Andrew Welsh

Standing 5’ 9” tall, Lea has pale freckled skin, and a thin, poised, dancer-like composure. She has cheerful hazel-green eyes, small ears, and a bright smile. When it's not pulled into a loose bun, her medium-length, naturally wavy hair bounces with each step. It’s a deep red color that gives way to an almost hawk-like tawny brown on the inside. Shew wears a scarlet battle dress with red and silver metallic accents all over. Behind Lea are two large red-brown wings that are a cross between hawk-like and predatory and angelic

Here's an image of Lea looking her best. She's going to need to rest up after tonight's encounter!

An image of Lea Pembroke, my harpy character. She has large red-brown hawk-like wings. Normally they are nicely kept, but here they are worn and unkempt. Her hair, the same red color as her wings is tied neatly behind her head in a bun. She is wearing a scarlet battle dress, accentuated with shining red and silver metal accents. She is covered in blood - it's a mix of her own, and the viscera of the fiendish broodmother spider queen she slayed tonight. She holds in her right hand a new sword (described in further detail in the next image). It is glowing with a swirling golden light.

A close-up on Lea's new silver longsword. The blade is dirty and chipped in a couple small places. It is a (slightly muted) shining silver-grey the whole way up-and-down, with a slight ruddy red-orange color along the bloodline. if only there was a way I could get HeroForge to have a decal of glowing arcane runes up and down the blade, or a broken lightning pattern... then it'd be *perfect*

My current TTRPG character got into a rough fight tonight with a demonic broodmother spider queen (and won) - and as such, she got a new NAMED artifact sword:

*Remainer: the Blade of Dead Kings*

A tray of biscuits. They pull apart with warmth.

Half of a biscuit, with a pickle and some pulled chicken in thin red barbecue sauce on top. Sprinkled with cheese.

Made some homemade biscuits; and we’re putting some leftover shredded BBQ chicken on them for dinner tonight.

Absolutely fantastic!

Loretooth Games Studios Loretooth Studios is an independent game studio based in St. Louis, Missouri. We are passionate about sharing the art of game design and dedicated to building and supporting your next favorite tablet...

Come, hang out, ask questions! It'll be fun (I hope)!

www.youtube.com/@Loretooth_S...
www.twitch.tv/loretooth_st...

a man with a scarf around his neck says we 've had one yes but what about second breakfast ALT: a man with a scarf around his neck says we 've had one yes but what about second breakfast

Me: I streamed #Underkeeper game design for four hours today!

Also me: But what about second stream?

Sure, I guess. Why not. 8ish central? More Speaker archetypes? IDK man...

Core classes: Anointed, Berserker, Duelist (formerly Swashbuckler), Pugilist, Ranger, Rogue (formerly Thief), Sorcerer, Speaker, Warlord, Wizard

Planned Expansion Classes: Astrologer, Cognizyn, Eidontalist

We've been doing some great work modernizing and balancing the core #Underkeeper classes, knocking out the Rogue and Sorcerer today. While these classes are stubs at the moment, we should be able to chart a progression roadmap going forward!

Only two core classes remain! SPEAKER and WARLORD!

Loretooth_Studios - Twitch Game Design & Writing for the Underkeeper TTRPG!

I think it's time we WIZ!

P.S. I am now LIVE!
www.twitch.tv/loretooth_st...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=duxn...

Stream starting Noonish central time.

Twitch: twitch.tv/loretooth_st...

YT: youtube.com/@loretooth_s...

I look forward to seeing you all in chat! I can’t wait to answer your questions and talk games!

I’m still getting used to streaming - LMK what I can do to make it a good experience for you.

If you’ve checked into my livestreams this past week discussing the #Underkeeper TTRPG…

For one, thank you.

For two: I’ve been offstream for the past couple days because I wanted to make sure I got the next class I wanted to cover *right*.

I think it’s time to talk about the WIZARD.

Tomorrow.

One made-from-scratch two-layer yellow cake, covered in rich chocolate fudge icing, with a light sprinkle of powdered sugar on top!

My apologies for not following up sooner - here’s the cake in all its glory!

One made-from-scratch two-layer yellow cake, covered in rich chocolate fudge icing, with a light sprinkle of powdered sugar on top!

Turned out absolutely fantastic.

YouTube video by Loretooth Games Studios Game Design & Writing for the Underkeeper TTRPG!

Going LIVE to do some TTRPG GameDev! Come chat and hang out around our virtual campfire!

YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYsg...
Twitch: www.twitch.tv/loretooth_st...

Plan for today:

Bake a cake for my girlfriend’s birthday!

Stream. Probably talk about goblins or something. Maybe fix up a class? If there’s something you want to see/chat about - comment!

Get ready for the blizzard that’s supposedly going to wreak havoc throughout the weekend (and next week).

You know what we need? Niche game show seasons.

…for some of our contestants, this is the furthest they’ve ever been from home. For our others, *not even close*.

Welcome to season 42 of Survivor - our teams: the Skeptics, and the Alien Abductees. Who’s ready for an out-of-this-world competition?

Thank you! I love the look of circuitry and circuit boards - it was a lot of fun getting it all working and then arranging them somewhat artistically!

Two miniatures stand atop a shadowbox filled with technology components. Three raspberry pi computers and a stripped-down USB hub are powered and lit up.

A view of my desk. A closed laptop sits next to a microphone and a secondary monitor. A desk lamp and webcam (built onto a microphone arm) arch overhead. My network and media computers hang on the wall, surrounded by my diploma, awards from my high school’s robotics team, and a newspaper clipping about my college’s TTRPG club

The results of my piHole computers after having run for ~12 hours today.

Finally got my Raspberry Pis sorted!

I’ve got two piHoles running in tandem to block popup and banner ads on our home network; and a dedicated media server!

…and as it turns out, the media server makes it thick enough to double as a bonus shelf, so all my characters’ minis will now live here!

Loretooth Games Studios Loretooth Studios is an independent game studio based in St. Louis, Missouri. We are passionate about sharing the art of game design and dedicated to building and supporting your next favorite tablet...

Well, I'm going to try and keep this momentum going, and do another stream tomorrow, probably around noon Central time.

If you're interested and want to come hang out, I'd be happy to have you! Please excuse the inherent awkwardness as I get things figured out :)

www.youtube.com/@Loretooth_S...

...and the good news is, I kinda already did it! I livestreamed a bit today, going through my game's Google Doc, reading out about the different ancestries and such, and generally talking world lore.

No one was watching, but it's the thought that counts, right?

that typically ended with my social anxiety, insecurities, and the like being such a massive barrier to entry that I wasn't really able to pursue that desire (in addition to the copious prep time that fundamentally was not sustainable for me at that time).

All that to say, I want to try again.

While I'm not usually one for making New Year's resolutions, one of the things I want to get better at in the new year is putting myself in front of the camera and talking about games and game design.

While I was at college, I would try and host/record a movie news and reviews show online, but...

The last thing I want to do is to just say “this ancestry exists” in my setting and ttrpg (#Underkeeper). Not to say that approach isn’t valid, I (personally) just want more, and not fall back on tired and racist/bigoted fantasy tropes (because there’s so many, especially with Orcs and Goblins).

…history for the “main-player” species on the prime material plane; and establish their niches so I can build different cultures up around these ancestries.

My players will probably not care/investigate the evolutionary history of goblins… but it’s so nice to have a basic framework to fall back on.

…and of course, it’s fantasy - so I have the creative license to embellish a bit (and I *absolutely* plan to do so!) and stretch the verisimilitude of my worldbuilding.

I don’t think this whole evolutionary breakdown will even make it into the book, but it helped me establish a reasonable…

I’m running with this all mostly off the top of my head (and the memory of having watched hundreds of hours of Gutsick Gibbon videos). I am no scientist, just curious; at best an armchair anthropologist.

I’m pretty sure there’s a problem with timing (depending on the age of the setting), and such.

I’m doing my best to have the human+ line and the orcish line resemble the time period where hominins like homo erectus and homo neanderthalensis (I think I’m remembering the correct species?) would have coexisted and shared some mechanical and technological developments (tools, fire, etc).

…larger brain sizes and smaller frames, allowing them access to resources that the orcs did not have access to; leading to the lingering quasi-arboreal gathering lifestyle before the human-halfling+ divergence.

The Orc line and Human+ line diverged the farthest back. Orcs took the role of environmental generalists; they were the dominant hunters across the continents, and had greater success in doing battle with the beasts of the land.

Thus, the human+ line specialized. Evolutionarily, they favored…

The halfling-goblinoid line thrived with a smaller stature because they were more successful in surviving in areas that would accommodate smaller body plans, while the human-line was more adapted to quasi-arboreal life, and specialized resource gathering.

…and that brings us to the orcs in the room

The same applies to our fantasy tree.

Most recently, halflings and goblinoids diverged from one another, due to environmental adaptation.

Before that, the halfling-goblin line diverged from the human line. This environmental distinction is where the human-halfling size difference comes into play.

Now, it’s important to not that this sort of family tree often gets misinterpreted in science communication.

Humans are not descendants of chimpanzees; we are contemporaneous species who share a common ancestor. The differences between our species come from our ancestors’ diverged niches.