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Monday, August 21, 2023

Sci Fi or Fantasy Supplements? What Do You Want To See More Of?

Regular readers on this blog know that I've been bouncing around into a lot of different games, genres, and styles over the past few years. From Call of Cthulhu, to the World and Chronicles of Darkness, to Pathfinder, Dungeons and Dragons, Starfinder, Zweihander, and now Castles and Crusades, there's a pretty wide variety of stuff out there with my name on it.

As I said last month in Why I Will Have Fewer Community Created TTRPG Projects Coming Out, I'm sort of getting back to basics when it comes to my supplements, and focusing on general use, genre-specific stuff. However, I wanted to poll my readers and ask a question that will determine the direction I end up going in... would you use sci fi supplements more, or fantasy supplements? And what topics would you like to see them cover?

There are many possibilities out there, after all.

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Which Genre Do You Wish To See?


In the long ago and far away at the start of my career as an RPG writer, I started off writing general-use fantasy supplements. While most of them sold at least well enough to break Copper (not all, but most), they usually ended up around Silver. A few of them, though, like 100 NPCs You Might Meet at The Tavern, 100 Random Taverns, and 100 Merchants to Encounter managed to hit Gold status!

In order to cover as much ground as possible, Adrian (the fellow who runs Azukail Games) suggested that I also write some sci-fi supplements, using what had been popular in my fantasy supplements as a guide. And while supplements like 100 Sci Fi Foods, 100 Sci Fi Cocktails, and 100 Space Bars have all hit Electrum status, none of my sci-fi stuff has managed to hit Gold just yet... though most of them do come in around Silver, making the average about the same when it comes to sci fi vs. fantasy in terms of general popularity.

Though I will say that the audio dramas over on the Azukail Games YouTube channel do seem to favor sci fi stories over fantasy ones in terms of views. For those who were curious.


Now, I could just take a stab in the dark, and hope that I land on a topic that's popular among my readers. I sometimes get lucky, like when I put together 100 Tips and Tricks For Being a Better Game Master, but I prefer to work off of some kind of data whenever I can.

So this week I'd like to ask a couple of questions, and get some responses from all of you, either down in the comments below, or on whatever social media platform you saw this blog post shared on. What I need to know is:

- Do you have a preference for sci-fi or fantasy supplements?
- Would you want to see locations, NPCs, items, factions, or random encounters/events?
- What tone would get you most interested? (grim, dark, noble bright, high fantasy, hard SF, etc.)?
- What game/setting would you want a supplement to be compatible with?
- Would you prefer 100 smaller entries, or 10-13 more detailed entries?

If I can get some ideas of what would appeal to folks out there, and what you'd be most interested in, then I can start working on fresh content that should (ideally) be moving in a direction that those readers who raise their voices can enjoy!

One more thing...

Lastly, 100 Sci Fi Bands dropped this past weekend. I had a lot of fun with it, because the question of entertainment is often overlooked in our settings, and I wanted to try to fill in this gap. And if you're more of a fantasy than a sci fi player, then check out my 100 Fantasy Bands instead!

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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!

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3 comments:

  1. Hi, I've really enjoyed the more atmospheric offerings such as bars, vampire lairs, and especially bands. Another Azukail product I really enjoyed (and don't know if you wrote) is sights to see at the faire for fantasy towns. I don't have a huge preference for sci-fi or fantasy, but I do like a more noblebright tone, though love a good darker atmosphere to add contrast.

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    Replies
    1. So noted! I didn't write the sights to see at the faire, but I am glad you got good use out of it!

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  2. Genuinely, Sci-fi! Post-apocalptic Sci-fi at that!
    I truly love running Sci-fi games, as it sharpens my abilities to run fantasy, just the same as how Fantasy makes running Sci-fi more enjoyable!
    But the Niche for Fallout style supplements is so... well niche!!

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