My third collaboration with Brett Sanders yielded Mystral Warden, a character class option for players of 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons.

The Mystral Warden character option is available as a pay-what-you-want option on the Dungeon Masters Guild.

Class Design: Brett Sanders

Layout, Design and Illustration: Timothy J. Prough

Source images: courtesy of Shutterstock.

Order Symbols Design & Illustration: Brett Sanders and TImothy J. Prough

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, Wizards of the Coast, Forgotten Realms, Ravenloft, Eberron, the dragon ampersand, Ravnica and all other Wizards of the Coast product names, and their respective logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast in the USA and other countries.

This work contains material that is copyright Wizards of the Coast and/or other authors. Such material is used with permission under the Community Content Agreement for Dungeon Masters Guild.

All other original material in this work is copyright 2023 by Brett Sanders and published under the Community Content Agreement for Dungeon Masters Guild.

Playtesters: Brett and Elliot Sanders.

Our second adventure, Warren of the Frostdrifter Clan, picks up on the mystery of the first adventure, Attack On Peltarch, and takes you on a quest to confront the Frostdrifter Clan. It was a pleasure to collaborate on this adventure as we foresee one last entry in this series in the future. As with the first, a small instagram campaign and additional digital elements were also created for online play.

Warren of the Frostdrifter Clan can be used independently or as part of a series that forms a larger campaign using the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting. In Warren of the Frostdrifter Clan, the party will head into the wilderness and eventually confront the clever and evasive group of kobolds that recently attacked the town of Peltarch. The bulk of the adventure is a dungeon crawl that will test the skills and wit of players against the defenses of the Frostdrifter Clan. For 4-6 second level characters.

Game Design & Story: Brett Sanders

Layout, Design and Illustration: Timothy J. Prough

Source images: courtesy of Shutterstock.

Maps Design & Illustration: Brett Sanders and TImothy J. Prough

The Warren map utilizes some assets created by: Ross McConnell (patreon.com/2minutetabletop, 2minutetabletop.com), and Caeora (patreon.com/caeora, caeora.com) and is used under the attribution requirements and Small Commercial Use Agreement, respectively. Please support these artists.

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, Wizards of the Coast, Forgotten Realms, Ravenloft, Eberron, the dragon ampersand, Ravnica and all other Wizards of the Coast product names, and their respective logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast in the USA and other countries.

This work contains material that is copyright Wizards of the Coast and/or other authors. Such material is used with permission under the Community Content Agreement for Dungeon Masters Guild.

All other original material in this work is copyright 2021 by Brett Sanders and published under the Community Content Agreement for Dungeon Masters Guild.

Playtesters: Bruce Sage, Kerry Walker, Derrik Pawley, Charlie Crow and Joshua Fleet.

I’ve had the pleasure of being creative director and designer on this introductory adventure that takes place in the frozen far Northern Territory of Narfell of the Forgotten Realms campaign setting. The second adventure in this series, Warren of the Frostdrifter Clan, is nearly complete. The third is just beginning. Let’s roll.

Attack On Peltarch is an adventure for 4-6 first-level characters. This new adventure is available for download on the DMs Guild website in digital and print PDF formats and an unmarked JPG player map for online or tabletop play.

Game Design & Story: Brett Sanders

Layout, Design and Illustration: Timothy J. Prough

Source images: courtesy of Shutterstock and free content from Dungeon Masters Guild.

Peltarch Map Design & Illustration: Brett Sanders and TImothy J. Prough

Peltarch Map utilizes some assets created by: Ross McConnell (patreon.com/2minutetabletop, 2minutetabletop.com), and Caeora (patreon.com/caeora, caeora.com) and is used under the attribution requirements and Small Commercial Use Agreement, respectively. Please support these artists.

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, Wizards of the Coast, Forgotten Realms, Ravenloft, Eberron, the dragon ampersand, Ravnica and all other Wizards of the Coast product names, and their respective logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast in the USA and other countries.

This work contains material that is copyright Wizards of the Coast and/or other authors. Such material is used with permission under the Community Content Agreement for Dungeon Masters Guild.

All other original material in this work is copyright 2020 by Brett Sanders and published under the Community Content Agreement for Dungeon Masters Guild.

When our client Cardone decided to do a car giveaway, they needed the right partner to pull it off. Enter Swag Custom Rides, a specialty garage that not only rebuilds cars, they restore lives. It’s a second chance for those who had a rough start in life or a place for one to learn something new, to find a passion in life, or to make something amazing within themselves and for others.

My team captured everything from the ground up. We created a series of videos and photo journals that described the partnership, highlighted the car build and captured the amazing personalities of the Swag team. We created landing pages with countdown clocks that ticked away as we approached the revealing of the car and the drawing of the winner. Social media captured the leadership team, the co-brand partnership and all of the details of what went into the project. Entry to win was simple: buy a Cardone part, enter the serial number of that part, and you were in it to win it – a beautifully reimagined ‘66 Chevelle named Mystique (along with a check for $15,000). Mystique is a one-of-a-kind duel fuel build that runs partly on gasoline and, with the flip of a switch, also runs on ethanol. Nothing like it existed in the world before this project. The Swag team pulled off an amazing feat in such a short period of time.

This would certainly not be the last time we worked with them.

More to come.

Creative Director/Photographer: Timothy J. Prough
Cinematographers/Editor: Brandon Kreiser/Nazari Dorosh
Account Manager, Interviewer, Producer: Lauren Berkoski

Do you have a story that is Porter Worthy? Are you, in fact, Porter Worthy? We created a campaign around Yuengling’s oldest ale and asked fans of the beer to send in stories and memories that would then be deemed Porter Worthy or not. Awards for Porter Worthy stories were digital badges, t-shirts, discounts, and pint glasses. One could nominate a Porter Worthy person from their local tavern on branded postcard coasters. They simply filled out a card and dropped it in a voting bin. The campaign was supported by print ads, posters, distributor one-sheets, and neck ringers. We used classic images of porters from the late 1800’s to hammer home the idea that the ale was named after the London porters of the day. This was the beer that was served to them after rigorous shifts of moving luggage and containers from the trains. To be truly Porter Worthy is to be rewarded for a job well done.

Creative Direction: Gregory Harrison
Art Direction: Timothy Prough
Writer: Keith Quesenberry

EVO is the first wellness app that encourages users to achieve their health goals based on biometric data and behavioral insights – an A.I. with a heart. As creative director, I collaborated with a wonderful team consisting of designer, strategist and researcher. We worked as a team throughout the entire process of research, ideation sessions, concept development, content creation, UI and sound design.

Creative Direction: Timothy Prough
Research: Heather Wadlinger
Business Rules: Heather Wadlinger
Strategy: Julia Mosemann
Writers: Heather Wadlinger,
Julia Mosemann
Notification Writers:
Heather Wadlinger,
Julia Mosemann,
Timothy Prough
Concept Design: David Kimmick
UI Design: David Kimmick
App Development: Jamie Serra
Sound Design: Timothy Prough
Sound Business Rules: Timothy Prough

Works on paper. Conte, india ink, water, gesso, and gloss medium.

We created a digital campaign to promote the return of Yuengling’s Lord Chesterfield to Philadephia taps across the city. Folks would have an opportunity to join the Chesterfield Society, drink the ale at a discount, and meet the one-and-only Lord Chesterfield himself. He could be tracked via our designed microsite and on Facebook. Sales went way up and a Chetty movement was created. Photos of Chesterfield sightings at special events were posted on facebook all year long. We supported the events with Beer Week print ads, bumper stickers, coaster postcards (coastcards) and distributor posters announcing when Chetty lovers might get a glimpse of their favorite lord.

My first dream job.

When I joined Oldies.com in 2002, I had the opportunity to be on the design team for the launch of their new DVD distribution arm that would reissue classic films and TV shows before most major studios thought of the idea.

The mission: create exciting, new and original DVD packaging for classic films from the 1920s-1980s using scans of original lobby cards, photographs and video capture.

We set up a design system that included photo retouch, image restoration and colorization among other specialized photoshop techniques.

Our creative direction, logo creation and package design began to be noticed in the vintage, classic and horror film markets. We gain notoriety through the positive reviews for package design in many vintage film magazines and websites.

We then created collectible vintage movie posters and T-shirts from our DVD package art.

This effort elevated Alpha Video Classic Movies to #1 in its niche market, setting the standard for cover/package design that was soon imitated by major Hollywood studios as they explored their back catalog of lesser known and classic films.

More work to be posted in the future.

Highlight: Meeting David Carradine at the New Jersey Comic Expo. This was post Death Race 2000 and pre Kill Bill.

Once my team established a more refined brand voice, we embarked on revitalizing the brand look – from logo, tagline, color palette to tactical brand signifiers in trade shows, in-shop signage, apparel, auto parts stamping and on shipping boxes. Of course, we implemented the brand in digital, social and print spaces as well. We kicked things off with a small social teaser video and a full video wall showcasing the full capabilities of Cardone Industries in both remanufactured and original equipment manufactured auto parts.

Writer: J. Mosemann, T. Prough; Designer: Kimmick, T. Prough; Photography: T. Prough; Videography: R. Bohan; Creative Direction: T. Prough

IMI, a wheel maintenance solutions company for individual and fleet logistics companies, needed an identity and package design system for its new wheel balancing product line. The state-of-the-art material enables tires to last longer on the road for greater distances with less maintenance. Once the name Equal Flexx was selected, the logo, packaging, sales materials, sample kits, and supporting advertising followed. I took queues from their flagship product, Equal, and moved the needle with updated typography, color palette, brand identifiers, and iconography. We created a video series with top experts that explained the science behind the wheel-balancing material.

Creative Direction and Design: Tim Prough
Writer: Julia Mosemann
Video direction and editing: Julia Mosemann

I got to work on some great branding with Gate 37B. Together with our client, we helped to vet a new lifestyle brand through Harley-Davidson, creating a line of barbecue meats forged from smoke and fire. These slow-smoked creations, called Roadhouse Customs, were introduced in over 1,200 Wal-Marts across the country.

After fourteen rounds of trying to capture an old-timey, nostalgic campaign for Turkey Hill, my writing partner and I decided to make a ad campaign that was contemporary, minimalist, and funny. We leveraged Turkey Hill Iced Tea’s main benefit – it’s cold-brewed and it’s refreshing – and amplified it. We focused on everyday characters in sweltering everyday situations and juxtaposed them with a frozen window caused by the cold and refreshing iced tea. A mom picking up her kids from the pool finds her car window frozen from her iced tea sitting on the dashboard. A window washer outside an office building is perplexed by a frozen window on an incredibly hot day. We used purposeful ambient sounds. No dialogue. No music. The actors conveyed everything through shear expression. These understated spots ran in targeted markets during the Super Bowl. They increased Turkey Hill’s iced tea sales by 17%, and they also won us a Silver Addy award. Not bad. Not bad at all.

Art Direction: Timothy Prough

Writer: Keith Quesenberry

Producer: Mary Holland

Director: Matt Pitroff, Working Stiff Films

Editing & Animation: Cerebral Lounge

My team and I were enlisted to bring this Pennsylvania-based truck body brand back into the competitive landscape. We dove in, coming up with a tagline that spoke to the durability of the product as well as the end customer. “Made for More” means just that – whatever you can dish out, we can take it. From there we developed a brand story, videos, original photography and campaign messaging that was used in social media, sales tools, trade shows and outdoor.

Better Provisioning Company needed to activate their brand for storefronts, interior retail experiences and all the swag and mantras that go with it – from interior/exterior design, apparel, signage, to company mission. We began with their flagship dispensary in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Much of the brand story and experience was unwritten and stalled. Architectural design companies were also held up on pre-visualization of the exterior and interior design plan.

My team and I were brought in to rescue the project by creating interior/exterior design renderings of the structure along with backlit street signage for the builders to map out as they rehabbed an old car wash into a high-end CBD and medicinal cannabis dispensary. We partnered with Better’s CMO to actualize the brand by creating a brand story and a “Live Better” campaign that sourced lifestyle imagery that best reflected the people and places of the area, juxtaposed with personal stories of how the Better brand brought them back to a natural baseline in pain management. This created a familiar-yet-refreshing experience for the customer. Our message was simple: Better empowers everyday people to be the best versions of themselves. We topped it off with in-store posters, shopping bags, billboards and staff apparel.

The first store opened in September 2019.

Agency: Gate
Creative Direction / Design: Timothy Prough, John Kreider
Writers: Julia Mosemann, Timothy Prough, John Kreider

I was asked to come up with a logo for Cartell’s new driveway alert system. This led to building out the identity, guidelines, collateral, building signage, product package design, a kick ass video and some pretty cool swag. The holding company even decided to change their name to Cartell. Pretty amazed and humbled by their enthusiasm.

THE CHALLENGE

Increase weekend ridership by promoting 1-2 day discounted excursion packages for destinations along the Keystone Line, including Pittsburgh all the way to NYC.

THE SOLUTION

The creation of a web portal, patripsbytrain.com, that listed excursion packages along with itineraries that included transportation options and nearby eats and drinks. The excursions were promoted through paid advertising, social media and through stakeholder employee packages. Posters and pull up banners were placed in train stations across the Keystone Line. A booth with giveaways and a chance to win a free trip was created each year at National Train Day events. Two highly successful campaigns, “Adventure for Everyone Anytime” and “Reinventing the Roadtrip” captured increased travel for weekenders looking to go on a trip without the hassle of long travel.

NAPA Transportation is a family-owned trucking business that cares about its drivers. NAPA’s relationship to its drivers is far more personal than the massive logistics companies who only know drivers as numbers. My team was asked to bring some of that sentiment into a recruitment campaign that also gave the NAPA brand a much-needed refresh. With in-depth interviews, we focused on driver stories about why they drive and what NAPA had to offer them that other companies did not. We came up with the one thought “you are free to drive” and began assembling a campaign called “Free to Drive.” We built a manifesto around NAPA allowing truckers to do what they do best; drive. We shot ride-along videos for driver of the month recognition, and built a social program including Facebook Live events that spent “a day in the life” with NAPA drivers. We revamped their online recruitment portal. We also created driver recruitment kits that included a field guide, air freshener, t-shirt, gift card and discounts for driver referrals. We supported all of this with print and digital ads, truck wraps and a brand video.

Creative Direction: Timothy Prough
Research: Abigail McBride
Writers: Jesse Donaldson, Julia Mosemann, Timothy Prough
Art Direction: Timothy Prough
Creative Consult: Heather Wadlinger
Videographer/Editor: Brandon Kreiser
Photography: Hartman Benzon Media

PTW developed its next-generation water phantom called BEAMSCAN™. After a successful European launch, PTW needed a US partner to navigate the challenges of launching BEAMSCAN in North America. By humanizing the experience, adding voices from the medical community and beneficiaries of this amazing technology, we kicked off our campaign with a tradeshow design and followed it up with an innovative product campaign.

Design: T. Prough, D. Kimmick, D. Briggs, J. Bowser
Writer: J. Mosemann

Crestcom International needed sales materials to help its global sales team to sell franchise opportunities in the training sector. I capitalized on the concept of “global activation” with smart, design iconography that could demonstrate navigation, systems of activation, and customizable modularity. This design structure was implemented across all of the sales materials, from the kit pocket folder to internal training media, sales sheets, overview brochure, special event invitations, and branded stationery. The streamlining of all of Crestcom International’s franchise training materials was a success and gave the client a unified brand presence around the globe.

The largest auto parts distributor in the U.S. needed a brand refresh, a tagline that conveyed it’s deep history and new messaging that promised its technician and channel markets that it is on the move to modernize and be better equipped to handle tomorrow’s demands. It was a pleasure to creative direct and collaborate across our teams to evolve a legacy brand in the automotive OE and remanufacturing business.

Presto is a cannabis product.

Having little more than a logo and illustrations, the Presto brand was not quite realized. The struggle was in its activation. My team’s first challenge was to create an apparel line that exemplified the brand attitude, voice and playfulness. The second challenge was to then pull the attitude into the packaging and marketing.

Through a conversation, we were brought in by the CMO of Better Provisioning Company. Having not been a part of the Presto development, it was clear that the brand was struggling to come to life. We were charged to create an apparel line that was no-nonsense and grounded while being extremely playful. We then brought that into lifestyle photography with brand attitude, advertising and package design. “All pure. No tricks.” was the main position and tag of the brand.

As a final gift, we deconstructed the visual identifier down to two sly rabbit ears that peak over and around the visual plain. This was done in the spirit of Nike, Apple and Dropbox – a quick read for instant recognition.

Agency: Gate
Creative Direction: Timothy Prough, John Kreider
Designers: Timothy Prough, John Kreider

We were approached to do a re-branding project for Gunzey’s, a three-generations old sausage recipe perfected by Harold “Gunzey” Gonzales, who his sausages across country fairs and carnivals throughout Central Pennsylvania. The project included website, trailer stand design, and in-store supermarket packaging.

The goal: For shoppers to pick up the Gunzey’s hot sausage package at their local supermarket to enjoy at home while they impatiently wait for the spring thaw, and the start of next year’s country fair season.

We needed to capture the timelessness of the brand heritage in a modern way.

We needed to convey the spirit of a heritage built upon yearly pilgrimages of large numbers of people gathering to view and judge various configurations of furry or feathered livestock. We chose to use vintage treatments to give a sense of nostalgia but with the fresh lens of texture and color. The logo and packaging evoked being at the fair, and lining up to chomp down on a fresh hot sausage covered in grilled onions and peppers at the Gunzey’s sausage stand. Everything changes, and yet nothing does.

Thanks Harold!

Creative Director: Gregory Harrison
Art Direction / Design: Logo and website - Timothy Prough, Package Design - John Kreider
Photography: Timothy Prough