Ben // foresight studio

@foresightstudio.bsky.social

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Ben (he/him) // Award-winning TTRPG designer, layout artist, science guy // strange stories for strange people www.foresight-studio.com

A dim photo of a Brita filter jug sitting in a large metal sink. Water pours into the top, which glows with a menacing red light.

Large black text in serif italic font sits on a white background above a mockup of two open books, overlapping one another. The books show different pages from a TTRPG called "The Firmament." The one in the back shows a left-hand page that's mostly white titled "Cycle," with steps A through E visible, though the rest of the text is too small to read. On the right-hand page is a diagram of play. The front book shows a left-hand page that's a pixelated image of falling blank white cards glowing slightly, with the word "Spreads" at the bottom in white. The right-hand page shows text on a white background, titled "Spreads," with text that's too small to read below that. Overlaid on the image is a spiky worm thing that swoops from beneath the front book, interweaves with the "Get the demo" text at the top, and returns behind the back book. On its left side is an orbital-style ring with a sun on it.

A hand holds three copies of ttrpg adventure zine The Cross Stitch, featuring a black clover with a bright magenta opening vertically across it. The opening is being stitched up by a white sketch of a needle. At the bottom is the title in white, with "foresight studio" below that. At the top, in white brush font, is "compatible with Mörk Borg." In the background are some bookshelves.

A picture of the sun today, glowing dull yellow-orange with a bright red corona diffused through a thick layer of yellowish cloud cover.

A screenshot of the front of a character sheet for the game The Firmament, labeled Architect. It has a black circle with a white point in it in the middle, and the words "alter the shape of the labyrinth" underneath. Overtop this is a cool drawing of a veiled humanoid in golden armor with a golden axe and pointed gold wings. Behind them flows a gray cape lined in red. At the bottom right of the page is a sketch of the creature's head, with a pointed gold crown and wing like details on the sides of its veiled face.

Two copies of the TTRPG zine DO/OMEd sit on a white tablecloth. The top copy shows the back cover, with white text on a black background. The bottom copy is open, with the left page covered by the one on top. The right page shows a series of fading, expanding white rings emanating from a small circle at the bottom of the page.

A selfie of a white man with short brown hair in a white T-shirt standing in front of a gray wall. In his left hand he's holding a copy of a one-page bifold game called Decomposer, which has a dark greenish-black swirly cover and the title in melting white text. A white character sheet pokes out of the top of the pamphlet, with the word "Decomposer" in a spiky and wild font.

Cover art for the Animorphs book "The Answer" by K.A. Applegate, depicting a boy with brown hair and a blue shirt transforming into a snake.

A mockup of two copies of a TTRPG book floating against a white background. The book is a perfect bound paperback called "the Firmament." The front cover features a white glowing hand reaching up toward the title against a slightly grainy dark greenish pink gradient with a faint grid overlaid on it. A light blue doodle looking thing squiggles around the hand, wrapping around it and exiting at the top of the image. The second copy of the book shows the back of it, and is placed behind the first copy. It has some faint text in white describing the game and a few icon placeholders for the game's attributes (1-7 players, 2-3 hours, uses tarot cards, human made).

A somewhat cryptic diagram of play showing how to play a game called The Firmament. It features black icons on a white background, labeled A thru F. It begins with a white circle overlapping a black circle next to a depiction of a square tunnel with an arrow descending from it. The arrow points to a large circle, at the top of which is a deck of cards. One is being drawn with an arrow pointing to a tarot spread in the center of the circle. At 3 o'clock on the circle are three cards, with an eye pointing toward the one on the center. At the bottom, 6 o'clock, is a card surrounded by a ring of spikes. At the left side, 9 o'clock, is a box with a greater-than-or-equal-to symbol and the number 10. This cycles back to the top of the circle. It also has a dotted line descending from it pointing to the bottom of the image, where a row of 4 cards each has a different symbol representing one of the tarot suits, followed by a bold X. The line then continues off the bottom of the image.

A mockup of a TTRPG called "The Firmament," appearing as a glossy open book on a white background, with another copy, closed, sitting on the right-hand page. The open book shows a black spread with white details and text that can't really be read, other than the word "BIRTH" on the left-hand page, glowing in white text overlaid on a lumpy reddish image. The closed book shows its cover, on a greenish background with the white text "The Firmament," and a white hand reaching from the bottom of the cover toward the text.

A mockup of a glossy, dark open book, its left-hand page displaying a black circle with a blue chain-like thing wrapped around it, and the right-hand page displaying the text in white all-caps, "In the beginning." In smaller text are the words, "I know you've heard this story before, but things have changed. So please, listen." The book sits on a background of stars, with a series of faded-out images and grids overlaid on top of it. The background images include what look liek roots, a sun and moon, and a few dashed lines.

A black background with a faint white grid overlaid on it. On the background is a grainy, scribbly illustration of a blue/pink/green plane, light shining down from it. In the middle of this top plane is a translucent blue arch with an infinity symbol in it. Below is a greenish-yellow grainy dome, with a glowing yellowish blob on it. It has root-like greenish structures coming off the bottom, and a faint blue ripple beneath it. There is a moon and a sun overlaid on the dome, and the space between the top plane and the dome is surrounded with a white box. A line descends from the box to the bottom half of the image, where it splits into a bunch of roots/branches. On the left side of the image starting about halfway down, there are four grainy rectangular images stacked vertically, including an inverted cityscape, some kind of landscape, a picture of some clustered dots that look a bit like cells, and a Mesopotamian seal.

A handful of people in black robes walking under a grey sky through a field toward a forest.

A very large papier mache sphere sits on a little metal stand on a table covered in newspapers. In the background is a white bookshelf with various knick knacks and books on it.

A bit of a page from TTRPG Public Access, featuring a white box with some text visible. The box is punctuated by black lines, and the black background behind it has white lines that trace out an arc and some pointy upside-down mountain-like figures, and a circle sitting on the arc where it intersects the bottom border of the page.

A couple of cut-off page bits from TTRPG public access, featuring black lines and a little bit of text on a gray background. It includes geometric angled patterns that intersect each other, surrounding info like the section name ("The Keeper") and the page number (30).

Screenshot of the top right corner of a page from the TTRPG Public Access. The background is black with a white line terminating in a white box with a little black crosshair in it. Below that is some cut-off white text that says "Anatomy of a Character Sheet," with a little descriptive text below it. Underneath that is part of a character sheet diagram with camera viewfinder artifacts in translucent green overlaid on it.

A draft cover of TTRPG "The Firmament," featuring white title text in a serif font at the top, followed by my name, Ben Mansky. In the center is a large opalescent hand reaching upward, with a sketch of a spinal-cord-looking thing spiraling around it and weaving over the ring finger until it exits the page at the top. The background is a grimy, dark gradient in black, green, pink and blue with a faint grid superimposed on it.

A sketch of a woman with long wavy hair from the shoulders up, looking to the right, with a crown floating above her head. The sketch is tucked between areas on a character sheet, and a bunch of eyes are doodled in the upper right.

A scratched up rainbow gradient with grainy words in a stack from top to bottom saying "foresight-studio.com" repeatedly. At the top is large white text "Foresight Shop will have a couple zines in it & more soon." At the bottom is the text "Coming December 3rd (my birthday hehe)."

A one-page folded zine sits on a marble countertop. It's got a grey border and bold text that says "the EPIC hand book," and the word book is styled to look like glasses looking up and to the right. Underneath in smaller text is "Edgewood paranormal investigation club," and in even smaller text, demo edition. At the bottom, in white against the dark border, is the text "Seeing is believing!"

A shrouded figure with five spindly arms and long claws emerges from a pink hole, holding a giant needle and wrapped with string. It reaches to the right, one hand partially covering a bright yellow square with "50 percent off" written in it.

A bald woman in black presses her face against the face of a mannequin, cheek to cheek, laying on her side. Both the woman and the mannequin wear bright red lipstick, dark eyeshadow, winged eyeliner and arched eyebrows.

An entry from a clothing catalog, on a taupe background. On the left, the text: "Marble banister slip. Front panel presents friendly chandelier lace. Scalloped edge, paradise hem. Motion straps. Colour: berkshire blue. Size 48." On the right, a photograph of a skeleton with wavy brown hair wearing a blue lacy slip.

A hand reaches across a wooden parcheesi board, poised to pick up a piece.

A white woman with a large dark brown updo and bold red lipstick wearing a black dress stands behind a Black woman with a bob, who wears a bright red dress. They look in a round mirror with sun-like rays extending from a golden frame.

A screencap from an ad for Denton & Soper's Trusted Department Store. It is a red screen with white sans serif text that says "Sale" repeatedly, arranged in three nested circles.

A dark hallway, with a door open into a couple's bedroom. They lay in bed, snuggled up against one another. A print hangs on the wall above the bed. Floating in the air above them is a red dress, illuminated by light from an unseen window.

A hypnotic window display outside a department store. A spiraling installation of nested magenta circles hangs against white curtains, flanked by two mannequins with long auburn wigs.

A photograph of a large, low hotel and the foothills of a mountain against a blue sky with a few clouds, reflected in a pool of still water.

A figure cleans up a movie theater. In the back, the screen has a blurred image of popcorn and the message "Thank You for Watching."

A snowglobe with a scene of a young black boy sitting on a living room couch, watching TV.

An empty suburban street with a person standing halfway down it. It is covered in chalk scribbles and the message "there is still time."

A scene of a children's birthday party at a family fun center, crowded with employees whose heads are all slumped as they stand, frozen. In the back, a man looks desperately to the ceiling.

Two people stand on a football field looking up at the night sky, with a large, comical but grotesque moon in it, sticking out its tongue at them. The left figure has short hair and wears a pink-purple dress, and the right figure has long hair and is dressed in black.

A close-up face of an unsettling moon-masked figure, its face pocked with craters and the edges of the mask crumbling like gravel. Its eyes are empty and dark.

A young Black man stands in a warehouse-looking space, the floor covered with colorful plastic, staring at a single blue balloon.

Two young women float cross-legged above a dock overlooking a lake. The sky swirls with orange, blue, and pink.

A 90s-styled title card of fictional TV show The Pink Opaque. Text at the bottom advertises that it's on Saturday Night at 10:30 pm/9:30 central. In the background a young woman in a purplish dress stands on a football field with her arm raised.

A messy living room is illuminated by a bright glow coming from a TV. A figure sits slumped in front of the TV, their head through the screen.

A dimly lit suburban street lined with houses. Scribbly blue and pink chalk drawings take up the first half the empty street, and at the end of the road sits an ice cream truck.

A mostly empty example spread from The Firmament, a tarot TTRPG. It features white text on a black background, with a bunch of boxes and dotted lines framing various elements and icons. On the right side of the right page is the text "HEAVEN STIRS."

A draft cover of a game called "the Firmament." It features an enormous pearlescent hand reach from the top to the bottom of the image, a faint blue maze inscribed on the arm. A bony, insectoid thing weaves around it, from the top left to the bottom of the image. A faint grid is visible in the background. At the bottom, in a funky, slightly occult/Judeo-Christian flavored font, are the words "the Firmament," and below that, in small sans serif font, "Ben Mansky."

A burning CRT television set sits on a lawn at night.

A man stands in a circle of trees with no leaves, with a small round pool on the ground. He is illuminated by a spotlight and faces away, towards long red curtains that extend from the top of the image to the ground.

A stoplight, lit red, hanging from a wire against a pitch-dark background.

A black-and-white image of a mushroom cloud from a nuclear explosion.

A blonde woman, Laura Palmer, stands in a fairly affluent suburban living room, filling the right half the frame. She holds a cigarette and wears all black. In the background, her friend Donna, a woman in a coat with shoulder-length dark hair, moves toward her, gesturing.

The view of a stairwell, looking up to the ceiling from below. In the center of the image is a ceiling fan, and a man stands on the landing, turning the fan on.

A woman in a bright red dress and a bright red wig with a blue rose pinned to her lapel stands in a shadow next to a yellow airplane.

A hand reaches up, illuminated by a bright light. There is something red - nail polish, or blood - on the middle finger, and a large green ring on the ring finger. There is a red mark on the wrist, like rope burn. The shadow it casts has a conspicuous spot of light where the ring sits on the hand.

A young blonde woman gasps in fear and shock as an older male figure leans over her, one hand pinching her cheek and the other holding a gold half-heart on a chain around the woman's neck.

A landscape of mountains and trees, with a road extending around a curve up ahead. The road is lined with electrical poles. A sign is off to the right of the road, painted with two mountains and the text "Welcome to Twin Peaks." At the bottom of the image is the text "Twin Peaks, Washington. One year later."