Practice and Research - Exercise 3.11: Creating Game Content

As I had managed to get the Campaign Frame's setting out into the world through a public Daggerheart campaign that I would facilitate, it also gave me the opportunity to build the style and sense of the world through game-specific content. I offered my players the option of having their character portraits created by me, rather than finding a random image off of the internet to use.

Some of the players happily took me up on the offer. I was juggling a lot - getting the game set up, finishing the main Campaign Frame product as well as job-hunting! I probably should not have bitten off more, but it felt like a great opportunity. I spent some time playing in my sketchbook, having talked through ideas with the players about their characters. This gave me the opportunity to talk through my ideas before I created anything more concrete.

I also sketched out a little idea for one of the creatures I was thinking of using for the first adventure their characters would go on.

When I had received feedback, and everyone was largely happy, I used Procreate to sketch out and do the linework for the characters. As time was of the essence, I started each character by photobashing image references together to get the overall silhouette I wanted for the character. I then built my sketches on top, followed by more finished linework. I would love to be able to do characters like this straight from my head, but I find that I work more effectively by having some kind of maquette to work from. I have been reading about aphantasia recently [1]. While I do not believe I have complete aphantasia, I do think that I think in my minds-eye more conceptually than vividly. It explains why I find it easier to make progress with projects once I can see something. I can see what something that exists could turn into, and I can conceptually understand what I want an image to look like, but I can't imagine the details until I am already working on it and can see the space/setting that I am creating.

Creating the photobashed 'underpainting' helped me to move quickly, and I didn't simply trace them - I used it as an armature to sculpt the rest of the character on top of. The thing I am conscious of is that it runs the risk of not being able to capture energetic, dynamic poses. So I think it will be extremely essential for me to build up my life drawing and anatomy skills, so I can combine my own energetic sketches and then use photobashing for elements of details, much like I did with the shield. You can see my sketching process in the video below:

Game Handouts

I also created some thematic handouts for the players to receive during the game to immerse them in the setting. I used some of the techniques that had already been useful for creating the map, using paper textures and creasing to make the letter look word and used. As it was coming from one of the world's institutions, it also was another opportunity for more logo design! I used Affinity to create a vector image, using the same font type as I had used for areas on the map, tying the world together in a small way. The letter's type was more 1600s in style, however I had to marry legibility with accuracy, so I will forgive myself this small anachronism!

I appreciate the opportunity that running a campaign has given me for building out the world through necessity. It makes me look forward to when I can build out the world more, creating images for the non-player characters, beasts, beings, and monsters that inhabit the setting.

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References

1. Aphantasia Network (2015). What Is Aphantasia? Understanding Mental Imagery Differences. [online] Aphantasia Network. Available at: https://aphantasia.com/what-is-aphantasia [Accessed 4 Feb. 2026].