"Army Men: A Game of Tactical Plastic" is Now on BackerKit!

This week I wanted to provide readers with something of an update on an ongoing campaign of mine. As a lot of folks probably know (because I wouldn't shut up about it for a month or so), my first RPG "Army Men: A Game of Tactical Plastic" was on Kickstarter for the month of May. And while we did reach our minimum goals, we didn't exactly blast our way into the stratosphere like some games have in the past.

So, even though myself and the team behind the game are still hard at work on adding all the spit and polish to the book itself, Army Men is currently on BackerKit for preorder as well! So if you missed out on the Kickstarter campaign (or just didn't have the funds at the time), you still have a chance to help us make a bigger splash with this unique RPG!

EDIT: Army Men is now available on DTRPG!

Ready... Aim... Fire!

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

Also, since it keeps getting lost in the shuffle, check out my Vocal archive for more articles about RPGs, character conversions, character concepts, weird history, nerdy topics, and more!

What All is Going On?

Readers who are familiar with crowdfunding campaigns likely have all the information they need up there in the introduction, but for those who (like me) weren't familiar with this process, I figured I'd lay things out so there's a clear timeline for what's happening, and so everyone has context for what I'm talking about here.

As I alluded to earlier, Army Men went up on Kickstarter in May so that we could get all the funds we need to complete the game, and bring it to market. It was a hard-fought campaign, and though we fell short of our stretch goals, we did get it funded. That means that, end of the day, this RPG is going to exist... and I think it's going to be a pretty shiny piece of work, if I do say so myself.

If Kickstarter was the opening salvo, then BackerKit is the follow-up charge into the trenches. This gives folks a chance to pre-order the book, and to take advantage of several other options to help fund the project further so we can ensure there's plenty of room in the budget for extras, as well as showing there's additional interest in the game over and above the folks who already pledged in KS. This helps pad the war chest a bit, and it makes it more likely that supplemental material (such as mission packs, GM tools, extra casts, and full game books) will come out more quickly.

So if you missed the initial campaign for Army Men, but you're still interested in getting a copy and participating in the game, don't hesitate now. Pre-order your copy, and help us keep that forward momentum going!

And if you didn't catch the previous articles about this game, and what things I'd like to do with it going forward, please check out the following blog entries and the AMA I did for additional context:

- Under The Hood With "Army Men": A 5E Game With a Lot of Tactical Add-Ons

- What's Next For "Army Men: A Game of Tactical Plastic" After The Kickstarter?

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the Azukail Games YouTube channel, or my Rumble channel The Literary Mercenary!. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my 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!

More 2-Sentence Horror Stories! Where Should The Series Go Next?

It's that time of the month again, and it just so happens to coincide with a little side project I've been working on. Some folks are no doubt aware that several years back I put together a short list of snacky scares for 50 Two-Sentence Horror Stories, and to this day it remains one of the most popular pieces of fiction I've ever published. Since then I've put out other installments, including a Warhammer 40K edition, an SCP Foundation edition, and the most recent one (which I thought I'd mentioned on this blog, but hadn't), my Cthulhu Mythos edition!

In fact, the audio version of that last one just went up over on my Rumble account The Literary Mercenary!

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! 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!

Where Should I Take This Series From Here?

Real talk, writing fiction is the easy part of the process. Getting people to actually see that fiction thanks to all the algorithms fighting to smother your signal? And getting people to actually read these stories once they find them? Whew, that's the hard part of things. Even when the stories are free!

Though I'm sure folks around here already knew that.

As such, I wanted to ask my regular readers here whether they think I should continue this particular series going forward. And if you do think I should keep adding to this growing list, I'd like you to do three things for me.

- Read/listen to the existing entries that you haven't yet.

- Share the links on your socials to help them find fresh eyes.

- Suggest a new topic for additional entries to the series.

Honestly, the first two are the most important part of this week's ask. Because while the original list did quite well, the others have had one hell of a time actually coming anywhere close to the breakout 5K reads it managed (partially due to a more niche market, I think, but also due to Vocal being put on the hitlist for Reddit's bots, making it harder to get traction on that site).

However, as far as future installments, I did have some ideas of my own, including:

- World of Darkness stories

- Slasher stories

- DM horror stories (more of a funny entry)

- Medical/Body Horror stories

- Tales of The Dark Woods

These are just some of the ideas I've had rolling around off the top of my head. However, if you've got fresh ideas (or you want to see sequels to the existing entries), feel free to toss those into the comments as well!

Don't Forget My Other Stories As Well!

For those who want something a little more substantial than these little snacks, I do have a lot of other stories out there! For example, the Azukail Games YouTube channel has more than 30 audio dramas by yours truly, and my Vocal archive has several pieces of short fiction for both Pathfinder and Warhammer 40K.

But if you want something more than just short stories, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife is available on Amazon. Not only that, but my formerly out-of-print sci fi thriller Old Soldiers is coming back, and is currently on preorder! This one is a must-have for folks who've enjoyed my space marine stories, as Pollux's story is where I first wrote about abnormally-sized transhuman supersoldiers!

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.

YouTube Terms Are Changing, and Azukail Games Needs Your Help!

Folks who frequent this blog no doubt know that I do a lot of TTRPG work with Azukail Games. They publish my Sundara: Dawn of a New Age setting, and they handle most of my month-to-month RPG supplements. However, for going on the past year and a half I've also been regularly contributing content to the company's YouTube channel (to the point that a lot of people think that it's my personal channel, rather than belonging to my publisher).

While it's been my goal to get that channel monetized, and to grow the audience for the content on there, YouTube has recently announced they're going to be making changes to who will and won't be allowed to earn ad revenue on the platform... and while it's partially a boon for smaller creators and channels like Azukail Games, it doesn't mean we don't have a hill to take.

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

Also, since it keeps getting lost in the shuffle, check out my Vocal archive for more articles about RPGs, character conversions, character concepts, weird history, nerdy topics, and more!

And, of course, if you are subscribed to the Azukail Games YouTube channel, please consider doing so!

So What Is Happening?

For those who aren't in the know, in order to get a share of the ad revenue your videos generate on YouTube, you need to meet certain qualifications set by the site. Until recently you had to have a minimum of 1,000 subscribers (Azukail Games has 719 at time of writing), and you needed to have 4,000 hours of watched video time in the past year (which comes out to about 11.5 hours of watch time a day).

Needless to say, we were nowhere near that amount in either category.

And trust me, we're trying everything we can.

However, as numerous locations publicized recently, YouTube is changing those requirements to make things easier on smaller channels who are just looking to get their piece of the pie. As of June 13th, the new requirements are 500 subscribers (which we have managed!), and 3,000 hours of watch time in the past year (which is only 8 hours and change of viewing per day for a year... still a Herculean effort, but less than what was previously demanded).

Where does this put Azukail Games, though?

As I said, I'm not the person who owns the channel. I don't have access to any of its information, nor do I do anything with it. I just make the videos, and hand them over to my publisher. so I had no clue how our watch time was doing until I asked... and according to our current numbers, we've got about 864 hours of watch time in the past year. Which is less than a third of what we'd need to reach that monetization goal.

What We Need From You, Our Audience

Put quite simply, the channel needs eyes on the stuff we're making for it. Whether you're interested in the audio dramas taken from my various TTRPG supplements, you're interested in learning more about my setting and design philosophy in the show Speaking of Sundara, or you're a fan of the World/Chronicles of Darkness setting and my other show Discussions of Darkness, every view you can provide matters!

Our videos tend to be on the shorter side, and while we have a lot of subscribers, that number doesn't always translate to a regular viewer. So please, take a moment to check out some of the channel's content if you haven't yet. And if you have, then consider sharing a video, or even an entire playlist, on your socials. Not only will it help us get that much closer to our monetization goal, but it might just help some of my more obscure TTRPG supplements find themselves a new audience as well!

#1: Audio Dramas

When I started really expanding my involvement in the Azukail Games channel, my first project was dramatizing the introductory stories in a lot of my existing supplements. As such there are dozens of stories on the channel, ranging from back alley brawls among changelings, to short snippets of adventure in my Sundara setting, to dark dramas like the one above where a bad life catches up to Johnny Hammer, and he has to make a deal with a devil to keep himself above ground.

These are some of my favorite things to design, since I grew up listening to old radio shows. I've even been linking the fiction together for the past half a year or so, creating small series of tales that tell an ongoing narrative.  And while I'm very proud of these short pieces, I would love to make something a little meatier, but I feel like bigger, more involved stories aren't something I can really get greenlit until the channel is generating revenue for the publisher. So if you'd like to be part of that kind of project, consider checking out the full Spoken Word playlist to hear all 32 stories on the channel so far!

#2: Speaking of Sundara

A little over two years ago, I started putting out content for my Sundara: Dawn of a New Age fantasy setting for Pathfinder and DND 5E. While there are two dozen books out for it right now, I thought that a regular series to tie the various splats together, let the audience in on my design philosophy, and to talk about updates and what's going on with the setting, would be a good way to let more people know that it exists.

So if you're a fan of Sundara, but haven't seen the series, consider checking out the 36 videos in the Sundara playlist (which does include the audio dramas that are part of this setting). And if you haven't checked out Sundara yet, and you want to try to get a feeling for what this setting is all about before you start buying any supplements for it, then this series is a no-cost way to do just that!

#3: Discussions of Darkness

Back in 2021 I started working on a variety of World/Chronicles of Darkness supplements released via Storyteller's Vault, with Azukail Games handling layout, art, etc. once the writing portion of things was complete. Since it's a setting I really enjoy, and I've had a lot of ideas for, I figured that it might be a good idea to put together an additional show talking about the setting, offering advice for playing in it, and talking about some of the supplements I've designed thus far.

While it had a bit of a shaky start due to deadlines and such, Discussions of Darkness just released its 10th episode! So whether you're a fan of the old World of Darkness games, or you find yourself more of a Chronicles of Darkness fan, my intention is to have something for everyone. So consider giving the Discussions of Darkness playlist a look, and if you have a particular topic you want to see covered, or a game line talked about, then leave it in the comments so I can make sure your suggestion receives due consideration!

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the Azukail Games YouTube channel, or my Rumble channel The Literary Mercenary!. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my 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!

What System and Setting Supplements Would You Like To See in The Future?

As my regular readers saw in last week's post, I Have Officially Broken 150 TTRPG Supplements!, I've hit something of a career milestone. However, being an RPG designer doesn't pay so well that I can actually kick up my feet and take a day off. No, I'd probably need to have 1,000 supplements on the market before I could contemplate that kind of luxury.

So since I have a long way to go until I can stop writing new supplements, I figured I'd take this Monday's update to ask my readers what it was you'd like to see more of, and what would persuade you all to open up your pocket book as players.

It's been one hell of a journey, and I've got a long way to go still...

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

Also, since it keeps getting lost in the shuffle, check out my Vocal archive for more articles about RPGs, character conversions, character concepts, weird history, nerdy topics, and more!

First Things First, What System/Setting Do You All Want?

Out of those 150 supplements (or 151, now that I've had a new release recently), I've covered a lot of different games and settings. And while part of that was to help keep my mind sharp so that I didn't get too bogged down in only doing one thing over and over again, it also means my catalog has a lot of different facets to it. Those include:

And you've got quite a lot of choices.

- Pathfinder/Golarion: As of time of writing, I have 2 Pathfinder Infinite supplements on the market: 150 Sights to See (And Rumors to Hear) in Absalom, and 100 Books to Find Across The Inner Sea. I love Golarion as a setting, and I really enjoy making stuff for it, but it's been a tough sell thus far.

- Call of Cthulhu: Another game I've dipped my toe into, my 2 supplements for this setting (that have been released so far) are 100 Businesses to Find in Arkham, as well as my recently released 100 Gangsters, Gun Molls, and Goons, which is also set in the iconic town of Arkham.

- World/Chronicles of Darkness: I've got a slew of stuff for these games, and while I haven't touched on all the spheres, I've covered quite a lot. So far I've hit Geist: the Sin Eaters, Changeling: The Lost, Mage: The Awakening, Vampire (both Requiem and Masquerade), Werewolf: The Apocalypse, and even general use WoD/CoD supplements. It's probably easier to just go to the World of Darkness Pinterest Board I've set up to see the 40+ supplements I've put together for these games.

- Sundara: Dawn of a New Age: My personal setting Sundara: Dawn of a New Age has been putting out content pretty regularly for about two years now. While there was a bit of a hiccough due to the OGL shenanigans, it's certainly on the table for expansions in both Pathfinder classic and DND 5E, as well as other systems folks might request. A mostly-complete list of Sundara's releases can be found in my post If You Want To See More of a Game, Help Make It Popular!

- Setting/Game Neutral: This category covers all my supplements that aren't specific to a particular game, or a particular setting, but are more meant to be used within a given genre. It's where you find stuff like 100 Knightly Orders For a Sci Fi Setting, or 10 Fantasy Villages. It's honestly the bulk of my supplements, because these are the ones that folks seem to respond to the most.

Secondly, What Sort of Products Interest You Most?

In addition to the particular game system and game setting (or the lack thereof), there's also the matter of what category of supplement folks want to see most. So would you like to see more:

- Fiction: Whether it's something like Tales From The Moot for Werewolf, or The Irregulars for Golarion, I really enjoy writing fiction (as evidenced by all of the audio dramas you can find on the Azukail Games YouTube channel). However, we're talking about what you want as the audience, here.

- Modules: While this one has often been suggested, modules have traditionally been one of the worst-selling types of supplements. But whether folks want to kick in the teeth of a fantasy version of the proud boys in False Valor, or get involved in bizarre fey dangers in The Price of Iron, I'd recommend grabbing a few of my existing modules to get a feel for the sort of thing you're likely to get going forward if you choose this option.

- Numbered Lists: Honestly the most popular supplement type, this can include everything from 100 Body Mods and Augmentations For a Sci Fi Game, to 100 Cults to Encounter, to the very meta bestseller 100 Tips and Tricks For Being a Better Game Master. While there may be as few as 10 entries of great detail, or as many as 100 shorter ones, these lists are good for both players and Game Masters alike to help fill out a character background, setting, etc.

- Setting Guides: A catch-all category for supplements that add locations, spells, feats, equipment, etc., to a setting, this is where I'd put books like Cities of Sundara: Ironfire or Sellswords of Sundara. While I've only made these for my own setting thus far, I could easily expand them to cover cities for the Chronicles of Darkness, add to areas already established in Golarion, and so on, if that was something readers were interested in.

Ultimately, It's Going To Be Up To You!

I've said it before, but it bears repeating. Generally speaking, I tend to go where the audience interest is, and where the sales come from. So even if I want to make something for a particular setting, rules system, or in a particular format, if I know that it isn't going to make enough sales to warrant the time and energy I'm putting into it, that project goes onto the back burner. And rather than throwing blind-folded darts and hoping for the best, I'd rather have my readers tell me straight-up what they'd like to see from me, and what they want to get copies of.

So don't be shy! Let me know in the comments section below, on my social media pages, or just in the comments of whatever forum you happened to find this link in what you'd like to see from me next! My ears are open, and as I alluded to at the start of this blog, I'm not going to be able to take any kind of break for the foreseeable future.

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the Azukail Games YouTube channel, or my Rumble channel The Literary Mercenary!. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my 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!

Changing Your Alignment is Like Changing Your Diet

For folks who've been listening to the latest news, it seems that (at least at Paizo), alignment is going the way of the dodo. Whether this becomes the industry standard or not is something I talked about a little while ago on the Azukail Games YouTube channel (which you should subscribe to, if you haven't yet), but it seems there are a lot of folks who really want to keep the alignment system in their games going forward.

And it's for those folks that I thought I'd touch on something I've been noodling about for a while. Mainly that alignment shouldn't be something that just changes rapidly back and forth, or which is nothing more than ticks on a moral abacus.

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

Also, since it keeps getting lost in the shuffle, check out my Vocal archive for more articles about RPGs, character conversions, character concepts, weird history, nerdy topics, and more!

Giving Up Evil, and Eating More Salads

Most of us, at some point in time, have gone on a diet for one reason or another. Maybe you wanted to finally lose some weight. Perhaps you were diagnosed with a condition that meant you couldn't have as much sugar, fat, or red meat as you used to have. You might even have decided that you wanted to change your diet because you wanted to live a more cruelty-free life. These changes, though, require you to stick with them for the long-term, and to make permanent changes to who you are, and the way you live your life. A crash diet may get you some short-term results, but if you don't really commit to living in a different way, soon you're going to wind up right back where you were.

If you're looking for a way to think about alignment and how it shifts, I find that this metaphor works pretty well.

I know I said no more beheadings... but maybe one or two more before I stop completely?

Thinking of alignment as your morality diet may be helpful because, for your alignment to change, you have to actively alter the way you live your life, and to commit to it. It's hard to not fall into old habits, or to crave the things that used to be your go-to solutions, and this can be reflected in a character's attitude and struggles.

Lastly, while it's technically possible to use magic to shift one's alignment (through casting spells with the Good descriptor, failing the save against cursed items like the helm of opposite alignment, etc.) you could think of this as using extreme supplements, chemical treatments, or surgical solutions. Because while these things will work, they may not be able to stop you from falling into old habits, and dragging yourself back to the same place you were at.

Making a serious commitment to altering yourself is difficult... but more importantly, it can take a long time. And even if someone manages to take a shortcut through something like a sudden magical effect, they still have to maintain that effect. It's going to be tough, and occasionally frustrating, but it can make for a particularly rewarding character arc that's worth committing to.

Lastly, it's important to keep in mind that your actions still have consequences. Even if someone manages to alter their alignment to redeem themselves from evil to become good, they will still have to answer for the crimes they committed. And even if someone only dips from good to become evil for a brief time before they're redeemed, they'll still be held to account for any atrocities they were responsible for. And even evil characters who are doing good acts specifically to get a reward will still be rewarded for the good things they did.

While alignment might be the general state of one's morality, never forget that the consequences of your actions (good or bad) may always be coming around the corner.

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the Azukail Games YouTube channel, or my Daily Motion channel!. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like 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!