From One Macho Man to Another…
It’s no secret that my wife and I are HUGE NERDS.
In fact, we met at a board gaming convention over the most romantic round of “Cash and Guns” imaginable. But I digress.
Not long ago, we found ourselves on the couch in our living room watching a livestream actual play video of the tabletop role playing game “Neon Lords of the Toxic Wasteland.”
In a nutshell, Neon Lords is an over-the-top caffeine-fueled re-imagining of a post apocalyptic survival and adventure game REEKING with mid 80s pop culture stank. Think a gaudy, neon-hued blend of Saturday morning cartoons, Mad Max, WWE wrestling, and huffing lighter fluid behind the bleachers at the park.
Game play is fast, funny, and motherfucking DEADLY. So it goes with older-style play.
Well, we tuned in to watch the game — mostly looking for real-play pointers since I intended to run my own Neon Lords game shortly. The Twitch stream featured random giveaways at points throughout the night, and although Janelle had high hopes of winning a surprise-packed fanny pack of fun, it was not to be.
I won some cool stickers, though.
This Is Where the Coolness Hits Eleven
The next day, I was chatting on the official Neon Lords Discord server and mentioned to Brian Shutter, the creator of Neon Lords himself, that we had a great time watching them play. Brian had been running the televised game.
Somehow it came up that Janelle had been gunning for the fanny pack prize package, and Brian wasted no time. He promised to send her one anyway and even refused to be reimbursed for postage.
The package arrived shortly thereafter and was jam-packed with awesome little doodads. Stickers, toys, silly glasses. All from the generosity of a man who appreciates his fans and loves his craft.
One Good Top-Rope Elbow Drop Deserves Another
When it came time for me to decide what I wanted to paint for my next YouTube art experiment, the choice was clear.
A day-glow black velvet painting of Macho Man Randy Savage (who holds a vaunted position within the rules and mythos of the Neon Lords RPG).
After a bit of research on the Neon Maniac himself, I held my nose and ordered a set of fluorescent acrylic paints off of Amazon [affiliate link]. Despite my vow never to use fluorescent paints in my art. I was on a mission, and this shit HAD to glow under black lights.
Unlike my failed attempt at soft pastels on black velvet.
Anyhoo, it came out great so I stuffed it in the mail and sent it off to Brian.
It now has a place of honor on the black light wall in his studio. <3
