“I tried dying once. It didn’t stick.”

After a year of struggling, I’m finally crawling out of my grave, so to speak. If anyone tells you that mental health and emotional well-being aren’t as important as you’d think, please ignore them.

To help cope with these personal matters, I got deeper into D&D, using it as a medium for storytelling and expression. I think I’m in a better place because of it, and now I’m able to return to my craft with renewed interest, combining my love of D&D and all things spoopy. I’m even currently running games which take place in gothic/dark fantasy settings, so taking that same creative energy and channeling it into my artwork seemed like the perfect thing to do in the Month of All-Spoopy.

 A Second Chance

Lately, I’ve been intrigued by Reborn character lineage which was relatively recently introduced as a playable option in D&D. The official source material states the following:

“Death isn’t always the end. The reborn exemplify this, being individuals who have died yet, somehow, still live. Some reborn exhibit the scars of fatal ends, their ashen flesh or bloodless veins making it clear that they’ve been touched by death. Other reborn are marvels of magic or science, being stitched together from disparate beings or bearing mysterious minds in manufactured bodies. Whatever their origins, reborn know a new life and seek experiences and answers all their own.”

I think the possibilities of this lineage option are limitless, offering players so much flexibility in determining the flavor of their undead nature. The beauty of this is that you don’t even technically need to be undead! But let’s keep it real, where’s the fun in that? The idea of being reborn, getting the opportunity for a fresh start (fresh-ish anyway) isn’t lost on me. I think it’s fitting that my first bit of personal content in ages happens to be undead spooky-boi.

Post and Original Artwork by Nicholas Small of NSD Illustration
Twitter.com/NSDillustration