I'm starting to think that October is cursed. For the past 2 years every time this month rolls around, people important to me have to move. Not want to. Not start looking into it. Have to, because something has gone wrong, and their current living situation is no longer workable.
This year is, sadly, no different. But before we get into that, let me get my patron shout-out in, because you all are the ones keeping my numbers up, and ensuring I can keep the bills paid!
- Chris Dundon (To Valhalla, my friend!)
- Brenton Ayres (You're doing more than your part to keep the wheels turning!)
- Tracy Bailey-Mathews (Hopefully some of what I write is helping with the campaign!)
- Joy Von Holle (One of my oldest and most appreciated supporters on this list!)
My patrons are what make these blogs possible... so if you want to make sure I keep putting out fresh posts, consider heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page, and consider making a pledge today. Or, if you don't want a subscription, consider tossing a tip into my jar on The Literary Mercenary's Ko-Fi page instead!
For less than the cost of a cup of coffee a day, you can sponsor a creative of your very own!
But before I get into the meat of today's post, remember, don't forget to sign up for my 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!
The Small Favor (Which Is Sort Of Time Sensitive)
I talked about this a little while back in Author and RPG Designer Alice Liddell is Moving, And Really Needs Our Help To Make It Happen, but apparently there's been some confusion regarding that post, so I wanted to clear that up for readers. I thought I was clear at the time, but to re-iterate, Alice is not moving because she wants to. Her life circumstances have taken another downturn, and she has to move... worse, this move is happening unexpectedly, and without a lot in the way of preparation, so she doesn't have the budget saved up to just get new housing with a snap of her fingers.
She's working hard, but the math simply isn't mathing. As such, I'm asking folks who read my blog to please consider pitching in to help her land on her feet so she can get through this crisis.
The post I linked above has the exhaustive list of ways folks can help (both paid and free), but I wanted to narrow that list for this week to focus on 3 distinct things people can do.
- Buy her a Ko-Fi to help her pay for necessities (moving truck, administrative fees, etc.)
Again, there are more ways you can help in the original blog link at the beginning of this section, but I wanted to narrow things down, and sharpen the call to action. Our hope is that we'll be able to handle this situation quickly, and get things settled into some kind of normalcy... but any help you could provide would be greatly appreciated in getting her through this unexpected challenge!
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!
To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Blue Sky, 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!
Regulars on this blog likely know that in addition to writing RPGs, novels, and short stories, I also do a fair bit of work with audio dramas and dramatic readings. It's why earlier this year, in partnership with Alice Liddell, I was part of the launch of the ongoing audio drama channel The A.L.I.C.E. Files over on YouTube. While most of the episodes we've put out so far have been dramatizations of original fiction by Alice and myself, and narrations for public domain stories, we recently provided a glimpse into a fan story set in the world of Exalted, using the Dark Pack agreement.
But how File 006 - The Butcher's Toll came to be is almost as interesting as the story itself... so I wanted to take a moment to tell everyone the background of this tale, and let you know how you can expand the story of Barabbas the Butcher if you enjoy this little glimpse of his adventures.
Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my bi-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!
Try It, You Might Like It!
I have played a lot of different games in my time, but generally speaking I'm not a huge fan of wuxia RPGs, and I'm not a big fan of games where the PCs are mythical in terms of their power. Knowing that, you'd think that Exalted, as a game, really wouldn't do it for me... after all, what I just described is kind of the game's meat and potatoes.
However, Exalted (and specifically Exalted 2nd Edition) is a good friend of mine's favorite game (or, at least, one of their top favorites), and they were determined to find some way to share this experience with me. I wanted to find some way over the barrier, as well, because I knew a lot of folks who enjoyed Exalted, but everything I found about it just left me kind of struggling to find purchase.
This was the book that unlocked my interest. Because while I found the fallen magitech setting of Creation interesting, the standard solar exalted just weren't really grabbing my attention. Ditto for the lunars, the sidereals, and even the alchemicals. But the idea that mutilated gods that had been banished to hell, twisted into terrible, broken reflections of what they once were, stole some the solar exalted souls and wrenched them into corrupted weapons to set loose upon the world to reclaim it again in their name... well, now that was something I could get behind!
However, while I read the base book and the infernal book cover-to-cover (not an easy or pleasant experience on a screen), I felt the need to create a character who didn't have some great, grand destiny. Someone down-to-earth, who would have been happy to live a simple life, had circumstances gone differently. Someone that the world wronged, and let down.
And thus Barabbas was born.
A simple butcher, he lived with his wife, his son, and his daughter. When the servants of a Death Lord assaulted his village, and kidnapped his sister-in-law (among other folk), he took up his hewing tool to try to save them. When one of the dragon blooded came with his men, he thought they'd been rescued. Instead of helping the people of the village, the dragon blooded had the survivors all thrown in irons, and the village burned. Torn from the rest of his family, Barabbas was condemned to a mine. He led a failed uprising, and was the be painfully tortured and executed in front of the other slaves.
So when a servant of Malfeas, the broken king of hell, offered Barabbas power, he took it without a second's hesitation.
I was so proud of this character, and his tale, that I made an audio introduction to share with the rest of the players. I had been planning on doing the same for other folks who were interested so we could have a bit of a sizzle reel. And while we had the first few sessions of the game, sadly, it had to go on hiatus almost as soon as it began.
But That Doesn't Mean The Story Ends There
It's been years since I put Barabbas together, and I have copious notes about his tale. His journey through hell, which of the yozi that he spoke to, and which of them gave him gifts that he accepted. I have details about the places he went, the allies he gathered, and even about what his war against slavery would become as he tears apart Creation in search of his wife and children. The vibe I was going for was Conan by way of The Incredible Hulk, if he was powered by hell, with a heavy dash of Journey to The West.
And if that sounds like a story you'd want to hear, then there are steps you can take to make it happen!
Do I have your attention?
File 006 is what's called an "orphan" file by the Carroll Institute... to translate that for the audience, these "orphans" represent possible starts to a longer series of stories, should folks want to know more.
This could go a number of different ways. For instance, further reports could happen in the series canon, dropping every now and again when Alice is in the office and reviewing material from the archive. Alternatively, we could put the stories together as a side project that goes up between seasons of the main plot. We could even give the series its own slot, much like how Alice's Adventures in Wonderland currently has a chapter-by-chapter playlist.
A lot of that, though, is going to depend on what you want as our audience!
So if you are someone who would like more than just this little sample of Barabbas's story, here's what you need to do to make sure we hear you, and have the resources to make it happen:
- Leave a comment on the video telling us you want a sequel
- Share the video on your own social media pages, and tell your friends about the show
Sadly, we're a long way off from the 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours we would need to get the channel fully monetized. But, in fairness, if The Butcher's Toll can get 17,000 views, I'm pretty sure that would put us over both goals quite smoothly.
And if that happens, we'll basically be free to write, record, and edit whatever kind of episodes you all want to hear!
Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!
That's all for this week's Table Talk. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!
To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Blue Sky, 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 has been one hell of a June/July, and I'm trying to juggle a lot of crises. Still, with that said, I wanted to make sure I gave my shout-outs to all the folks who help me keep my bills paid over on Patreon, and anyone who would like to find themselves on this shout-out list should go to my Patreon page and pledge at least $10 a month to help me keep this blog (as well as my sister blog The Literary Mercenary) up and running!
So, a big thank you to:
- Chris Dundon, my newest patron (To Valhalla, my friend!)
- Brenton Ayres (You're doing more than your part to keep the wheels turning!)
- Tracy Bailey-Mathews (Hopefully some of what I write is helping with the campaign!)
- Joy Von Holle (One of my oldest and most appreciated supporters on this list!)
In addition to this shout out, though, I wanted to take a moment to signal boost a couple of folks out there who could really use your help. So if you have some spare time to push a couple of buttons, watch a few videos, or subscribe to a new Patreon or two, please keep reading!
Because everything is rough, and the wheels don't stop just because we're tired.
But before I get into the meat of today's post, remember, don't forget to sign up for my 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!
Creators Who Could Use A Lifeline
While I'm still very much on the scramble (and it seems like every time I turn around there's some new bill I have to pay with money I was planning on saving), I want to take a moment to shine the spotlight onto two creators who could really use a hand up.
The first is my partner, Alice Liddell. Alice works with me on the YouTube channel The A.L.I.C.E. Files, we've done many conventions together, and I was the one who introduced her to Azukail Games where she's published supplements like 100 Dangerous Plants or the tome that is 100 Stat Boost Potion Recipes (it's the length of a full novel, so be aware that's what you're getting when you see the price tag).
However, in the recent storms that swept over the Midwest, the basement she lives in was flooded. This damaged a lot of her stuff, and it has drastically disrupted her ability to work as the place is dried out, she tries to salvage what she can, and to figure out how she's going to get back up on her feet.
So if you're out there, please consider checking out any of Alice's RPG supplements, buying some of her books found on her Amazon author page, or just buying her a Ko-Fi so she can keep her bills paid during this recovery period.
And if you don't have spare dosh lying around, Alice is trying to get several of her free content streams monetized. So in addition to subscribing to (and watching) The A.L.I.C.E. Files, consider checking out her author YouTube channel Alice The Author where she talks about what goes on behind the screen, as well as her gaming YouTube channel KHR Arts, and stop in to say hi on Twitch as well! It might be a while before she streams again, but as soon as the environment allows, she'll be back to it!
The other person I want to give a shout out to is Owen K.C. Stephens. For folks who don't know, he's one of the more established folks in the gaming industry, and you'll find his name on Pathfinder, Starfinder, and dozens of other games, as well as hundreds of other supplements. He's been fighting with a lot of physical ailments (cancer was chief among them until recently), and he's also had to recover from flooding and other home damage.
So, if you'd like to help Owen pay his bills and keep what he has so he can continue making the kinds of games we enjoy, consider hitting him up on Patreon, or even getting yourself a copy of the Owen Stephens Summer of Survival TTRPG bundle if you haven't done so yet! And if you've done all of that, but still want to help out, Owen also has a YouTube channel of his own, which you should subscribe to and watch to get his numbers up.
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!
To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Blue Sky, 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!
We've all heard that philosophical argument about how if a tree falls in the forest, but there's no one around to see it or hear it, did it actually fall? Well, that's kind of what being a creator is like. Because it doesn't matter how amazing your art is, how engaging your book might be, or how deep and thoughtful your video essays are, because if no one knows they exist, they can't actually become fans of your work. And since most creators don't have money to spend on advertisements, or doing dozens upon dozens of conventions where they take a loss every time as they try to build an audience, we rely on social media to get the word out about what we do.
And while social media enshittification has been hitting hard, I've been managing to tread water... until recently. Because the last piece of driftwood I was clinging to seems to have snapped underneath me, and now I'm back to trying not to drown.
And this, of course, involves the hive of scum and villainy that goes by the name Reddit.
A hand up would be deeply appreciated right now...
But before I get into the meat of today's post, remember, don't forget to sign up for my 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!
The Social Media Saga (And Why This Is Such A Problem)
The official term for what we're all struggling with these days is Platform Decay, but most of us refer to it as Enshittification. Essentially social media started off as a free, functional way for us to keep in touch with our friends, family, and creators, celebrities, etc. that we liked to follow, and it mostly worked. But over the past several years it's been deliberately sabotaged, twisted, and made impossible to use as a creator (and nearly impossible to use for regular people, too). I talked about this more in-depth in The Reason Social Media Sucks For Everyone These Days (Not Just Creators) a while back, for those who missed it.
For those who like numbers, I have a couple of Before and After averages to share, from about 10 years ago, and today. Keep in mind that my subscriber count has only gone up between these two time periods, so if anything I should have held steady, instead of decreasing to a fraction of engagement.
- Average Facebook spread used to net between 400 and 1,000 impressions. Now it's barely 25.
- Average Twitter blast used to net between 100 and 250 impressions. Now it's less than 20.
- StumbleUpon netted me between 50 and 500 impressions. The site is unusable anymore.
- Digg would net between 25 and 1,000 impressions. AI slop broke the site entirely, and it's closed.
For sites that aren't listed, Tumblr and LinkedIn both have significantly lowered engagement. Pinterest is a ghost town that's jam-packed with AI slop. Google+ is gone, of course, and sites like MeWe have never been worth more than a few dozen views. Blue Sky has never been great for creators (though it's quite a nice platform for journalists and news creators), and places like Discord and Mastadon have no discoverability because all the servers are separate, with no way to cross-pollinate.
And in the midst of all of that, Reddit was a website that has been chugging along. You could even keep using the old version of the site, which made it easy to see and understand at a glance what was happening. My current Reddit account has over a quarter million karma (not bragging, just pointing out the amount of positive interaction I've had on the site), and it's been active for 11 years.
Then I was shadowbanned last week. No warning, no explanation, just POOF, your account is gone. I appealed, and got it back, but the issue I was facing was that even though the decision was made by a random bot (and was immediately overturned by a human), being shadowbanned immediately hid all of my submissions to the website.
So while my karma count was still intact, over a decade of posts were just swept under the rug, and unable to be seen by users. And while I don't usually use language quite this strong around here, this incident has fucked me as a creator... and to make it worse, at time of writing, I was randomly shadowbanned again, likely because a bot just decided that I'd crossed an unspoken line and had to be removed, even though nothing about my behavior has changed in a decade on the site, and it's never been a problem before today.
Why This Is Such A Big Damn Problem
The reason this is a massive problem for me is two fold. The first is fairly obvious; if I'm shadowbanned on Reddit (or if I keep getting shadowbanned by AI-driven bots) then I cannot share links to either my work, or anyone else's work. I try to maintain the balance and not just talk about my stuff all the time, and I mix it up with videos, RPGs, etc. by other creators that I enjoy, and think more people should hear about.
However, I want to circle back around to how it has hidden a decade of my submissions, essentially making them unusable. Put another way, that's somewhere between 50,000 and 100,000 posts just poofed out of existence like a Thanos snap. That's also a low-balled guess as to just how many posts I've made over the past 11 years.
If you want to know what that's worth, most days when I check my DTRPG earnings, I had between $10 and $25. That's not an amazing income, but it adds up at the end of the month, and it paid most of my half of my rent. Ever since I was shadowbanned, and all those posts were removed? I'm making somewhere between $3 and $8 a day. This past weekend I had the first day in 4 years where I didn't sell a single thing on DTRPG at all, and it's directly correlated with this decision.
This shadowbanning didn't remove any of the blog entries I'd written, of course. It didn't delete articles or videos. It just made all those things less visible, effectively slamming the door on people randomly stumbling across my work while running searches or browsing the site. And again, if people don't see this blog, my videos, my supplements, etc., then they can't interact with them, which means I can't pay my bills.
EDIT: Apparently it's just regular banned, as my account was basically shuttered up. There's no "shadow" about the whole process.
And since no other sites are working either... you see where this is going...
The bigger kick in the nuts here is that while Reddit can absolutely erase over a decade of submissions to the site on the word of a bot, it can't restore them. You basically have to ask the subreddit mods to pretty please go through the removed posts and reapprove them, or resubmit those posts. Mods are not willing to do this, and certainly not to the extent that would be required for some of the subs I regularly post in where there are hundreds (potentially thousands) of posts going back for years (since some I posted in weekly, and others I posted in daily). And while there's nothing stopping me from resubmitting my posts (except the site's bots deciding that me submitting things is suspicious), I built up that 11 year archive organically. I didn't just show up all day, every day blasting my own signal for hours at a time. I shared my own stuff, yes. And then I shared actual plays that I'd seen. Or I commented on a topic. Or I told everybody about this other game, supplement, etc. that I'd seen. Or I shared bundles, such as the Owen Stephens Summer Survival Spectacular to help Owen Stephens pay the bills for his fight against cancer. You get the idea.
You can't just replace all those posts in a few months, or even a year. It took me 11 years to submit them in the first place, it would take me a decade to get back to that point. And even after that decade of posting, assuming everything went perfectly and I wasn't randomly shadowbanned, I still wouldn't have my archive restored. Because you see there were a lot of subreddits that I was no longer allowed to post in, but they still had all my previous posts acting as one more place someone might stumble across me... those are gone, and cannot be replaced.
So... yeah. I was already trying to crawl out of the muck, and now because an overzealous collection of 1s and 0s decided I wasn't up to their secret standards, I've now been kicked in the teeth, and thrown back down into some fairly desperate circumstances as a result.
What I'm Going To Do (And How You Can Help)
Wallowing isn't going to help me, especially since I need to get back on my feet before yet more bills come due. Unfortunately, there's only a few things I can do. First and foremost, I'm trying to appeal the shadowbans, to get some statements from the site about what's happening, and to stop this cycle from happening again. I'm also looking for alternative sites, Discord servers, and communities where I can make up at least some of the lost audience potential. And, lastly, I'm going to keep making stuff for people to enjoy, and hope that I can overwhelm the algorithms with the sheer volume of projects I'm churning out.
I don't really have any other options.
However, I'm basically at the mercy of you all. I'm in the Colosseum fighting for my life, and I need the crowd to roar in my favor so that I can be allowed to live and fight another day. So if you made it this far, I have a list of things you can do to help me for free, and a list of things you can do to help that will cost a bit of money... not much, though. As art goblins go, I'm a fairly cheap pet.
- Share my articles, videos, RPG supplements, and anything else I make on your own social media pages (and if you're a Reddit user, tell your favorite subs about stuff I make out of spite)!
- Buy Some of My TTRPG Supplements (link goes to a pin board, but you could also search "Neal Litherland" on DTRPG to get the full 200+ list of things I've made)
The reason I put all of this out there is that I literally do not care how my bills get paid. If 50,000 people decide to buy copies of my hardboiled cat novels Marked Territoryand Painted Cats, then I'm going to pause a lot of projects to write a third installment in that series. If a bunch of people decide to support me on Patreon, then I'm going to make sure my blogs are polished up, and that everyone is getting their money's worth. If a couple thousand people decide they want to get my RPG Army Men: A Game of Tactical Plastic, then I'd focus on expanding that game, or if folks picked up supplements like The Blade Itself: Corrupt Equipment For Hunter: The Vigil, Like A Good Neighbor - Portraying True Fae in Your Chronicle, or Night Horrors: Primordial Peerage, I'd put a lot more time and energy into extra content for Hunter, Changeling, Beast, or other spheres of the Chronicles of Darkness.
And, of course, if folks want to see more of The A.L.I.C.E. Files, I'd be making bigger, longer, and more complicated soundscapes to tell some of my rather... involved stories.
This whole situation has put me in something of a bind, but I'm not just sitting here twiddling my thumbs hoping things get solved. If you can help, please do so, because I need every hand up I can get. Even if you just follow my Patreon as a free supporter to stay up-to-date, or you just subscribe to the YouTube channels, or share my supplements online when you see them, it makes a difference. And if a few hundred individuals who think their efforts won't matter all pitch in, then you're going to be a damn potent force.
As always, stay tuned for more updates, and thank you in advance to everyone who helps me stop this slide toward the cliff's edge before I go over.
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!
To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Blue Sky, 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 been one hell of a year, and I've had a rough ride over the past decade or so. The wheel doesn't stop its grinding just because you have a milestone coming up, though, so I wanted to take a moment to both acknowledge my birthday this year (something I don't normally do), and to ask folks to help me out with a couple of projects I've been having trouble getting eyes and ears tuned in to.
So, if you'd like to help me make sure that this Douglas Adams birthday of mine is a good one, please check the list below for how you can help!
It would really give me something to celebrate!
But before I get into the meat of today's post, remember, don't forget to sign up for my 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!
How Can You Help (Free Stuff)?
First and foremost, I know we're all on the struggle these days, and most of my regulars are on very tight budgets. So, most of the things I'm going to ask for are things that will cost you nothing but a bit of time, but it will still go a long way toward helping make my coming year a little easier.
I'm not getting any younger, after all.
At the top of the list is the new project I launched with Alice Liddell a few months back, The A.L.I.C.E. Files. This YouTube channel features audio book readings, as well as an ongoing plot involving the mysterious Carroll Institute, and the latest "Alice" who has signed on as a witness cataloger. And because this project is new, we simply aren't getting paid for it yet. It's a huge amount of time, effort, and energy, though, which is why I'd really appreciate folks going to the channel, and giving the episodes we have out a watch. If you like what you see (or you just want to help us reach our goals so YouTube will actually share ad revenue with us), subscribe to the channels, like the videos, and leave some comments on ones you enjoy the most.
We just broke 300 subscribers, and we've got less than 1,000 watch hours. Those numbers need to be 1,000 and 4,000 respectively for us to actually start getting paid... so even getting us a few steps closer would be great!
The second thing you could do to help also involves YouTube! I've been making videos for the Azukail Games YouTube channel for some time, and we did manage to get the channel monetized (in no small part thanks to the surprise success of my video essay The Problem With Pentex). However, we're really close to hitting a new milestone over there as well! At time of writing we're about 30 people away from crossing over the 2,000 subscriber mark... it's a drop in the bucket by YouTube standards, but it would still be a pretty awesome finish line to cross.
Especially since the channel only had 300 and change folks subscribed when I first started making videos for it.
Second verse same as the first with this one. If you aren't subscribed, please do so. And whether you are or not, watch a couple of videos, and see if there's something here that you'd like! We've got advice for World/Chronicles of Darkness, discussions about my fantasy setting Sundara: Dawn of a New Age, crafting videos, previews of supplements, videos about my RPG Army Men: A Game of Tactical Plastic... and so much more!
And last on the free list, I want to let folks know about my Vocal.Media archive. I've got more than 300 free articles over there covering fantasy and sci fi, RPGs, fan and original fiction, and more... but more importantly, I get paid for every read! So consider bookmarking it, and reading through the archive. It's only a penny a read, but if you find something you really like, consider sharing it on your socials, telling your friends about it, etc. as well to help me grab some more eyeballs.
It really does help, when all is said and done.
If You Want To Throw Money At Something, Though...
If you're one of those people out there who wants to get me something to mark the occasion, and help me pay my bills at the same time, then you might consider becoming a Patreon patron. I recently switched to the monthly subscription model, and it's been tough to rebuild my earnings on that platform. Or if you just want to give me a little tip to help keep me going, you could just Buy Me A Ko-Fi.
Of course, you can also check out my Amazon author page, or type my full name (Neal Litherland, for those who don't know) into Drive Thru RPG. You'll find a dozen or so books on the former site, and over 200 separate supplements on the latter to choose from!
However you choose to help, it's much appreciated! Thanks in advance, and I'm going to try to keep things going in 2026 to get even more stuff right in front of all of you!
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!
To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Blue Sky, 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!
When I made the changeover to a monthly charge instead of a per-item basis over on Patreon, I had to come up with new tiers to try to get folks invested and involved. And like most folks who've been on the platform for a while, I made the first tier the $1 level (essentially just a way for folks to leave me a tip as a thank you). The second was the $5 tier, and that's where you actually get some kind of reward (free copies of my latest supplements when I get giveaway links). At $10 you get a shout out (thanks very much to Phillip Litherland and Tracy), and at $15 I'll put out a monthly query asking your opinion on future posts. There's a few more above that, but most folks have ignored those so far.
I put the $50 a month tier in mostly as a joke, because I didn't expect anyone to go that hard. But for both Joy Von Holle and Brenton Ayres, I salute you! When I find myself upon the field of Ragnarok, know that my battle charge shall be in dedication to your aid!
I will see you there, at the end of the cycle.
But before I get into the meat of today's post, remember, don't forget to sign up for my 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!
Any Other Takers?
I really cannot overemphasize how surprised I was when someone stepped up to the Ragnarok tier... but I figured I'd at least ask... do we have anyone else interested in that einherjar-level support?
Because I know I emphasize this fairly often, but my Patreon really has been a huge boon to me for the past decade or so I've been on the platform. And though there have been ups and downs, over the past several years I've come to depend on it for food and expenses during the month. I've never been well-funded enough that it was rent money... but hey, I can dream can't I?
It would be nice, not gonna lie.
I just wanted to take a moment to remind folks that the changeover has been rough, but I feel like I'm finally getting back on my feet a little bit thanks to the generosity of some of my patrons. If you're a regular reader who wants to help, though, consider tossing me an extra $1 a month or so... or if you want some free swag, $5 is my recommended amount. Heck, if everyone currently on my free subscription converted to that level, I really would be making rent money...
As always, don't go into debt to support me as a creator. I know money is tighter than ever for a lot of folks out there. But if you do have a bit spare, I can promise you that I'll be paying bills and buying tacos with it. No funny business over here... just fuel for the brain so I can keep the lights on and the wheels turning!
Also, If You Enjoy Free Stuff, Check Out This Channel
Regular readers already know this, but if you enjoy all the free stuff I'm putting out (and you're looking for more gaming and gaming-related entertainment on a budget) I'd highly recommend checking out the YouTube channel The A.L.I.C.E. Files! An ongoing fiction channel I launched with Alice Liddell a little while back, it tells the story of a young woman given a job by the mysterious Carroll Institute... but in between installments of that story, we get tales of alternate dimensions where you hear about weird west card sharps, literal avenging angels, deals with devils, and more!
And if you're wondering how those two plot lines merge, check out the first episode below... and if you want to help me keep this project going, please subscribe to The A.L.I.C.E. Files, and watch the videos we're putting up. We need 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 view hours, but at time of writing we've got 271 people, and about 205 hours.
It's a long way to go, but you could help us get 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!
To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Blue Sky, 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!
February has been a busy month so far, and unfortunately it doesn't look like that's going to change any time soon. I was at Capricon this past weekend (my first time there since 2020, now that they're in a more accessible location), and now that I'm back I've got dozens of projects to pick back up.
However, it's also the first time I've posted in a new month since my Patreon page shifted to a monthly tier system, instead of a per-post system. And since I promised to give a shout out to my supporters who have moved to at least the $10 a month level, I wanted to take a moment to do that.
To Phillip Litherland and Tracy Bailey-Matthews, my thanks for putting yourselves on this level!
Seriously, thank you!
But before I get into the meat of today's post, remember, 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!
All Support Is Welcome (And Very Much Needed At This Point)
For folks who don't get all of my updates on their For You Page, at the start of the year I officially transitioned my Patreon from a per-item account (where followers were charged for every blog I wrote) to a monthly account (where it's a flat fee every month). I have the full details in my recent post Improved Initiative's Patreon is Now Monthly (And I Could Really Use Your Help), but the short and sweet of it is that I made this transition because there had been rumblings that soon there would be limitations placed on the per-item account option and I wanted to get ahead of that as a creator.
The issue I've run into is that Patreon just left everyone at whatever their previous amount was... the issue for me is that instead of someone paying $1 per blog I put up (so $10 to $12 a month), it's now $1 a month. So my Patreon has gone from earning between $180 to $200 a month (which was my grocery and utility money) to about $65 a month.
So in addition to shouting out the folks who have stepped up to help in this time of transition, I wanted to take a moment to ask others out there to help me get back on my feet. Whether you're already a paid patron who hasn't upgraded their tier yet, or you're someone who wants to toss your coin in the cup, I definitely need all the help I can get right about now.
Any and all help is appreciated!
While this is a new step on a new path, it's also proving to be a treacherous one full of spikes! Which is why I wanted to ask those reading this a couple of questions:
- Do you find any of the current tiers on my Patreon appealing?
- Is there something else I could offer as a creator that would get your interest?
- What is stopping you from supporting me as a patron?
There are no wrong answers to any of these questions, I'm just trying to get a sense of where my audience is at, and if there is anything I could do to make my blogs (and other projects) even more appealing and/or helpful and useful for my readers!
As I've said more times than I can count, creators live and die based on audience support. So if you're here and supporting me, in whatever form that takes, thank you. I'm going to keep pushing on, and I hope you'll come on this new journey with me!
On a final note, those who want to give me a one-time tip rather than committing to becoming a monthly patron, please consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi! Thank you.
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!
To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Blue Sky, 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 was last summer when I first announced that the Literary Mercenary's Patreon page, which is where folks support both Improved Initiative as well as my writing blog The Literary Mercenary, was going to transition from a per-item rate to a per-month rate for membership. Well, between then and now there were several delays and miscommunications, but the change finally went through.
Which is why, this month, I wanted to ask for help from all my regular readers and old patrons alike. Because there's already growing pains, and I'm hoping to get past them.
Seriously, folks... if you've been thinking about pledging, now is the time!
But before I get into the meat of today's post, remember, 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!
What Led To This Change
I've been on Patreon for over 15 years now, and there are some folks who've been supporting me on there for the entire time my account has been active. And when I first signed up I chose the per-item payment option because that way I felt that my readers would get what they were paying for. If I didn't write a blog that month, well, they wouldn't have to pay for it. Not only that, but my Monday posts on this blog were always free-of-charge, because I wanted to make sure I didn't overcharge folks.
And, generally speaking, I was pretty happy with this setup. However, in the summer of 2025 there was some chicanery that rocked the boat.
We have altered the bargain. Pray it is not altered further.
As I understand it, Apple's payment platform was threatening to no longer support the per-item rates on Patreon. I don't know the full story behind that, but Patreon issued an announcement that as of Fall 2025 those who were using that payment structure would no longer be able to grow their audience. I thought it over for a week or so, and decided that I should make the change. So I sent an email, and asked to start migrating my account from a per-item payment structure to a monthly membership structure.
There was some miscommunication, though, and Patreon didn't actually put through my request at the time. Then the site went back on the warning, stating that per-item accounts were going to be allowed to go forward, and no changes would be made. The problem was that I'd already made my decision, and put some things in-place to try to make the jump. So during the Fall of 2025, once I noticed the transition hadn't taken place, I reached back out to Patreon support. This time a date was set for January 5th for the transition to go through.
So, new year, new account style, but the same old content on the same schedule everyone has come to expect!
Here's Where The Problem Comes In...
Ideally, this would have been a simple sidestep... but there's a bit of an issue with the migration. It's one I knew about, and tried to prepare for, but I can only do so much.
To really smooth out this rough road, I need the help of all the folks reading this. Because, in short, Patreon basically put everyone down in the $1 a month pledge and expects you all to up yourself to a new tier if that's what you intend to do.
Seriously, every pledge, post, and tip helps.
In terms of hard numbers, what this means is that I go from making between $180 - $220 a month (since some months had more paid blog installments than others) to making about $45 a month or so. That is a massive change in my personal finances, and it's not a hit I can just tank. That's "pay my utilities" money, and more than once it's been "cover the rent" money. I cannot overstate how important my Patreon patrons are to me, and to my ability to keep doing what I do.
That's why I wanted to ask all my current patrons to please check out my new Patreon, have a look at the tiers, and consider choosing something above the $1 a month level if you're able to. And if you're someone who isn't currently one of my patrons (or is a free patron) I'd appreciate any help you can give while I get my feet back under me after this change! And if you're someone who wants to help, but doesn't know if you can commit to the full Patreon sign up, feel free to leave me a tip by buying me a Ko-Fi... those little gifts go a long way, as well, I can tell you that as a fact.
However, if you don't have the spare dosh lying around, but you still want to help, then please consider doing the following (all of which cost you no money):
All of these things help, and honestly the more people that subscribe, read, watch, etc., the more likely it is I'll be able to beat the algorithm, and actually make some progress. Give how restrictive the algorithm as been of-late, though, it's been tough to even reach my actual subscribers... so if anyone reading this likes my work, and wants to see my blogs keep going forward, I'd appreciate any help you could give!
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!
To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Blue Sky, 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!
