"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!

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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!

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