A Year-Long Experiment With Vocal Media (And Why I Need Your Help)

For all the readers out there who go all the way to the end of my blog posts, you may have noticed a change over the past year. If you scroll down the page, the only section you really see represented is Moon Pope Monday, which are the catch-all Monday posts I put up on Improved Initiative. There may be an occasional entry from Table Talk, or Crunch, but for the most part folks who just come by this blog haven't seen any posts for Fluff or Unusual Character Concepts in over a year.

I didn't stop writing them... they've just been appearing over on my Vocal.Media archive for the past year or so. It's been an ongoing experiment, but it hasn't been going as well as I'd like. As such, I figured this week I'd deliver the preliminary results, and give folks the behind-the-scenes rundown of what I've been doing, the problems I've run into, and how you can help.

It's been... less successful than I'd hoped it would be.

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!

Vocal, Improved Initiative, and What I Was Trying To Do

I've been writing blogs for Improved Initiative for a decade or so, now, and my format has been pretty standard for years. I would write a Monday post, and then a second post that would go Crunch, Fluff, Unusual Character Concept, and Table Talk, before starting over again. This helped ensure variety in my articles, and it meant there was something different every week for folks who didn't just want more of the same content over and over again.

However, what some of my readers may not know, is that I don't make any money from the traffic on this blog. Even when my ads did function (which was a while ago), so many people have some form of ad blocker that it just wasn't worth the effort. My Patreon and my Ko-Fi are the primary way that my blog gets support, but I know that not everyone out there has money to just throw at me every month to help me keep the lights on while I write.

But it would help, if you wanted to go that route. Just saying.

For all the gentle reminders I put in my blogs about crowdfunding, and for all the links to the TTRPG supplements I write, though, I really don't like asking people to just give me money. I'd much rather have the traffic I earn translate into cash, because that allows a direct transfer of the amount of attention my work receives into how much money I earn. There's also a certain kind of frustration that comes with seeing an article get thousands (or sometimes tens of thousands) of reads, and knowing that none of that activity is going to put money in my pocket.

Enter Vocal.Media.

For those who've never been to this site, it's a place that lets writers create and publish their own work. It's where all of my Character Conversion Guides are published, and it's where I've written a lot of articles about miscellaneous history, geek things, weird etymology, etc. Hell, my article It's Okay To Admit There Are Problems in Your Hobby once blew up so big that someone turned me into a meme because they were so tired of seeing it. And generating traffic on that site does actually pay me money. It's $6 per every 1,000 reads (not just views, actual reads), which means that if something explodes it will actually put cash in my hand.

For the first few years I wrote articles for Vocal, I got some pretty good views. I was generally managing between 14,000 and 20,000 reads a month, which comes out to between $70 and $120, give or take. Not life changing, but it was enough to literally keep my lights on, and fill in the gaps when other projects fell through, or didn't sell enough copies, or when some of my patrons had to stop supporting me because they could no longer afford to. Reading articles was free, after all, so it was something everyone could do.

Then the social media landscape changed, and that oasis dried up.

You see, a majority of the reads I was getting were from my Character Conversions. However, as Pathfinder's first edition wound down, they were becoming less and less popular. That was always going to happen, which was why I tried to pivot and write other articles, like 5 Tips For Playing Better Evil Characters, or my more recent Find a Reason For Your Character To Get Involved. However, while I was diversifying my content, the algorithm underwent an abrupt shift over the space of a few weeks. This meant that Reddit, which I'd been using for years to boost the signal on these articles, now automatically removed any links to Vocal.Media. This wiped out years of my submissions across dozens of subreddits, and set me back in a big way. Then as the follow-up to that heavy punch, Facebook altered their algorithm so that if you included a link in your post it got shoved all the way to the bottom, and nobody saw it.

In real terms, I went from getting 400-500 reads a day, to barely cracking 70... and I wanted to try to fix that.

When in doubt, create more content!

This brings us up to about a year and change ago. I figured that if I could create more Vocal content, then maybe the sheer amount of it would help overcome the resistance of the algorithm. And if I could get my existing audience to help me boost those numbers, maybe I could turn Vocal back into a viable source of income... but I couldn't do that while also writing 2 blogs a week here on Improved Initiative.

So I kept my Monday posts right where they were, but I moved the second post of the week over to Vocal, hoping that it would drive the folks who enjoyed my content to check those articles out over there instead.

It Didn't Work... But Could It?

As of time of writing, I have 285 articles in my Vocal archive. Additionally, my daily reads haven't been above 100 for at least 2 months now. Which is, as the kids say these days, not great. Because if you've read my other post, If 90,000 People Read This Article, I Can Pay My Bills This Month, you know that it takes a colossal amount of attention for writers depending on per-read pay to stay one step ahead of the rent.

The question, of course, is what do I do about this?

It's big brain time!

Now, on the one hand, it's true that articles here on Improved Initiative are easier to market. My blog is perfectly shareable on Reddit (for the most part), and it does no worse on Facebook than Vocal does in terms of attention. However, as I mentioned above, even if 10,000, 50,000, or 100,000 people all read an article on this blog, it isn't going to pay my bills. I won't see a single, red cent from any of that traffic.

Popularity isn't something you can eat, sadly, or the choice would be pretty easy.

What I need to help me keep the lights on and the content flowing is for people to support my work. While direct support through my Patreon or my Ko-Fi is always going to be preferred (immediate support yields immediate results), helping my Vocal articles get traction is something folks can do for free right now!

Consider the following actions:

- If you have a Vocal account, subscribe to me! Also, throw a like onto my articles, and leave some comments. The algorithm likes those things, and it helps me stand out. If you don't have a Vocal account, it's free to make one, and it makes organizing your subscriptions easier.

- Bookmark my page, and check back. I typically have at least 1 update a week on Vocal, so there's usually new stuff waiting for you to take a look at.

- Read through my Vocal archive. You don't have to do it all at once. If 100 people each read an article a day for a month, that would be 30,000 reads, and it would put me 1/3 of the way toward paying my rent... which is nothing to sneeze at!

- Share my articles so other people can see them. This is probably the most important, and if it was paired with the above request, it might actually get me the 90,000 reads I would need to cover a full month of bills. Because 30,000 reads is great ($180 and change). But 30,000 shares, whether it's on Facebook, Twitter, Blue Sky, your gaming Discord, or anywhere else... that makes a massive difference!

Little things really do add up if enough people participate... the problem is getting a lot of people to all pitch in, and to pitch in consistently, so that the numbers stay high. So please, if you haven't seen any of my Vocal articles before (or if you have, but didn't know there were quite that many of them) go take a look around! Every read helps me stay one step ahead of my landlord, and that lets me keep making more content for all the gamers out there.

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 Rumble channel The Literary Mercenary!. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, my dystopian sci fi thriller Old Soldiers, 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!

Improved Initiative Needs Your Help (And It Won't Cost You A Dime)!

One good thing that came out of the whole power grab with Wizards of The Coast trying to take back the open game license at the beginning of this year is that it pulled back the curtain for a lot of folks in the TTRPG community regarding exactly what people who make games for a living get paid. And generally speaking, unless you work for WoTC or a select few other companies, you probably aren't making much. This goes double if you're a small publisher, a jobbing freelancer, or an independent creator.

And while a lot of players did their best to support independent creators to help get us over this hump, I'm the first to acknowledge that there's only so much spare change in everyone's pockets. So while I will never say no to selling some of my RPG supplements, and I won't turn down people who want to become Patreon patrons, or who want to buy me a Ko-Fi, I wanted to ask for something other than just a donation from my readers this week.

If I can get enough folks onboard, it will really help me out, and allow me a second or two to catch my breath while I actually plan out some bigger pieces of content for the future. And best of all, it won't cost any of you reading this so much as a dime!

And together, hopefully, we can really fill up my tank!

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!

So, What All Has Been Going On?

I already mentioned the recent kerfuffle with Wizards and their attempt to completely upset the TTRPG industry. This led to a LOT of my projects being put on-hold, and it's meant that a lot of other projects have been thrown into chaos regarding what is and isn't a priority for myself and my publishers. However, that whole situation is in addition to the pandemic wiping out thousands of dollars of outstanding work that clients owed me money for, but which vanished into thin air due to many of them ceasing to exist. Not only that, but last summer my publisher for my novels died, and the company dissolved. This took my books off the market, and I didn't even get my final check for the royalties I'd accrued during the final quarter before everything crumbled.

So, saying that things have been a little stressful is a bit of an understatement.

The list goes on, but I'm trying to be brief.

There is, however, one other problem I've been dealing with. Because for those who don't know, aside from the money pledged by my patrons, and sales for supplements through the affiliate links in my articles, this blog doesn't actually make me any money. Ad services are so universally blocked and ignored that over the decade or so I had ads on Improved Initiative, I earned a total of $50 or so, and the last time I got a check for that payment was several years back.

I made up for this by also creating content for Vocal. As some of my readers know this is the website that hosts all of my Character Conversion Guides, as well as a lot of my Unusual Character Concepts, my 5 Tips articles, and more than a few of my short stories. Vocal pays me roughly $6 for every 1,000 reads my content gets, and this time last year I was pulling down $60-$90 a month from Vocal, with some months going as high as $120 or more. It wasn't huge, but it was a big help when I needed it.

Now... well, now I'm lucky if I can even get $20 worth of reads in a month. So what changed?

The short answer is the algorithm. The more complicated answer is that Facebook is a shadow of what it used to be for interaction, Twitter is now a sewage dump where it was once at least a passable silver mine, and Reddit banned Vocal links entirely, adding them to the auto-remove list of websites the bots dump in the trash as soon as you try to share them. This last one hurt a lot, since it also removed probably a year or more of backlinks to my articles that I'd shared to various subreddits.

Here's What I Need You All To Do

At time of writing, I have 269 stories (nice) in my full Vocal archive. From TTRPGs and short fiction, to weird history, bizarre linguistic dives, and a couple rants about horror movies, there's a rather ridiculous amount of content on there. Additionally if you want to narrow your scope then you can just click which topic you want to see along the top of the archive (just below Pinned Stories), and it will sort the articles by topic for you!

What I really need is folks to read these articles. Not just click them, but actually read through to the end.

To be clear, you don't have to read all of them. You don't need to spend hours gorging yourself on my text. But if all of my regular readers could bookmark my archive, and just make it a point to read at least one article a day, that would help. Even more importantly than that, though, if you find an article you like that you think more people should read, share it on your socials. FB, Twitter, Tumblr, LinkedIn, Discord, I'm not picky... but there's only so much traction I can get on my own, and I'm definitely sliding down the hill right now as it gets harder and harder to promote myself across the board.

Every read, share, and like helps... seriously.

The reason I'm asking for this instead of just soliciting patrons or donations is that Vocal is completely free to anyone who wants to read it. Not only that, but reads are tallied every day, so there's a minimal wait for me to cash-out if something I write does go viral and explodes with coins like a Mario enemy that ate an entire bank vault.

But as I mentioned in If 90,000 People Read This Article, I Can Pay My Bills This Month, it requires a frankly absurd level of interaction just for me to pay my rent. However, if you're one of the folks out there who wants to help a creator out, then all you need is an Internet connection and a willingness to consume content to help me stop falling behind!

And if you're looking for some places to get started that have proven popular in the past, might I direct your attention to the following articles?:

- 5 Things You Can Do To Be a Better Ambassador For Your Hobby: This one still gets a little play every now and again. Mostly I just wanted to do my part to help other folks realize that if we don't let fresh blood into our hobbies, then they're going to die in fairly short order.

- It's Okay To Admit There Are Problems in Your Hobby: This article was so divisive it got people to make a meme out of me. It resurfaces every few years, but it's not enough to keep the wolf from the door.

- Partners and Polycules: Polyamorous Designations Based Off Dungeons and Dragons Dice: This was a silly article of mine that is the closest thing I've had to a viral success in the past few years. If you haven't seen it, give yourself (and maybe your friends) a giggle!

- The 5 Awful Paladins You Will Meet in Your Gaming Career: This was the first of my ongoing series about awful character archetypes that we all run into if we play TTRPGs long enough. While several of the follow-ups were also popular, none of them seemed to draw quite as many eyes as the paladin for some reason.

Oh, There is One More Thing You Can Do...

In keeping with the spirit of the title, I'm going to keep my suggestions to things folks can do for free that will have a tangible effect on my income stream. But if you don't have as much time to read as you'd like (or you just prefer to listen to videos while doing chores, painting minis, or getting your steps in), you could also subscribe to the Azukail Games YouTube channel, and listen to videos I make for them.

Full disclosure, I do not own this channel. It's the channel run by one of my publishers... I do, however, make content for it. And the more hits my videos get, the more likely it is that the channel will get monetized, and that I can (perhaps) ask for a bump in my compensation for making said videos. Because it takes 1,000 subscribers, and 4,000 hours of watched content in the past year (or about 11.5 hours a day for 365 days, if you were wondering) for YouTube to even think about letting you make money off your videos, and that is a high bar to clear when you're doing everything all on your own.

So, while this isn't as direct a hand up as reading and sharing my Vocal articles would be, it would still be a big help, and assist me in getting a slightly bigger share of the pie with at least one of the publishers I work with.

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!

Backstories... How Much is Too Much?

Creating characters is one of the most fun parts of an RPG. We get to look at all the different species choices, and all the different classes, powers, and abilities that are available, and slowly conjure this avatar we wish to inhabit out of the ether. It's an intoxicating process, and it's something both new players and old ones always seem to get excited over.

Part of that process is creating a backstory for your character, though. And this can be a... contentious topic, to say the least.

Page 7, the fifth branch of the 8th tree in the back yard...

Before we get into it 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!

First Let's Talk About Length

There are two major considerations when it comes to one's backstory, but the first thing people usually think of is size. Not only that, but there seem to generally be two schools of thought on this matter. The first is that anything that is longer than a couple of paragraphs (especially if it's for a level one character) is overkill. The second is that you can never have too much nuance and detail, and as long as it helps you craft a more complete character, you should feel free to really let it rip!

For folks wondering where I sit on the spectrum... well, not only did I write a short story about my current Dark Heresy PC, but said story was turned into an audio drama by Vox in The Void (whom you should follow if you haven't yet). While I have yet to write an entire novel about one of my characters, though, I believe I've uploaded a backstory of roughly 8k words for a Changeling: The Lost LARP, as well.

With that said, however, I am not someone who believes that all players should be expected to write reams of text defining their characters and providing a lifetime of details to the Game Master. After all, we all have real lives, and not everyone has the time, energy, or desire to devote to writing intro stories for their characters. And even if you do have all three of those things, your Game Master might not have the time, energy, or desire to read a huge wall of text just to get a handle on your character.

And those are really the two most important questions when it comes to the size of your backstory. Because if the Game Master doesn't have time or interest in reading more than half a page or so, then players shouldn't give them more. And if players don't have the interest or ability to provide more than a brief snapshot of who their character is, demanding they produce more is going to kill their interest in the game.

So as long as the player wants to write it, and the GM wants to read it, it isn't too much. This scenario will vary wildly by individual, however, so make sure you talk to one another before game so you don't end up disappointed at your players' brevity, or frustrated because your GM isn't reading the story you created for this game.

Incidentally, if you're a Game Master and you find that getting players to write down a backstory is like pulling teeth, consider putting together a brief character creation document instead! You can find a good start for this at 10 Questions to Put On Your Character Creation Document!

Or, if you're a player champing at the bit to get your story together, remember that Specific Background Details Make Your Character an Organic Part of The World.

Second, The Content

The second question on this topic is something I've addressed before, but it would have felt like not acknowledging the elephant in the room to leave it out this week. In short, when is the content of your backstory too much for the game to support?

Listen here, whipper snapper, I was Raging before your edition was even born!

The flavor of your background has to match with the mechanics of the game you're playing. You probably didn't solo-kill a red dragon last week, or smite a god with your astonishing eldritch might before the campaign began at level 1... unless you did.

I talked about some of this in The 1st Level Badass, as well as Using The Limiting Bolt in Your Games, but it bears repeating that the key to matching your backstory to your mechanics is creativity, and communication with your Game Master.

For example, perhaps you were a great and powerful dragon slayer in your youth, but it's been years since you were on the trail and your skills have fallen by the wayside. Maybe you were a potent wizard who was utterly destroyed by your nemesis, but a contingency spell woke you up in a cloned body of your younger self that has a lot of your memories, but only a fraction of your old knowledge and powers. Perhaps you truly are the child of a god, but they have taken away your gifts and forced you to prove that you deserve them, Marvel's Thor-style.

Or your character could just be full of hot air, and they've been claiming to have done a bunch of stuff they didn't do because it bulks up their rep... a character concept I called The Big Name.

Whether you need an explanation for why a grandiose story doesn't have the oomph one would expect, or some explanation for why a simple, humble character enters the game with serious swinging power, just make sure that you think of a way for your content to match the context of where you find yourself in the game. If you can manage that, you're golden!

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, its sequel Painted Cats, 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!

It's 2022, And You Can Finally Find Me on YouTube and TikTok

There's an old saying that tells us insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, yet expecting a different result. And in a racket that requires you to command as many eyeballs as possible in order to make sure you can reach a big enough audience to actually keep the lights on and tacos in your tummy, this hits particularly close to home. I've been running this blog for going on a decade, and while I have no intention of stopping, I have decided to try branching out into other mediums at the repeated urging of several of my readers.

So if you're one of the people out there who've been waiting to see me on YouTube and/or TikTok, you'll find me guest-starring on the Azukail Games channel, and regularly updating my own content on TableTopTips! So before you do anything else make sure to subscribe there to stay on top of all the updates.

Before I get into the nitty gritty this week, make sure you subscribe to my weekly newsletter! And if you've got some cash to spare now that the holidays are done (and you'd like to help me keep the content flowing) consider becoming a Patreon patron.

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

Lights, Camera, Action?

People have been asking me for years why I didn't make video content to go along with my various blogs and articles. After all, there are dozens of popular YouTube channels, podcasts, and more out there, and it's quickly become a really popular way for players and Game Masters alike to consume their content... so why wasn't I leaping in on that with both feet?

Well, there are a lot of reasons.

First and foremost, you can't just start a YouTube channel, put up some videos, and get paid. As I said in Writers on YouTube? Prepare For an Uphill Battle, the platform has a rather high bar for you to even earn a side hustle as a creator. You need a minimum of a thousand subscribers, along with thousands of hours of watched content in the past year. So unless you get really lucky and something goes viral, leading thousands of people to subscribe and share your video to hell and back, this could take a year or more of work just so you can maybe start getting paid. And it isn't retroactive; you don't get back pay for all the watched hours you earned to get to that point.

When I helped out on Dungeon Keeper Radio for a year and change, and we barely got halfway past the subscriber goal, and nowhere near the watched content goal. TikTok is even stingier when it comes to getting money into creators' hands, with most people's income coming from sponsorships and their audience rather than from the platform directly (no matter how popular they are as creators).

That's bad enough, but there's more.

Secondly, creating video content is a whole different beast than writing blogs and articles. Because while I could still write a snappy script, and I could still make use of the various branches of knowledge I possess, I'd have to learn a whole new set of skills. From editing videos, to adding sound effects, to finding fresh angles and topics, all of that is stuff I wasn't really trained to do. Beyond that, it would require getting hold of new materials and tools, in addition to figuring out how to use them.

So, in short, it would have taken a lot of energy for me to learn a bunch of new skills, and to put several months to several years into this endeavor while likely not earning any extra income, and making no sales. And now that I've gotten started, I can confirm, this is a lot to try to squeeze into an already packed schedule of writing dozens of articles and several game supplements a month.

So Why Did I Finally Do It?

There's another phrase out there that often gets bandied about by folks trying to make a living doing what I do. "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." So while it is definitely unlikely that I will make a living (or even an additional, small side income) making video content, I figured I should at least give it my best shot and see what I can manage.

However, I'm hedging my bets.

This is why, for example, I'm choosing to help out on the Azukail Games YouTube page instead of trying to make my own channel. This allows me to collaborate with other creators, and it means that all of us are bending our efforts toward getting views, monetizing the channel, and getting more eyes on the stuff we make. It also means that we can all reap the rewards once we reach that goal. this allows me to create content as I have time and energy, and to ask for help and tips from others so it's not just me trying to do everything all on my own. Again.

As for TikTok... well, I don't actually expect to make any real money off of it. Mostly it was just to test the waters, and to see what I see. Currently my most popular piece of advice, Game Masters, Liven Up Your Taverns, hasn't even broken 1k views. The platform doesn't let me share sales links for my supplements, and the extremely short-form video means I need to get to the point quickly... but who knows, it just might be the thing that catches folks' eyes and leads them to the rest of my work. And even if it doesn't, those videos are far easier to produce, so they take up far less in terms of time, energy, and resources.

What Can You Do To Help?

As with anything else, if you want to see me actually produce more video content, then help support the endeavor! Share videos you enjoy, leave some likes, and subscribe to the Azukail Games YouTube channel, and TableTopTips if you want to see them get bigger. If you've got suggestions for topics you'd like to see me cover regarding game design, or about any of my products, then leave them in the comments below! And, of course, if you become a Patreon patron that support would allow me to make more time for creating more varied content, rather than focusing purely on things that have the biggest paycheck attached to them.

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, its sequel Painted Cats, 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!

Do Content, Happy People Hunt Dragons? (More on Character Backstories)

Take it in. Digest it. This is what we're talking about today.

If you're on gaming forums, chances are you've seen this particular image already. Honestly, for the first week it made the rounds I saw it ten or twenty times a day, typically with conversations attached to it going into hundreds of comments in length. While I avoided participating in those conversations, there was a regular theme running through them that I wanted to talk about. That theme essentially being that only the disturbed, the damaged, and the deranged would ever choose the life of a professional adventurer.

And sure, any dangerous profession is going to have its share of thrill-seekers, rage cases, adrenaline junkies, and people who simply can't function in "normal" society. However, by and large, I think that a lot of folks focused on the wrong part of the issue.

The issue isn't that people who are well-adjusted/happy feel no need to go on adventures... it's that people who are content don't.

Never Be Complete, Never Be Content

In the scenario above, Jerry clearly has his life together. He's got a new bride, and a winery he's running that's making him a good living. The impression we get is that this was his goal all along. He's achieved a thing he wanted, and that for him to then leave that all behind to go hunt vampires would be an act of existential madness. Especially if said vampires are not actively trying to attack his spouse, or ruin his business, as those are clearly the things he's put his time into building up.

No, Alexi, for the last time, I'm not taking over the hunter's trade. I don't care what my father wants!

The issue here is not that the character in question didn't have a traumatic childhood filled with darkness, horror, or tragedy... but that what they want to achieve is not in line with the goals of an adventure. And sure, as I said in Why So Many Sad Backstories?, the easy way to change that is to slap the character in the face with something that makes it personal. It is, however, far from the only way.

So what you need to ask is not, "Why would this character avoid the adventure?" Instead, try asking, "What ambitions or goals does this character have that are fulfilled by following this plot?"

Avoiding Doom and Gloom (But Not Magic and Mayhem)

Let's get back to Jerry. Jerry is enjoying his winery's success, and his wife is pregnant with their first child. He's relaxing by his own fireplace, his feet up, and a glass of the last winter grape that went into the barrel the first year he was in business. Life seems pretty good, all in all. There's nowhere he'd rather be, and he's worked hard for this.

I'm sorry, my friend... we need your help.

But when Alexi comes calling to his home in the dark of the night, Jerry can't just send him away with a clear conscience. Not when he knows he can help. Vampires stalk the countryside, and if Jerry turns a blind eye to this problem now, his family will be safe. Tonight, at least. But maybe tomorrow night, or the next harvest moon, this black sea will be lapping at his doorstep. And by then, it won't be a problem that one man with a stake and his faith can solve... by then, it would take a holy army to turn back the tide.

He can't let that happen to other people. Not if he wants to sleep well, and be able to look his children in the eyes when they ask why he let other hunters bleed, and possibly die, in his place when he had the skills they sorely lacked.

The key here is that all characters need a motivation that speaks to who they are, and what they need. Take Jerry, for instance. He has good land, and one presumes a good home life. But in the scenario pictured, he also has the skills necessary to help hunt a dangerous undead monster that threatens the living. Why does he do it? Is it because, as stated above, he's a good person with a conscience that won't let him rest? Alternatively, is he actually missing the thrill of the hunt, and the feeling of danger that he had when he was still building up his foundation, or doing dangerous deeds to get the treasure he needed to acquire his land? Or, if we altered the location slightly, are the vampires threatening his land, their very presence souring his grapes even as they prey on his workers, and the townsfolk?

Because as long as the challenge being presented is going to pull on the character's motivations, hell yes they're going to become a part of it. Even if, from the outside, it would be far safer for them to stay at home and let some of the aforementioned loose cannons take the risk.

What Does Your Character Not Want?

Or, just as potentially useful, what does your character not want? Because if you're reaching for the low-hanging fruit, a character may go out on adventures for the money, for the fame, or because they feel it's their duty (or it's actually their duty, in the case of knights, officers of the crown, etc. sent to deal with demonic incursions, undead manifestations, etc.). But sometimes preventing an outcome you don't want to happen provides you just as much motivation as trying to bring about one you do want to happen.

Goddammit Alexi, you are NOT taking Igor on this mission. The kid's a glory hound, that's why. Let me get my coat...

As an example, say that a posse is being formed to cleanse the forest of the Cut Man's men (featured in 100 Random Bandits to Meet for those who are interested), and it's going to be led by "Hangman'" Sheriff Valdor. No, your character doesn't really need to get into the thick of things and clear out the bandits... but maybe he doesn't feel that stealing some silver from a few merchants means a man should swing by the neck without a trial, as Valdor's known to do when he decides a man is a bandit. The Cut Man, with his necklace of ears, needs to go... but the others deserve a chance to defend themselves in front of a judge. Or, if you want to sink it a little closer to home, perhaps you've got a niece whose lover runs with the gang, or a friend you parted ways with... they're on a bad path, but they can still be brought back. If Valdor leads a goon squad into the forest, though, all that's gonna come of it is fire and blood.

It's easier to have your characters do things because they want to (collect the bounty, get knighted, impress that NPC they have a crush on, kill the monster they have a personal grudge against, save their town from being wiped out, etc.) but it's important to remember that sometimes characters don't suit up because they want to. A lot of the time it's because they have an obligation.

Say your character is just living their life, enjoying time on the farm. They lived their crazy life, but they got land and a family to raise out of the experience, and they're okay with that now. But what happens when an old buddy from the army comes by, and calls in that favor they still owe? For that one time they took the rap, or stepped in front of a crossbow for them? Maybe your character has no interest in this supposed treasure, or in lost relics, but they owe a life debt, so they belt on their sword one more time to pay up. Perhaps you've been engaged in quiet study as a regional wizard, but when your dying mentor shows up and asks you to take up a task they couldn't complete, will you keep your word to them? Even though you left the church and its holy wars behind, is there still enough zeal in your heart to get you to stand in front of the defenseless one more time? Are you a vassal of the local lord, or perhaps the local noble yourself (A Baker's Dozen of Noble Families is a great place to start looking if this intrigues you), so the duty to investigate a rumor, or handle a problem, falls to you whether you will it or no?

Now, there's nothing wrong with a brooding character who still stares into the fire and thinks about the Black Tusk raiders who burned her village, or the sorcerer with a scar over their heart that never really stops hurting as long as their corrupt father is still alive, but the idea that these kinds of characters are the only ones you'll find out in the world is patently ridiculous. Because for every squad of amoral mercenaries working on their personal grudges, there are those in it for the thrill, for the fun, for the curiosity, for the greed, and even because it's their job.

Takes all kinds to make an interesting story.

Also, for those who are still scraping the barrel and wracking their brain, might I suggest checking out 100 Character Goals and Motivations to help jumpstart your creativity?

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Fluff post! If you've used this in your games, share a story down in the comments!

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 sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my recent 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!

"Edgy" Games Require Trust

There are some players out there who like simple, cut-and-dry games. They like to be heroes, doing heroic things... or maybe just adventurers doing whatever comes their way that they can make a profit off of. But there are some gamers who like to push the envelope when it comes to subject matter. People who like to descend the dark staircase into the taboo, the wicked, and the macabre.

Those kinds of games aren't for everyone. However, if you expect people to play them with you, then you need to establish some kind of trust with your group. Otherwise you're not going to get anywhere.

Open yourself up to the knife. Trust me.

Maturity Applies To The Players and Storyteller, Too

We're all adults here (or, at least, we like to think that we are), so I'm going to use a metaphor to make a point. Stick with me, this will make sense by the time we get to the other side.

A standard RPG is like having normal, conventional sex. Maybe you were awkward your first time, you weren't really sure what all the bits involved did, but you were having fun and you wanted to keep doing it. Then you figured out how it worked, what you were good at, and what you could bring to the game.

Edgy games, though, are more like a BDSM encounter. They tend to be darker, and seen as more taboo. They cater to a very specific kind of play style, and include elements that you usually won't find in conventional games (psychological trauma, more brutal depictions of violence, sexual themes... you know, 18+ kinds of stuff). The most important way that these more mature, adult games are like BDSM though is that you need to open up to the potential of the story in order for it to actually affect you... and to do that, you have to trust the people you're playing with.

Without trust, this whole thing falls apart.

Take Vampire: The Masquerade, for example. The game has a Humanity tracker, which is actively affected by your actions, and how you struggle to maintain being the person you were while filled with animalistic hungers. The game often deals with the loss of self, with the struggle of the human mind to cope with the idea of infinity, as well as the sheer body horror that comes with having your skin warped, bones restructured, and your form remade by an angry Tzimisce.

That's far from the only example, either. One of the central themes of Werewolf: The Apocalypse is the balance of trying to turn Rage into a weapon against your enemies, and to avoid it splashing onto your friends and loved ones. And if you lose control of that Rage, you might truly turn into a monster; brutalizing those you care about, and in some circumstances feeling compelled to dismember them, eat them, or to sexually assault them (in case you think I'm making that up, it's in the Thrall of the Wyrm section for Metis characters). Changeling: The Lost deals with the question of identity and losing your grip on reality as you witness (and sometimes commit) atrocities, and try to find your place in a world you know is a half-truth at best, and an outright lie at worst.

My point is, there are a lot of games with dark themes, horrible subject matter, and which are meant to dig around in the bleaker parts of the human psyche. That's not a flaw... that's the feature! And even games that aren't expressly meant to touch those darker places can still be made to do so. Drow cities in Dungeons and Dragons, the existence of dark gods like Zon-Kuthon and his cults in Pathfinder... you get the idea.

However, you can think of these games as the collars, the whips, the paddles, and all the other accessories that come with a BDSM-style session. They're the most visible part of the play that's going on, but too often people mistake them for the play itself; as with any good tabletop game, the play is going on inside your mind. In order to have the proper experience, you need to open yourself up to it. Play along, in other words. That means making yourself vulnerable to the experience, because without allowing it to get inside you and affect you, you're missing out on what it's supposed to do. At that point it's just words, dice, numbers, and a whole lot of empty wind.

What's Trust Got To Do With It?

It's a common misconception that if you put a crop into someone's hands that you want them to beat you with it. Sometimes you just want the threat of it looming over you as a potential for punishment. Maybe you want to be teased with it, but not actually hit. Or maybe you want a sharp strike, but just enough to sting, and not enough to do any permanent damage.

Ugh, guy, are we still talking about roleplaying that actually involves dice?

The crop, in this case, is a metaphor. For example, say you're playing a Werewolf game, and to increase the dramatic tension you have a kinfolk partner who's your responsibility (kinfolk, for those not in the know, are normal people related to lines of werewolves, so they aren't affected by their presence the same way other humans are). Maybe the two of you even have children. Now do you, as a player, want your character's family to be at-risk, but not really harmed (a driving threat, but something you can prevent fairly easily), do you want them to be in danger (the potential for something bad to happen to them that will be tough to avoid), or do you want that sensitive spot to be lashed (your spouse is killed or crippled, or your children kidnapped, etc., etc.)?

These are the sorts of questions the person running this game should be asking. Just because someone wants to play a more "mature" game with darker themes, that doesn't necessarily mean they want you to strap them up on St. Jacob's Cross and go whole hog on them. You need to judge what your players want, what they don't want, and you need to discuss areas that are off-limits.

Just because you're all right with implied torture and some psychological distress being part of the game, that doesn't mean you're down with literally having your character flayed and made into an amputee when you get captured by a villain. There are degrees of awfulness (or "maturity" as I guess we'll continue to call it), and you can think of it like a hot sauce scale at a wing restaurant. Just because a player wanted something with a little spice, that doesn't mean the next order should be spiked with the Atomic Tongue Melter just because they were enjoying the heat from the Mildly Dark sauce you gave them.

If Players Don't Trust You, They Won't Open Up

If you can't get your players to trust you, they aren't going to engage with the game you're running. For darker themes to work, players have to be participating. Not just present and taking actions, but allowing it to wash over them. It's like a horror movie; if you're only half paying attention, you don't really care, and you take out your cellphone anytime the angry cello starts threatening to eat you, then it's not going to affect you. Even if it's a visceral, horrifying experience to some people, if you're not engaging it's just a mildly upsetting piece of background noise.

"You can feel your bones break as he... Brandon, are you even listening?"

The same thing happens if you handle the mature elements of your game poorly. To go back to our example, if your players hand you a crop, and you immediately start beating them with it without a lead-in, a discussion of what's okay, and what isn't, then it is very likely that all you're going to do is ruin their fun. This is especially true if you just start hammering on red buttons to purposefully try to get a reaction out of a player. If someone tells you not to push something, don't push it. You have other tools to work with as a storyteller.

And if something does go wrong, and you end up introducing an element that upsets a player? You stop the game, apologize to them, and assure them that it's okay. You make sure they know you take their concerns seriously, and that you respect them as a part of your table. What you do not do is shrug your shoulders and say, "Well, that's the rules. Why did you show up to play this game if a little bit of blood/trauma was going to make you cry?"

The storyteller is not the antagonist, and shouldn't make it their goal to upset their players. Because they're not here to be upset. Scared, maybe. Tense, sure. On edge, definitely. But the goal of these games is the same as their more conventional cousins; to tell a story that everyone at the table enjoys. If people at your table are not enjoying your story (or even just the way you're telling that story), then it's on you to fix it.

If your players aren't having fun, they aren't going to stick around and keep playing. And if they don't trust you to handle that crop, they aren't going to make themselves vulnerable to it. As soon as that happens, you can't affect them anymore, and the whole thing just falls apart.

How Do You Get Players To Trust You?

I've had my share of experiences at the head of more mature-themed games, and there are some things I did right, and some things I did wrong. So I'll end this article out with some tips that I'd recommend taking to heart to help prevent unnecessary awkwardness and problems at the table.

- Put Together a Character Creation Document: These things are lifesavers when it comes to getting a complete look at a PC, and you can ask right on the form what your players' no-go topics are, which ones they're lukewarm about, and which ones are absolutely okay. Provide a list of examples (torture, sexual assault, gore, traumatic events, children being killed, etc.) and pay close attention to the results. More about these at 10 Questions To Put On Your Character Creation Document.

- Communicate: Reach out to your players, and talk with them about the content of your game, and their characters. Ask them the sorts of directions they want to go with their backstories, and provide examples. Be pointed (so, your PC's dad is missing; do you want him to come back, do you want him to be dead, do you want him to be a villain... what are you thinking?), but don't just give the game away entirely.

- Give Some Warning: In the groups I've been in, it's considered good form to let the group know, "Hey, the chance of your character dying tonight is a serious one. Gird yourselves, we're getting serious!" The same thing should apply if you're going to unusually dark places. Let your players get into the proper mindset, and make sure they're down for that sort of content that night. Because they might be having an off night, or just one where they aren't ready for that fast ball. It's better to know that before the game starts than to realize it in the middle of your scene.

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. Hopefully you enjoyed, and if you've used run these kinds of games before, leave us a comment to let us know what worked for you!

For more of my work, check out my Vocal and Gamers archives, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, 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!