DURF Expanded

Progress Update!
8 days ago – Thu, Jul 02, 2026 at 01:58:10 AM

Hey! Quick update to keep y'all informed on our progress. The past month has been incredibly slow due to a mix of heat waves, some personal problems, and Ava needing to divert her attention away from editing DURF to take care of another job that took priority. So you will have to wait a little longer for the full PDF preview.

Luckily this doesn't mean things have stopped completely. I've spent a few days at the start of last month getting the adventures ready for rewrites and reformatting in the new DURF Expanded styling. And despite the slowdown, Ava has managed to sign off on some chunks of the book, and I got to work laying those out to see what art needs to be done for them. Below is a sneak peek at the overworld appendix, including some early sketches for its illustrations.

I'm really proud of the advice in this appendix (and the dungeon appendix) since I feel like it condenses down a lot of the wisdom I picked up from various blogs and books over the years. For those looking to dive deeper, these sources will all be noted in a "Further Reading" appendix later in the book.

These two overworld spreads are followed by six pages of tables and generators to help you come up with landmarks and settlements. 

As you can see, the project is chugging along, only a little slower than I had hoped. Just know that I'm just as excited to see the final book as you all are :)

Talk soon!

-Emiel

Bestiary done!
about 1 month ago – Tue, May 26, 2026 at 02:06:10 AM

Hey, friends! Time for another update!

Over the course of the last month I've wrapped up the remaining bestiary illustrations and took some time to rework some of the ones I did in the weeks before. So I'm happy to tell you that I wrapped up all the bestiary illustrations a little over a week ago!

Here is a better look at some of my favorites:

Most of the time I had in between drawings was spent doing small rewrites and discussing mechanical changes that came up in feedback during Ava's editing work. I'd say the editing is around 80% done now, and we're aiming to finish the remaining bits by the end of June. When that is done, I'll spend some time fitting it all into a proper PDF to share with you (probably some time in mid-to-late July)!

I expect that this next month I'll be switching between going over Ava's remaining edits as they come in, and wrangling the old DURF adventures into shape for the Adventure Zine!

Cheers,

-Emiel

Art Update!
3 months ago – Fri, Apr 03, 2026 at 05:19:06 AM

I've been crushing through 30 illustrations for the bestiary in the past few weeks. I don't think I've done this much art so consistently for such a long period during any time in my life, and I'm happy to report that I am having a blast!

Thirty is too many to post here, so I'll show off a few and will post the rest on my socials over the next few weeks. So keep an eye on those or wait until the book is finished :) Enjoy!

I'll see y'all again once I've crushed through the remaining illustrations :)

Cheers,

-Emiel

PS: My friend Jimmy Shelter is currently funding a sweet RPG called Pine Shallows. It's a mystery game inspired by The Goonies and Gravity Falls, and it is loads of fun! Go check it out!

Bestiary Sketches
4 months ago – Wed, Mar 11, 2026 at 02:41:59 AM

Hey y'all!

A brief update this time. I completely forgot that this month is the annual getting-your-books-in-order-for-income-tax-month, so that took more time away from this project than I wanted. Despite that time sink, I've made good progress on the illustration front! I'm happy to state that all illustrations for the bestiary have been sketched out! I'll be inking and coloring them over the coming days!

Here are some of the sketches:

I'll write another update once I have a few color versions to show off :)

Cheers,

-Emiel

Writing done. On to editing, adventures, and art!
5 months ago – Tue, Feb 10, 2026 at 02:40:25 AM

Hey!

Quick update on the state of DURF. I finished the last bits of the draft last week and have since handed it all off to Ava for editing!

While Ava takes care of that, I've started making a dent in the great number of creatures I'll need to draw for the Bestiary and the rest of the book. The bestiary alone requires 56 different illustrations, which will take me a while to complete by myself.

It's been nice to take a break from writing and do some art again. I plan on making art for a week or two before I'll start taking some time each week to devote to the adventures for the adventure zine. Most of these are already written but they'll need some updating and expanding before they are also ready for editing :)

Anyway, here are some of the illustrations I did this week: a manticore and an etterling.

I plan on releasing a preview version of the whole book (without all the art) once Ava has done a first pass over it. I expect this to be somewhere around the start of June, but hopefully a bit earlier.

That's all for now. I'll write another update once I have made some more progress to show off :)

Cheers,

Emiel