Michelle Jones
Freelance fiction writer and game designer. Experience across all aspects of TTRPG writing with a focus on world building and player facing game options. A long time player and game master familiar with Pathfinder, Dungeons and Dragons 5E, the Powered by the Apocalypse system, and more.
Credits
Games By Michelle Jones
Princely
A Life Behind GlassHacks and Expansions
Stretch Goal Zine for Deathmatch Island Resort Island Locations
The Judge and The Preserved for Midnight Hymns by E Farris
For the Prom Queen A Descended From The Queen Game
The Bladesoul Playbook for Thirsty Sword Lesbians
The Last Playbook for Thirsty Sword Lesbians
The Beloved Playbook for Thirsty Sword Lesbians
The Fairy and The Flame for Thirsty Sword LesbiansFiction
Music is Math is MagicPathfinder Infinite
17th Level: Core
Queerfinder, Issue 2 The Zonzon Doll
Monstrous Beasts The SirenfishPathfinder Second Edition
Lost Omens: Tian Xia World Guide Shanguang and the Wall of Heaven
Lost Omens: Highhelm King's Crown Options, The Bloodstorm
Lost Omens: Impossible Lands, Adventuring in Geb, Cursed King, Stone Sister
Book of the Dead, Undead Slayer Archetype and Skeleton Ancestry
Adventure Path #171: Hurricane's Howl
Lost Omens: The Mwangi Expanse, Chohar, Grandmother Spider, Luhar, Mazludeh, Tlehar, Life in Mzali, Walkena (political), K'nonna, Sié Goluo
Bestiary 3, Girtablilu, Kitsune, Wyrwood
Lost Omens: Legends, GebPathfinder
Player Companion: Heroes of Golarion, Heroes of Arcadia and Wyrwoods
Player Companion: Heroes from the Fringe, Half-Orcs
Campaign Settign: Inner Sea Taverns, The Whispering Stone
Player Companion: Heroes of the Darklands, Sekamina
Adventure Path #116: Fangs of War, The Chernasardo Rangers Gazeteer
Player Companion: Legacy of Dragons, Wyvarans
Adventure Path #110: The Thrushmoor Terror, Faceless Hulk bestiary entry
Contact
To contact me for game design and RPG writing, email me at [email protected]. You can find me on twitter @AsMichelleJones or on bluesky at Aleshakills.bsky.social.For third party RPG content and other writing, visit https://aleshakills.itch.io/
Writing Samples
"There are many stories regarding the origins of Zonzon dolls, but on certain details they all agree. In every version, there is a young girl in a small village who idolizes her older brother. In every version, her brother dies suddenly, filling her with grief. Some say that her brother was a kind, gentle soul. When she got sick, he went into the woods to find medicinal herbs, but was set upon by wolves. Others say that her brother was a cruel bully who only showed any goodness to his sister. He left home to join a gang of bandits, but was killed by a traveling paladin. In other versions, her brother was a brave hero, struck down by an insurmountable evil.No matter which version you have heard, the little girl, so overwhelmed by sadness, cannot eat or sleep and barely leaves her bed. After three days and three nights, her mother calls for the local priestess, a devotee of Shelyn.The priestess sits with the girl, and after listening for a while, offers her a story. She tells the tale of Shelyn and Zon-Kuthon in the way it is often told to children. The siblings were once both gods of beauty and art, and they shared joy with all their many followers. Then, one day, Shelyn lost her brother to the shadows, and he returned as something dark. He returned as The Midnight Lord. But despite his corruption, Shelyn loves him still and hopes that one day he can be saved from the shadows.In that moment, the little girl did something special; something that can be quite difficult for adults, but is very simple to a child. She felt sympathy for a god. "
The Origins of the Doll, Queerfinder Vol. 2"Walkena is a nearly unique entity on Golarion. A descendant of the sun gods of Mzali, Walkena’s divine blood returned him to life and grants him his own divinity. It is exceedingly rare for a deity to have a permanent physical form on the material plane, yet somehow, the nature of child-god’s resurrection and ascension have entrenched him in the mortal world. As king, he has the power to mold a nation in his image, and works tirelessly
to do so. Though strict in life, he has lost all human humility in death. In Mzali, Walkena’s word is law. While he is sometimes willing to take the advice of his council, once he has made a decision, it is all but impossible to change his mind.From the temple-palace in which he resides, Walkena dictates the nation’s future. However, the child-god is perpetually trapped in the past, a living portrait of the boy he was when he died, unable to grow or change in any meaningful way. He boasts a brilliant tactical mind and excellent judgment, but at times his immaturity is obvious: he’s often jealous and temperamental, despite his council’s best attempts to guide him. Even minor offenses are met with harsh retribution. His cruel streak is especially evident to those who oppose him, or to any who have witnessed the Punishment of Seven Angry Suns"
Walkena, Lost Omens: The Mwangi Expanse"Strictly Better is a popular, if loaded, term that’s used quite commonly in gaming communities. Sometimes serious, sometimes facetious, it can essentially be boiled down to one basic fact. Three is always more than two. The simple truth is that game balance, more often than not, comes down to numbers. Is a +4 too good? Is 20 gold pieces too cheap? Is 12 damage a turn too powerful or too weak? When it comes down to it, balance involves a lot of math.Now, if all we cared about was making things perfectly equal, it would be easy to make all of the numbers uniform across the board. If every character does the same amount of damage with every successful attack, then every character is just as good. But that would be boring. So what we have to do instead is make three equal two."
-How to Homebrew: The Balancing Act