Where Should I Take "Table Talk" From Here?

Regular readers on this blog know that I have 4 themed sections. There's Crunch (where I put my mechanics-focused articles) Fluff (where I put the story and RP-centric stuff), Unusual Character Concepts (just what it says on the tin), and lastly I have Table Talk. While the first three have always been quite popular among my readers, the last one has always been the odd sheep out when it comes to numbers. There's plenty of people who follow the stories I tell, and the comment section is often full of questions... but readership has really fallen off over the last little while.

So I wanted to take this week's Table Talk installment to ask folks directly... what do you want to see more of on these updates?

Seriously folks, I'm all ears!

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Category #1: RPG Horror Stories/Personal Game Tales

My friends, you won't BELIEVE the nonsense...

When I first started Table Talk as a feature, this was sort of its bread and butter. A lot of the stories were one-offs talking about terrible Game Masters, weird incidents that could act as teachable moments, and the occasional comedy of errors that may have been mortifying at the time but which was pretty funny in retrospect.

On the one hand, these kinds of stories are the ones with the most stand out installments... but it's hard to say what makes one story popular, and others just fall through the cracks. For folks who are looking for examples of these kinds of stories, check the links below!

- That One Time My Bard Made The Dungeon Master's Girlfriend Jealous: A comedy of errors where one player was so convinced I was trying to steal her girlfriend that it actually led to a behind-the-scenes breakup I only found out about after the dust had settled. There's also something of a sappy twist, if you like happy endings.

- Game Masters Shouldn't Leave Their Players Twisting in The Breeze: A rather illustrative tale about how a storyteller made it very clear on her first game that she shouldn't be in charge of anything, much less two dozen players in a LARP setting. Judging from the initial readership on this piece, it's an experience quite a few folks have had.

- How To Ruin a Promising LARP in 3 Easy Steps: I was super excited when some folks I knew started getting a Changeling: The Lost LARP together... and then I showed up. It was all downhill from there.

Category #2: Adventure Path Stories & RPG Fiction

Since that was what got me into the field in the first place.

For folks who don't know me, the first major credit on my resume from any RPG company was writing The Irregulars for the Pathfinder Tales. That was many, many years ago now, but I always think of myself as an author who happens to design games, rather than a game designer who occasionally tells stories. I've written the full account of several adventure paths my groups have gone through in the past, but I changed up that formula last year to tell more of these tales in full prose. I've also branched out to other settings, and played around with style to see what grabbed audience attention.

Whether you haven't seen them before, or you need a refresher for style and tone, links to some of the more recent installments are below. And if you have a particular request for a certain setting or adventure path, be sure to mention your request in the comments!

- 50 Two-Sentence Horror Stories (Warhammer 40K Edition): Honestly one of the more popular things I've written recently, I'm thinking on expanding the general format to other settings. Short and punchy, it seems to speak to an audience who isn't willing to commit to a more in-depth tale.

- Silver Raven Chronicles Part One: Devil's Night: Kintargo is haunted. Though the devils of Cheliax descend, you cannot fight smoke and rumor. The Ghost stalks these streets, and he will not be denied. The first in my ongoing series of stories talking about the Hell's Rebels adventure path, Part Two, Part Three, and Part Four are also up!

- Field Test: When Inquisitor Hargrave came to New Canaan just ahead of an ork rock, she claimed she had a unique weapon unlike anything the world had seen before. But there's no ships in orbit, and she brought nothing with her. Just a tech priest, a Catachan... and a strange young man in a too-big greatcoat. But when she unleashes her "weapon" the devastation is unbelievable.

- The Tale of The Bonsai, and The Fall of The Five Storms: My group's play through of the Jade Regent adventure path was somewhat rocky, but this one moment was an astonishing stand out. With enthusiasm flagging and interest scattered, this is what brought everyone back together, coalescing into a single party once again.

Category #3: Audio Dramas

This entry is sort of a cheat, but I genuinely want to test folks' interest on it. For those who haven't subscribed to the Azukail Games YouTube channel yet, which you should take a moment to do, I've been contributing videos there for the past few months. While half of those are just me talking about my design process and what I'm doing with my Sundara RPG setting (more on that here if you're interested), the other half has been dramatizing little pieces of fiction from my RPG supplements.

While I've been improving my technique, getting better equipment, and slowly convincing other folks to help me make these productions, I've also been running out of smaller tales and snippets to dramatize. Which means that I may have to start dramatizing some of the stories I mentioned above, or start writing entirely new tales.

My question for you as readers/listeners is whether that's something you'd be interested in?

While you should definitely leave comments requesting which game system and setting you'd like to see stories for, the best way to make your vote count if you want this option is to subscribe to the channel. I don't run or own it, so I need to convince the publisher that my idea has an audience. If the view count and subscriber numbers go up, that will back up my claims!

Some videos that are already out include:

Sundara Stories

- The Duel: In Ironfire, dueling is often the means by which differences are settled. Given that the city is the center of the mercenary trade in the region, though, it's dangerous to challenge those whose skills you don't know.

- The Applicant: Archbliss is known as the City of The Sorcerers, and those who need help controlling their powers are often taken to the floating towers. But the fates of some are bleaker than even they can imagine.

- Profanity Heralds Discovery: Silkgift is a city of invention and ingenuity, but most discoveries aren't heralded by cheers of success. Usually the ingeneur curses up a storm before realizing what they've actually made.

- Testing Your Wings: A race in the sky with one of the city's Founders, it's just another day in Hoardreach, City of Wyrms!

World of Darkness

- Evil Incorporated: The whirling gears of the machine of capital are hard to make sense of, but when you start making connections you begin to see a deeper pattern emerge... one that can lead you down a rabbit hole until you finally discover a name most have never heard. Pentex.

- The Back Door To Hell: Jacoby just wanted to have a relaxing night in the real world where he could drink a beer, and not worry about the affairs of the Lost. When a fellow Summer Courtier comes to him to beg a favor, though, the ogre can't just turn his back.

- Clean Up: Mourning Cant is the hundreds of languages, pieces of jargon, and code words the Winter Court uses to disguise their true actions. In a small confessional, a handler takes the report from a field agent.

- Missed Connections: The first audio drama I made out of the whole series, it follows a Nosferatu on a mission. A hiccough in its transportation, though, means it has to delve into SchreckNet in order to communicate with the buyer.

What's Next on Table Talk?

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

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

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