More RPG Bundles and Products To Help Owen KC Stephens In His Battle With Cancer!

As most members of the TTRPG community know by now, Owen KC Stephens is battling cancer. This has been the case for a while, and since Owen is one of my fellow American creators, he's got a two-front war to fight; one against cancer, and one against capitalism. Since healthcare in America has its hand in your pocket up to the elbow, he needs all the help he can get!

Which is why, first and foremost, I wanted to remind everyone to donate to Owen's Go Fund Me to cover his cancer payments. This is the most direct way to help, and it is one of the best ways to provide assistance.

With that said, if you're someone who likes TTRPG products and bundles, but you still want the proceeds to go to a good cause, then check out the list below!

There's some great stuff in here!

As always, 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!

Bundles, Art, and More!

Look at this awesome thing!

At the top of the order we've got the Owen Stephens is... RAD! bundle. This bundle has well over $1,000 worth of supplements in it for Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder, D20 Modern, Starfinder, Star Wars, Call of Cthulhu, and many, many more... all of it for about $30 or so.

That is a deal you absolutely cannot beat! And if you haven't grabbed your copy of this yet, you should put it in your cart ASAP so that you don't miss out, and so that Owen can get one more arrow in his quiver for winning this fight.

And some great stock art for those who missed it!

For those who didn't see this stylish piece of stock art from Publisher's Choice stock art, Owen The Sage is another fun piece whose proceeds go to help Owen win his fight, and get back on his feet so he can keep doing what he does best for many years to come! Whether you just want to have a fun little piece of art for your home game, or you feel like Owen's all-knowing art would be an ideal addition to your supplement, don't let this one pass you by either!

This is all we have going on for now, but you can rest assured that as new bundles crop up I'll be doing my best to boost the signal on 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 Azukail Games YouTube channel, or my Rumble channel The Literary Mercenary! Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my dystopian sci-fi thriller Old Soldiers, my hardboiled gangland noir series starring a bruiser of a Maine Coon with Marked Territory and 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!

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Heckler & Koch Design Real-Life Boba Fett Armor

Boba Fett is remembered as one of the biggest badasses in sci-fi history, despite his complete failure to deliver on his reputation (check this list at Cracked for some of the others). There's just something about him as a character, from the nervous silence his presence causes, to the battle-worn look he boasts. If Star Wars taught us nothing else, it taught us that anyone hard enough to wear Mandalorian armor is not someone to be fucked with.

Which may be why you can now buy your very own set of ballistic armor, inspired by one of film's most infamous bounty hunters.

Wait till they get a load of me.

That isn't a prop test that got scrapped for a different design, either. According to Tribunist, that is real ballistic armor from firearms giant Heckler & Koch. H&K teamed up with AR500, SOG knives, artist Ryan Flowers, Armasight, and several other companies to create a field-ready suit of Mandalorian ballistic armor. The plates are contoured for comfort and protection, the helmet-mounted flip sight is a night vision monocle, and the suit will protect the wearer from handgun and rifle rounds. At time of writing there has been no word regarding the development of a jet pack to go with it.

If we needed any more proof that geeks have won the culture war, this is it. A big-name gun manufacturer is creating body armor based on a science fiction character. Now quit whining, strap on, and charge for the glory of Mandalor!

As always, thanks for stopping in to check out my Monday update. If you want to help support me in delivering the latest in geeky news, and gaming info, then consider becoming a patron by pledging your support on my Patreon page! $1 a month is all it takes to help keep the hits coming week after week. Also, if you want to make sure you don't miss any of my updates, then follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter, too!

Table Talk: That One Time I Got a Job Offer From a Sith Lord

Before we get started on this second installment of Table Talk, I have a few announcements to make. One is that this series is not just for me. No matter how long I've been gaming, I have a finite number of cool stories to tell. As such, please send in your own stories, and I'll be happy to put some other folks in the spotlight.

Secondly, Improved Initiative is now on Patreon! If you want to see this blog keep doing its thing, or if you'd like to see even more updates, then please leave your two cents over at The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page. Seriously, even tiny donations will make a difference if viewers leave them regularly.

With those things out of the way, I will now explain just what in the hell this title is actually about...

A Long, Long Time Ago...

Yes, it was that kind of job.

I shall start with a confession; I don't like Star Wars. I've seen the films, I've discussed the stories, but despite the richness of the worlds and characters there is something that stops me from ever being a real fan. Namely it's that I cannot stand Jedi, and I find them extremely boring as protagonists. It's a personal quirk of mine, but it's one that made a Star Wars tabletop game a very hard sell when it was first proposed. My DM at the time had been playing an obscene amount of Knights of the Old Republic, and the rest of the group slowly persuaded me to give it a try. I consented, on the condition I would not be railroaded into playing a Jedi, or dealing with them in any way, shape, or form. Everyone agreed with those terms, so I picked up my dice and threw together a character.

Once it was all said and done we had a crew of smugglers made up of a gunslinger by the name of Kurt Newblood (the DM allowed me an outmoded set of slug-throwers, much to his regret), a human pilot, and a Twilek scoundrel acting as our ship's engineer. I was feeling pretty good about the campaign, and the body count I managed to rack up over the first few sessions only increased that positive feeling. A half dozen goons, a couple of combat ships (the natural 20s were plentiful during ship-to-ship combat), and I'd even managed to plug two sith lords. As games went, it was one of the more satisfying experiences I've had as a player.

A Darkness on the Horizon

The game had been running strong for about a month or so when our DM told the group he had another player who was interested in participating, but who simply couldn't make our game times. We asked who it was, but our storyteller never told us this person's name. He was referred to only as "a guy I know at work", referring to our DM's job as a truck stop cashier. This mystery man was a big Star Wars enthusiast, and had offered to take over the role of our villain. For every session we had, our storyteller would convey our actions to the mysterious commander. He would relay his orders, and then set up the bad guys' plans for the next session. We thought this was a great plan, and so we agreed.

An Offer I Couldn't Refuse

And really, why would I want to?

While this campaign was going on I was attempting to balance school and work. My job decided to play the role of jealous mistress and demand I leave my education though, so I had to find a more understanding position. While making the rounds I decided to hit up a security firm a few towns over. I grabbed my good friend, who was playing the Twilek, and we decided to make a day of it.

At first everything went just as expected. I asked for an application, and was passed a clipboard along with a Bic. I took a seat, filled out the paperwork, and handed it back through the glass. I thanked the secretary, adjusted my tie, and was in the middle of making lunch plans with my friend when the door opened and I was asked if I had a moment for an interview. Surprised, I agreed and followed the secretary back into the offices.

The room I was shown to was very clearly a higher-up spot in the company. There was a broad desk with a brass name plate, a window view, and hanging on the wall was an old military field jacket along with some other mementos that looked like they'd been taken out of a combat zone rather than bought on Ebay. Sitting behind the desk, fingers laced over his stomach, was a man with shoulders carved from rock, and a sloping belly that looked like spring steel instead of fat. A craggy face and a short crew cut told me he was here to talk business. So I took a seat across from him, and put on my best "I would like to work for your company" expression.

He started off easy, asking me who I was and what I was doing. I told him I was going to school for a criminal justice degree, and I wanted a job that was connected to the field while I was making the grade. He asked how I'd heard about the company, and I told him I'd gotten the address from some guards I'd met at a truck stop. He asked if I wanted to work armed or unarmed, and I told him that while I had my permit I didn't have a weapon yet. When that changed though, I would like to transfer to armed security.

He nodded and leaned back in his chair. After about twenty seconds of contemplative silence he asked me a question that I typically dread hearing from potential employers. "So, you know Rob?"

I told him yes, I knew Rob. He nodded again, and pursed his lips. At that point I was expecting to be dismissed with a half-hearted we'll call you if we have an opening, but instead what he said was, "So, what did you think of the ambush at the space port?"

I goggled, and he grinned at me. "You... you're the Sith commander?" I demanded.

"Guilty as charged," he said, standing and offering me one, massive hand over his desk. "When can you start?"

The moral of this story my friends is that you should never, ever let someone tell you that gaming is a waste of time. It's a communal activity, and if you're willing to pick up a new system, or game with some folks you don't know, there's no telling the doors you might be opening up.


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