Sean Äaberg

DARKNESS

It’s the reason for the season! The darkest day & the return of the sun! Best wishes for the next year!

THE GOBLIN NEWSLETTER - 128 - LOW DRAMA

I’m going to launch the Dungeon Degenerates Role Playing Game this year - tentatively called Low Drama. I’ve been thinking a lot about what the point of role playing is, what makes it fun, how it relates to all the advances in video games & what that means for the genre. I’m specifically not a rules person, but I’m used to making my own rules. I know that for others, they need a clear communication of the rules & the rules need to be in service of the players & the intende...

THE GOBLIN NEWSLETTER - 127 - CULTURE WARHAMMER

I have been watching tons of videos of interviews with the old Games Workshop crew about the start of Warhammer & other GW projects. I’m deliberately trying to push my youtube algorithm away from political analysis towards something more fun & that actually has to do with my profession. In watching these & thinking about generational stuff a lot, I really see how Gen X grew up in the shadow of the Boomers but were actually the shadow (In Jungian terms) of the Silent Generation. ...

KURBIS KREEP

John Jack did a fantastic paint job on the DUNGEON DEGENERATES Kurbis Kreep! (Now available as a download on my Patreon at Degenerate level). It’s cool to see a character I drew then sculpted by Jaycee Fairclough & then painted by John & have my ideas still come through, clearly. I’m looking for 3D printer recommendations, probably a resin one as I’m going to be making miniatures! Let me know!

THE GOBLIN NEWSLETTER - 126 - PAY ATTENTION

In the attention economy, what do you pay attention to? I am asked frequently which news media to trust. My answer is that even the trustworthy ones have an agenda that clouds some percent of their information. If I gave you a number, it’s probably 25% propaganda on the more trustworthy vehicles. Honestly, I don’t pay attention to the news these days because I feel like enough of it is angled to distort my view. I used to listen to the BBC, NPR & Pacifica, decades ago, but then they a...

MATT FOX

I was heavily influenced by Matt Fox’s art. I love how rigid & nightmarish his characters look, like they’re on meth, also the colors are great & there’s this churning feeling in the skies. His stuff is like a Germanic horror version of those Ghanaian movie posters!

THE GOBLIN NEWSLETTER - 125 - DO IT YOURSELF

A big theme in my life is, don’t wait until someone says that the moment is right. Do it yourself to get the ball rolling. This applies to all areas of life. We live in such a cowed, permission-based society at this point, it’s obvious that initiative must be taken. People are seething with fears of having consequences for their actions & just need the push. I started to understand this when the next generation of zine makers discovered zines in their early 20s & took zine making ...

TAROT GOBLINKO

It’s cool to get picked! Powells Books picked the Tarot Goblinko - you should pick it too, it’s really a fantastic book, even if I am partial, it’s really good! You should get it!

RATS IN THE RATHAUS

I just finished my first Short Story (now I have to edit it!). It was fun & even though I outlined the whole thing & wrote out beats, it expanded & took me places I was not aware of!

THE GOBLIN NEWSLETTER - 124 - FORM

Katie was talking about this new band Haute & Freddy that I turned her on to, they are really good but only have two songs! These songs were released as singles but I misremembered it as being released as an EP. I started ranting about old forms & people knowing these formats backwards & forwards because of repetition & how this familiarity has been lost because the format of music - really everything is so fluid. EPS, Singles, Albums all have structure & reasons to exist....

DUNGEON DEGENERATES LORE 9 - THE BLACK TREE

The Rotting Swamps were not always such a soggy, damned place. The land was once a healthy, dynamic continuation of the great forest, “the Wald der Verwirrung” that would eventually be known as the Witchwood before the great shadow was cast on the Würstreich. 

The Wald der Verwirrung was always dark & mysterious, but it wasn’t foreboding & dreaded. It was full of animals of all kinds & the trees had a presence that was almost conscious, but that could be said...

THE GOBLIN NEWSLETTER - 135 - TEENAGE RAMPAGE

I can remember when I first started getting into Punk & I didn’t know anybody yet, how alone I felt. I’d go take BART to San Francisco & wander around, go record shopping, get coffee, go to the leather shops to buy studs & then go home. So much of this was because there was no place to “be Punk” & when I first got into it. In the late 80s & early 90s the scene was in a depressive period, the second & third wave were dying, addicted to drugs & selling their ...

THE GOBLIN NEWSLETTER - 134 - BOOMERS & DOOMERS

It’s easy to blame, easy to try to pin something on someone, something, find the silver bullet for some problem. A lot of people look at the Baby Boomers as being the primary cause of our society’s problems. I was attracted to that thinking, but it quickly became apparent that this was too simplistic. Probably a further echo of the boomer tendency towards narcissism, “Of course the Boomers are the problem, the Boomers are everything!” I was talking to my therapist yesterday about how ...

THE GOBLIN NEWSLETTER 133 - TIME

I gained a very different view of time & history when I read Larry Gonick’s Cartoon Guide to History. History seemed like a bunch of unconnected scenes up until that point. This was probably a factor of having learned history in school & the disjointed sense of things that those 45 minute long classes would lend to things, also I wasn’t paying much attention in school, too busy drawing. These books really connected the dots for me & I gained an understanding of history as a st...

DUNGEON DEGENERATES LORE 8 - THE NECROMANCER

One of the most notable practitioners of magic was known only as “the Necromancer”. The Necromancer appeared in the Witch Wood & gathered a darkness that coated the area. The Necromancer collected power from the darkness, lifting inspiration from the shadows & people’s fears of what hid in them. 

The Necromancer served as a shield for every nasty inhabitant of the Wald der Verwirrung & the surrounding area to hide behind. Witches, warlocks & their famil...

THE GOBLIN NEWSLETTER 132 - SELLING ART

Once I figured out that I could sell what I wanted to do, this unlocked my ability to generate as much work as possible. The main thing that prevented the usual dilution of content & quality that most money driven things was/is my inability to compromise my vision. This formula is probably impetus plus form equals product. The impetus is the thing that drives me, the nagging desire to express myself & have people pay attention to what I do. There is no reason for this if I’m not exp...

NONE MORE BLACK 2024

All my books are 25% off right now - each one is a transformational trip that will inspire you - I love the format in general & my goal has always been to give it all in these things! So Gittum for the dark months ahead - this alternate source of warmth - this big bang in my head - use the code NONE MORE BLACK 2024 at GOBLINKO!

THE GOBLIN NEWSLETTER - 131 - SPAWNING

My old friend Danny Shoup sent me a picture of a dead salmon in Oakland’s Lake Merritt. For those of you who don’t know, Lake Merritt is an artificial lake in the center of central Oakland. It is an actual tidal estuary that has been too toxic to allow for salmon to go anywhere near it for a hundred years. Salmon would have had a hard time getting into the lake & then into the streams that feed into it. Oakland was barely affordable for me in the 90s & starting a family there was ...

LOW DRAMA

Another thing I'm working on, there are a lot of things in the cue before, but I start thinking about new projects way out.

RATS IN THE RATHAUS

I'm almost done with my first short story - then i have to do a lot of cutting! Also, I'm thankful for all of you! Thanks for helping me to do what I do.

THE GOBLIN NEWSLETTER 130 - POTENTIAL

This morning’s meditation on the Calm app was about writing a love letter. I wrote one in my head to Katie but I decided to write another one to America this morning. I love America the same way I love humanity. I’m fully aware of how humanity started as proto-human apes fighting for survival on the steppe & the brutality of the survival of the species. I understand how that brutality extended out into our attempts at civilization & how that brutality still emerges when the elemen...

DUNGEON DEGENERATES LORE 7 - LORD SCROTT

Lord Scrott was a royal man that lived in a lonely tower in the foothills. He was very tall, he had to have things specially made to accommodate his extraordinary size. He wore sorcerer’s robes, grew his hair long, kept a beard & was wild eyed. Even though he was not magically gifted, he looked the part. Lord Scrott was desperate to develop magical powers. Lord Scrott used his extreme wealth & privilege to collect as many works on the occult & built up one of the largest librari...

NONE MORE BLACK 2024

The annual GOBLINKO WINTER SALE is on!!! Use the code NONE MORE BLACK 2024 to get 25% off everything at GOBLINKO,COM! The sale lasts until Monday the 2nd at midnight PST!

THE GOBLIN NEWSLETTER 129 - SNAP OUT OF IT!

I’ve always had a problem with consensus reality, mostly because consensus reality has been shunted off to the old mass media & then parroted by the people. I like people’s actual views & unique ways of expressing themselves. I’ve been making & reading zines since I was 12 in 1988. I have always liked the potential of zines for really dialing in & expressing yourself. I like small newspapers & magazines for the same reason. I’m not interested in these things being ...

THE GOBLIN NEWSLETTER 128 - WHY ART?

I have thought a lot about why anyone would want to be an artist. For me, it wasn’t so much a desire as a compulsion. I remember talking to my mom about it when I was young & her looking dismayed & saying, “That’s a hard life.” The thing is, the parts of my life that have been tough have been so not because of wanting to be an artist, but because of other things that would have been there regardless of whether I wanted to be an artist or not. It’s also odd for me to say “w...

CRYPTS OF THE CONTRARIAN CADAVERS

I'm also working on putting together the 4th Choose or Lose book by Erick Bouchard.

DIE WÜRST 8

I'm currently working on Die Würst 8! This is a relaunch, with new designs & me just making it better than before!

THE GOBLIN NEWSLETTER 127 - REALITY

I used to consider myself a leftist, not a Democrat, but a left anarchist. During the 2000 election, I got swept up in the “George W. Bush is Hitler” mentality, including the whole, “I’ll move to Canada if he wins.” line. I even made a Bush as Hitler sticker. Obviously Bush won. I voted for Ralph Nader, most of the Democrats around me said I was throwing away my vote. This was when we still lived in Oakland, California. Bush’s win didn’t throw me off my course, neither did 9-11....

DUNGEON DEGENERATES LORE 6

The uncovered mysteries of the Celestials lead to a magical arms race. Witches, Wizards, Warlocks, Sorcerers, Shamans, Alchemists & Necromancers all used as much & any of the new information to advance their work. Copies of copies of copies of the secrets of the Celestials circulated amongst occult practitioners. There was a golden age of magic understanding. As the knowledge spread the Holy Order rushed to put the cat back in the bag. They were desperate to keep the Celestial’s sec...

THE GOBLIN NEWSLETTER 126 - LEGACY

We watched the Mike Tyson against Jake Paul spectacle the other night. Hopefully most of you have seen the growth journey that Tyson has been on since he reemerged a decade ago or so. It’s amazing to watch someone that was so ego & base animalism driven & rewarded turn into such a gentle, real, self-owned person. I can definitely relate. One of the things that this fight was about was people’s expectation around Tyson’s legacy. Tyson has let go so fully that his legacy, especial...