Not one to be sniffed at, this interactive nose sculpture from multimedia artist Adnan Aga – called the Adnose – can ‘smell’ any object held in front of it.

How do we know? I mean, how does a nose on its own even tell us what it’s smelling? Well, a paper poetically describing the smell is printed from one of the nostrils!

Dubbed a ‘unique sensory experience’, the nose uses a Raspberry Pi camera module (with the addition of a fisheye lens) to take a snapshot of whatever is placed under its nostril.

Once the photo is processed via Google Lens (which helps it identify the object in question), it’s then up to a GPT-4 language model to produce a delightful description.

You can watch the video below to get a better idea of the process – and listen to the nose’s voice, because despite what I said above, it actually has one of those… somehow:

It’s quite a charming interactive art installation, and that’s without even knowing the background of the artist, who was actually born with the inability to smell – known as anosmia. This nose now does the job for her, just like a prosthetic – which is how Adnan himself has described it.

He hopes it will raise awareness of the anosmic community, which is often overlooked.

The Adnose was well received at its debut, which took place at a ‘smell-and-tell’ event at the Olfactory Art Keller in Chinatown, New York – where it fits right in with various other smell-related pieces.

Adnan actually created this art installation as part of his graduate thesis, and you can find out more about it via his LinkedIn page. You can also still visit the talking nose at the Olfactory Art Keller’s  Cubiculum Odoratus where it’s currently residing.

What do we think – another great use of AI?

Source: ReviewGeek

Barely a week ago, I lauded the art of Hannah Mosley in FOLKLORE – The Wild Hunt.

The Kickstarter has been funded, has weeks to go, and offers up 5e folklore stats but also horror, all the while coming from an artbook background.

Tom Kremer, the GM and 5e-savvy creative director who makes sure these 200 pages of folk horror are game-good, and Hannah got in touch and quickly agreed to let Geek Native share some more art.

The 5e version of Tales of These Isles has more art than the original, plus the RPG lore, and there’s still a free sample to admire.

On offer is a digital tier, a hardback copy, a retailer option, a postcard option, a poster option and a custom illustration option.

They’re all tempting!

FOLKLORE – The Wild Hunt art preview

Quick Links

• Kickstarter: FOLKLORE – The Wild Hunt.

Dune Part Two is slated for this winter, and Vice Press is getting ready for it with two impressive prints reflecting Denis Villeneuve’s Part One.

The artist is Bella Grace, and it is being released in collaboration with Bottleneck Gallery and is very limited. The first is a 24×36 print on foil, with only 150 copies; the second, the Editions variant, will be A2 and limited to the slightly larger 1,000 run.

Depicted are Zendaya as Chani at the top and Timothée Chalamet’s Paul Atreides below with the iconic planet Arrakis.

Geek Native is used to Vice Press’ posters selling out and can confirm that these will go on sale at Vice-Press.com on Thursday the 13th at 6 pm BST.

Supporting the posters, there will be an Open House on the 24th of June at Trafalgar Warehouse in Sheffield. Not London, lovely.

Fantasy artist Wayne Reynolds has worked on RPGs, history books, DC and a whole dramatic range of books.

Now, Handiwork Games and Reynolds are in the final stages of the RPG Saints Sketchbook.

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The Kickstarter is nearly over, with a few days left on the clock, and it is a runaway success. Over seven hundred backers have taken the book to over %1,300 funded.

As a result of the success, the 80 sketches from Reynolds will come together in a hardback.

What’s an RPG saint? It’s a sketch of a saint presented as a tabletop RPG character. RPG Saints is an artbook for gamers with a limited edition, although that £140 book has sold out.

Due to the campaign’s success, there’s a real chance of it hitting £35,000, which means even the regular edition comes with a dust jacket.

The crowdfunding is for the hardback, so the first pledge tier with a backer reward is £40. The 176-or-so book and Handiwork have the chops to support worldwide shipping.

Quick Links

• Kickstarter: RPG Saints.

Ali Ribelli Edizioni is a thoroughly well-established Italian publisher with hundreds of titles and international distribution deals. Imagine if they did RPGs too.

With “La Notte Eterna”, Ali Ribelli Edizioni is doing 5e, and the Kickstarter community seems to love being doomed. There are still three weeks to fund, and the €4K funding goal is now a distant memory as more than €25K has been pledged. You can join in or watch the numbers tick up on the project page.

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La Notte Eterna will be available in both English and Italian.

Want a flavour? There’s a free to download quickstart for the epic-fantasy and all-consuming darkness.

The rules bring in 15 subclasses, roles like the Chosen of Darkness, North Wolf, Storm Herald and Infernal Acolyte. There are 4 new backgrounds: Meteor Hunter, Seafarer, Bloody Bolt and Archivist.

There are also 3 new races, 50 new magic items and 7 new mechanics. A lot? You bet. The book will be over 400 pages, and it won’t be alone.

The Kickstarter also funds Heroes & Creatures and The Song of Nebvarasa, which is an extension full of gods and legendary monsters.

The sun has been swallowed up by darkness and the world of Neir has plunged into an eternal night. The ancient mortal realms have been wiped away by hordes of undead, and a harsher and crueler order has risen from their ashes. In these devastated lands, brave adventurers defy unknown terrors with powerful new weapons that glow in the darkness, calling upon the power of True Magic and summoning heroes of old to fight beside them. Will you be the star that shines in the night or the freezing darkness that smothers the flames?

The core rules, a bonus book and a poster – all in PDF, digital stretch goals and access to the pledge manager unlock at €25 (about £23).

At €60, the hardcover core rules and STL files for minis are added.

The physical goodies grow again at €85 with the print edition of the poster and the When Angels Cry bonus book added, but there’s also a PDF of a second bonus book and a new PDF poster.

Hardcovers of the core rules, Heroes 7 creatures, the GM screen, posters, and the first bonus book unlock at €140, and the campaign tops out a few tiers later at €300. There’s plenty on offer!

Whether you plunge into the darkness or tip a toe, you’ll have to wait until February for the estimated delivery date. However, you might want to move to back more swiftly than that, as there are limited edition tiers too.

La Notte Eterna art

Quick Links

• Kickstarter La Notte Eterna.

Wayne Reynolds is an illustrator who has worked on games like D&D (3e and 4e), Judge Dredd RPG, Pathfinder, Rolemaster, Warhammer and Pendragon.

Drawing Christian saints in the style of RPG characters is a novel project that Reynolds has been engaged in this year, sharing the output on social media.

Handiwork Games, the publisher of Beowulf Age of Heroes, a|state Second edition, The Silver Road, Maskwitches of Forgotten Doggerland has this week they’ll publish the sketches, pending a Kickstarter, in a hardback.

Wayne told the press,

The popularity of this personal project was unexpected that I felt these sketches needed to be collected into one book. I like Handiwork Games because they are so awesome”

He teased the news on Facebook earlier with;

This will be my first ever personal project in 30 years of working in the TTG and comics industry. Thanks to your support, comments and likes over the past year. It all helped to make a couple of goofing-off sketches into something bigger than I would have imagined.

Jon Hodgson of Handiwork Games added,

Who doesn’t love Wayne’s drawings? They’re incredible, unique pieces of art, and it’s a huge honour to work with Wayne to make this much-requested book a reality”

Quick Links

• Wayne Reynolds on Facebook

Stillfleet is out at Itch and DriveThruRPG and is a genre-defying science fiction RPG with a simple but deep system.

It takes place in a gloomy, lively, zany, and politically charged future when the Earth has two (super)continents instead of seven. The RPG follows a successful Kickstarter, a project that didn’t shy away from Stillfleet’s goal of being politically charged and subverting capitalism.  

The DTRPG page lists the following;

• 10 classes of Co. voidminer
• 22 playable sapient species
• Hundreds of advanced powers + nanotech “blooder” powers + deeply Weird hell science powers
• An entire chapter full of strange archaetech (weapons, cooking utensils, nanotech body modifications…)
• Rules for stiffworks (timespace gates)
• Settings on major and minor provinces as well as the floating hulks of dead spaceships
• Over 20 full encounters with dangerous aliens
• An elegantly designed character sheet
• An online character randomizer
• Dozens and dozens of gorgeous original, full-color illustrations by Ethan Gould
• Intricate worlds-building graphic design systems by Erich Lazar

Geek Native has permission to share a heap of art and layout examples from the game. 

Stillfleet RPG art

We can also see how illustrations and colours are used in the sci-fi’s layout and design.

Stillfleet RPF layout

Code allowing, you can click on any of the images above to get a better look.

Quick Links

• Stillfleet: Itch | DriveThruRPG

I’ve dozens of excellent art prints picked up as bonuses and perks from Kickstarters that are carefully laid flat in a large book and left unseen. I don’t have the cash or time to get many of them framed, especially as they’re odd sizes, but I don’t want to get rid of any.

Mindful of the framing drama, Truffle Shuffle has this official Lord of the Rings merch on offer – a framed print of Middle-earth.

The map is inspired by the original map found at the front of Tolkien’s iconic book.

It’s a high-res print, measures about 50cm by 70cm and comes in a custom-made 230mm frame.

The catch? The frame makes it awkward to ship, so Truffle Shuffle can only offer the £30 wall art to domestic shoppers in the UK.

It’s not the same, but it does have international shipping; there’s this ceramic and painted map mug. It’s not the same detail but looks superb on the side of the vintage tankard-inspired shape.

Lastly, the Boxing Day / New Year sales are on at Truffle Shuffle. I don’t see any LotR merch in the 221 items (yet) but there’s plenty of offer temptations!

Quick Links

• Official framed print of Middle-earth.
• Truffle’s sales page.

RPG designer Ahimsa Kerp and multi-disciplinary artist Esther Wijnacker have launched the art book Creepy Christmas Creatures on Kickstarter.

Yes, there’s Krampus, but Creepy Christmas Creatures looks into Europe’s myths of macabre months and writes them up for us. There’s an early bird on now for a bonus sticker or postcard, so you can send a Yule Cat to someone! You can see the progress of the newly launched campaign on the pitch page.

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There’s an RPG connection here, but Creepy Christmas Creatures is a book of illustrations and background on the monsters. We’re warned, in fact, that it might not be suitable for young readers.

I think any GM could use the book as inspiration, tough.

What’s in the book? There’s a Google Drive free to download sample.

The creepy monsters are not a secret. Here’s the complete list.

• Badalisc – a furry, horned beast that roams the central alps.
• La Befana – when your nice Italian grandmother is also a Christmas witch.
• Belsnickel – wild, wooly hairy man with a whip.
• Ded Moroz – the Russian Santa and a powerful ice wizard.
• Glossen – a ghost pig that shines with vile fire.
• Gryla – Icelandic ogre who feasts on naughty children.
• Hans Trapp – a black knight who prowls on the vulnerable.
• Frau Holda – witch queen and leader of the wild hunt.
• Hoodening horse – part of a jolly procession.
• Julbokken – the yule goat that brings gifts to good little Scandinavian children.
• Kallikantzari – monkey-armed, goat-footed greek Christmas trolls.
• Karakoncolos – a winter genie and riddling bigfoot.
• Krampus – he sees you when you’re naughty. And you always are.
• Mari Lwyd – the original zombie horse welsh party animal.
• Frau Perchta – a beaked monster that wants your house to be clean.
• Pere fouettard – a literal bogeyman.
• Straggele – malevolent demons that accompany perchta.
• Tomten – a Swedish gnome that watches out for kids and farm animals.
• Yule cat – a cat as big as a house and a deadly member of the fashion police.
• Yule lads – 13 naughty Santa clauses from Iceland.

An ebook is earmarked as a thank-you for backers who pledge $15 or more.

The hardback will be given, with shipping costs to be paid, at the $40 level. Backers with $45 to donate get both.

There’s a retailer tier at $75, and at $100, backers get both, lots of stickers, postcards and a bonus (but secret) PDF.

Creepy Christmas Creatures isn’t due this Christmas; if all goes well, it’ll be shipping for Christmas next year.

I don’t need a dice tower, and I certainly shouldn’t splash the cash on one, but I look at Unnatural20Art and wonder whether this is my only chance to get something this impressive.

Project supporters with 3d printers can access the scans, but there are tiers for complete and painted towers and dice trays. You can see more on the pitch page.

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There are four designs with matching dice trays and unpainted and painted options on the printed tiers, with the STL files also available. There’s the Kraken, the Horror, the Green Dragon and Sandworm.

Dani Hurley and Kara Payne as the two artists. They’ve answered my initial question; this Kickstarter is the first chance to grab the towers, plans for a retail release are being made, but you’re not likely to see them before the end of 2023.

Unnatural 20 Art unveils its largest project yet: fully hand sculpted and painted dice towers! Inspired by the monsters and horrors presented in fiction and RPGs with a distinctly unnatural twist, these functional art pieces will be the centerpiece of your gaming table. With four different designs to choose from, optional dice trays, and multiple DIY options, we have something for every player looking to make a statement at the table!

It’s a pledge of $11 to get one design’s STL file or $35 to get the set and stretch goals.

A resin-cast dice stray becomes the award, with worldwide shipping to be added but supported at the $70 tier.

A limited number of painted dice trays are available to backers at the $150 tier.

Unpainted dice towers, cast in resin, unlock at $240, and they’re not limited in number. How generous do supporters need to be before it makes sense for the indie studio to thank them with a painted dice tower? $480 generous.

I can only wince at how much work would go into casting and painting one of these impressive towers. It feels like a fair price but would anyone feel comfortable using the tower?

There are matching sets of towers and trays at $60, selling, and one at $2,400. There are only three at that top tier.

Unnatural20Art estimate March for the STLs, August for the unpainted dice resin casts and November for the painted ones.