Making Improvements Over Time (Progress on My RPG-Inspired Audio Stories)

Back in February I started doing something a little different in terms of producing content. I've been a lifelong enjoyer of audio dramas and audio books, so I wanted to toss my hat into that arena while still staying firmly within my pond as an RPG writer. Not wanting to get too ambitious right out of the gate, I thought I'd turn the intro fiction in several of my recent RPG releases into audio dramas that might get folks interested in the products they came from!

As with anything else, you never start off being the best. But looking back on what I've learned the past few months, I can definitely see the difference.

Well, hear it. You know what I mean!

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!

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Theater of The Mind

The first piece that I dramatized way back in February came from the supplement 100 Resources and Rumors to Find on SchreckNet. Though it didn't have an official title in the supplement, I tend to think of it as Missed Connections, as we have a Nosferatu attempting to arrange a rendezvous with a contact via the network. While the result wasn't bad (I don't think) it does have a rawness to it, and it comes across a little flat.

Still, not bad for all that.

Over the past few months I've made 8 such audios, taken from both my Cities of Sundara series, as well as other World of Darkness supplements like 100 Hobs to Meet in The Hedge, 100 Mourning Cant Dialects, Phrases, and Meanings, and most recently 100 Gateways Into (And Out Of) The Hedge. While I did acquire a new mic since I made the first video, I also started figuring out editing tricks, returning to old places where I used to get foley sounds, and watching tutorials from other creators on how they make their audios more unique and engaging.

And this is where I'm at now.

While this isn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, I'm trying to improve one thing per video. Whether that's finally figuring out normalization settings (which is what I did with this piece), fine-tuning voice editing effects, trying out new tricks on creating monster voices (I have something planned for that when I do the story from Hoardreach), or even using a totally different recording program so viewers don't have to deal with that ugly and distracting watermark, I'm sticking with my one-thing-per-video rule.

I have half a dozen more of these to put together going forward, and they're going to be from both older supplements, and upcoming ones. If this is something you'd like to see more of, the head over to the Azukail Games YouTube channel, watch more, and subscribe while you're there! It takes 1k subscribers and 4k hours of watched content in the past year (which is 11.5 hours per day, for those who like numbers), so we're going to need all the help we can get if we're going to pull that off!

Lastly, if you have any particular stories you'd like to see me tell in this audio format, or if you'd like to see me do longer videos with more involved tales (I have kicked around the possibility of doing an audio rendition for Devil's Night, as an example), leave a comment below and let me hear your thoughts!

And for anyone else running a podcast, making videos, etc., I highly recommend Tabletop Audio! If you haven't checked them out yet, and you're working on a small to nonexistent budget, you really need to give them a look.

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!

General Use RPG Products Hedge Your Bets (And Overall Sell Better)

About a week or so ago I was tooling around in a FB group, and I saw a post from someone I'd worked with in the industry lamenting a challenge that RPG creators and companies alike are facing. A large number of his company's products were for Pathfinder Classic, Pathfinder 2nd Edition, and Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition. However, if you look at the top 20 sales spots on Drive Thru RPG for all three of those games, you find something that might surprise you if you're a player instead of a creator.

Only about 4-5 of the sales slots for those editions were products that are expressly made for those editions. 25 percent, at best. The other 75 percent (including most of the top slots)? Those were general purpose RPG products that you could use for nearly any game. Sometimes they're genre-specific, but they're never game-specific.

The numbers have changed since then, but the general setup remains pretty steady; generic stuff outsells system and setting specific stuff, even in its own category. This didn't come as a surprise to me then, and it doesn't surprise me now. But I figured that if you're a player and you're wondering why so many creators and companies are putting game-specific content on the back burner that I'd try to answer that question as best I can.

Since it's stuff like this that's always a bestseller.

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!

Evergreen Content, and The Broader Market

There's a concept that I first learned when I was a baby ghostwriter called "evergreen content," and it essentially boils down to the idea that whatever you're creating needs to always be a viable and useful piece of text. A movie review of a recently released film might be timely, engaging, and entertaining, but chances are good it's going to fall by the wayside relatively quickly to be replaced by something new. A guide for using a particular software suite might be popular as long as that piece of software remains unchanged, but your advice might be nonviable as soon as the next update hits. And so on, and so forth.

Evergreen content is stuff that's geared to always be viable, and of-interest. Examples from my own archive include articles like Why Do Superheroes Wear Their Underwear on The Outside? (which goes into the history of costume design and inspirations), How to Kick in a Door (pretty self-explanatory), and even articles like 10 Questions to Put on Your Character Creation Document.

And this is where we sidestep back into RPGs.

And why so many products are aiming for evergreen.

I was completely unsurprised when I saw that a majority of top-selling products in game-specific categories were game/edition neutral, because I've been seeing those same results in my own sales charts basically as long as I've been earning royalties on the splats that I create.

Because the sorts of products that tend to get the best, most regular sales are the ones that aren't tied to any specific game's mechanics or setting, but which still provide Game Masters or players with something of value. For example, some of my most regular sellers and biggest break outs over the past year and change have included:

- 100 Tips and Tricks For Being a Better Game Master: Possibly my fastest-selling supplement ever, this piece went Silver over the weekend when it was first released. While sales tapered off after a month or so, it still moves copies every pay period.

- 10 Fantasy Villages: While it got a big boost from being the Deal of The Day last Fall, this collection of 10 villages that can be plopped right down into any setting, complete with maps, rumors, NPCs, and more (but which is absent any mechanics) remains one of my better sellers.

- 100 Merchants to Encounter: One of the first things I wrote to hit Gold status, it's just what it says on the tin; 100 merchants, some weird and wild, some utterly normal, that GMs can keep in their back pocket for when the players need to go spend their loot, or locate particular kinds of items.

A majority of the supplements I've written over the past few years fall into this category, specifically because they tend to sell more copies than game-specific ones. Not only that, but they have staying power as different games rise in popularity, errata are released, or new editions come out. Many of them also have the benefit that whether someone is running a module or book-based campaign, or putting together something completely homebrew, these supplements can slip right into both scenarios. They are, in a lot of ways, universal tools as long as they fit the genre/style a given Game Master is aiming for.

What About Being a Big Fish in a Small Pond?

When you're creating content for RPGs, you want to make sure that you have as big a potential audience for your game as you can. It is, for example, why basically everything I write for Pathfinder Classic almost has to have a 5th Edition DND version as well... because I sort of need viability in both markets to even hope for a return on investment.

But isn't there something to be said for specificity? When a product fills a specific niche, doesn't that make it more valuable? Well... no, not really. And it's often a lot more difficult to predict what is going to work, and what isn't in that arena.

Like this supplement, for example.

I've written a lot of products for specific games over the years, too. Whether it was modules/adventures like The Curse of Sapphire Lake for Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition, Evil Incorporated: 10 Pentex Subsidiaries for the World of Darkness, or even 150 Sights To See (And Rumors To Hear) in Absalom for Pathfinder, by and large the products that are tied to one specific setting or one specific edition of mechanics don't sell as well. Even if they do all right, they rarely make the same kind of numbers that the more generic supplements do.

And there are reasons for that.

Firstly, a limited audience means you've got a smaller pool of potential buyers. Even if you "limit" yourself to DND 5E (arguably the largest chunk of the RPG market), it does push out folks running Pathfinder, Powered by The Apocalypse, Savage Worlds, and all the other games with a smaller market share. And if you're making a game specifically for one of those smaller markets, then you have a drastically smaller pond!

In addition to working within a smaller niche, you now have to ask how much competition you have. Like I said, 5E is the biggest slice of the market, and there's a huge amount of content for it coming out every day. The same is true to a lesser extent in Pathfinder, Starfinder, and some of the spheres of the World of Darkness like Vampire and Mage. So if you're fighting over attention with other creators, and there are fewer eyes and ears who might be interested in what you're selling, you've entered a much tougher market.

At the end of the day, I'd be more than happy to write adventure modules, full campaigns, class archetypes/subclasses, or even setting expansion stuff like my recent releases for my Sundara: Dawn of a New Age setting for DND and Pathfinder... but those things almost never sell as well as another generic list. Worse, they can cost a lot more in terms of time, effort, art, editing, promotion, etc. So a lot of the time you end up working a lot harder to produce something that isn't going to sell as well.

If you want to see creators produce more game or setting specific content then it's up to you, as an RPG player or Game Master, to do your part to help us boost that signal. Because it's hard to make sales on that stuff, and the less of a return on investment it generates, the less likely our publishers are to green light it, and the less likely we are as creators to write more of it.

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!

Let's Talk About Non-Lethal Damage in Pathfinder

Pathfinder is a game with a huge amount of options and diversity, and every time you think you've mastered everything it has to offer you turn over a rock and find yet another element you haven't really put to the test yet. This week I wanted to talk about one of the most basic elements of the game that seldom gets the love and attention it really deserves... nonlethal damage.

Often forgotten until the party is faced with a human shield, nonlethal damage is more than just an annoyance to be overcome. It is, in my opinion, something we should all be using a great deal more of in our games.

The champ's never lost a fight. Not only that, he's never killed anybody.

Before we get into the details 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!

How Does Nonlethal Damage Work, Again?

Most of us don't actually bother reading up on nonlethal damage, so a refresher is probably a good thing to have at this point. The short version is that nonlethal damage is its own category of damage, tracked separately from your lethal damage. When your nonlethal damage meets your current hit points, you are staggered, and when it exceeds your current hit points you fall unconscious.

So far so normal, right?

What you'll notice, though, is that non-lethal damage doesn't cause someone to bleed out. Additionally, nonlethal damage that exceeds a creature's current hit point total just rolls over and becomes lethal damage (barring regeneration, which is a special case). Additionally, nonlethal damage heals at a different rate than lethal damage does. Nonlethal damage heals at a rate of character level per hour, as opposed to per long rest. Not only that, but spells and abilities which heal damage heal lethal damage, and then an equal amount of nonlethal damage.

No worries, I'll be right as rain in no time.

Okay... So What Do You Do With It?

At first blush, nonlethal damage seems like one of those extraneous things you'd never bother with. Sure, it's a good way to represent damage done by harsh environments and forced marching, but for a lot of players it feels like just one more thing to track. After all, if you're going to roll initiative, why would you bother with beating and bruising an enemy?

And the answer to that question is one that opens a lot of doors... for players and Game Masters alike.

I told you... stay down.

How many times have you, as a Game Master, wanted to capture the party rather than killing them? And if you've found yourself in that scenario, how easy was it to mess up and to do too much lethal damage, outright killing them before your bad guys could tie them up and haul them off (especially if your group rolls in full view)? Well, if you focus on nonlethal damage (or a generous mix of lethal and nonlethal damage) you can knock the PCs out without worrying about them bleeding out on you. Not only that, but if you use this as a prequel to a jail break or escape arc, then you won't have to wait for literal weeks of in-game time as their bodies knit together; even a brutal beating is going to heal up in no more than a day or so, allowing you to get back into the action while the bruises fade.

Nonlethal damage is also particularly good for changing up your challenges without worrying about going too far. For example, say you've got party members who want to train with one another. Or they just want to throw down to settle a grudge. Using nonlethal damage is a good way to have that fight without needing to get the cleric involved afterward. You could even use this for prize fights, public duels, or other challenges that are meant as an aside or a distraction. Bar fights are also a good place to bring out nonlethal damage, allowing your party to get in on the action without worrying about cleaving through half a dozen townsfolk with every blow.

Lastly, there are a number of valid character builds one can use involving nonlethal damage. Perhaps the most infamous is the Sap Master feat tree, which gives bonuses on sneak attack damage to those using bludgeoning weapons to deal nonlethal damage (which can be paired with the feat Bludgeoner to expand your range of weapons). Another handy use is the Enforcer feat, which allows you to make an Intimidate check against a foe as a free action whenever you deal nonlethal damage with a melee weapon, leaving them shaken for a number of rounds equal to damage dealt. Not an insignificant thing, if you want to give enemies long-term debuffs that will haunt them for an entire combat.

The difficult part is, of course, that you need to plan for using nonlethal damage. Whether it's carrying a nonlethal weapon like a sap, having a weapon enchantment that allows you to deal nonlethal damage at-will, or getting a feat like Bludgeoner or Improved Unarmed Strike (or just the class feature from monk or brawler) are a few examples. Everyone else has to take a -4 penalty on attacks, because it's harder than you'd think to use a lethal weapon to incapacitate someone than to just kill them.

It's All The Rage in Kintargo Right Now, Though!

While a lot of Pathfinder games utterly eschew nonlethal damage, it's proven extremely useful in my current Hell's Rebels campaign. Aside from undead, outsiders, and NPC antagonists who were utterly evil and debased beyond the point of redemption, one could count the number of NPC deaths in this campaign on one hand. Which is saying something given that we've led jail breaks, smashed the base of support for the Chelish Citizen's Group, destroyed a cult, and have done enough damage to the city's police force that they utterly refuse to go into an entire district without hellknight supervision/backup.

Incidentally, for those who are curious, the Silver Raven Chronicles has 4 installments at time of writing. I'd like to keep it going, but that requires readers and demand... so check it out if you're of a mind!

- Part One: Devil's Night: A mysterious vigilante prowls the streets of Kintargo.

- Part Two: From The Ashes: A protest becomes a riot as the new "mayor" attempts to establish control.

- Part Three: The Raven's Nest: The burgeoning rebellion establishes a secret base.

- Part Four: Circles in Salt: The Ghost joins the Silver Ravens, striking a blow against Thrune.

Like, Share, and Follow For More!

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

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well! And if you'd like to help support me and my work, consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron! Even a little bit of help can go a long way, trust me on that one.

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!

Dark Horizons: A Post-Apocalyptic 1d10 Gaming Review

It's been a fair bit of time since I took one of my early week posts to review an RPG, so I figured it was well past time for another installment. And if you're one of those players or Game Masters who wants a game that is relatively simple to play, but which still gives you a lot of options for customization and game options, then you should definitely check out the 1d10 gaming system by GG Games.

And if you've been craving a game set in a post-apocalyptic dystopia that's notably different from the one we live in day-to-day, then you should definitely give Dark Horizons a look for yourself!

Gas mask optional, depending on table vaccination status.

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!

The 1d10 System, And The End of The World

Folks who know me know my opinion on rules light games. Generally speaking I don't really enjoy them, as I like games that provide players with a lot of options and choices so they can meaningfully customize the characters they're playing, and interact with the world in a myriad of ways. However, the 1d10 system by GG Games is something I haven't come across since Savage Worlds; a game that feels like a rules light game, but which doesn't skimp on options and customization.

There's a lot beneath the surface, is what I'm saying.

As an example, take Dark Horizons, the game that was sent to me for review purposes by the publisher. The book is meant for those who want to run a post-apocalyptic RPG, but there isn't a specific meta attached to this game. So whether you want to run a zombie apocalypse, a plague world, a nuclear hellscape full of rad mutants, or any other kind of setting, this book is meant to help you do that. Beyond that, though, making a character is extremely simple. You have three stats (Social, Mental, Physical), a handful of skills, your character species, and bam, you're off to the races! Not only that, but all you need to play the game is a single, 10-sided die. Roll the die, add your bonuses from your attribute and/or skill, any special abilities, and you're done!

At this point I was beginning to feel some trepidation. I'm all for games that don't introduce needless overcomplication, but that seemed a little simplistic for a full RPG. It was almost simple enough you could do a board game with it, a la Hero Quest. But then I looked up and realized I was less than a third of the way through the book. That was when the ride started picking up speed!

Because not long after this initial run down of starting attributes and skills, the game started going into the Features you could add to your character. Similar to feats in Pathfinder, or merits in World of Darkness, these Features gave you all sorts of interesting abilities you could use to really customize your play style, power set, and abilities. In addition to the Features you have Mutations (since mutants are an old standby of the post-apocalyptic genre), and these provided a whole new way for you to add abilities and unique powers to a character. Lastly, in addition to the basic starting character species, there's a whole slew of alternatives Game Masters can make available based on the type of apocalypse they're running, ranging from aliens, to androids, to fey creatures, and more!

Lots of Options, Not a Lot of Numbers

The actual numbers you deal with in Dark Horizons are relatively small. Unless you gear every aspect of your character to being good at particular tasks, it's unlikely you'll ever have a bonus in the double digits until you're approaching the end of the campaign. However, while the game has a leveling system, it simply gives you a certain amount of points each level to distribute as you wish to. So whether you want to add new mutations to your character, increase your starting attributes, acquire a new Feature, etc., those decisions are left up to you!

This provides a unique experience, and it's one that definitely hits all those sweet spots for me as a player. Because there's nothing like knowing you can make your character as simple and straightforward, or as batshit nuts, as you want to get with it!

End of the day, I would highly recommend this game. Especially if you're the sort of Game Master who likes an RPG that fits a genre, but doesn't want to limit you too much when it comes to world building, setting, and the specifics of the game you're actually running.

But wait, there's more!

If Dark Horizons isn't your jam, though, don't worry! GG Games has other options for you, each of which contains the necessary rules and system overview to play without needing to buy a base book as well. So if you're in the market for any of the following genres, check these out!

- Wild Frontiers: A Wild West RPG with focus on gambling, reputations, duels, and dime novel legends!

- Uncharted Territory: A pulp-era RPG, mysticism and adventure run rampant between these pages!

- Distant Lands: Fantasy done differently... try this one if you want something different than D&D.

- Beyond Terra: Sci-fi in all its myriad forms! Cyborgs and aliens, to high-tech low-lifes.

- Galvanic Adventures: Victorian fiction in all its dark and dreary details. What lurks in the darkness of the hearts of the world's cities?

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!

Players, Be Specific When Asking For Help With Your Characters

As someone who has run my share of RPGs, and who spends most of my time on forums and social media pages dedicated to various games, I've lost count of the number of players I've seen asking for advice on how to make a "good" character. What feats do you take to make a good fighter, what spells do you need to make a good wizard, what rogue talents make me the best rogue, and so on, and so forth.

The reason these requests always generate so many disagreements, though, is lack of specificity. Because what is "good" to one person giving advice is going to be useless to another, and vice versa. So if you take nothing else away from this week's update, remember this. Be specific when you ask for advice, and you might actually get tips that are useful for accomplishing your goals.

Narrow your goal, and you'll get targeted advice.

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What is "Good" Anyway?

The problem you'll run into when you ask for advice for making a "good" character (not capital-G Good, that's alignment, morality, etc.) is that there is no universal definition of what makes a character effective. Consider the age-old example of judging every animal by how well it can climb a tree... great if your goal is climbing trees smoothly and quickly, not so good if your goal is doing anything other than that.

I appreciate you can swim really well... but I need to leap this chasm.

Before the metaphor gets away from me, consider the question of what spells do you take to make a "good" wizard? You could ask a dozen different players, and get a dozen different answers. Some will lay out the best metamagic feats and evocation spells that will let you deal massive amounts of area-of-effect damage. Others will focus on spells that destroy single targets one at a time. Still others will lay out wizard spellbooks specifically made to weaken and debuff opponents, while different players will have a list that's entirely built to buff and protect their allies from harm.

All of these are valid options. The problem is that "good" is completely subjective here. One player heard it as, "make the biggest fireball/lightning bolt you can," while another heard, "reduce the enemy effectiveness so your allies can more easily mop them up." Another player heard, "one spell, one kill," while another interpreted it as, "turn your allies into titans!" None of these are wrong, but whether the listener's definition of a "good" build meshes with the definition of the person asking for advice can be sort of hit-or-miss.

That's why it's a good idea to think about what you actually want your character to be able to accomplish before you ask for advice. Whether you're going to a forum of 100k players, or just asking your Game Master for their input, results are always better when you ask specific questions.

For example:

- How do I deal the most damage with a melee weapon?

- What methods can I use as X class to increase my defense?

- What feats and archetypes for a cleric should I use to maximize my healing spells?

- What feats and rogue talents increase my ability to use the Stealth skill effectively?

You could get even more specific than these, or a little less specific if you have a particular goal (deal the most damage with a greatsword, for example) but you haven't locked in any specifics like class, species, etc. At the end of the day, however, you need to provide the parameters for what kind of advice you're actually looking for to be sure that you and your responders both have the same goals in mind.

You're probably still going to get your share of responders who ignore your specifics and just post what they think is a better solution (the "yeah, I know you're looking for fighter advice, but what you really want is a rogue/barbarian/alchemist with X, Y, and Z combos for this," folks) but it's easier to ignore them when they stepped outside the bounds that you laid for your request.

Speaking of "Better" Builds...

If you're looking for fresh tricks, I've got you covered.

I talked about this splat when it first dropped, but I don't want it vanishing into obscurity just yet. Sellswords of Sundara details 10 mercenary companies, providing their histories, uniform styles, combat doctrine, notable NPCs, as well as whispers and rumors about them to really add mystery to the game. And since we're talking about achieving specific goals today, each company has an archetype or subclass (depending on if you prefer the Pathfinder Classic or Dungeons and Dragons 5E version) that gives you unique abilities.

From characters who can be resurrected using animate dead, to monks that can punch spells out of the air, to old soldiers who can turn their age negatives into bonuses, there's all kinds of fun things in here you should check out. If you want a more in-depth discussion, take a look at my last Crunch post Breaking Down The New Tricks Available in "Sellswords of Sundara"!

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