Stories of Sundara, Tales of the World of Darkness, and More!

Folks who are regular readers of this blog probably know me best for my work on various tabletop RPGs. However, as I mentioned back in I Just Want To Write... on my sister blog, I sort of fell into writing for games by accident. When I started this leg of my career, I was actually focusing on writing short stories and novels. While I haven't stopped writing fiction, it's been tough to work it in around the edges because it just doesn't move the kinds of copies (or get the kind of attention) that even my less popular gaming supplements do.

I have pulled a bit of a sneaky trick recently, though. And my hope is that if folks enjoy it enough that it might lead to some new and interesting projects!

Step through the door and join me, will you?

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron!

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

An Ogre's Bargain, A Changeling Drama in 3 Parts

Since the start of this year I've been making videos for the Azukail Games YouTube channel, which belongs to one of my publishers. While a lot of these videos are just talking about the Sundara setting I've been working on, a lot of them are miniature audio dramas taken from many of my gaming supplements as a way to get listeners interested. And while a majority of those stories are disconnected from one another, I tried a behind-the-scenes experiment that I wanted to let readers and listeners know about.

In short, the introductory stories from 100 Gateways Into (And Out Of) The Hedge, 100 Ensorcelled Mortals, and 100 Frailties, follow the story of a Summer Courtier named Jacoby. A one-eyed ogre who lives primarily in the Hedge, he tries to keep his busted nose out of other people's business. But when a fellow Summer named Wolfe comes asking for help, Jacoby feels honor and oath-bound to help... which puts him squarely in the sights of Lucius Frakes, an Autumn Court power broker who's pulling the strings.

All three parts of the story are dramatized below!

The full tale is about 22 minutes or so in total, and it took quite a number of hours to get it done from start to finish. However, it's definitely something I'd like to do more of... but I'm going to need help from my readers/listeners to get there!

Potential Plans For The Future

So what's the plan for this going forward? Well, I'd like to write and publish some tie-in short stories, audio dramas like the above tale (without breaking them up into bite-sized pieces), and possibly even writing some novels if that's something folks would like to see. I have ideas for several spheres of the World of Darkness (including Vampire, Werewolf, Changeling, and Geist are currently leading the pack), as well as additional stories for my Sundara: Dawn of a New Age setting. Both of these setups would likely come with additional gaming content in the back (write-ups for characters, magic items, spells, and so on) as a bonus, too, if that would interest some folks.

But it's going to depend on numbers. Because the publishers I work with look at what an audience responds to, and the more traffic something gets, or the more sales something earns, that's a project they dedicate more time, energy, and money to.

So if this is something you'd like to see happen in the future, all you need to do is follow these simple steps:

- Subscribe to the Azukail Games YouTube channel. It takes 1k subscribers to get a channel considered for monetization, and if the channel tips over that level, it would allow projects like this to act as their own source of income/funding going forward.

- Watch the videos on the channel, and share them on your socials. The other half of YouTube's requirements is that a channel must have 4k hours of watched content in the past year, which boils down to about 11.5 hours of content per day.

- Leave comments. Comments on the videos, comments on this blog, and on whatever social media platform you saw this link on help boost the signal and spread the word.

- Check out/get copies of existing content. Whether you're in the market for books like the Werewolf: the Apocalypse anthology Tales From The Moot, or you want to check out some fantasy fiction like my Silver Raven Chronicles, anything that boosts the figures on this work makes it more likely to get sequels, audio adaptations, and more.

My hope is that if I can find enough listeners/readers that I'll be able to convince some of the folks I've put out content with to let me take a risk with stuff that leans more into the fiction side of things. Not only that, but I have several performers (including a few who've already helped out on several of the smaller audio dramas) who are ready and willing to step up to the mic and give listeners a full cast experience.

But, as with everything else online, you have to prove to the folks who cut the checks that there's an audience big enough to warrant the investment. So whether you're just hearing about this project, or you've been waiting to see where things were going to go with my updates, consider lending a hand and helping me make this happen!

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 sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my recent 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, and Twitter, as well as on Pinterest where I'm building all sorts of boards dedicated to my books, RPG supplements, and greatest hits. Lastly, 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 donation can have a big impact.