run the whole business on fear. But I think this is such a joke -- it's pathetic and stupid at the same time. When people are in fear, they don't want to go to work. So many people today have that feeling. Then the fear starts turning into hate, and they begin to hate going to work. Then the hate can turn into anger and people can become angry at their boss and their work. If I ran my set with fear, I would get 1 percent, not 100 percent, of what I get. And there would be no fun in going down the road together. And it *should* be fun. In work and in life, we're all supposed to get along. We're supposed to have so much fun, like puppy dogs with our tails wagging. It's supposed to be great living; it's supposed to be fantastic."
December 11, 2024 at 6:46 AM
Reposted by Evan
hanbandit.bsky.social
Our newest Design Doc is about navigation in games! It asks a question we’re always asking: “Do we need a mechanic for that?” The answer is Yes, and No, and Only if we want people to ride cursed amusement park rides. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/d...
Going Places! (or, Navigation Mechanics in Games)
Podcast Episode · Design Doc · 12/11/2024 · 43m
podcasts.apple.com
December 11, 2024 at 4:43 PM
Reposted by Evan
mchodorek.bsky.social
Every time a new episode of Design Doc drops, it’s like a balm for my soul. @hanbandit.bsky.social and @adrawnnovel.bsky.social have the best hearts and the most soothing voices. 🎲🤓
December 11, 2024 at 5:00 PM
Reposted by Evan
hanbandit.bsky.social
The rise of itchio is so potent. Our games have gone from 2014 “vaguely unspecific fantasy sandbox” to try and carve out a niche in the margins of D&D to 2024 “highly specific gay farming sim where you play as frog & toad,” and to my great pleasure, that’s the one everyone wants to play! 🐸
December 10, 2024 at 7:06 PM
adrawnnovel.bsky.social
A kingdom sketch drawn for Questlandia
December 10, 2024 at 11:00 PM
Reposted by Evan
gamefiend.bsky.social
Cannot tell you how great it is to see Turtlebun ( @adrawnnovel.bsky.social and @hanbandit.bsky.social ) back at it! It was great to see them and meet @willjobst.bsky.social and buy some of their great games !
December 9, 2024 at 11:56 AM
Reposted by Evan
hanbandit.bsky.social
Last day of PAX!! Come say hello at booth 4318! ⚡️
A blurry shot of Hannah in front of their RPGs at a booth at PAX Unplugged
December 8, 2024 at 1:59 PM