Of all the Mothership products, Gradient Descent is the truest expression of that.
Let's review the ambitious labyrinthian design of Mothership's Gradient Descent, a 64-page mega-dungeon with a half-letter (5.5 × 8.5'') format.
This is gonna be a long one, so I'll experiment and break this review into multiple threads. This one will be about graphic design.
Of all the Mothership products, Gradient Descent is the truest expression of that.
For example, the pages look like Sean McCoy didn't design the book so much as found it wedged behind IBM terminals tasked with MKUltra—and then faxed it to himself.
Every page has this weathered look deliberately placed where it would exist in real life.
Cobbled together, photocopied, faxed, stomped out, squeegeed dry, and faxed-again manuals.
This design speaks to my soul.
But as a gm article, it fights itself on usability, economy, and storytelling, which I'll explain further in parts.
I don't know why I haven't seen this before. These maps abstract like a point crawl but look like the schemata to machinery or electronics. They're incredibly evocative, and something I *will* steal.
And here's why I love this innovation: it scales.
Disproportionate scales. Non-humanist architecture. And no "correct" orientation because of zero-g.
This is the invention of that necessity.
It's like a point-crawl + map + Melan diagram.
And yet, they're still hard to use. The world map of "The Deep" in Gradient Descent is more like a shock-and-awe visual than an actual place to go to for reference.
Sometimes they're at the start of a spread. Sometimes they're at the end.
Either further abstraction is necessary, or the written dungeon needs to be pared down.
It's not a deal-breaker, space is limited, after all, but it's another burden on the Warden
GD wields its color palette like a multitool to communicate important information on the page while trimming entire pages from its manuscript.
And because the palette is limited, it's not overwhelming to remember.
And red almost always means danger. The only exception: the main villain—the physical manifestation of danger.
There are lots of great re-inventions here. I've seen some form of these scattered across hundreds of RPG products, but I rarely see them in one product.
The result is somewhat Icarus-ian.
Until then, RPG graphic design nerds: buy it and learn from it. https://t.co/7SZ8iZGm1s
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The emerging picture of John Sullivan aka Jayden X, the Cap riot agitator, and the documentarian Jade Sacker who filmed the whole thing really is the perfect microcosm of how Globalist American Empire stages its narrative.
Here’s the summary overview:
First Sullivan: agent provocateur who is no more antifa/BLM than he is Proud Boy, with suspicious family ties to the security state (allegedly), who helps instigate and document the Jan 6 events leading to IC officials immediately demanding the removal of the incumbent regime...
The guy’s social media profile is all over the map. From Civil Liberties gun guy to Antifa activist. And who planned the Utah BLM event that ended in the bizarre car shooting. His feed since Jan has all led to the Cap Hill events, including the first of the Parlor call outs.
Okay so maybe the guy is just a confused burn-it-all-down nihilist. Possible, but then we might do a big think about how an unhinged political schizo gets hooked up with a filmmaker with a long-history of doing activist/journalism on behalf of Woke Imperialism...
If John Sullivan aka Jaydenx is the “Fake,” Jade Sacker, his accomplice, is the “Gay.” Here’s a few snapshots from her portfolio (https://t.co/YEO1CCsQn8)
The plight of Rohingya Muslims. The Kurds in Northern Syria. Trans Women in Cambodia. etc. Boiler plate globohomo
Here’s the summary overview:
First Sullivan: agent provocateur who is no more antifa/BLM than he is Proud Boy, with suspicious family ties to the security state (allegedly), who helps instigate and document the Jan 6 events leading to IC officials immediately demanding the removal of the incumbent regime...
The guy’s social media profile is all over the map. From Civil Liberties gun guy to Antifa activist. And who planned the Utah BLM event that ended in the bizarre car shooting. His feed since Jan has all led to the Cap Hill events, including the first of the Parlor call outs.
Okay so maybe the guy is just a confused burn-it-all-down nihilist. Possible, but then we might do a big think about how an unhinged political schizo gets hooked up with a filmmaker with a long-history of doing activist/journalism on behalf of Woke Imperialism...
If John Sullivan aka Jaydenx is the “Fake,” Jade Sacker, his accomplice, is the “Gay.” Here’s a few snapshots from her portfolio (https://t.co/YEO1CCsQn8)
The plight of Rohingya Muslims. The Kurds in Northern Syria. Trans Women in Cambodia. etc. Boiler plate globohomo
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Joshua Hawley, Missouri's Junior Senator, is an autocrat in waiting.
His arrogance and ambition prohibit any allegiance to morality or character.
Thus far, his plan to seize the presidency has fallen into place.
An explanation in photographs.
🧵
Joshua grew up in the next town over from mine, in Lexington, Missouri. A a teenager he wrote a column for the local paper, where he perfected his political condescension.
2/
By the time he reached high-school, however, he attended an elite private high-school 60 miles away in Kansas City.
This is a piece of his history he works to erase as he builds up his counterfeit image as a rural farm boy from a small town who grew up farming.
3/
After graduating from Rockhurst High School, he attended Stanford University where he wrote for the Stanford Review--a libertarian publication founded by Peter Thiel..
4/
(Full Link: https://t.co/zixs1HazLk)
Hawley's writing during his early 20s reveals that he wished for the curriculum at Stanford and other "liberal institutions" to change and to incorporate more conservative moral values.
This led him to create the "Freedom Forum."
5/
His arrogance and ambition prohibit any allegiance to morality or character.
Thus far, his plan to seize the presidency has fallen into place.
An explanation in photographs.
🧵
Joshua grew up in the next town over from mine, in Lexington, Missouri. A a teenager he wrote a column for the local paper, where he perfected his political condescension.
2/
By the time he reached high-school, however, he attended an elite private high-school 60 miles away in Kansas City.
This is a piece of his history he works to erase as he builds up his counterfeit image as a rural farm boy from a small town who grew up farming.
3/
After graduating from Rockhurst High School, he attended Stanford University where he wrote for the Stanford Review--a libertarian publication founded by Peter Thiel..
4/
(Full Link: https://t.co/zixs1HazLk)
Hawley's writing during his early 20s reveals that he wished for the curriculum at Stanford and other "liberal institutions" to change and to incorporate more conservative moral values.
This led him to create the "Freedom Forum."
5/