Rich LeDuc (He/Him)
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rich-leduc.bsky.social
Rich LeDuc (He/Him)
@rich-leduc.bsky.social
1.3K followers 1.1K following 510 posts
Bioinformatician for a Children's Hospital research institute in Canada
Author of Rubble and Ruin, a TTRPG roleplaying game with the feel of fantasy, but all science fiction
All views are my own
Blog: https://ruduswritings.blogspot.com
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rich-leduc.bsky.social
Old mages...I got one.
An absolutely beautiful black and white image from the early 1900s of an old wizard pointing his finger, wearing flowing robes, while a shadowy creature lurks near one of his feet. I don't know who to credit the work to.
September 17, 2025 at 2:45 AM
rich-leduc.bsky.social
I now have a full draft of my #TTRPG #WIP Rustic Fantasy. It's a simplified #Mythras Imperative / #BRP #D100 game with #OSR combat and fairy-tale-like magic. (Also good for #cozy #fantasy.)

As a teaser, here is the current character sheet.

Now all I have to do is play test, editing, and layout...
An old-school TTRPG character sheet dominated by art nouveau scrollwork. If you know your D100 family of games, you will notice simplified skills, weapons, and encumbrance, while keeping Mythras Imperative's great Passions and Fatigue systems. A few new things have snuck in there is a place for Social Status, Appearance, and Magical Aptitude. Instead of the usual Experience Rolls there is a box for Experience Points -- suggesting a little simplification there also. Hopefully it is apparent to the viewer familiar with this family of games that the designer is trying to make version that is easier to teach to people who are "just visiting" the D100 games. And maybe this can become a gateway to help people discover the wonderfully complex and fragmented world of D100.
September 14, 2025 at 2:24 PM
rich-leduc.bsky.social
They are starting to think about heading south... In the summer, no one spends the night on this pond.
A photo of a suburban pond in Winnipeg Manitoba, at night with a full moon and house lights reflecting off the water, revealing dozens of geese gathering for the night.
September 7, 2025 at 2:30 AM
rich-leduc.bsky.social
#ttrpg #fantasy #map Here is a little something for my current WIP. I'm trying to go for a rustic highlands vibe with a strong fantasy twist.
A black and white fantasy gaming map centered on a circular bay labeled "Nork" and surrounded by highlands, swamps and the usual assortment of fantasy place names on the various villages. Within the bay is a circle of smaller islands and to the north west of the map, outside the bay, there is another set of islands that give the impression of an impact crater just off shore.
August 27, 2025 at 12:54 AM
rich-leduc.bsky.social
Well, you inspired me to take this picture. As an old Arcata guy, I don't have redwoods anymore. But I do have some large cottonwoods.
Amateur picture of the trunk of a large cottonwood tree in Southern Manitoba. Somewhat in the style of bb's "redwood appreciation" pictures--but not nearly as grand.
August 17, 2025 at 2:37 PM
rich-leduc.bsky.social
I'm hoping for feedback--doing a few new things with this #TTRPG #map. A crazy wizard has a small school in the ruins of a castle. Question, do the squiggles in the courtyard give you a "ruined and overgrown" castle vibe? I know what I mean, so it works great for me, but does it work for others?
Line drawing map in an "old school" RPG style of an overgrown, ruined castle. There is a large courtyard drawn with somewhat abstract squiggly lines representing pavement and hedges. There are two small towers, one labeled as the Wizard's tower and a main building. The upper floors of the main build are labeled as "burnt out", but the ground floor is shown with furniture (and maybe the remains of a failed magical experiment in one of the back rooms.)
August 17, 2025 at 2:18 PM
rich-leduc.bsky.social
Meanwhile in Manitoba we're building up a head of steam. Passengers are starting to arrive for today's trip.

Image of a vintage locomotive on the Prairie Dog Central Railway.
Image of an 1880s steam engine building up a head of steam. Run by the Vintage Locomotive Society in Winnipeg Manitoba.
July 27, 2025 at 2:37 PM
rich-leduc.bsky.social
I'm collecting old, public domain images for a #WIP. I rename them to match what I need. This one is from the 1906 Yellow Faire Book. I've named it "Stupid Cupid".

Note the figure in the upper left...
A 1906 line drawing from The Yellow Faire Book showing six well-dressed young women relaxing in a bower, one is playing a stringed instrument and another appears to be a princess or some such. A young man descends stairs towards them, well concealed in the trees is a naked archer--presumably, Cupid about to make some mischief.
July 23, 2025 at 10:29 AM
rich-leduc.bsky.social
And I took this picture today. Winnipeg might be a little behind the rest of Canada. ;-)
Image of a guy taking a "mirror selfy" in the window of a 1906 passenger rail car. The car is part of the vintage railroad in Winnipeg, MB.
July 20, 2025 at 10:44 PM
rich-leduc.bsky.social
It's a world where the followers of the oligarchs have no upper hand over the promoters of democracy. The game is set in the no-mans-land between democracies and cartels. There is no magic. No gods driving humanity. PC set their own fate and the future of humanity is undetermined.
A colorful map of a post-apocalyptic vision of the US state of Illinois and surrounding area. Marked in red are areas controlled by cartels with names like Lone Star and North Misery (in northern Missouri) while blue areas have names like the Democratic Republic of Michigan and the Republic of Illinois. Green blankets the southeast and is labeled Great Kud Patch while, unfortunately, the old prairie region is labeled the Sea of Dust.
July 17, 2025 at 10:43 AM
rich-leduc.bsky.social
I'd like to say, "I'll see you and raise you", but I think these are about the same. This is my in-law's farm just across the river from you.
Image of a green farm field taken in spring while the crops are low. Trees are in the background, starting to leaf in, and typical farm out buildings run through the center of the image.
July 10, 2025 at 7:35 PM
rich-leduc.bsky.social
I don't post enough #ttrpg #Fantasymap.

I'm teaching myself how to do color. For the longest time I only did old school line drawn maps.

I'm toying with using these for my WIP, Rustic Fantasy.
A colorful fantasy map of a remote highlands peninsula. It includes a small, old forest, a village named Dialst, another called Redworthy and a rough sea coast. At the end of the peninsula are the ruins of Lochester. Another colorful map in the same style. This one show the Lochester ruins and the area around them. There are two nearby groups. Dark Bay which appears to be centered on mining and another group called the Shairs. They have two castle and a long valley full of farms.
July 7, 2025 at 11:34 AM
rich-leduc.bsky.social
It's customary to call out major Follower milestones--and I'm not really ready. But I crossed 1000 last night.

Thanks to everyone on BlueSky! I really enjoy the engagement.

Here's a corny picture of me at Canada's oldest hotdog stand. We like to go there for ice cream and pinball.
One of those silly signs where you stand behind it and your face is added to the image. In this case it is an anthropomorphic hotdog with the face of a smiling old guy--who happens to be me. It has text say that it is at Skinner's which was established in 1929. Some old console video games are on either side. And the text "Hotdog 100" has been crudely inserted on the image over a spot where there was glare on the picture.
July 4, 2025 at 4:05 PM
rich-leduc.bsky.social
I have a #WIP that will use a lot of old, #Public_Domain art and I thought I would share some of it. I love these old line drawings.

This one is by Morris William Meredith (1867-1921). I think there is so much beautiful art work from the late 1800s that is slipping from the public consciousness.
A beautiful executed line drawing of King Arthur (I think), in armor but with his helmet off, sitting under some trees, ferns and grass in the foreground, reading to a group of knights reclining on the ground near him, their weapons set aside, while in the background another knight is pulling a small boat to shore.
June 20, 2025 at 12:10 AM
rich-leduc.bsky.social
Yesterday I picked up a copy of Ensign 3: Flower Class Corvettes by Anthony Preston and Alan Raven. Here is a list of the U-boats destroyed by these small craft in WW2. Note names like Gladiolus and Hyacinth. Seems relevant to me.
June 8, 2025 at 2:43 PM
rich-leduc.bsky.social
Just a reminder for #Winterpeg, swimming is unsupervised.
A sign addressing safety of swimming totally surrounded by snow.
March 30, 2025 at 6:46 PM
rich-leduc.bsky.social
Scroll up....

...and see this image. Is it Richardson's Grove or Ave. of the Giants...
March 28, 2025 at 12:15 AM
rich-leduc.bsky.social
QRT with art of Powerful Women.

Not sure I'm doing this right, but yesterday I did my first ever color figure drawing. She's a Rubble and Ruin cyborg.
A post apocalyptic cyborg woman in full armor holding a large sword and a weird, round, jet-powered drone (which the artist notes is not particularly well drawn) standing in front of an abstract background meant to evoke a feeling of rubble or destruction.
March 26, 2025 at 10:07 AM
rich-leduc.bsky.social
Every now and then I do #illistrations for one of my creative projects. This is for my #WIP, a post apocalyptic #scifi story--a New Adult mystery called "Perilous Kludge and the Wayward Transhuman".

I want readers to notice the complexity on top of grain silos.
An illustration of an "old style" concrete grain silo on a waterfront. It is surrounded by rubble. A small boat passes in front on lower left corner. It is a peaceful scene. The top of the silo has a headhouse and much of the old grain moving equipment is still there. It forms a complex, metal jumble of tubes, catwalks, and machinery high in the air.
March 13, 2025 at 11:11 AM
rich-leduc.bsky.social
I've written a manuscript called "Perilous Kludge and the Wayward Transhuman" set in my Rubble and Ruin world . Here is a map of New Calumet where the action starts.

Doing the art helps me keep my mind of politics. Not sure post apocalyptic is the best, but...

#scifi #writing #ttrpg
Color map of the fictional post apocalyptic town of New Calumet. From the world of Rubble and Ruin. The map shows a fort, a place called containerville, an area marked NCR with a castle in it and a small farm community called Tarville Nixies. There is a great deal of rubble and ruin around the town. Black and white map of the fictional post apocalyptic town of New Calumet. From the world of Rubble and Ruin. The map shows a fort, a place called containerville, an area marked NCR with a castle in it and a small farm community called Tarville Nixies. There is a great deal of rubble and ruin around the town.
February 8, 2025 at 9:20 PM
rich-leduc.bsky.social
Everyone is doing butterflies on blue-sky, so here I am at Zoo Lights, Winnipeg.
December 30, 2024 at 11:04 PM
rich-leduc.bsky.social
Just finished "The Downloaded" by @robertjsawyer.com. Great book. I heard him talk and remembered how he said the font used on the cover represents "science" in certain contexts. Here it is literally representing science.
The author of the post standing next to a cement wall with the word science written in giant letters in a 1970s science font. It is all caps and has a blocky look (the font, not the author).
December 18, 2024 at 9:03 PM
rich-leduc.bsky.social
Rubble and Ruin is a #ttrpg set 20-yeards after the fall of a cyber- bio- punk near-future torn apart by conflict between elected governments and corporate oligarchs. Prospectors are entering the ruins of the Chicago looking for Old Tech and a better tomorrow.

#postapocalyptic #scifi
A hand-drawn hex map showing the ruins of downtown Chicago in the fictional future-history used in the game Rubble and Ruin.
December 18, 2024 at 1:59 AM
rich-leduc.bsky.social
Remember people, if you are starting your first #ManitobaWinter, what we have seen so far is not winter. It is the easy mode tutorial at the start of a video game.
December 6, 2024 at 9:46 PM
rich-leduc.bsky.social
I wrote Rubble and Ruin to have a science fiction game that plays like an OCR fantasy but with science and technology instead of magic. Because not every adventure has to be about magic...

#CrazyScienceNerd
A photograph of the cover of the RPG game Rubble and Ruin with text that says, "A rubble crawling post apocalyptic roleplaying game with strong science and technology mechanics." and a logo saying that is uses the Mythras Gateway mechanics.
November 28, 2024 at 3:10 PM