You Can Weigh-In On Future Supplements For "Army Men: A Game of Tactical Plastic"!

It's been several months since my first RPG, Army Men: A Game of Tactical Plastic went live for sale! Since then we've seen the release of two supplements for it already; Army Men: Threat Assessments (which is full of additional monsters and creatures for your troopers to content with), and Army Men: Medals of Honor (which introduces the Medals System for rewarding players for their deeds done on the field, and introducing additional abilities). And while there's still one more supplement that should be coming out from Azukail Games soon titled Ungentlemanly Warfare: A Baker's Dozen of Booby Traps, I'm currently loading up my queue with fresh projects.

So I wanted to share some of the things that might be on the horizon for the resinous peoples of the Plastos Federation!

So grab your copy, and check it out for yourself!

As always, 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!

Missions, Armory Updates, and More!

I recently pu up a poll on the Army Men Facebook group (which you should join if you want to stay on top of the game's developments, and make your voices heard!), and I tested the wind a little bit as to which direction folks were hoping to go. However, if you're here reading this update, feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments section below, or to reach out on social media to let your thoughts be known!

Top Option: Quick Play Scenarios

Even in the early stages of development, I knew that Army Men was going to need missions as one of its supporting supplements. Because while all the pieces are there for Game Masters to start running stuff in the world, nothing would flesh it out quite like providing some scenarios to help folks get a feel for play. It's one reason that I made sure the base book came with a starting mission, as well as some suggestions for additional hooks! However, I also know through putting together adventure modules like The Price of Iron (an introductory module about dark fey and strange promises), as well as The Curse of Sapphire Lake (the hate-child of Friday the 13th and Beowulf), adventure modules are one of those things that are a tough sell for the public... not only that, but they take a rather large amount of energy on my part as a creator. A time and energy-intensive project with minimal sales prospects is not a great way to light the fire of enthusiasm.

However, a suggestion that was made (and which folks seemed to support) was the idea of quick play scenarios for the game.

The idea is pretty straightforward. For those who haven't come across this kind of scenario before, it acts as a bare bones setup for an adventure, giving the general tools to the Game Master including maps, important NPCs, point buy layouts for gear (to represent standard, hard, and easier values). Game Masters are given a set of mission parameters and victory conditions, and then the squad is turned loose to see who wins, and who dies. All in all, where a standard adventure module will be anywhere from 7k to 10k words, a quick play scenario will probably only be 2k to 3k words... just the facts, and that's all you need!

To give this a real test run, I'm considering writing between 3 and 5 of these scenarios. That would give you enough to level up your squad (as you are supposed to level every 3 missions), or to level them twice if we include the introductory mission in the base book!

Secondary Option: Expanded Armory

While I did kick around several other options, including more detailed mission modules, guides to the various nations and their cultures, as well as expanded Exploits list, the second-largest amount of votes went to supplements that would expand the armory for players. It makes sense, after all, since the tools players bring onto the battlefield are one of the biggest resources they have to determine their success or failure.

Now, the base book already has a respectable amount of weapons, armor, and extra tools for players to utilize... however, I did have a number of ideas for supplements I could put together. The first would just be something like Army Men: Weapons Locker, with more options to go along with the standard, modern-ish feeling that most of the base book's weapons boast. This would have additional weapons, armor, and most importantly things like expanded grenades, along with the possibility of different ammuntion types that could give players a fresh, but limited, resource that would be appropriate to particular situations.

A second supplement, perhaps something like Army Men: Slings and Arrows, would deal with medieval weaponry and older types of weapons you might still find in the setting (either because the troopers in question are so old they remember when these were standard-issue, or as an extra challenge for missions where modern weaponry isn't as readily available, and players need to go Predator on the vespoids).

A third supplement, which could expand on the Experimental weapon descriptor found in Medals of Honor, would be full of high-tech (though largely untested) equipment options created in the laboratories of the various member nations of the Plastos Federation. In addition to the electric rifle found in that supplement you might find gyrojet weapons, cloaking generators, personal force fields, self-healing materials that repair damage to weapons and armor, or even stranger items!

It's All Up To You!

I've beaten this dead horse a lot recently, but it's something I like to remind people of. When it comes to the books I write, the games I create, and the supplements I work on, I'm not just doing this for my own personal enjoyment. While I like my job, I'm guided by what you, the readers and players out there, actually want to see from me! If there's something you all want to see more of, then that's the thing I'm going to pursue... and if there's something that doesn't have the support, then I can't really afford to spend my time tinkering with it.

So keep that in mind before you weigh in on what you'd like to see when it comes to Army Men. Because if you really do want to see this game expand, and you're looking forward to playing some missions at your own table, raise your voice and let me know! But if this isn't a game you're going to pick up, or if none of these sound like things you're interested in as a gamer, then I don't want to be working off bad data from what my audience wants from me 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 Rumble channel The Literary Mercenary! Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my dystopian sci-fi thriller Old Soldiers, my hardboiled gangland noir series starring a bruiser of a Maine Coon with Marked Territory and Painted Cats, 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!

What Traits Did Your Character's Culture Value (And Discourage)?

Our characters come from a wide variety of backgrounds, cultures, and experiences, and these things often shape them in ways that are just as important as the adventures and campaigns they complete while we're at the table. However, we often hand wave away this part of their stories, leaving them vague and open-ended when we can often end up making our characters far more interesting by digging into that part of their story.

Which is why it's worth taking a moment to ask what traits your character's culture valued and reinforced, which traits they suppressed or avoided, and why that was the case? Because those things can often tell you a lot about a person, and what they consider normal... even if no one else agrees with them.

Night painting emphasizes clear sight, and smooth dexterity.

As always, 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 Was Your Normal?

Take a moment and think about the culture you grew up in, and what it told you was desirable, and normal. As an example, I'm American, Caucasian, and I identify as male. I was born into an upper middle class home, and I come from a military family. The messages I received growing up were that height was a key component of my attractiveness, and that I should be strong and muscular. I was told that having a high sex drive was a key component of masculinity, as was a willingness (or ability) to commit violence in appropriate situations. Going to college was very important, and the hallmarks of good grades, social activities, etc., were encouraged to help make that happen. As someone who got into gaming, LARPing, and light historical reenactment, long hair and a well-kempt beard were also seen as desirable, fashionable things for me to have alongside creativity and the ability to sword fight. Speaking other languages wasn't encouraged or valued overmuch in my circles. Emotional vulnerability was sometimes encouraged, and other times strongly discouraged. Physical affection with other men was often unacceptable, and even with femme-presenting folk it often came with a slew of caveats.

The list goes on, but you get the idea.

You could take almost any of these traits, values, cultural assumptions, and find other cultures and locations where if I moved I would have had relatively little to unlearn or change. For instance, I could likely move to Canada, and adapt fairly quickly. I could probably do the same with most places in the United Kingdom. However, there are other cultures and locations I would have been about as comfortable as a fish in the desert. Whether it's the language barriers I would have come across in France, the expectations of gender roles that would have thrown me for a loop in Spain or Greece, or even something as relatively simple as the (to me) complete lack of personal space between people in Russia, all of these things would have thrown my differences into a rather stark light.

Now ask what those differences might be if we were in a fantasy setting where there are at least as many cultures among humans as we have in the real world, but where we also have magic, monsters, and a dozen other species of intelligent creatures that we share the world with, and you can see just how unique this exercise can become.

Things might get... complicated.

Consider for a moment how long archery was the national sport in England. How everyone no matter their age, sex, or even skill, at least understood how to operate and use a bow, with regular practice deemed a normal part of social life. Someone who was "average" under those conditions might be considered one of the best archers anyone had ever seen in a culture where that sort of practice was just not a part of public life. This is similar to how Glima, the wrestling martial art of the Norsemen, led to a not-inconsiderable population that were (by and large) more skilled grapplers than other places that didn't practice a fighting style so commonly. It wasn't some strange, genetic disposition or inherited viciousness; it was just that training in a martial art was often done from a young age, and it was often practiced far into adulthood.

It's all about what is considered normal for you, that is decidedly not normal for other people... and why that is the case.

Let's look at Archbliss: The City of The Sorcerers (available for Pathfinder Classic and DND 5E) in my Sundara setting. It's a floating city in the sky ruled over by an aristocracy of sorcerers, and where a majority of the population has access to magic. Even if an individual cannot use magic themselves, they would still have grown up with it constantly available to them, and an important component of everyday life. As such, an education about magic, spellcasting, proper use of magic items, and other such skills and abilities, would be emphasized for those who were raised there. But if these people left Archbliss, they'd find that many other places don't rely so heavily on magic. While mastery of it may still be useful, a person born with no inherent spellcasting, and who may lack the intelligence to become a wizard, wouldn't be shunned for that "failing". After all, to their eyes, only one in a million people might manage what would be considered an everyday feat in Archbliss.

Or consider the Malisus, a unique elven people who live deep in the ground found in Species of Sundara: Elves (available for Pathfinder Classic and DND 5E). The Malisus's cities are often built from stone and bone, and while this is a matter of practicality (since trees don't grow underground), their faith is centered around the rituals and acceptance of death. As such, their outlook is often macabre to outsiders, and they are extremely comfortable near corpses, bones, graveyards, and other such things that would be considered taboo to other cultures. The Malisus value grace and quiet, as being able to move stealthily is a necessity of survival in the underground, and those who cannot see in the dark are often looked on with pity. If they were to move among peoples who are loud, brash, and (to the Malisus) unobservant, it might seem as if these dark elves simply appeared from nowhere, because "quiet" to an overlander is like stomping through the undergrowth to the finely-tuned senses of many of the Malisus.

Lastly, consider someone steeped in the culture of Moüd, The City of Bones (available for Pathfinder Classic and DND 5E). The City of Bones is a place deep in a blasted desert, lorded over by a guild of necromancers, and whose very existence is made possible by use of the reanimated dead. So while some cultures might consider necromancy a great taboo, or an outright evil art to practice, in Moüd it would be an honored profession. While there are certainly moral and ethical concerns if the art is used improperly, the culture of this city typically views the use of this magic in service to the living as an overall good. So while a person raised here might not be pressured to become a necromancer themselves (though it would be considered a prestigious skill set and career), they would be quite familiar with the undead in general in ways that other people simply wouldn't be. The idea that particular duties that were previously done by the living dead (cleaning the city streets, patrolling hostile wastes, handling various menial tasks, etc.) would be done by living people might even horrify them... especially if those living people were kept as slave labor because the job still needed to be done, and that was the solution another culture found to the problem.

Sometimes It's The Little Differences

While the examples above highlight some pretty stark differences where a culture or people might be very different, you don't need the differences to be that large. For example, did your character come from a society that valued logic, reason, and scholarship, considering brute strength and violence to be a sign of a failed mind that one would be shunned for if used to win an argument? If so, were debate, legal trials, and so on considered proper ways to settle public differences, possibly watched with the same enthusiasm others might feel for watching sporting events? Or was dueling with blades the way differences were settled where your character came from, and every free man or woman was expected to carry a knife on them at all times as a sign they were neither a child or a slave?

Once you know the norms, traditions, and so on of your character's culture, you can then ask how they fit, or didn't fit, those norms. For example, if tusk size is considered a mark of attractiveness among the orcs of the high valley clans, does your orc carefully polish and clean their teeth before going into town, perhaps putting on silver or gold caps? Or is your orc sensitive about the relatively small size of their tusks, considering it a punchable offense if someone brings it up to their face? Was speaking multiple languages and traveling considered a normal part of your life growing up, and a sign of intellect and experience, or do you come from an insular society where such things are discouraged, and where outsiders are rarely encountered?

All of these things can make a big difference in who your character is, and what they believe about the world around them. Even if they've since left the cultures they grew up in or were shaped by, and they've experienced other walks of life in other places with other peoples, these formative views, taboos, beliefs, and traditions might say a lot about the forces that shaped them. From how your character dresses, to how they talk, to what they believe is attractive or unattractive, to what skills they learned, or even how they think of themselves, you can find the answer to all of these and more in the culture that first shaped them.

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Fluff post. 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 Rumble channel The Literary Mercenary! Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my dystopian sci-fi thriller Old Soldiers, my hardboiled gangland noir series starring a bruiser of a Maine Coon with Marked Territory and Painted Cats, 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!

Game Masters, Make Sure The Villains Aren't Just Sitting Around Waiting

There are a lot of names for it. I've seen it called dungeon scumming. I've seen it called Skyrimming (suggestive tone optional). I'm sure there are terms that other Game Masters have heard of that I wouldn't recognize without some explanation. At the end of the day, though, all of these terms refer to a specific kind of behavior from the players. In short, they go into the plot-relevant situation (assaulting the villain's keep, kicking in the door of the dungeon, etc.) and blow all their big resources up-front. The barbarian roars through their rages, the spellcasters empty their slots, daily charges of magic items are used, and as soon as the party gets too low, too hurt, or things don't go their way, they pull out. Not just from the fight, but from the entire situation, backing off a safe distance so they can heal up, recover their resources, and come in hot again.

However, this kind of behavior only works if you treat your NPCs like they're in a video game, rather than a living, breathing world. Which is why, if you want to create dynamic challenge, remember that whatever your players are doing (or not doing), they aren't the only ones in the setting who are moving. Your villains have better things to do than just sit around, waiting for the heroes to show up and thwart their plans!

All right, men, we've been discovered. Move the treasure to a safe location!

As always, 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!

Your Antagonists Are Characters, Too

Every action has an equal and opposite reaction, or so the science tells us. However, when it comes to your story, both actions taken and not taken should have an effect on the plot either for good, or for ill. And as the Game Master you should encourage the game to feel organic, and to act like a living, breathing thing.

Take one of the examples above; the party tasked with getting rid of a bandit gang in the woods that have been harassing people on the roads. These bandits shouldn't just be a series of encounters waiting to go off until your players find the bandit lord, get their loot, and turn in the quest. These NPCs should be living, breathing parts of your game world, and they should react to what happens (or doesn't happen) in your game based on the actions taken by the party.

How are you going to persuade the highwaymen to turn over a new leaf?

As an example, say your players locate the stronghold deep in the woods used as a base of operations by these bandits. They raid that stronghold, going in with spells flying and powers going off every round, but it's not enough. Before the bandits can bring them down, the party retreats out into the forest to rest and recuperate, getting back their hit points and spells to come back and do it all again... but what did the bandits do in the 8-10 hours between the party's raid, and them coming back for round 2?

Do the bulk of the remaining forces abandon the fortress, rigging it with boobytraps and just leaving a skeleton crew behind to ambush the party before leading them in deeper? Do they reinforce their positions instead, and send out word to their forces, bringing reinforcements back to the fort so the party now faces more enemies than before, all of whom are now ready for a fight? Does the bandit lord pack up the treasure the party is hoping to reclaim, sending it out with trusted lieutenants to take it to a safer location that the party will now have to track down again if they want to get back the stolen goods? Or do the bandits regroup, and come after the party in the woods, staging a midnight counterattack with all their numbers while the party is weakened, and may not be as ready to fight?

There are, of course, going to be situations where things remain static in the PCs' absence. If they're going through an abandoned ruin that's guarded only by constructs, mindless undead, and traps, then none of those things are going to deviate from the orders they were already given. In some situations it may be legitimately impossible for them to leave their posts, or to pursue the party beyond a certain point, making them very much a static, somewhat predictable force. But if the antagonists your party is facing are sentient, and if they have plans that are already in motion, then they need to be able to react to what your party is doing... or if your party opts to not do something, then you need to know what stage the antagonists' plans are at.

Let's return to the bandits in the forest. Perhaps, instead of trying to track down their hideout, the party just escorted merchants back and forth along the highways to ensure they weren't attacked. Or maybe they started taking out the bandits a few at a time, trying to catch them out in small teams in the woods, away from their hideout, and their support. If the bandit lord and their men find out what the party is doing, what preparations will they make? Will they start terrorizing the town as a way to try to get the PCs to back off? Do they form assault teams meant to take the party out at a time and place of the bandits' choosing? Will they disperse, fading away into the woods and finding a new place to ply their trade, believing it's better to live to fight another day? Or do the bandits reach out to another faction, such as the necromancer or devil-worshiping cult that was going to be the next antagonist, joining forces with them to try to defeat the party?

Nothing happens in a vacuum, and to make your game feel like a living thing, make sure that your villains are acting to reach their goals just as surely as the party is trying to reach theirs.

Additional Resources

If you want a little help with your antagonists, consider checking out a few of my supplements that are designed to do at least some of the heavy lifting for you!

- 100 Random Bandits To Meet

- 100 Prisoners For a Fantasy Jail

- 100 Gangs For Your Urban Campaigns

- 100 Cults To Encounter

- 13 Fiends: A Baker's Dozen of Devils

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 Rumble channel The Literary Mercenary! Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my dystopian sci-fi thriller Old Soldiers, my hardboiled gangland noir series starring a bruiser of a Maine Coon with Marked Territory and Painted Cats, 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!

Breaking Down Army Men: Medals of Honor

It's been a couple of months since my RPG Army Men: A Game of Tactical Plastic hit the market. While we're just about a dozen sales away from Copper status (so pick up your copy today to help us get there!), I didn't want to let the grass grow under my feet with it. While the first supplement Army Men: Threat Assessments dropped the first month after the full game was available, the second supplement is now out from Azukail Games!

For this week's Crunch installment I wanted to take folks inside Army Men: Medals of Honor, explain its general purpose, and see if it gets your own wheels turning!

That which doesn't kill you expands your ribbon rack.

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!

Recognition and Reward

Rewards for your actions are pretty standard in most RPGs. In a traditional game you tend to get loot from the dungeons, or you get treasure which you haul back to town in order to buy upgraded weapons, armor, etc. In some instances you'll also receive story rewards (such as a character being knighted for their service to the crown, or being given a castle and estate) that, while impressive, doesn't really do anything for you mechanically except give you a base of operations to store your stuff.

In a standard game of Army Men, though, players are a squad of troopers acting in service to the Plastos Federation, or one of its member nations. Because they're part of the armed forces, they don't show up with their own weapons, armor, and extra gear; they requisition it before the mission. This gives the Game Master a great deal of latitude regarding how over/underarmed the players are, and the challenge they're going to have to face once (or if) combat begins. However, players also tend not to get any kind of loot on their missions, since they draw a salary from the government that employs them, and their enemies are likely to be gigantic bugs with no concept of monetary value or currency. So when the question of rewards came up in my mind, the obvious solution seemed to be medals and commendations; after all, if you show bravery in the field, and you accomplish a mission with efficiency and skill, that's usually the way to mark such a deed.

Some medals require greater sacrifice than others.

That is where Army Men: Medals of Honor comes into the picture. Because while completing missions and returning to give your post-action report is how your troopers go up in rank (the game's term for your character level), I didn't want that to be the only benefit of living to fight another day. The medals system, introduced in this supplement, allows Game Masters to give out awards to individual characters, or entire squads, who have managed to accomplish certain, notable feats while on the battlefield. And while these medals have significance to the story and the setting, each of them also comes with an additional ability granted to a recipient.

For example, the Distinguished Marksman Badge, which is awarded by the Acetal Alliance, requires that an individual trooper score a minimum of 50 critical hits against targets who are at least 30 feet away. A separate track must be kept for pistols and rifles, as each medal has its own requirement. Once a trooper has earned this medal, their critical hit range with the weapon type in question expands from natural 20s, to a 19-20 range (though a roll of 19 must still hit the target's armor class to qualify as a critical hit).

This supplement contains 50 medals, with 10 examples from each nation, as well as 10 medals given out by the Plastos Federation as an organization. While some of these medals are nation-specific (meaning that recipients must be members of that particular nation's armed forces in order to qualify for these medals), others are available to any member nation's army, or may be awarded for joint operations where multiple nations are working together toward a single end.

As With Equipment, The Power Is In The Game Master's Hands

While this system may seem like just another way for players to rack up additional powers on their sheets, since medals can grant additional skill proficiencies, bonus languages, rerolls of certain checks, and so on, it's important to remember that the circumstances surrounding these medals has to be facilitated by the Game Master. Whether it's ensuring that characters are part of a certain nation's military, or that certain opportunities come up on their missions, these medals aren't things players can get without Game Master assistance.

You need to set them up with the situation required to earn them.

With that said, if you're going to use the medals system, I encourage Game Masters to make players aware of it, and to ask what kinds of commendations they'd like their troopers to earn by the end of the campaign. Because while being rewarded for one's achievements in the field is always gratifying, sometimes it can be just as motivating knowing that every mission brings you one step closer to earning a particular medal!

Bonus Content: New Weapon Property Unlocked!

In addition to the medals system, and all of the examples I've laid out for Game Masters to add to their Army Men campaigns, I also dropped a little bonus into this supplement. We now have the Experimental weapon property, which is a property describing weapons that have yet to be fully field-tested, and which aren't entirely reliable just yet. This is meant to be a foot in the door, as one of the expansions I've wanted to write for the game is Army Men: Weird War, where in addition to a bunch of new casts, training schools, exploits, monsters, and more, I also wanted to introduce some sci-fi style weapons, armor, and equipment. Because while these weapons would put a lot of raw power into your troopers' hands, they also represent a risk if something goes wrong.

But you can't work out the bugs if you never test the equipment under battlefield conditions... right?

So if this weapon property (in addition to the sample experimental lightning rifle listed in the supplement) is something you want to see more of, make sure you grab your copy today, and let me know in your review. Additional experimental equipment suggestions are encouraged as well, so if you have something you really want to see, feel free to include that, too!

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Crunch post. 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 Rumble channel The Literary Mercenary! Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my dystopian sci-fi thriller Old Soldiers, my hardboiled gangland noir series starring a bruiser of a Maine Coon with Marked Territory and Painted Cats, 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!

Updates On The Azukail Games YouTube Channel (And Our Progress)!

This week I wanted to give something of an update for my readers out there! While I've talked about this on both Facebook, and in my most recent newsletter, I don't want anything getting lost in the fickle tides of the algorithm, and I've got some exciting developments I wanted everyone to be aware of. So keep reading, and I'll get to it shortly enough!

We've been putting in a lot of work on this!

As always, 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!

Patreon, Ko-Fi, And Getting Monetization!

So, first things first! As lots of folks know, YouTube altered their rules last year so that, in order to be approved for monetization (which is to say, you actually get paid some of the ad revenue on your videos, rather than all of it going straight into YouTube's pockets), you need to have 500 subscribers to your channel, and 3,000 hours of watched content in the past 365 days. At time of writing, we have 1,070 and change subscribers, and just over 2,500 hours of watched content... which means that another 500 hours will put us over the line, and allow us to finally start getting ad revenue from the videos we make!

That would be a huge boon all by itself, because right now none of the videos actually generate income for Azukail Games from YouTube. While there are ads on them, none of that goes to the company, which means the channel is not, currently, an income stream in this manner. And if we can start getting some of that cash to flow to the company, then it can start underwriting some larger, more ambitious projects. For those who didn't see the update on the channel itself, I talked about it back in May in the video below.

Another thing I mentioned in the video above is that Azukail Games now has its own Patreon and Ko-Fi accounts, and if you're feeling generous, don't be afraid to toss some coin over there! Now, I want to be clear, these are separate from my Literary Mercenary Patreon and Ko-Fi pages listed below, which go to help support these blogs. For those wondering why there are separate accounts, it's because I do not (contrary to a lot of common belief, it seems) run Azukail Games as a company, or a YouTube channel. Adrian Kennelly is the man behind that company; I'm just a writer and contributor who works for the enterprise.

Which is sort of the reason I want to see it grow... the better they do, the more of my shenanigans the company can publish and support for the entertainment of all of you out there!

For folks who are wondering why I don't have my own YouTube channel, I laid out the details on that issue a while back in Trying Out Rumble As A Platform For My Audio Dramas over on my sister blog The Literary Mercenary. The short version, though, is that even if I personally got the 500 subscribers and 3,000 hours needed to get monetized on my own channel, I couldn't get paid by YouTube because it requires a Google AdSense account, and Google blocked me from having one of these over a decade ago.

So in this case I'm going to remain a freelancer.

With that said, though, if the Azukail Games channel does get monetized, it's possible that I'll be able to start a bigger project that will be on multiple platforms, such as Spotify, in addition to just YouTube. If that's something you'd be interested in, then check out Windy City Shadows: A Chronicles of Darkness Podcast Proposal!

There are a lot of projects I'm starting to get excited about, but all of them sort of hinge on us getting the YouTube channel to a point where it's a legitimate earner, and not just a place for us to put our preview videos for the TTRPG supplements we put out. So if you want to help us get there, please subscribe to the Azukail Games YouTube channel if you haven't yet, watch our videos, and share them around so we can acquire the hours we need to blow past those goal posts, and really start revving our engines to make bigger, more involved stuff for you all to enjoy!

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 Rumble channel The Literary Mercenary! Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my dystopian sci-fi thriller Old Soldiers, my hardboiled gangland noir series starring a bruiser of a Maine Coon with Marked Territory and Painted Cats, 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!

My Latest Cyberpunk Audio Drama Series, "72 Hours" Is Now Complete!

If you've picked up any of my TTRPG supplements over the past few years, then you've likely noticed I like to include a little piece of flash fiction in the front of the books to kind of set the tone, and to show at least one of the creations from the supplement in action. Several years ago I started turning these little vignettes into audio dramas on the Azukail Games YouTube channel, and as I got really stuck-in with this project it changed the way I started telling the stories. At first I started having recurring characters, such as the Hedge-diving ogre Jacoby in my Changeling: The Lost supplements, but then I started turning these sections into little series of short stories so that folks who bought all the supplements could get the story from beginning to end as a kind of collectible extra.

I completed the first of these series last year around this time, detailed in My Sci-Fi Audio Drama Series is Now Complete!, and it was last Fall when I followed that up with My Cyberpunk Audio Drama Series is Now Complete! I've completed a third series, and this time I went for a quadrilogy, giving you all a series of 4 stories instead of the previous sets of 3!

So what are you waiting for? Check it out below!

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!

Installment #1: Ordered Arms

The first short story, Ordered Arms, was the introductory fiction for the TTRPG supplement 100 Secret Societies For a Sci Fi Setting. In this story we find an ex-military operator just trying to live his life in one of the city's most corrupt districts. He's got information on all the dirty dealings all throughout this part of the city, but when he tried to take it to security services they threw him a beating, and told him to stay out of it. Someone was listening, though, and they offered the former Captain Masters the tools he needed to get the job done himself... assuming his conviction was strong enough, of course.

Installment #2: Blood In The Water

The second part of this story takes us to Detective Johnny Denton. Denton has been following a series of hits that have been going down in the district for the past several days... in 72 hours there have been dozens of casualties, if you count the gangs, vice cops, and organized crime squads who've wound up dead. He's digging into the cyberpunk version of the darkweb called the DrekNet and trying to find answers in Blood In The Water, the intro story from the supplement 100 Resources and Rumors to Find on The DrekNet.

Installment #3: Conspiracies and Crosshairs

In the third story, Conspiracies and Crosshairs which comes out of the supplement 100 Rumor Mongers and Information Brokers, Denton manages to find a shred of evidence to substantiate the existence of this so-called Angel of Death that's cleaning up the streets. He doesn't know what it means, though, so he seeks out the infamous net diver Simon Sez to get some information. While he gets something, as soon as Denton's back is turned, Simon sends out an SOS. Whoever this mysterious vigilante is, he knows somebody's onto him... and how to find Denton in turn, as the hunted becomes the hunter.

Installment #4: Safeties Off

With a real, solid lead, Denton races through the city to recruit someone else who might be able to help him wrap this case up before anyone else gets hurt. Dwight is a bounty hunter with a bit of a reputation, and the two of them have history. Of course, Denton has barely gotten a chance to explain to Dwight what it is he needs him onboard for, when the Angel of Death himself makes an appearance. Is this curtains for Denton? Or is there some way he can convince the vigilante to stop his killing spree, even while he's under the gun?

Safeties Off is the last installment of the series (for now, at least), and it comes from the TTRPG supplement 100 Professions For a Sci Fi Setting!

Would You Like To See More Series?

While the reaction to the various series I've been putting out seems to be positive overall, some folks have asked when I'm going to make longer, connected episodes to tell bigger, more involved stories. Well, once the Azukail Games YouTube channel gets monetized, that's on the docket for projects to discuss with the publisher. So if you want to see bigger projects, like I talked about in Windy City Shadows: A Chronicles of Darkness Podcast Proposal, then help us get the watch hours we need to get past that 3K minimum (which should only be about 500 hours and change at time of writing).

So if you want to see bigger, more involved audio projects from me, this is the fastest way to make it happen! So share this blog to make more folks aware of my projects, share the videos around on your social media pages, and leave some comments on the videos to let me know which sorts of things you'd like to hear more of! Anything that helps us get a little closer to our goals makes a big difference... and don't forget to like and subscribe if you haven't already!

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 hard-boiled noir series featuring the street beasts of NYC in Marked Territory and Painted Cats, 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.

Asking My Audience About a Partnership Program

As all my long-time readers know, being an author and TTRPG creator isn't exactly a rock star gig when it comes to cashing checks. The per-word rate of pay in RPGs is one of the lowest in the whole publishing industry, and you need to sell hundreds, if not thousands, of any given supplement, game, etc., just to stay one step ahead of your rent. The Azukail Games YouTube channel isn't monetized yet, and I even went so far as to strip ads off this blog years ago because it just wasn't worth the time, energy, and hassle.

I mention all of that to put this week's question into context... because I've recently come across Dubby energy drinks, and I'm examining their partnership program. My question for you all is whether you think this is something I should jump into, or if you feel it's too far off-brand for me as a TTRPG creator? Or just not relevant enough to you as my readers?

I don't mind rolling the dice... but I like to know the odds, first.

As always, 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!

Dubby Energy, Gamers, and Marketing

All right, so, if you're not terminally online for either work or pleasure then you may not have seen Dubby, and its campaign to recruit gamers of all shapes and sizes to its brand. For those who haven't come across the company or its product before, be patient with me while I go through the exposition here.

This requires a bit of background.

So, first things first, we've all seen sponsorship deals for creators we like. Generally speaking the way it works is that when a creator gets big enough, and they have a dedicated audience who watches their videos, reads their blogs, and so on, companies come to them, offer them a payment, free product, or usually both, in order for the creator to promote the company. If you're on YouTube you've seen the ads for Raid: Shadow Legends, Raycon earbuds, Better Help Counseling, Nord VPN, and gods above and below only know how many other companies and products.

Well, Dubby is a powdered energy drink company that has a product most of us are familiar with, at least in style. You buy a packet (or a can) of drink mix, and then when you want some fast energy (typically as a result of a rush of caffeine along with other parts of their in-house formula) you scoop out the powder, add in some cold water, stir or shake it up, and boom, you're good to go.

What they're doing differently (on the marketing front) is that instead of only cutting checks to big streamers, video channels, etc., is that they're purposefully seeking out people with a modest following in order to give them a chance to get their hands on some cash. However, the Dubby partnership program isn't a sponsorship, in the sense that they cut you a check to promote them... it's basically an affiliate sales program.

I talked about affiliate sales programs back in Tabletop Mercenary, Episode 5, but for those who didn't watch it, these programs are pretty straightforward. The way they work is that you, as a member of the program, create a special link to promote the products. When someone buys the product, you get a percentage of the sale as your commission. So if, for example, someone bought a copy of my World's Oldest Profession: 100 Courtesans and Concubines supplement from this link, I would receive about $0.30 as a royalty for the sale (because I'm the creator), but I'd also receive an additional $0.07 as an affiliate fee because I made the sale through one of my links.

Dubby's program works the same way. I wasn't mailed any free product to review or tell you about, and I'm not getting paid a fee to tell my audience about them. But if folks do choose to check it out via a link of mine (such as through this link to Dubby's product collection, or the links later in this blog), and you make a purchase, then I would get an affiliate fee for that sale.

If nobody buys anything, though, I get nothing. No free merch, no advertising fee from the company, etc.

From a business perspective, this is a smart move by the company. They're hoping to get smaller creators, channels, etc., to help advertise their product, and market them to their followings. By lowering the bar for entry, and getting a larger number of smaller creators instead of just focusing on those with big followings, and then only paying them when they make a sale instead of a blanket, up-front check, that means there's more people overall boosting the signal and shining a light onto Dubby as a company.

The Question, Of Course, Is Whether It Works For You?

I explained all of that to ask a simple question... is that something you all care about?

Because on the one hand, I would like to make money with this partnership program. As I outlined above, I don't make a lot as a professional writer, and the constant shifts and changes to social media and search algorithms makes it harder and harder every day. I even had an idea for a tongue-in-cheek, Pentex-style commercial for some of their products that I'd love to work into a video essay about this World of Darkness version of capitalism, if that's something folks might get a kick out of?

On the other hand, I'm aware of the marketing demographics of products like this. It primarily trends younger, and toward those looking to keep their fast-twitch reflexes going, rather than those who are looking to keep their eyes open while sitting around a table with friends and rolling click clack math rocks. Not that tabletop gamers (or TTRPG creators, for that matter) are averse to highly caffeinated concoctions made to circumvent the laws of our bodies like some kind of dark alchemy, but still, we aren't usually the market for stuff like this.

Seriously, though? Doesn't "Dubsludge" sound like something Pentex would make?

So if this is something you'd like to see me talk about/put on my blogs and videos in the future, and you want to actually get my thoughts on these products (along with video evidence of my consuming them and totally not turning into a fomori), then consider going to the main page and telling me which flavors I should get, and what you want to see me try out before making a pitch to you all. And if you've already tried this particular product, and you have recommendations of your own, then leave those in the comments, too!

However, if you don't want to see this kind of product placement, you're not interested in this brand, or you just don't think it's a good match for what you've come to expect from me, put that in the comments as well! I don't want to waste time dropping links to products people aren't interested in or my audience won't buy, because that's a waste of my time, as well as your time.

With that said, if this isn't something you're interested in, but you still want to support me and my work, please consider some of the following things if you aren't doing them already!

- Follow My Facebook

- Follow My LinkTree

- Subscribe To My Weekly Newsletter

- Subscribe To The Azukail Games YouTube Channel (where I contribute video content)

- Subscribe To My Rumble Channel (longer videos that won't show up on YouTube)

- Bookmark and Read Through My Vocal Archive

And if you happen to have some spare dosh lying around, and you want to be sure my supply doesn't run low, consider become a Patreon patron, or leaving a tip by Buying Me a Ko-Fi!

Generally speaking, I'm just trying to keep the lights on around here so I can keep writing articles, short stories, making audio dramas and YouTube videos, and so on, and so forth. Your feedback matters in this situation, so don't be shy about it!

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 Rumble channel The Literary Mercenary! Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my dystopian sci-fi thriller Old Soldiers, my hardboiled gangland noir series starring a bruiser of a Maine Coon with Marked Territory and Painted Cats, 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!