This is a crosspost from my Substack newsletter.

And we’re back with another Hydromecha Monthly! Video version below:

Low-Poly Spider Cuz

If you’re a fellow enjoyer of Sidetalk you already know who this is. If you aren’t, go give the channel a watch. There’s a ton of great stuff there.

I made this for Low Poly Day. There’s a little more info on the model in the art post.

TTRPG Updates

Tablespess/Table Knight saw some significant updates this past month, including the introduction of several new Elements.

The Esoteric Elements

Previously, Table only had 20 Elements, shown below. These are now known as the Base Elements.

Six new Elements joined their ranks in May. These are the Esoteric Elements:

Economic

Anything to do with the concept of value or transactions.

The Moneyman’s Monocle (Accessory that lets you damage your target’s credit score instead of its HP) was changed from Neutral to Economic.

Miscellanea

All the little things that slip through the cracks. Fungi, bacteria, archaea, viruses, etc.

Data

Information. Also includes things like cursed/forbidden knowledge.

Unknown

Something foreign to the universe as we know it. Also includes chaos, entropy, and the incomprehensible.

Clownforce

Humor, cartoon logic, and absurdity made manifest.

The Rubber Chicken (joke weapon that always deals 1 damage) was changed to Clownforce.

Fate

Inevitabilities and order.

Chekhov's Gun (unique weapon that deals no damage, but makes things you shoot with it become important later) was changed to Fate.

Universal Durability

It used to be that only Primary/Secondary Weapons had Durability (and could be affected by all the mechanics related to it). No longer is this the case. Armor, Accessories, Weapon Attachments, and even Misc. Items* all have Durabilities now. This means you can target, disable, or even destroy more of your enemies’ items, though the same holds true the other way around.

*Misc Items don’t have Durability values. You instead treat the quantity like Durability if the item needs to take damage for whatever reason.

More information about Table can be found on the Goblin Base website. Do be warned, it hasn’t been updated in a while and navigating things can be kinda annoying. I’m planning on doing a total overhaul at some point soon with updated game rules and maybe some other things.

Organizational Obsidian

Speaking of Goblin Base stuff, I recently started trawling through some old chat spaces we had been using to jot down worldbuilding ideas and transplanting them into an Obsidian vault. It’s turning out to be insanely useful for organizing notes. It’s also free and open-source. which is always cool. Below is a snippet of the graph view for what I’ve sorted through thus far:

Being able to link between notes is super useful (shown by the lines that connect the dots in the above screenshot). I’ve also started using the program for some other projects.

The Grill

Here are a couple of interesting things I cooked last month. I have some rough recipes written down that’ll be posted on the Hydro website soon™.

Chicken Teriyaki with Caramelized Onions

Sweet & Spicy Korean Beef Bowl

Ground beef, onions, and garlic with bulgolgi marinade stuff plus gochujang.

Also works as a soup (just add miso paste and rice):

Other Foodstuffs

And here’s a big ‘ol gallery of some other things I made (check Substack for full res images):

Closing Thoughts

A Distinct Lack of Comics

I said I wanted to get back to Bugalo (previously monthly comic where I make a textless page and a friend adds all the wordstuffs) and Periscope (one-shot comic originally intended for a contest that got way too ambitious and isn’t out yet) but uh yeah nah neither of those happened. I’m gonna get back to it at some point once I can get my mojo (read: time management and motivation) back on track.

Cubicull CubiCANCELED

Remember that short animation I teased last time? Yeah that’s just straight-up canned. I came up with the idea while I was in a mental rut and I’d prefer to stay out of that kind of brainspace. You can see what I finished here, though there isn’t much.

The minimalist style was pretty cool (and kinda reminds me of Madness Combat looking back at it now so maybe I can recycle some stuff for something else later) but I don’t want to make something that was a product of me feeling miserable. I’d rather make things that are products of me thinking “that’d be cool” or “that would be really funny.” I have a new idea for an animation that comes from that latter line of thinking.

Coming Eventually to an Internet Theater Near You

I really enjoyed making the low-poly Spider Cuz model and I wanna try making an animated skit with a similar style. I have a rough outline for the script featuring some certified exhale-out-of-your-nostrils-type amusing moments. All I’ll say is that it has something to do with Shark Tank. I might post some models as I finish them.

Holy Crap I Gotta Get Back to Updating My Website (and Other Projects)

I think that title speaks for itself. I really would like to get back to working on the Hydrosite along with some things in the physical world (scratchbuilds, Transformers customs, 3D prints, and some Arduino stuff). It feels like I’m constantly trying to get better about managing my free time and finding motivation and I’m not sure if I’ve actually been able to do so.

And Now for Something Completely Different

In completely unrelated news I saw Devin Townsend in concert last month and that was a fucking blast. It was almost surreal being there after only ever seeing recordings of previous live shows. I got an Ocean Machine (my favorite album) t-shirt and a signed CD of Galactic Quarantine (my favorite live album). There are a couple more concerts I’ve got lined up that I’m really looking forward to seeing.

And that’s all I’ve got for May! I’ll see you again next time with another Hydromonthly.

Have a good one,

-Hydro