More 2-Sentence Horror Stories! Where Should The Series Go Next?

It's that time of the month again, and it just so happens to coincide with a little side project I've been working on. Some folks are no doubt aware that several years back I put together a short list of snacky scares for 50 Two-Sentence Horror Stories, and to this day it remains one of the most popular pieces of fiction I've ever published. Since then I've put out other installments, including a Warhammer 40K edition, an SCP Foundation edition, and the most recent one (which I thought I'd mentioned on this blog, but hadn't), my Cthulhu Mythos edition!

In fact, the audio version of that last one just went up over on my Rumble account The Literary Mercenary!

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! Also, be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree.

Lastly, for hundreds of extra articles on gaming, weird history, and for more free fiction, check out my Vocal archive, too!

Where Should I Take This Series From Here?

Real talk, writing fiction is the easy part of the process. Getting people to actually see that fiction thanks to all the algorithms fighting to smother your signal? And getting people to actually read these stories once they find them? Whew, that's the hard part of things. Even when the stories are free!

Though I'm sure folks around here already knew that.

As such, I wanted to ask my regular readers here whether they think I should continue this particular series going forward. And if you do think I should keep adding to this growing list, I'd like you to do three things for me.

- Read/listen to the existing entries that you haven't yet.

- Share the links on your socials to help them find fresh eyes.

- Suggest a new topic for additional entries to the series.

Honestly, the first two are the most important part of this week's ask. Because while the original list did quite well, the others have had one hell of a time actually coming anywhere close to the breakout 5K reads it managed (partially due to a more niche market, I think, but also due to Vocal being put on the hitlist for Reddit's bots, making it harder to get traction on that site).

However, as far as future installments, I did have some ideas of my own, including:

- World of Darkness stories

- Slasher stories

- DM horror stories (more of a funny entry)

- Medical/Body Horror stories

- Tales of The Dark Woods

These are just some of the ideas I've had rolling around off the top of my head. However, if you've got fresh ideas (or you want to see sequels to the existing entries), feel free to toss those into the comments as well!

Don't Forget My Other Stories As Well!

For those who want something a little more substantial than these little snacks, I do have a lot of other stories out there! For example, the Azukail Games YouTube channel has more than 30 audio dramas by yours truly, and my Vocal archive has several pieces of short fiction for both Pathfinder and Warhammer 40K.

But if you want something more than just short stories, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife is available on Amazon. Not only that, but my formerly out-of-print sci fi thriller Old Soldiers is coming back, and is currently on preorder! This one is a must-have for folks who've enjoyed my space marine stories, as Pollux's story is where I first wrote about abnormally-sized transhuman supersoldiers!

What's Next on Table Talk?

That's it for this installment of Table Talk! What would you like to see next? I'm listening for your comments and votes!

For more of my work, check out my Vocal archives, as well as the YouTube channel for Azukail Games. Or, to check out books like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my recent short story collection The Rejects, head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter, as well as on Pinterest where I'm building all sorts of boards dedicated to my books, RPG supplements, and greatest hits. Lastly, to help support me and my work, consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron! Even a little donation can have a big impact.

3 Systems I Would Recommend For Running an SCP Foundation Game

While I might be a little late to the game, so to speak, I've been really enjoying the SCP Foundation as a fictional entity. From short stories, to YouTube lore channels, to short films, there's a lot of it to take in, and it's getting a little bit bigger every day. Heck, I even made my own contribution a little while back with 50 Two-Sentence Horror Stories, SCP Edition, and the audio drama version I put together below.

Consider checking those out, if you haven't seen them yet. It's been tough getting views on them, and I'd like to justify doing a little bit more in this setting, if I can.

However, with so much rich content under creative commons license, it was only a matter of time until someone put out an SCP roleplaying game. And while there is an SCP-specific game on the market now, simply titled SCP The Tabletop RPG, I haven't found it to be a game that really grabs me.

This got me thinking about what other games there are out there one could use to run an RPG campaign in the SCP universe. And while I'm sure there are a lot of games that I missed, I think that the following list makes for some pretty strong starting places.

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron!

Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!

Game #1: Delta Green

Just the facts, please, sir.

The first game on this list, and perhaps the most obvious, is Delta Green. This secretive government entity exists in the shadows, and since the raid on the town of Innsmouth in the 1920s the agents of this bureau have combatted the horrors of the Cthulhu Mythos wherever they find them, protecting the world and safeguarding us against the machinations of mad cults and dark gods alike.

While this game started off life connected to the Call of Cthulhu RPG, they've grown and changed to the point that they're separate entities at this juncture. However, honorable mention to Call of Cthulhu as another option for those who want their players to be even more vulnerable than your average Delta Green agent. If that's an option you want to pursue, consider grabbing the Investigator Handbook and the Keeper's Rulebook for the 7th Edition of the game!

Game #2: Hunter: The Vigil

Werewolves, you say? Shame... I'll just have to shoot them a LOT.

If you want a game where the characters are a little more durable, but have to deal with just as much supernatural nonsense, I'd also recommend checking out Hunter: The Vigil. Part of the Chronicles of Darkness series of RPGs, Hunters are the ones who bump off the things that go bump in the night, and they're often used by storytellers as a threat when players are being a little too loud, and breaking the veil of secrecy a little too often in the other spheres.

While the variability in Hunter can be used to scale the power and equipment your agents have access to, you can also use the other spheres of the Chronicles of Darkness to bring in the various aspects of the SCP universe. If you need reality benders and bizarre magic users, Mage: The Awakening has you covered. If you want beings of phenomenal, cosmic power to act as allies or antagonists, you can find them in Demon: The Descent. And if you want that mid-range of mutants and monsters, then all of the creatures and power sets located in Deviant: The Renegades might be right up your alley.

This option has the most scalability of the choices, but it does require a lot of reading on the part of the ST, and it would require the largest number of books. Still, if you happen to have the Chronicles of Darkness books gathering dust on a shelf, and you're looking for a new way to breathe life into them, consider giving this a try!

Game #3: Savage Worlds

Absolute savages.

Much as with the Chronicles of Darkness, the Savage Worlds RPG system has a lot of different games you could bring to bear on creating an interconnected SCP universe game. However, Savage Worlds tends to be a lot lighter on mechanics, which might be more appealing to some players who like the idea of a big, sprawling, multi-book game, but who don't want to have a stack of tomes on the floor that reaches to the top of the table should they need to reference something during the campaign.

While you'll definitely need the Savage Worlds Adventure Edition as well as Dark States to start with, I'd also recommend using a combination of the weird Western game Deadlands, and the Victorian monster hunting game Rippers as the basis for the campaign. While both of these are period piece games, they provide a lot of the rules and backgrounds one could easily use to get an SCP campaign going. You might even want to expand into books like Weird War I, or even Necessary Evil which includes rules for super powered characters, but that will be up to your particular game, and what sort of elements you want to bring in.

What Games Did I Miss?

Do you have a game or system that you feel would make a good basis for covering the wide variety of genres and stories found in the SCP universe that didn't make this (admittedly very short) list? Toss it in the comments below! I'm always looking for new stuff to check out, so I'm happy to take a gander at any recommendations folks want to throw my way.

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the Azukail Games YouTube channel, or my Daily Motion channel!. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

"The Complete Windrow-Ravenswood Deck" is an Adventure in Tarot Storytelling

It's been a while since I've boosted a signal for some fellow creators here in a Monday slot, but since it's the Halloween season I wanted to shine a spotlight on a recent release from Dee Arbacauskas. If that name sounds familiar, she's the mind (and hands) behind Tormented Artifacts, and I talked about some of her leather work a while back in Get Your Hands on Some Tormented Artifacts! (Especially if You're a LARPer). However, while you should definitely take a look at her practical, wearable art, this week I want to talk about a different, unique piece of work... namely, the Windrow-Ravenswood deck.

Because it's more than just a deck of cards.

Before we get into that, though, wanted to remind folks that I have a newsletter now! So if you don't want to miss any of my weekly releases, make sure you sign up today!

All right, now, let's get into this lovely little bundle, shall we?

The Dual Story of The Windrow-Ravenswood Deck

First, let's start off with the really real story of the deck as it's told by the creator. We'll move into the juicy framing device later.

The origin of the Windrow-Ravenswood poker deck came to the creator as part of an art challenge that went more than a little out-of-control. To paraphrase her introduction, the ideas were coming to her almost faster than he could get them down on the page. While the flurry of activity resulted in some beautiful rough work, getting them cleaned up, organized, and available for purchase took time. The first run of the deck caught a lot of attention (and for good reason), and that drove further work to expand on it, and to fill in the gaps.

For example, expanding the deck by creating the Lost Arcana allowed the poker deck to transition into a full and proper tarot card deck. You can get all of this as a bundle on Drive Thru RPG, by the by. At just under $20 it is a hell of a steal!

But what's the second story?

The second story is in the Complete Windrow-Ravenswood Guidebook (not to be confused with the 2-page guide currently available for using the deck). Because in addition to being a guide to this unique tarot, offering both interpretations and translations for those familiar with more traditional decks, the book also presents us a framing for the deck's so-called founding. It paints a picture of a shadowy institute, a bizarre family lineage, and it chronicles the journey of the deck down the years. There are even several winks to the Cthulhu mythos, for those who enjoy the occasional Easter egg. Told primarily through the communiques and letters sent by "The Archivist," the book intermingles the practical aspects of using the deck with a surprisingly captivating story about the deeper, darker world from whence it hails.

 

While the full and complete guidebook is not currently available, it should be out in early November. Prices, according to the author, will be $11.99 for a digital copy, and $29.99 for the standard color hardback edition.

EDIT: The book is out! Take a look at The Windrow-Ravenswood Deck Guidebook!

So How Can You Use This Deck?

As everyone here knows, this is a gaming blog where I talk about RPGs. Interesting as this deck is, what does it have to do with a roleplaying games? Well, the answer is going to depend entirely on you, the games you play, and your imagination.

There are so damn many possibilities...

The first use for the deck is as a practical game piece. If you're a Chronicles of Darkness LARPer, for example, then these decks would make an ideal stack to draw from while players determine success or failure for their actions. Particularly for a Mage game, though they'd fit well enough in Vampire, Changeling, or others as well. For those who enjoy games like Savage Worlds Deluxe, this deck would be a handsome addition to the initiative pull. Especially if you're playing a game like Rippers, and you want a little extra ambiance.

Even if you're not using the deck itself as a game piece, it makes a lovely prop. Whether you're a Malkavian who believes the cards talk to them, or you want to use the cards as something left behind by a serial killer, they're something that can be interacted with. They can add an extra layer of fun to the game... especially if the players can pass them around and admire them for their beauty, and creeping dread.

The last use, and one I would suggest for any burgeoning storytellers out there who are looking for a solid world to base a Chronicles of Darkness: Mortals game or a Call of Cthulhu game in, is to adapt the cards, the setting, and the story as part of your campaign's bible going forward. While the setup could be a cousin to the SCP Foundation and other, similar creepy pastas, it's much narrower in scope, and allows you to keep things a little bit more grounded. And there are just enough references to the timeline, as well as to the sights that the Archivist witnessed, that you could attempt to ascertain what dire deeds Ravenswood committed in his pact to make this deck.

At the end of the day, it's a fun, handsome creation with unique art. Whether you use it as the basis for an entire campaign, or you just pull it out for Halloween poker nights, I seriously suggest giving the full Windrow-Ravenswood deck bundle a look, and staying tuned for when the final guidebook drops here in a few weeks!

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my cat noir thriller Marked Territory, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!