The Medieval Fantasy City Generator by Watabou

Over the years I've done what I can to shed a bit of light on a lot of tools out there, from creators like Paper Forge who make convenient, affordable minis for your table, to the lovely tracks produced by Tabletop Audio, which I use both in my games and in many of the videos I make over on the Azukail Games YouTube channel. However, while I was digging through my archive, I realized there was a particular tool I've used for several years now that might be of-use to folks out there that I don't seem to have covered.

That tool is the Medieval Fantasy City Generator by Watabou!

Because one creator usually can't do it all by themselves!

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!

What Is It, And How Does It Work?

For those who've never used this particular tool before, it's pretty simple. You set the requirements for what you want included on your map in the menu, including your map's color scheme, whether there's a castle in the city, if there are water features, general size, and so on, and so forth. Once you've selected all your prerequisites, you simply click the map until it spits out something that speaks to you, as a creator. You can even manually change certain features, such as naming the city yourself (handy if you have a great city with an awful name), and making a handful of other small changes to customize a result.

Once you get a map you like, you simply export it as a PDF, and voila, you now have a perfectly functional map that you can put up in your Discord, pass around the table, or even include in an RPG guide of your own!

Which is one more thing checked off your list!

What makes this tool particularly useful out there for folks who, like me, are working on a shoestring budget is that it's free. While you can support the project with donations (and should, if that's in your budget), you can just show up, and click until you find something that's going to work for you, and your needs.

So if you're someone who just doesn't have the time, energy, or even skill to draw out big, involved maps, consider giving this thing a whirl for yourself!

Projects I've Used This Resource For

Whether you're just looking for some examples of what a finished product looks like with these maps, or you just need some additional context, consider checking out some of the following supplements I've released over the past few years. All the maps in them were made using this generator, and they've helped shape my Sundara: Dawn of a New Age setting in a big way!

- Ironfire: The City of Steel (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Built around the Dragon Forge, Ironfire is where the secret to dragon steel was first cracked. The center of the mercenary trade in the region, as well as boasting some of the finest schools for teaching practical sciences, Ironfire is a place where discovery and danger walk hand in hand!

- Moüd: The City of Bones (Pathfinder and DND 5E): An ancient center of trade and magic, Moüd was lost to a cataclysm, and then buried in myth. Reclaimed by the necromantic arts of the Silver Wraiths guild, this city has once again become a place teeming with life. Despite the burgeoning population, though, it is the continued presence of the undead that helps keep the city running, ensuring that Moüd is not swallowed up once more.

- Silkgift: The City of Sails (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Built on the cottage industry of Archer cloth (an extremely durable material used for sails, windmills, etc.), Silkgift is a place that prizes invention and discovery. From gravity batteries that store the potential of the wind, to unique irrigation systems, to aether weapons, the city positively churns out discoveries... and then there's the canal they cut through the mountains that makes them a major center of trade across the region.

- Hoardreach: The City of Wyrms (Pathfinder and DND 5E): A center of power across an entire region, Hoardreach is ruled over by a Cooperation of five different dragons. A place for refugees and outcasts of all sorts, Hoardreach boasts some of the most unusual citizens and creations from across Sundara. Infamous for their sky ships, which require the cast-off scales and unique arcane sciences of the Dragon Works to take to the air, one never knows just what they'll find in this city built atop a mountain.

- Archbliss: The City of The Sorcerers (Pathfinder and DND 5E): A floating city in the sky, Archbliss has been a refuge for sorcerers for thousands of years. It's only in relatively recent years that the city has allowed those from the ground below who lack the power of a bloodline to join them in the clouds. However, while there are certainly amazing wonders to behold, there is a darkness in Archbliss. Something rotting away at its heart that could, if not healed, bring the city crashing to the ground once more.

In addition to the initial Cities of Sundara releases, maps from this generator have also been used in the popular supplements Towns of Sundara, which collected 10 smaller towns and villages for my Sundara setting, in addition to 10 Fantasy Villages, which was actually the first supplement I used this generator for, despite it showing up last on this list.

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 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!

It Seems "Sundara: Dawn of a New Age" Is Now On TV Tropes!

As my regular readers know, I've been releasing supplements for my Sundara: Dawn of a New Age fantasy TTRPG setting for a couple of years now. While interest has gone up and down over that time, and it certainly has a small number of dedicated fans, it's sometimes hard to keep revealing new parts of the map when only a trickle of players and Game Masters seem interested in these new developments.

So it was quite a shock to me when I found out that Sundara now has its own page on TV Tropes!

Which is pretty exciting, honestly.

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!

A Nice Little Pick Me Up (Even If It's Incomplete)

While the page for Sundara on TV Tropes definitely hits some of the high notes I've had for the setting as far as tropes I've included and avoided (such as mentioning the purpose was to avoid the trope Here There Were Dragons, while including things like Floating City, along with Weird World, Weird Food), I will be the first to say that it's definitely a little sparse so far. While there's elements of Archbliss and Ironfire on this list, there is so, so much more that I've already included in the setting, and quite a number of things that I plan on putting into it going forward, as well.

Which is why I wanted to take a moment to ask a favor of all the gamers out there who have gotten at least some copies of Sundara's supplements so far. Would you please take a moment to go to the Sundara page, and do your part to expand it?

Because there's been a lot of stuff released over the past couple of years.

From my latest release 100 Effects of a Primquake, all the way back to the Pathfinder and DND 5E versions of Ironfire, there's a lot of material to cover in this setting, and I'm hard at work on even more stuff right now. Though I'm not averse to going back through the lists of inspirations I've taken for shaping this setting, I know that I don't have an encyclopedic knowledge of all the tropes one might find, and I don't want to miss something players might find interesting or important... so if you have the time, just go through, and add one of your own to the list.

I'd love to see this page grow!

Need To Catch Up On Sundara?

Whether this is the first you're hearing about Sundara, or you're one of the folks who picked up the Deal of The Day and are curious about what else you can find in this setting, the older supplements are all listed below! Additionally, I've been putting together episodes of Speaking of Sundara on the Azukail Games YouTube channel (which you should definitely subscribe to) talking about some of the design strategies I've used, breaking down what's in particular supplements, and explaining some of the changes I've made to what folks might expect from a traditional fantasy RPG setting, from how I chopped out alignment, to the uncertain nature of gods, to how technology and magic both lead to unique inventions among the people of Sundara!

Check out the full 26-video Speaking of Sundara playlist, in addition to the following supplements!

Cities of Sundara

The setting first began with the Cities of Sundara splats. Self-contained guides to some of the larger and more powerful centers of trade, industry, arms, and magic, these unique locations provide plenty of fodder for character generation and plots. Not only that, but each one comes with unique, mechanical goodies for players and GMs alike to take out for a spin!

- Ironfire: The City of Steel (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Built around the Dragon Forge, Ironfire is where the secret to dragon steel was first cracked. The center of the mercenary trade in the region, as well as boasting some of the finest schools for teaching practical sciences, Ironfire is a place where discovery and danger walk hand in hand!

- Moüd: The City of Bones (Pathfinder and DND 5E): An ancient center of trade and magic, Moüd was lost to a cataclysm, and then buried in myth. Reclaimed by the necromantic arts of the Silver Wraiths guild, this city has once again become a place teeming with life. Despite the burgeoning population, though, it is the continued presence of the undead that helps keep the city running, ensuring that Moüd is not swallowed up once more.

- Silkgift: The City of Sails (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Built on the cottage industry of Archer cloth (an extremely durable material used for sails, windmills, etc.), Silkgift is a place that prizes invention and discovery. From gravity batteries that store the potential of the wind, to unique irrigation systems, to aether weapons, the city positively churns out discoveries... and then there's the canal they cut through the mountains that makes them a major center of trade across the region.

- Hoardreach: The City of Wyrms (Pathfinder and DND 5E): A center of power across an entire region, Hoardreach is ruled over by a Cooperation of five different dragons. A place for refugees and outcasts of all sorts, Hoardreach boasts some of the most unusual citizens and creations from across Sundara. Infamous for their sky ships, which require the cast-off scales and unique arcane sciences of the Dragon Works to take to the air, one never knows just what they'll find in this city built atop a mountain.

- Archbliss: The City of The Sorcerers (Pathfinder and DND 5E): A floating city in the sky, Archbliss has been a refuge for sorcerers for thousands of years. It's only in relatively recent years that the city has allowed those from the ground below who lack the power of a bloodline to join them in the clouds. However, while there are certainly amazing wonders to behold, there is a darkness in Archbliss. Something rotting away at its heart that could, if not healed, bring the city crashing to the ground once more.

Gods of Sundara

- Gods of Sundara (available for Pathfinder and DND 5E): In a world with no alignment, and where the gods are often genuinely mysterious forces that are far too large for mortals to truly comprehend, the divine feels genuinely strange and unknown... something that really does have to be taken on faith. This supplement provides a sample pantheon for Sundara, but also provides instructions on how to easily make your own gods in a world where you can't cast a spell and tell whether someone is good or evil.

Species of Sundara

Sundara is filled with creatures that many of us recognize, but I wanted to give greater depth to their cultures, and a wider variety of options. After all, humans always get 15+ ethnicities, languages, and unique histories, while elves, dwarves, orcs, halflings, etc. are almost always left with footnotes, or maybe with a handful of offshoots. So, in short, I wanted to give all the fantastical creatures the treatment that humans usually get in our games.

And there is no human book yet. If readers demand to know more, then I may sit down to pen one... but I figured that humans didn't need to be front-and-center in this setting just yet.

- Elves of Sundara (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Elves are one of the most quintessential fantasy creatures... but if you want to see more than just high elves, wood elves, and elves of the sun and moon, then this supplement has you covered!

- Dwarves of Sundara (Pathfinder and DND 5E): The children of the primordial giants who were meant to fill in the details of the world they'd made (or so the myths say) there are as many kinds of dwarves as their are kinds of giants... and possibly more, depending on who is keeping count.

- Orcs of Sundara (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Supposedly a creation of the elves, none can say for certain exactly how or why orcs have been made. What most agree on is that these creatures are far more than most may think at first glance.

- Halflings of Sundara (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Little cousins to the dwarves, halflings are tough, clever, and not to be underestimated. From living beneath the hills, to taking up residence in the deep forests, halflings in Sundara come in quite a variety!

- The Blooded (Half-Elves and Half-Orcs) [Pathfinder and DND 5E]: When orcs and elves mix their bloodlines with other creatures, the result is one of the Blooded. This inheritance takes many forms, and it can even wait generations before manifesting when the right combination of individuals come together to have a child.

- Gnomes of Sundara (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Gnomes are strange creatures, found in places where the spirit of the land has coalesced and made children of its own. The sons and daughters of the ancient nymphs, they are the stewards of these places, and they change as often as the weather and the land.

Organizations of Sundara

Phase 3 has been going strong, but there's still a few titles left in it! So if you haven't seen them, consider checking out:

- Sellswords of Sundara: With power structures being smaller in scale in Sundara, standing armies aren't often maintained for long. As such, soldiers of fortune are quite common! This supplement contains 10 mercenary companies, their history, uniform, sample members, whispers and rumors, as well as either an archetype or subclass for playing these unique warriors. Grab your copy for Pathfinder of DND 5E.

- Cults of Sundara: Faith comes in many forms in Sundara, and there are as many gods in the Prim as there are dreams in the minds of people. This supplement contains write-ups for 10 cults, their histories, sample members, rumors about them, their beliefs and tenets, and a unique magic item for each. Get your copy for Pathfinder or DND 5E.

- Guilds of Sundara: While cities and villages may be relatively local, guilds are spread across the length and width of Sundara. From professional orders of skilled miners and dredgers, to monster slayers and bounty hunters, this supplement has 10 guilds with histories, sample members, rumors, as well as unique feats one can take to represent the skill and benefits of joining this order. Available for Pathfinder as well as DND 5E.

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 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!

Genre Guides For Game Masters... What Would You Want To See?

This past summer was my first time attending World Con in Chicago. While I can't say it was a phenomenal experience, I did get the opportunity to meet a lot of fellow authors, and to be on some fun panels. One that stuck with me (both because it was my first panel of the convention, and because it turned out I was the moderator) was the panel about the genre of Midwest Gothic, what it was, and how to apply it to your stories as an author.

While it's been some time since that panel, I started rolling it around in my head, and wondering... would a guide about this particular genre be something that Game Masters out there would find useful? If so, should it be the first of a series about exploring such genres through the medium of TTRPGs?

It could be done... if it's something folks want to see.

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!

Genre Guides For All Your GMing Needs

Regular readers who've checked out my supplements before now know that I tend to stick to two major formats; 100 Random X, and A Baker's Dozen of More Detailed Y. In case you're one of the folks out there who hasn't gotten a copy of any of my supplements so far, the former category has entries like my Platinum-selling supplement 100 NPCs You Might Meet At The Tavern or the slightly-less-popular 100 Sci Fi Bands. The latter category has entries like my somewhat-controversial bestseller World's Oldest Profession: A Baker's Dozen of Brothels, as well as the Electrum-selling 10 Fantasy Villages.

While I've also written world guides, feat lists, modules, and other styles of supplements, these two formats make up the bulk of my catalog. What makes them so popular, based on feedback from the audience as well as observed trends, seems to be the following factors:

- Game Neutral: A long as you're playing within a given genre, the supplement is still usable.

- Supplemental Resource: These guides fill-in things that GMs don't want to make up on the fly, but they aren't, themselves, necessary for running any particular game.

- Evergreen: Whether you're playing now, or in 25 years, these resources will still be usable.

Looking at these broad strokes, the GM's Genre Guide project fits within all of these parameters, so I feel like it could work... if, that is, it's something readers show an interest in.

What Would Be Included?

I have not yet nailed down the specific format for how this guide would go, and what would be between the pages. With that said, I do have a general layout in mind, and some things I would like it to offer players. Those include:

- Introductory Story: This would set the tone, and be written in the style of the genre in question.

- Genre Overview: The first section would explore the broad strokes of the genre, giving GMs a foundation to work from.

- Genre Elements: Once the overview is established, and examples are given, we break down the genre's most important elements, providing them like the ingredients in a recipe.

- Running The Genre: After the genre has been explained and explored somewhat, this section would offer advice for how to run games set in this genre, along with tips and tricks to make the game stand out, and how to get your players in the spirit.

- Reading and Viewing Recommendations: Since genre can be a complex beast, I'd like to follow the best practices I've seen in other gaming books, and offer some examples for GMs to also take in to immerse themselves in a particular genre.

All of that would, ideally, come out to about 10,000 words or so by the time all is said and done. It might run a little longer, or a little shorter, but that's about the word count I'd be aiming for with these. And while I'd like to start with a Gothic line (Midwest Gothic, New England Gothic, Southern Gothic, you get the idea), if folks enjoy the project I'd be more than happy to stretch out to other genres and provide insight into how to best make those work, too.

How You Can Help

If this sounds like a neat idea, there's a couple of things you can do to help make it a reality. First and foremost, share this post around to get as many eyes on it as possible, and to help gather support. Secondly, leave a comment (here, as well as on social media if that's where you found this blog post) with the genre or subgenre you'd most like to see get its own guide in this series. Gothic preferred, but not required!

The other thing that will really help is, once the series starts coming out, make sure you pick up your copy, and leave a review so that more folks will see the supplement. The more copies something sells, and the more ratings and reviews it gets, the more likely it is that the algorithm will promote it, which creates a cycle where the publisher will want to keep the train rolling... so keep that in mind if you want to see this idea made into a reality sometime in 2024!

Also, if you'd like a short, snappy guide to tide you over till then (and to give you an idea of the sorts of advice I normally give in a project like this), you might want to check out 100 Tips and Tricks For Being a Better Game Master!

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 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!

Dead City Blues: A Potential Second Season For "Windy City Shadows"

Every month the Azukail Games YouTube channel gets a little bit closer to that monetization goal. Though we recently debuted the new show Tabletop Mercenary (which is also available on my Rumble channel The Literary Mercenary, in case you haven't followed me there), and we are still about 1,000 hours off from crossing that initial finish line, I'm still tinkering with the idea of the interconnected Chronicles of Darkness podcast Windy City Shadows as a way to celebrate that achievement by doing something bigger and more involved than what our audience has seen in the past.

While I talked about what I'd like to do for season 1 in Windy City Shadows: A Chronicles of Darkness Podcast Proposal back in July, I've also had an idea for a season 2 rolling around in my noggin... and for the time being, I'm calling it Dead City Blues.

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my bi-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!

Dead City Blues, Johnny Hammer, and The Six Gun Saint

While I've made a lot of little audio dramas over the years, perhaps the most cohesive series outside of the shorts for Changeling: The Lost has been the saga of Johnny Hammer and The Six Gun Saint. They first appeared in the intro text for my supplement 50 Geists for Geist: The Sin Eaters. In Russian Roulette, former Chicago hitman Johnny Hammer gets gunned down in a back alley outside of the bar he was working in under an assumed name in Philadelphia. He manages to kill the assassins who came for him, but he's dying when the black-cloaked shade of the Six Gun Saint comes for him, and offers him a deal... Johnny will get to keep living, but he's gonna have to do some killing on the Saint's behalf.

The follow-up to this initial tale was not found in another Geist supplement... rather, it was in my first Mage: The Awakening splat book. In the introduction to 100 Shadow Names (And Their Meanings), Calling Up Bones, we learn that Tony Gracchus, the mafioso who'd taken over as the head of the Chicago family Johnny used to work for, has awakened as the Mage known as Cyprian. He sent the hit squad to tie off Johnny's "loose end," and though he killed all the hitters, their ghosts report back to the necromancer. Tony learns that not only did the operation go wrong... but that Johnny is now a much greater threat than he was before. A skilled gunman is bad enough... one with the backing of a creature as dangerous as the Six Gun Saint might be a threat even to a mage.

The third installment of this cross-over story is taken out of the supplement 100 Mediums, which is meant to be used as a general NPC list for various World/Chronicles of Darkness games. In Under The Hammer we see that Johnny has come back to Chicago, and he's visiting the home of another retired hitman. Alonzo Delamorte threw himself on top of the old head of the family, saving him from a bomb blast, and losing his sight for his trouble. Something happened, though, and now Alonzo can see the world of the dead, which is just the sort of help Johnny needs. He knows that Tony is stealing souls, and recruiting an army of the dead to protect him... and Johnny plans to fight fire with fire. Chicago is a haunted city, and if he can convince enough of the unquiet dead to help him and the Saint in their cause, then they may just be able to do the impossible, and take down the necromancer.

So Where Would The Story Go From Here?

My original intention was to keep the back-and-forth between Mage and Geist supplements going, and to keep playing out a little more story each time until we'd reached a full conclusion of this story. However, as I mentioned in Why I Will Have Fewer Community Created TTRPG Products Coming Out, it has become financially unfeasible for me to keep writing supplements for this setting (short version, my publisher gave me a raise in pay, but that raise doesn't apply to community-created supplements, and I can't afford to take the pay cut). Initially, this looked like it was just going to leave the story hanging with a completed prologue, but nothing else to show for it.

But with the stage set, Dead City Blues would be able to pay off on all this lead up!

The early parts of this season would focus on Johnny attempting to locate allies in this fight. That will likely mean reaching out to other mediums, and putting the word on the street to any Krewes of Sin Eaters who might want to help him. He'd have to contend with the various orders of Mages in the city, as well as their politics. Tony has made his share of enemies with the way he uses his power, after all, but he may also have allies willing to protect him. Powerful ghosts might be persuaded to weigh in as well, creating a powder keg that's ready to blow... and the Six Gun Saint is holding a lighter.

Why is the Saint so hellbent on Tony Gracchus's death? Is the young Mage responsible for killing the Saint's previous Bound host, leaving it adrift in the world? Did the Saint make Tony an offer that he refused? Or has the necromancer meddled with powers he doesn't yet understand, earning himself the enmity of the violent geist?

I know the answers to some of these questions. But if you want to go on that journey with me, I need you to help me make this show a reality!

What You Can Do

First and foremost, subscribe to the Azukail Games YouTube channel, and watch our videos. YouTube requires 500 subscribers, which we have, and 3,000 hours of watched content... which we don't. What we need most are eyes on our content in order to help us cross that threshold so that the videos I make generate income for the publisher, making it more likely for them to greenlight (and then help fund) something bigger and more expansive like Windy City Shadows.

On that note, likes, comments, and shares on social media are also appreciated to help us overcome the inertia of the algorithm so we can find a larger audience.

Additionally, there are currently 37 videos on the Audio Drama Playlist, so if you enjoy my little stories and want to see them expanded, go give that list a listen! Additionally, if you particularly like a story, check out the supplement it comes from, and consider getting yourself a copy. They're all listed in the video descriptions, and every sale shows that these products (and their tie-ins) have an audience who wants us to keep going.

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 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.

"Tabletop Mercenary," The New Show About The Business Side of TTRPGs, Is Here!

A few weeks ago I let people know that I was putting together a new show titled Tabletop Mercenary, which is going to be me (and possibly an occasional guest) trying to pull back the curtain, and to show people how the sausage gets made in the tiny niche of the publishing industry that is tabletop RPGs. Well, the first episode dropped this past Friday, and as I've said with my previous endeavors, if you want to help shape the content going forward, now is the time to make your voices heard!

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!

What The Show's About (And What I Need From You)

Just to re-iterate what I said above for those who skimmed to this point, Tabletop Mercenary is a show all about the business side of TTRPGs. I want to dispel the mystery behind being a creator, answer questions about what it is that goes on behind the scenes, and give what advice I can for those who are hoping to make gaming a side hustle, or perhaps their entire career. In addition to being featured on the Azukail Games YouTube channel, episodes of this show will also appear on my Rumble channel The Literary Mercenary, alongside various audio dramas and other, long-form creative projects I've worked on previously.

And for those who have expressed curiosity as to why this show is appearing in two different places, it's at least partially as a dry-run for bigger, more involved content that would need to be able to both reach a bigger audience, and to have multiple income streams in order to keep it going. Especially since the Azukail Games YouTube channel is not yet monetized (we still need at least another 1,000 hours of watched content to make that happen), and I've got to do what I can to keep the lights on while I'm making things.

For those wondering what those "other" shows I'm talking about are, I mentioned this a while back on Discussions of Darkness.

But, back to Tabletop Mercenary and how you can help me going forward.

First and foremost, if you've ever had questions about how games go from ideas to products, or about how creators actually get paid, please go to the first episode of the show, and leave your question in the comments on the video! Additionally, it would mean a lot if you could share the video around on your own social media channels to help me reach a larger audience, and get more eyes on this show while it's in its larval stages so we can build up the momentum to keep going.

As to which link you should share, that will depend on how you want to help. If you share the episode on YouTube, that will bring more attention to the Azukail Games channel, and help get it monetized, while also growing the subscriber base. If you share the episode on Rumble, that will help me get noticed on that much smaller platform, but it will also help me build up the earnings from the video, since Rumble doesn't have a 500 subscribers and 3,000 watch hour requirement for creators... they just pay you straight from the get-go based on your traffic.

I would also appreciate it if folks could tell me what I could offer as a creator to get your support for this show via my Patreon page. Would you want early access to new episodes? Shout-outs in the outro for your support? The ability to request specific topics, rather than merely lobbing a suggestion at me and hoping I take it? These are all on the table at present, but if you have other thoughts that would get you to throw money at the operating budget, I'm all ears!

Speaking of funding...

On that note, if you want to help me keep this show going through the early stages (as well as support me keeping this blog and my sister blog The Literary Mercenary running), then please consider putting some money in my tip jar on Ko-Fi, or becoming my Patreon patron. It takes a lot to keep the content flowing, and the more fuel my readers help put in the tank, the more stuff I'll be able to make 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 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!

Myrrorside- A Horror Experience You Should Definitely Check Out

While the Halloween season is officially over, there is one, last item on my to-do list that I've been meaning to cross off. And since I don't want to be haunted by a review I didn't get around to, I figured there's no time like the present. So if your need for a horror game hasn't left you quite yet, and you still haven't tried anything that's really scratched that itch, let me invite you to take a walk with me.

... a walk to the Myrrorside.

It's wild out there, trust me.

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 Just What IS Myrrorside?

The world around us seems solid enough, at a glance. And in the light of day, all the myths and whispers about people who've disappeared, or monsters crawling out of the shadows, seem ridiculous. There are some places, though, where the boundaries wear thin, and where one might find themselves falling through a hole in the world. A hole that tumbles them into a place where everything is upside down, and where the normal rules of reality don't make sense. A place filled with the hostile, and the alien, where the comforts of logic and science crack apart, and where dark magics and terrible legends reign supreme. It is a place where nightmares stalk, where the currency is screams, and where terror is the only feeling that can survive.

A dark reflection of the world we know, this place is the Myrrorside.

It is a grim world full of horror and dread.

As a setting, Myrrorside puts me most in mind of Changeling: The Lost, though with heavier doses of Beksinki in its makeup. Not only that, but characters are even more at risk, since they are assumed to be normal mortals who have stumbled through the darkened mirror, and found themselves on the other side of reality. A place where monsters dwell, and where true horror stalk their steps. If they survive long enough they might grow wise to the ways of this place, and perhaps even learn some of the tricks known to the creatures who reside here. Of course, those who remain too long may find themselves unable to return back to the mortal world, finding that in their attempts to merely survive they've grown too adapted to the Myrrorside to ever leave.

Adding into the horror, the Myrrorside is accessed through places that have endured great tragedies, and suffering. Sites of mass violence, torture, senseless crimes, and other places that usually end up with the label of haunted are often the thin places in reality where one might step through into this dark and dreadful realm. Or, almost as bad, these are places where residents of the Myrrorside might emerge, hungry, and looking for prey... or just to lay hands on a piece of the mortal world before their time runs out, and they must return to the terrible place they call home.

Maybe your players fell through a hole in the world, and they're trying to get out again. Maybe a monster is stalking their home, or their neighborhood, and they have to figure out how to send it back. Perhaps they wind up in a psych ward where no one believes the patients' panicked screams about the things living in the walls. There's all sorts of ways this game could go, depending on how creative you want to get.

How Does It Play?

Regular readers know that, generally speaking, I'm not a fan of rules-lite games. With that said, Myrrorside bears a strong resemblance to Savage Worlds, which is about as rules-lite as I'm willing to go when it comes to sitting down and rolling the dice at my own table.

Like most RPGs, Myrrorside gives you a list of Attributes, and a list of Skills, and like Savage Worlds each one of them has a die type ranging from 1d4 to 1d12. When you roll a check, you roll both applicable dice (Attribute and Skill), and take the better result before adding any appropriate modifiers. 0 is considered a Pyrrhic victory, where you do what you wanted, but there's complications. A -1 is just barely failing to do what you wanted. +10 is considered a monumental success. -10 is considered a colossal failure. If you come into a situation where you don't have a particular skill then you can often roll just your Attribute die, and hope for the best. Additionally, you may have situations where you gain Advantage and Disadvantage, and it works the same way as in DND 5E; except in this game you might be rolling 4 dice and choosing the best of your results.

The last thing that makes it really similar to Savage Worlds, to me, is that there's no hit points. I know the SWADE system isn't the only one that does that, but it sort of goes with the comparison. Where Myrrorside innovates is that you can go down levels physically, psychologically, and socially, meaning that you can injure your body, your mind, and your reputation, which can make for interesting challenges as the tale unfolds. And of course your body heals faster than your mind, which heals faster than your social standing... particularly among those who call the Myrrorside home.

Consider Giving It a Try!

The usual warning for content here, Myrrorside is not a game for the faint-hearted. It really embraces the horror aspect, and from the eldritch to the splatter there's some stuff in here that might be disturbing for some gamers. So before you crack these covers, take a deep breath, and make sure you're in the headspace for a game that can get bleak if the dice aren't with you.

If that sounds like your cup of bloody tea, though, then grab a copy of Myrrorside, as well as The White House, an adventure that will really grab you, and suck you into the setting for your first time!

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 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!