ARBco

@j-k.games

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Julian Kay ⁕ Neurodiv TTRPG Designer/Writer ⁕ Designer: Mutants in the Now, Faith & Sails ⁕ Freelancer: WotC, Green Ronin, Pelgrane, and 2x Ennie-winner Planewalker! ⁕ TMNT SME, FYI ⁕ Avatar by @retrodynamics.bsky.social ⁕ https://linktr.ee/juliankay

A business card being laid out in inDesign, showing the large logo for j/k! Games with the company mascot, Regula, who carries a wide variety of TTRPG references. A bright blue with some dot patterns, it also has Julian Kay's name, j-k.games as the web and Bluesky address, ARBco as the Discord address, and the email address pixel-blurred.
A promo image for Julian Kay's Mutants in the Now, featuring Pachen, a red panda swordswoman with tarp for clothing, a trash can lid for a hat, and with a stalk of bamboo in her teeth.
A screenshot of a preview for a Mount Fuji Dusk Drive video on Youtube that advertises "Natural Car Sounds".
The cover to Julian Kay's Mutants from the Archives: Pet Shop Blues, featuring an "anime ninja" mutant dachshund leaping forward, a "bodega knight" mutant ragdoll cat holding a sign and a meat slicer as weapons, and a "dinosaur cosplay" mutant parrot with a dinosaur skull over its head, scythe claws at the end of its wings, and a megaphone to roar with. The book is subtitled "Archive 1 for the retro-modern, mutant-animal rpg!"
The "Mutants in the Next" mini-logo, noting it as "companion 1 for the retro-modern mutant-animal rpg!", and featuring Bagel, a child mutant shark with a hoodie and pockets loaded with snacks.
An excerpt from Rifts Dimension Book 12: Dimensional Outbreak: "This means people controlled by Sparklits love all kinds of physical and emotional thrills, including those from physical action and combat, duels, verbal and physical confrontations, alcohol, drugs, sex and rock 'n roll. Thus, they tend to be unpredictable, short tempered, vindictive, violent, vengeful, brutal, threatening and cruel. *Think Gandhi as an abusive spouse and brawler.*"
A conversation from the comic Usagi Yojimbo as Usagi, the eponymous rabbit ronin and his friend, Kitsune, a fox entertainer-thief, have a conversation over a meal: Usagi: "Remember, you promised to return to jail as soon as you have eaten!" Kitsune: "Why, of course, Usagi-SAN!" Usagi: "I'm going to hold you to that promise!" Kitsune (shocked): "You hurt me, Usagi! Have I ever LIED to you?" Usagi (furious): "Yes. FIFTY-FOUR TIMES." Kitsune: "Well, I solemnly promise to turn myself over to Inspector Ishida!" Usagi: "You had better, or you will spend much more than a single night in jail if you are captured." Kitsune (coyly): "But you would not turn me in, would you, Usagi, dear? Hmmm...?"
The wraparound cover to Masamune Shirow's manga "Appleseed Book 1", where a heavily-armed cyborg slams down on a roof, causing it to crumple around his feet while he cradles his human partner.
An excerpt from Mutants in the Mini: Old School Renaissance that reads: "For over a decade, many roleplayers have sought out the 'Old-School Renaissance'. Popular as both a design philosophy and aesthetic style, it refers to games that reference the Italian Renaissance of the 15th and 16th century, like GURPS Swashbuckling, GURPS Renaissance Venice, or GURPS Scarlet Pimpernel. So without any further research or vital context, we finally offer Mutants in the Now's revolutionary take!"
A shot from the Japanese TV show GameCenter DX where a developer on Dynasty Warriors is being interviewed, and he says "These characters use fans as weapons.", showing two headshots of characters (one is Zhuge Liang and I forget the other). The header reads "Weakest Character."
A man picks up a card game box that says, "TEETH" and has an anthropomorphic tooth giving a thumbs-up, from the Apple streaming show "Widows Bay".
A photo of two golden retrievers lying in parallel curls in a fenced dog run in the sunlight (with shade available, but they've chosen the sun), surrounded by greenery.
A red t-shirt with an anthropomorphized cartoon bacon strip and shotgun shell hi-fiving. The shotgun shell is wearing shades.
A slice of the back cover of Mutants in the Now ("Let's Mutate All Over Again!"), with "Revision 2!" added in big block letters.
An ad for a tree and stump removal service, "Amish owned and operated", featuring an an "AI" generated Amish cartoon man lightly rubbing a tree with a chainsaw.
Panels of Mattie Franklin, Spider-Girl, forcibly planting a kiss on an unmasked Spider-Man while on an extremely skimpy costume.
In panels from the X-Men comic, an alien man in a wraparound visor declares "Behold-- the JEAN BOMB! It possesses the power to fatally disrupt any any and all relationships, personal, professional, organic, inorganic, macro-, micro-, whatever, down to the most probably sub-atomic molecular networks." We see the "bomb" is a simulacrum of the character Jean Grey. "Her mere presence will dissolve the most loving bonds, prompt brother to slay brother, and boon companions to tear themselves apart." In short, an unsubtle commentary by writer Chris Claremont on how the resurrection of the character Jean Grey by other authors had upended his own plans for certain characters and their development.
A clip from a website that says "Barn owls are very efficient hunters. It is suspected that they spend mech of their time loafing."
The lyrics of the song are displayed as: The framework of the world is black and white, The infrastructure builders flex their might, Turning true emotion into digital expression: One by one we all fall down. The gray race shrivels, trapped inside, The world it creates is black and white. [2x] The perpetual destructive motion machine Began to chart a course never before seen, Turning raw compassion into fields of plus and minus: One by one we all give in. The gray race shrivels, trapped inside, The world it creates is black and white. [2x] I'd swear there were times when I was someone else, A person with determination and knowledge of the self, But you flattened me to rubble and now I can see That I'm just faded negative of the image I used to be. Just a shadow. And that's our dilemma.
A statblock for Matschie's Tree-Kangaroo for the Mutants in the Now role-playing game that states "The Boongarry is a bulky, bearish climber found in New Guinea, leaping long distances between trees".
Two panels of a woman with a sour look on her tables flipping a table with one hand.
A pair of panels where a thug threatens Kiyoko, a young thief as he swings a sword at her. The first panel has him cursing, "Stay still, you!" and she says, "I've fought--" In the second panel, she whacks him on the head as she exclaims, "-- zombies! Ha!", while he exclaims, "Ow!" and drops the sword.
A photo of a back of a white van in which at least eight boxes can be seen stacked with the label of "48 Hour Books" on them.
A photo of the cover of Mutants From the Archives, Pet Shop Blues, featuring a mutant ragdoll cat "bodega knight", a dachshund ninja, and a sun conure parrot dressed in dino-bone cosplay.
Spider-Man sticks to a wall, looking two teams of kids playing football in an empty apartment commons. He says "Well, well, some of the local young gentleurchins are tossing the ol' oblong pigskin around. Are there no windows left to break? No old folks left to mug? Hmph. Listen to me, I'm just cranky because I haven't had a good day. Man, they're really going at it. Ball's probably full of *crack*."
The GenCon logo.
A screenshot from the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon where Raphael the ninja is coughing in smoke as he says into his communicator "Would you happen to know how to run a forklift?"
Two ninja turtles (Raphael and Michelangelo) browse a newstand in the 1987 cartoon. Michelangelo reads a comic while Raphael asks, "Mushroom Man? Super Wombat?"
The cover of Mutants From the Archives: Pet Shop Blues, with the logo in big block letters and thin, hand-drawn "wild" font colored atop archives. On it is a bodega cat with a meat slicer and sign as a shield like a modern-day knight, a dachshund leaping forward with tactical gear, a large mall sword, and a Naruto-style headband. Behind them is a parrot with a megaphone and a dinosaur skull of its head, along with prosthetic claws on his forelimbs akin to a velociraptor. The book is described as "Archive 1 for the retro-modern mutant-animal RPG!"
A small brown, "sandy" young bunny--half the length of an adult--with dark ears and face standing on its hind legs.
A meme screenshot from Always Sunny in Philadephia where Charlie, a white man in a short-sleeved white shirt, wild short hair, beard, and tie, gestures at an investigation board covered in papers and yarn while waving a cigarette on the other hand, looking entirely unhinged.
A pre-order proof of purchase coupon sold by Kenner in 1977 for Christmas due to being able to produce toys, promising the recipient that they'll receive the actual toys promised by it between February and June of 1978.
A screengrab from the 1987 TMNT cartoon where a Japanese man in a suit, handcuffed, asks the blade-adorned villain Shredder "Oroko, how can you destroy the world like this?"
A brutalist building in a Japanese park behind a confusing torii arch, with a city visible in the background. The building has the following etched into its concrete front: "Ninja Hall of Fame".
Another Onion headline with the sub-story of "Willy Wonka Missing After Bloody Oompa Loompa Revolt". The first story has a photoshopped photo of George W. Bush holding up a sword, while the other seems to have a legitimate photo of Clinton with an Onion issue that reads "Dan Quayle Poops on Floor" shoved in his face.
Another headline, with the sub-story of "U.S Candyland Tournament Results". The story has the pop-out text of "It's theirs anyway," Bush says. There's a picture of Bush appropriating Cheyenne garb, and Pizza Hut coupons below.
Another headline, with the sub-story of "You're a brain-dead idiot--and we can prove it!" The picture features a bunny on a table with a carrot in front of it. Below the story are Little Caesars pizza coupons, including one for a free slice.
Another newspaper headline, with the subtitle of "Caution: Diet Zone!" The "cybergraphic" accompanying it is of a while male with short hair in sunglasses with a military tank on his head, Wonderbread in the foreground, and cans of Hormel in the background." Pizza hut coupons accompany the text.
Another headline, this time with a picture of a university administrator and an empty field where freshmen will purportedly dig their own graves. A banner also adds "Now With 30% Less Rat Hair!" Like before, Pizza Hut coupons are below the story.
A screenshot of a coupon weekly humor newspaper. Below the headline is a family celebrating around a tree as waves radiate above them to break a hole in the atmosphere (represented as a globe grid). Below the story is a set of Pizza Hut coupons from the era.
A clip from a Rifts book that reads: "Galactic Governments. While governments can be infiltrated, they are not as easily manipulated, especially to take drastic actions such as those the Deevils would like to see them take. There are too many checks and balances in place with most governing bodies, and the best Deevils can do is control a few powerful groups and individuals within the government. Such influence can accomplish great and terrible things, but it's limited and and time consuming."
Rocksteady, an anthropomorphic militaristic rhino, and Bebop, an anthropomorphic punk warthog, both villains from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and dressed up as sloppy superheroes, are standing on rooftop as their superiors, Shredder (a ninja covered in blades) and Krang (a brain seated in the belly of an alien, humanoid robot) look on. Bebop gestures, saying to Shredder, "Well, at least something good came out of it, boss."
A screenshot from reddit that reads: "u/AlienRopeBUrn to r/rpg • 1 yr. ago Hello, this is about my submission that was removed: https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/comments/1l0v15t/-/ My issue is... I thought I was well over the 90% ratio for a crowdfunding / self-promotion post? I even made sure to count before posting; I've been fairly diligent on that in the past few weeks, so I'm not sure what I'm missing. r/rpg MOD to u/AlienRopeBUrn • 1 yr. ago By my count, you are 6 Self-promo posts/comments and 29 non promo comments in 2 years. Many of your comments are also self-promo."
An meme image of an anime man with glasses gesturing at a butterfly and asking "Is this playing dirty"
Dr. Polydorious, described earlier, puts his hand on his chest as he insists, "I'm not mad."
A bald white man with a monocle, a slight mustache, and a tuxedo.
A white male rancher-looking guy with a large blonde handlebar mustache, short blonde hair, a cowboy hat, pink and white cowboy shirt, and a bolo tie. He's shaking a hand in the air.
A white bald man with round, opaque glasses and a large, rounded white-grey beard and colonial British jungle wear.
A white male scientist with oval reading glasses and long white hair despite his bald pate, and currently he is rowing a ship made of boxes through the sewer.
A white male scientist with a wild orange hairdo, mustache, wild eyes and buckteeth as he speaks menacingly. He appears to have a dentist's shirt on for some reason.
A white male overweight man with blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail with a ribbon and a naval uniform. The fit of the turtleneck sweater he has underneath implies a general lack of neck.
A white male scientist with long orange hair and a wild expression, along with small rectangular glasses, holding his arms out as if in triumph.
A tanned white man with a brown hair in a severe receding widow's peak with a ponytail and mullet, goatee, eyepatch, and blue naval uniform with "F" on it under a teal cape with a red lining. He has his arm around a white female college student with long brown hair pulled back by a pink hairband an a pink party dress held up with straps, and is gesturing wildly at the technological submarine interior around them.
A young white male geeky scientist with short, parted red hair and large rimless glasses. He's holding a test tube of purple fluid and is next to a computer with random numbers on it.
A small white male scientist with a bushy mustache and hair reminiscent of Albert Einstein, but with coke bottle glasses, standing next to an oscilloscope or the like.
A skinny white male cartoon scientist / inventor with a pointy nose and chin, black hair with a receding widow's peak, and a smug grin.
The four Ninja Turtles pose dramatically in a lab, branishing their weapons as Raphael says, "Oh, man, not another mad scientist."
An illustration of a large white man in a black vest and pants, large chin, and short blonde hair kept long in back and pulled into a thin ponytail. On one arm is a sleeve tattoo of a dragon, the other has the symbol of the Foot Clan (from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), and three tattoos of claw scratches on his cheek. There's text inside a techno-frame that reads: "Hun started out simply as a powerful punk, the leader of the infamous Purple Dragon Gang. Knowing evil talent when he sees it, the Shredder made Hun his key right-hand man, his deadliest and most loyal subject, whose job is to get things done for his master: Shredder speaks, Hun acts. Hun speaks, and all the various elements under the Shredder's command act - from the lowliest Purple Dragon goon, to the highest-ranking Foot member, including Dr. Baxter Stockman. A deadly combination of overwhelming physical power and incredible skill, Hun is a man-mountain of muscle who towers over the rest of the Shredder's minions, and is feared by them almost as much as they fear the Shredder."