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.

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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.