We’re moving the Making Maskwitches blog from its current provider back to our own blog. And we thought, why not just rerun the fun and post each article as it’s moved?
You’ll eventually be able to browse all of the Making Maskwitches entries using this tag:
First up, it’s back to the start today and the heady days of:
FEB 17, 2024
MAKING MASKWITCHES
Who is this?
My name is Jon Hodgson. I’ve been working on the tabletop games and print media industry for 25 years. I’ve also worked in TV and film, and spend many years as a props maker.
The Maskwitches mask generator has been updated with a load of new components making its results even more varied and versatile! Free to use, and fun to just play around with, the mask generator lets you recombine lots of different elements to make masks for your witch character. With a bit of Blue Peter level craft knowhow, you can even print them out and use them as props at the gaming table!
Also brand new today is the Witch Generator. This web app takes the tables within the Maskwitches book and automates them, creating characters at a click of a button. We’ve focused on utility here, with the text easy to copy and paste to edit as you see fit.
To enhance your Maskwitches games we present the Maskwitches of Forgotten Doggerland mask generator! This free web app will let you generate random masks, and then customise them. It’s the first of several generators like this we’re bringing to Maskwitches.
Simple click the button to open the app in your browser. Hitting random will generate you a mask. Click the various buttons to change that one element. You can also change the background display. When you hit the Print button you’ll generate a PDF without a background and have the option to print it. Appropriately-scaled you can even print them as wearable masks for your table!
Required specs
The generator works in all major browsers apart from Apple Safari, where the print option does not work currently.
The generator was coded by Simon Proctor, to whom we confer the blessings of the giant invisible pitch worm.
Hey! We’re working on a mask generator for #Maskwitches of Forgotten Doggerland. You’ll be able to generate and print out your own set of masks, built at random from interlocking parts. Check out the work in progress:
Jon: So a couple of years ago, before it was open to the public, a friend introduced me to the closed beta of this weird widget that made images based on heavy remixing of an existing set of images. It was really curious, and produced these hard to predict, weird, dreamlike images. Some were horrific. All were very odd.
I loved the idea of looking into the mind of a machine and instead of looking like Tron it looked like… hell?
And so I made thousands of images with it, curated them with my art direction skills, and made the first edition of Maskwitches of Forgotten Doggerland. The unfolding conversation with this very futuristic-seeming machine about this ancient place was really revelatory. It would show me things, and I would ask it questions about those things. It was a really interesting exploration of what this new technology was all about.
But soon after release of that game, it became clear that this widget was simply-put, misbegotten and antithetical to anyone invested in copyright, making things, and supporting artists and the future of culture.
People I was speaking to in illustration were finding their previously honest little businesses, hand-making new things, were out of work because the widget was practically free.
Now while others may make peace with this as the forward motion of technology, which they are free to do, it didn’t sit well with me. So overnight I resolved to withdraw all of the games we’d made with the widget and resolved to remake them differently.
Entirely AI-free, with all the imagery made from props, sets and models. With larger companies attempting to lead the charge away from human-made games, we’re very happy to explore what humans can do when they put their minds to it.
Maskwitches is out now at Drivethrurpg. As we send out the last parcels for our Kickstarter backers, it’s available in the final days of the preorder here.
The hardcovers of Maskwitches and Pine Pitch Black are here! We have *almost* everything to start dispatch for a bunch of backers/pre-order customers. That’ll kick off next month!
Find out more about Maskwitches, the storytelling game of the psychedelic Mesolithic here.
“A game that feels like a conjuring – a curious and compelling artefact. It is strange in the best possible way, a genuine work of art from the prose to the mechanics to art.” -Gareth Hanrahan, author of THE BLACK IRON LEGACY SERIES, THE LANDS OF THE FIRSTBORN TRILOGY, THE EYES OF THE STONE THIEF, THE DARKENING OF MIRKWOOD.
We were excited this weekend to take delivery of a ton of boxes containing the softcover print run of Maskwitches of Forgotten Doggerland Redux Edition. We were less excited to move them from the spot the massive load of books were dropped off to the office, but them’s the breaks! We’re delighted to have them here. Next up: we’re awaiting the hardcovers and Pine Pitch Black!
There’s still time to pre-order your copy, and get the PDF free.
Disharmony in a lake-side community has caused the appearance of a meat-spoiling spirit. With winter approaching, and food stores dwindling, can the Maskwitches drive off this malevolent presence and heal the divisions within the community?
Featuring the same unique combination of props, sets, in camera effects and digital painting, The Meat Spoiler builds on the unique look of Maskwitches.
The PDF is also available for free when you pre-order the print edition here:
The even more discerning reader can also now get the black and white coffee table book version, Pine Pitch Black which also released today.
Maskwitches of Forgotten Doggerland is a unique experiment in graphic approach and unique mechanics. Find out more at the dedicated Maskwitches page.
“Maskwitches was one of the most immersive, emotional and dramatic games I ever ran.” – Royston Harwood, Maskwitches playtester
“A game that feels like a conjuring – a curious and compelling artefact. It is strange in the best possible way, a genuine work of art from the prose to the mechanics to art.” – Gareth Hanrahan, author of The Black Iron Legacy Series, The Lands Of The Firstborn Trilogy, The Eyes Of The Stone Thief, The Darkening Of Mirkwood.
