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Monday, October 23, 2023

What's The Most Popular Piece of Sundara So Far? (And Where Will I Go From Here?)

For folks who didn't see it, earlier last week my supplement Cities of Sundara: Archbliss was the deal of the day on Drive Thru RPG! This sale was for the DND 5E edition of the supplement, which takes folks through the floating city of the sorcerers, providing insight to one of the stranger parts of my Sundara: Dawn of a New Age fantasy RPG setting.

That sale moved 34 copies for this piece during that 24 hours (not exactly gangbusters, but for a setting guide that's a big number), and it actually got me thinking... what is the most popular part of Sundara that's been released thus far? Not only that, but what do those numbers seem to say about this setting, the audience, and where I should go from here?

And if you missed your chance, go get a copy today!

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!

So, What Do The Numbers Say?


Before we delve too deeply, I want to catch folks up on what Sundara is. In short, Sundara: Dawn of a New Age is a setting I wrote for Pathfinder's first edition, and which has also been offered for Dungeons and Dragons 5E. A setting filled with wild magic, impossible monsters, and a thousand competing factions, Sundara is notable for its strangeness, the sheer variety of creatures, and its ground-level approach (as there aren't traditional countries, but rather a world made up of constantly shifting alliances, principalities, organizations, city states, and more whose alliances may shift and change as events unfold).

And, for those who don't know, the metal award levels used for TTRPGs on Drive Thru RPG indicate how many copies have been sold. While there's some argument as to the specific numbers, what we know is that if a supplement sells 50 copies, it goes Copper. If it sells 100, it goes Silver. After that is Electrum, but unfortunately that isn't going to be a part of the discussion surrounding Sundara as a setting... yet, at least.

With that said, looking at the numbers, the initial 5 releases (the Cities of Sundara supplements) are definitely the most popular ones that have been released so far. While most versions of these cities have achieved at least Copper status, 3 of the 5 of them for DND 5E have gone Silver (Ironfire, The City of Steel, Moüd, City of Bones, and of course the recently on-sale Archbliss: City of The Sorcerers). When we compare that with the Pathfinder Classic supplements, 3 of them have made it to Copper status, one hasn't received a single metal yet, and only Ironfire, The City of Steel has gone Silver.

Which makes sense... after all, it's a cool place to have in your game, if I do say so myself.


While I had a slew of other releases after those initial 5 supplements, including the second phase that was Species of Sundara, none of those supplements proved as popular as the cities, regardless of the edition they were published in. The faction books that are making up phase three have largely gone unnoticed, as well, though the 5E versions still sell better than the Pathfinder versions, with Sellswords of Sundara's DND 5E version going at least Copper.

Though it could be argued that the cities have done better because they've been around longer, and they were the first part of a new setting, and they've all had their own sales to boost their numbers, it's also worth noting that the edition-neutral Towns of Sundara (which was released between the second and third phases of supplements) has also gone Silver, making it one of the most popular titles released thus far.

What Conclusions Can We Draw From This Data?


While there are always factors that I cannot control for (which supplements other people share links to, which cover art draws more eyes, things of that nature), there are a few things that seem quite clear from this review. First and foremost, of the types of supplements that have been introduced so far, locations are far and away the most popular. And even though I designed this setting intending for it to be primarily a Pathfinder Classic setting, it has caught on far more with the Dungeons and Dragons 5E audience than it has with the old edition Pathfinder crowd.

So, at this point, I'd like to revisit some of the things I said recently when I talked about my plans for Phase 4 for this setting, and what might have to change.


As a for-instance, of the two games this setting is currently made for, DND 5E is clearly making more sales. However, conversions for Pathfinder's second edition have been mentioned, as have conversions to Savage Worlds, or other systems. Could this unseat DND 5E is that most popular system? Maybe yes, maybe no, but it seems that if we're going to start those conversions, they should definitely start with the city books first.

Second, we see that locations are more popular than both species books and faction books. That's not entirely unexpected, since the locations offer a wider spread of material for Game Masters to use, where species are more for players, and the factions are much more narrowly focused. However, it might be a good idea to release at least 1 module set in Sundara to provide an adventure for players, and to hedge that bet, to tie it to the previously-established locations. This could allow Game Masters to really put the city splats to use, bringing in the extra material to flesh out the adventure, and it could lead to future modules being released if the first adventure goes well (possible giving each city its own adventure).

Or perhaps Phase 4 should return to the well and provide more unique locations in the setting? Whether it be underground cities, mountaintop strongholds, underwater settlements, etc., as a spiritual sequel to the original run of Cities of Sundara, these supplements should push the envelope to be bigger, bolder, and weirder than what's already been established.

At the end of the day, though, it's going to depend on what you, the audience, want to see.

How You Can Make Your Voices Heard


If you're a fan of Sundara, whether you're been following it since I started releasing the supplements, or you just picked some up recently due to the sale, I want to hear from you regarding what should be included in the setting going forward. What do you want to see, and what would peak your interest?

And if you want to make sure I hear you, here's some stuff you can do (in order of impact):

- Buy Copies: As you can see, this is one of the major metrics used to determine what gets made going forward. So the more copies something sells, the more attention that kind of supplement gets.

- Leave Reviews: Reviews boost the signal, so if you've gotten copies of any of my Sundara supplements, please leave a rating and review so that more people see them, and check out the setting.

- Share Links: If you have a supplement from the setting you enjoyed, boost the signal by sharing it on your social media platform of choice, and tell folks why they should check it out.

- Subscribe to The Azukail Games YouTube Channel: This is more of a side project, but the show Speaking of Sundara, as well as the audio dramas from the setting, are on that channel. The more views, comments, shares, etc., those episodes get, the more likely I am to expand the setting going forward.

- Leave Comments on This Blog, The YouTube Channel, etc.: Comments are a great way to tell me directly what you like, and what you want to see more of. This is best used in conjunction with the above steps.

Azukail Games is a small games publisher, and while a lot of folks know me, I'm not a major player in the industry. I need every sale, every review, and every signal boost I can get in order to keep Sundara going and expanding, and if that's something you want to see, then please consider helping make it happen.

Thank you.

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 dystopian sci-fi thriller Old Soldiers, 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 FacebookTumblrTwitter, 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!

Monday, October 16, 2023

"Tabletop Mercenary," A New Show in The Making For Azukail Games

Regular readers around these parts are likely aware that in addition to running two blogs, putting out articles, and constantly jamming away on TTRPG supplements, I also make a variety of content over on the Azukail Games YouTube channel. It started out with the show Speaking of Sundara, where I talked about the various releases and developments in my fantasy TTRPG setting "Sundara: Dawn of a New Age," and to go along with that series I started dramatizing the introductory fiction for various supplements to give listeners a little glimpse into the kinds of stories you could tell with those supplements. Then, most recently, I started a show called Discussions of Darkness, where I talk about various aspects of the World/Chronicles of Darkness, and how to get the most out of it while avoiding problematic pitfalls.

And with all of that going on, I thought it was time to put one more ball in the air... a little show I'm calling Tabletop Mercenary!

Keep your eyes out for this logo going forward!

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!

Getting Into The Trenches


To catch everyone up, I've been helping out by expanding the content on the Azukail Games channel for a while now, and we've been slowly chugging our way toward getting the channel monetized (according to my last check-in, we were rounding 1,600 of the 3,000 hours we need). Since we're a little over the halfway point (and I wanted to start putting out more staggered Speaking of Sundara episodes, since the setting isn't expanding as rapidly as it was in the past), I wanted to give our viewers out there something new to check out.

While I mentioned several options in An Update on Our Progress Toward Monetization, the one that the numbers looked strongest for was Tabletop Mercenary.


So what is this show going to be about? Well, in the broad sense, I want to talk about what it takes to be a TTRPG professional, the pitfalls you're likely to contend with, and what you should actually expect if you want to get into this niche of the publishing industry. For specifics, though, I wanted to ask all my readers out there what topics you would like to see covered!

For some context, I've been a professional writer for going on a decade, and for a lot of that time I've also been putting out TTRPG content in some way, shape or form. I've worked as a freelancer for big names and small, I've written a variety of supplements, I've slogged through contracts, and I've watched the landscape change bit by bit as titans of the industry fell by the wayside, and new ideas, methods, and games rose to prominence. A lot of the knowledge and expertise I have has been learned through trial and error, and I'd like to save all the folks watching as much of that experience as possible.

That's why I wanted to ask my readers out there... what questions would you like to see answered on this show?

There's all sorts of directions we could go, after all.

Some of the topics that have been proposed include:

- How Did I Get Into This Field?
- How Much Can TTRPG Designers Expect To Make?
- What Are The Advantages and Disadvantages of Community Creation Platforms?
- What Products Sell Well, and What Products Never Sell At All?

These are just a few, general topics to sort of prime the pump, and get us going, but I want to hear from you all what topics you're curious about. What have you always been curious about? Or, if you're thinking about throwing your hat into the arena to design games, what's a practical thing that you don't know that I might be able to answer for you?

Toss your comments below, or if you found this on social media, feel free to leave your ideas there as well. The first episode should be recorded in the very near future, so please, don't be shy with your queries!

Lastly, in addition to episodes showing up on the Azukail Games YouTube channel, they will also be found on my Rumble channel The Literary Mercenary. So if you haven't followed both of those channels yet, please consider doing so to be sure you don't miss an episode going forward!

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 dystopian sci-fi thriller Old Soldiers, 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 FacebookTumblrTwitter, 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!

Thursday, October 12, 2023

My Cyberpunk Audio Drama Trilogy is Complete!

As my regular readers know, I've been working on stringing together the opening vignettes in a lot of my TTRPG supplements to create longer-running stories for folks who pick up all my gaming guides. And since folks enjoyed the last time I finished up a trilogy, back in My Sci-Fi Audio Drama Trilogy is Now Complete!, I figured that this week I'd share the most recent wrap-up for the ongoing cyberpunk narrative I've been working on for the past several months.

Because it seems that you all enjoy them, judging from the numbers.

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!

Capitalism, Corporations, and Consequences


The tale starts off with the introductory fiction from 100 Sci Fi Guilds. There's a lockdown at the star port, since the dockers there are attempting to form a union, and corporate isn't having it. When the station's security proves unable to browbeat the dockers into compliance, the company calls in the Harriers, a guild made up entirely of specialized mercenary companies. Of course, corporate realizes too late that they didn't read the contract closely enough in Fine Print.


After corporate realizes that it's bitten off more than it can chew (and that it's facing a real body count along with lost revenue), the dockers get their union. In 100 Body Mods and Augmentations For Your Sci Fi Game, we cut into the celebration that's raging throughout the red light district. Particularly since the dockers got all their back pay from the corporation, and as far as they're concerned, the Harriers all drink free, since without the aid of the mercs there's no way they would have been victorious. Of course, corporate isn't going to take this laying down, but the gun lugger Hadrian along with a docker named Torg, get in the way of the company's revenge in Paying Your Dues.


Our final installment (for now, at least) comes in the supplement 100 Sci Fi Bands. After all the shots have been fired, and the adrenaline shakes wear off, Hadrian and Torg share a nightcap in a busted down, out-of-the-way auto jack. The after effects of combat are well-known to Hadrian, but this is Torg's first time being this up-close and personal with it. As such, it's important to find some quiet, and to put on some tunes that will relax his jangled nerves in Soothe The Savage Beasts.



Where Should I Go From Here?


While I've currently got 2 complete trilogies of sci-fi audio dramas on the Azukail Games YouTube channel (which you should go subscribe to, if you haven't done so yet), and I've started something fresh with the intro tale Ordered Arms found in 100 Secret Societies For a Sci Fi Setting, I'd love to hear your thoughts as my readers. Should I pen crossovers in future stories? Should Hadrian and his unit end up getting reinforced by the Titansworn Knights in their colossal war machines? Should the Knights of The Void end up joining Gabriel in his attempts to take down the syndicates that have eaten into the lower hab blocks like cancer?

I'm open to ideas, and since several of these audio dramas are my most listened-to ones on the channel, I figured this might be something folks might want to weigh in on!

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, my dystopian sci-fi thriller Old Soldiers, 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 FacebookTumblr, 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.

Tuesday, October 10, 2023

One of My TTRPG Supplements Has Gone Platinum (And a Few Others Are Close Behind)!

The past few weeks have been... an ordeal over on Drive Thru RPG. The site has been working on a huge overhaul for a long time, and it's finally removed the option for all of us to go back to the legacy version of the site. This has thrown a real spanner into the works for those of us who are writing supplements, since the new versions of the various pages aren't showing previews, and are causing headaches all around while we try to get eyes on our projects.

With all of this chaos happening, I needed a bit of good news... and I got some! Because my supplement 100 NPCs You Might Meet at The Tavern has just gone platinum!

And hopefully it's got some gas left in the tank, as well!

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!

Going Beyond Gold


In addition to this latest accomplishment (which I didn't see coming, honestly), I've got several supplements that have reached Gold status that are still clawing their way up the metal categories on DTRPG. For example, the follow-up to this platinum seller was my Starfinder supplement 100 Characters You Might Meet in a Star Port Bar, and it broke the Gold limit a couple months back. It is one of two sci-fi supplements of mine that's made it into this category, the other being 100 Space Bars.

So check it out, if you haven't yet!

The other entries of mine that have made it into the Gold category are fantasy supplements. Leading the pack is 100 Random Taverns, which is one of the earliest pieces I wrote for Azukail Games. In addition to the tavern collection, though, there's also my supplement 100 Merchants to Encounter which, if I'm honest, is far more popular than I ever expected it to be!

Bundles, Deals, and Progress


There's no guaranteed formula when it comes to getting a TTRPG up to a bestseller spot... because if there was I would have a lot more of my entries up in the Platinum category. However, one thing that has helped almost all of these supplements is their inclusion in some long-running, pretty popular bundle deals. Which is why I wanted to call them out, and provide folks links in the event you haven't gotten your copies yet!

Those bundles are:


Numbers Set The Agenda


While this entry is largely taking a moment to pat myself on the back, and to let my regular readers know about a little milestone I recently passed, I also wanted to remind folks of something that we can sometimes forget; publishers make their decisions based on the numbers.

Love of the game is measured in dollar signs.

So if there's a particular supplement of mine (or anyone's really) that caught your eye, keep in mind that how many copies it moves (and how quickly) is one of the primary statistic that publishers will use to give readers more projects just like it. So grab a copy of the game books you like, leave a review, and share the link to boost the signal... because it's a lot easier for writers to get our proposals approved if we move a couple hundred (or a couple thousand) copies of the last installment!

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 dystopian sci-fi thriller Old Soldiers, 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 FacebookTumblrTwitter, 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!