An Update on The Chronicles of Darkness Podcast "Windy City Shadows"

As I first mentioned going on a year and a half ago, I would love to do longer, more involved audio dramas, particularly for the Chronicles of Darkness... but I just didn't have the ground work laid to make it feasible. However, as regular readers found out recently, the Azukail Games YouTube channel (where this podcast will be available, in addition to other platforms) finally got monetized!

And now that this piece of the puzzle has slotted into place, I figured it was time to start cranking up the story engine, and I wanted to give folks an update on where I am with this project right now.

And if you haven't tuned-in, let me tell you why you should!

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!

What It Is, And Where I'm Currently At

For those who haven't heard about this project until just now, the short version is that Windy City Shadows is going to be a Chronicles of Darkness podcast where I and a crew of voice actors tell tales about the things that lurk in the dark corners of Chicago. The first season is titled Grim Promises, and it's a Changeling: The Lost story that follows the former Fall Court's chief enforcer being pulled out of retirement against his will to handle one more sensitive matter, and to fulfill a last, dangling promise.

If you need an immediate comparison, it's modern fantasy John Wick with a more noir sountrack.

However, I wanted to give folks an update as to where we're at now. Because even though the Azukail Games channel was only monetized at the start of this month, I didn't want to let the grass grow under my feet on this... because this project is going to take a long time for me to finish, and it's going to take a lot of work to bring it all together.

Also, if you haven't checked out the AMA I did about the show, I'd recommend giving it a watch!

As of Fall 2024, it looked like we were coming up on our goals. So I started storyboarding Grim Promises to make sure that I had the general shape of the series. Once I had that set up, I reached out to some folks I've worked with on the Azukail Games channel before (in addition to some new voices you all haven't heard before). Then in December 2024 I started writing.

At the time of this update, I've completed the first episode script, and I'm diving into the second episode! In addition to that, I'm putting together scripts for some commercials, previews, and some character introductions so that folks can dip a toe into what's coming, and get some additional context before I throw them into the deep end. However, each script is looking like it's going to come in at 7K-8K words, and with a 10-episode series, I'm essentially working on a novel's worth of text before we even start recording.

So, I'm starting off strong, but I didn't want folks to think that silence on my end meant the project had been dropped... especially because a lot of my regular readers have expressed interest in finally getting something bigger, longer, and in-depth for my Chronicles of Darkness fiction!

While I covered some of this in my recent video about Azukail Games Goals For 2025!, I'd recommend folks check out that video for more details, and leave comments over there so that both I and my publisher can see them.

Speaking of The World/Chronicles of Darkness, Though...

Before I sign off for the week and get back to work on scripting this show, I wanted to take a moment to draw folks' attention to the most recent piece of mine that dropped. Because I still have plans to expand the World/Chronicles of Darkness video essays I've been putting up on the channel, and the latest one has been something of a slow starter. As such, any and all views, signal boosts, comments, and subscribes would be much appreciated!

So whether you're a fan of Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Warhammer 40K, or a bit of both, consider giving Which Space Marine Chapters Best Represent The Garou of Werewolf: The Apocalypse?

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 Bue Sky, 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.

Back To Arkham... But Should I Stay There?

Arkham, Massachusetts is the iconic city created by horror author H.P. Lovecraft, and it is as much the center of the Cthulhu Mythos as anywhere else in his fictional setting. A seaside town that boasts the prestigious Miskatonic University, an asylum, and a black market of gangsters and rum runners, it's quite a cosmopolitan place to say the least.

And while I've spent a little time there as a designer, it wasn't until July 2022 that I put out something for the place with 100 Businesses to Find in Arkham. While it was fun writing a period piece, I didn't follow it up until 2023 with 100 Gangsters, Gun Molls, and Goons, which was meant to expand on the underworld present in Arkham. And while I took a hiatus from community creation platforms (largely due to the fact that they don't really pay me enough to keep my bills square), I decided to dip my toe back into the waters with my latest release 100 Books To Find in The Miskatonic Library (That AREN'T In The Restricted Section). The idea for this supplement was to fill out the books available in the campus library, and to offer alternative methods to get information into the players' hands that didn't require them breaking into the special collections where the real dark grimoires and tomes of power are kept.

However, I wanted to ask my readers something this week. Namely, do you want to see me keep kicking around in Lovecraft Country?

There's a lot to see there, and I haven't explored it all yet!

But before I get into the meat of today's post, remember, 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!

Should I Let The Investigation Die? Or Keep Digging?

I've been a fan of the Cthulhu Mythos as a whole since my teen years, and I love the twists and turns one can find in even a "normal" Call of Cthulhu game. However, as I mentioned above, I stepped back from community creation platforms because they only pay half as much up-front to me as original content does, which makes paying my bills tough. Still, variety is the spice of life, and I figured that adding another chapter to a couple of my older series might get some fresh readers interested in not just what's dropping now, but what I worked on a few years ago.

Additionally, while the stories for the Businesses and Gangsters supplements wrapped up in a two-part adventure, there is a fresh investigation beginning in 100 Books To Find in The Miskatonic Library (That AREN'T In The Restricted Section). So in addition to getting additional supplements in the future, it's very likely that readers would also get serial installments of the case being taken up by a Miskatonic academic and his strongarm associate as they head out beyond Arkham in search of lost tomes of eldritch knowledge.

So, if that's the sort of thing you'd like to see, now is your chance to weigh in!

What Do You Need To Do To Send A Message?

If you're the sort of player out there who enjoys my Call of Cthulhu content, and you'd like to see more of it, there are a few things you can do to help ensure that more of it gets put out. I've listed them in descending order of effectiveness, as well, so if you feel strongly about me staying in this particular arena, start at the top of the list and work your way down!

- Buy and review a copy of the three supplements I listed in the introductory section. The first two are at Silver metal status at time of writing, and the third is creeping up toward Copper. If those start pulling increased numbers and attention, that motivates me, personally.

- Check out the rest of the titles Azukail Games has for the Miskatonic Repository! While these are by various authors, the main reason these kinds of supplements have slackened has been lack of audience interest. The more people who pick up copies, and the more reviews they leave, the more likely the publisher is to put more energy into future titles from myself and others!

- Watch and share the videos I linked above, and leave comments on them! The Azukail Games YouTube channel is finally monetized, and getting a few thousand fresh views on these videos would make them stand out among our other audio dramas, and show that there's definitely interest in more Mythos expansion. Subscribing to the channel would also help us get closer to our next milestone, which would give us more resources to take more risks with.

- Leave comments on this blog, and on social media, to let us know what you'd like to see! While it's definitely valuable to give us your feedback, it's very easy to say what you want, but those kinds of asks carry a lot more weight when they come from folks who are buying our supplements, and boosting our signal!

And for folks who are curious, these same steps can help you get the attention of basically any publisher that you want to see go in a particular direction, but it's particularly effective with indie publishers because it doesn't take a whole lot of activity for them to perk up their ears and take notice. Hell, if even 100 people bought a copy of each of the three supplements I mentioned (a relatively small number when you think about the industry as a whole) that would basically be a shot across the bow that more CoC material is wanted immediately.

So, just something to think about in case you're one of my readers who like to see me venture out a little deeper into Lovecraft Country!

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 Blue Sky, 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!

An Easy-To-Make Village Noticeboard For All Your Quests And Warnings

Folks who keep a regular eye on my release schedule may have noticed I had a fresh RPG supplement drop this past weekend. If you didn't see it, consider grabbing your copy of 100 Ads And Announcements For A Village Noticeboard! It's hit Copper status at time of writing, and it would be awesome if we could push it up to Silver by the end of the month.

Because this supplement has been surprisingly popular, though, I wanted to draw some particular attention to a video that's over on the Azukail Games YouTube channel. It's been a while since it went up, but if you're into making your own, unique terrain to put onto the map, this is one you'll get a lot of use out of!

All righty... which of these are within our CR...?

But before I get into the meat of today's post, remember, 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 Location For Your Quests?

While it might seem a little hamhanded, the village noticeboard is something of a standby for a lot of games because it's a simple way for the GM to get new jobs into the hands of the party, to share local news, and it's a fun little addition to a setting and story. Particularly if there are actual mysteries involving who is posting notices, or if there are Easter eggs hidden in some of them.

This goes double if you're one of those GMs that likes to print out or otherwise make notices players can hold in their hands. And if that's an addition you'd like to make, don't forget to check out How To Make "Parchment" Paper Using Tea, in addition to the video below.

I mostly wanted to draw attention to this video because it was one of the earlier ones Adrian made for the channel, and because it uses some of the great resources you can find over on the Crooked Staff publisher page. While I don't have a full setup for miniature crafting and terrain making myself, this has been in my queu for a while, and it was honestly the inspiration behind my latest supplement.

Additionally, if you're looking for some pre-built places to feature these rumors, consider grabbing yourself a copy of either 10 Fantasy Villages, or Towns of Sundara while you're at it!

Lastly if you're the sort of person who enjoys making minis and terrain pieces, make sure you stop by the Azukail Games YouTube page, subscribe, like, and leave some comments! Especially if there's something in particular you'd like to see go up next!

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 Blue Sky, 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!

Interpreting The Umbra: Dark Miyazaki

There is a world behind the one we know. It is a world of spirit that is, in many ways, a truer reality than the one in which we live and breathe. It is also, however, a place that holds up a mirror to the physical world, and shows us the spiritual reflections of the everyday horrors we walk right past without truly seeing them. This world is filled with spirits, but it is also filled with memories and legends, holding the emotional resonance of the world.

This place is the Umbra, and if you're new to Werewolf: The Apocalypse, or really any World of Darkness game that allows you to access this plane, it can be a lot of wrap your mind around. So I thought this week I'd offer an interpretation that might help folks get a grasp on the world, and what can be found within it.

I call this interpretation Dark Miyazaki.

It helps anchor the fantastical in a lot of ways.

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!

Let Yourself Be "Spirited Away"

While the film that most fits Werewolf's anti-pollution and anti-corruption themes is definitely Princess Mononoke (and one could argue that many of the monsters in that film are a perfect fit for the creation of fomori or corrupted spirits), the film I think works best as a jumping off point for the Umbra is Spirited Away.

For those who aren't familiar with the story, the broadest strokes of Spirited Away are that a young girl crosses a boundary into the spirit world, is stranded there, and must navigate the new rules of this bizarre places while attempting to survive, make friends, and find her way back to the physical world once more. While she's in the spirit world, though, we see great spirits and small ones, we see spiritual reflections of the material world, we see the sometimes orange-and-blue logic that drives the spirits to behave the way they do, and we begin to get a sense of the hierarchies that exist in this other world.

While it isn't a perfect one-to-one comparison, it can anchor your understanding as both a player or a Storyteller to have a reference like this to draw on. Much like how someone who has played Vampire might be able to easily sidestep into the mechanics of Werewolf as they're built on the same system, it's easier to ease yourself into a new fantastical concept if you already have a shared basis to draw on, and spin out from.

However, given that this is the World of Darkness, Storytellers might wish to paint with a darker brush than we see in this film. Players might find that in their attempt to destroy an oil refinery in the physical world means that the fire spirits who occupy the reflection of that site may have grown violent and destructive, demanding sacrifices of flesh and soul from those caught in their territory. You might find that locations opposite a vampire's haven are riddled with cancerous rot and violent, insane monsters, not unlike what you'd come across in Silent Hill's dark world. You may even find that the opposite side of a school is a prison that crushes tiny spirits until their essence flows freely, all of it drained out of the floor until the "pupils" in the place are a hollow, empty hivemind that conforms to the dark desires of the place.

Lastly, because the Umbra is massive, unknowable, and constantly shifting and changing, there is an infinite possibility as to what one might find on the other side of the gauntlet that separates the world of spirits from the physical world.

And on that note...

Would You Like Supplements For The Umbra?

If you're a regular reader, you might be familiar with supplements I wrote for the Hedge for use in Changeling: The Lost. Supplements like 100 Sights To See in The Hedge as well as 100 Hobs To Meet in The Hedge proved to be extremely popular, and given that the Hedge is also an ever-shifting realm of danger and madness where lurk bizarre creatures and impossible dangers, I figured that putting out supplements like this to help Storytellers get a grip on what they wanted players to encounter in the Umbra might be of-use.

So if you'd like to see a line of resources for fleshing out your part of the Spirit Wilds, let me know in the comments, or on social media!

And, of course, if you'd like some resources for the physical side of a Werewolf game, I'd highly recommend getting your hands on the 100 Kinfolk Bundle which has something like 1,500 NPCs in it, as well as Evil Inc.: 10 Pentex Subsidiaries.

After all, the more interest there is in Werewolf as a property, the more likely it is I can greenlight projects related to it!

Lastly, I have a new Werewolf video essay in the works... so subscribe to the Azukail Games YouTube channel to make sure you don't miss it when it drops!

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 Blue Sky, 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!

Playing Warhammer 40K, Trench Crusade, Or Army Men? Adrian Has Your Terrain Covered!

Many RPGs take place in the theater of the mind, using the pure imagination of those around the table to play out the story. And while that's all well and good for the cinematically inclined, other games focus on distances, cover, strategic maneuvers, and small-unit successes. These games can't rely on the imagination alone, because they depend on all the players viewing the same battlefield, and having the same understanding of what's happening. And whether you're assembling a table for the grim darkness of the far future in Warhammer 40K, you're joining the war against (or for) the heretic legions of hell in Trench Crusade, or you're taking up arms on behalf of the Plastos Federathion in my RPG Army Men: A Game of Tactical Plastic, you owe it to yourself to check out the terrain crafting videos being done by Adrian Kennelly over on the Azukail Games YouTube channel.

From Vracks to the Somme, you'll find something you like!

But before I get into the meat of today's post, remember, 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!

Table Terrain To Make Your Battles Blaze!

Before I go too much further, I wanted to offer full disclosure for folks who aren't regular readers. I'm a contributor to the Azukail Games YT channel, and I'm an author of several of the game supplements the publisher has released. And while I make a majority of the shows that are hosted on the channel, when we really started gaining momentum, Adrian started doing semi-regular crafting videos for tabletop gaming. And while several of the early videos were very much geared toward traditional fantasy gaming, a lot of the more recent additions are for terrain pieces that are much more at-home in modern warfare scenarios.

Such as the first video he made for Army Men about how to make barbed wire!

In addition to the tutorial for barbed wire, Adrian has also covered videos for making a Czech hedgehog tank trap, how to make craters, how to make ruined walls, and even how to make supply pallets for your table terrain! All of which I happen to think is pretty damn neat, and were I a craftier sort of gamer (and had more space to assemble and store this kind of terrain) I'd likely have a bunch of my own examples to show off by now.

However, I wanted to give Adrian's content a shout out this week because I know exactly how much work it takes to make videos like this. From lighting and setup, to making sure that you have just the right angle and just the right voice overs and music to keep your viewers watching while also giving them value for their time isn't easy. Not only that, but a lot of the stuff he makes also gets me fired up to play (and design) more gaming stuff... which is important when the creative side of things starts to feel like a slog!

So if this is the sort of content you enjoy (whether it's because you like crafting tutorials or you just enjoy checking out the tips and tricks of the trade), subscribe to the Azukail Games YouTube channel today, and while you're at it watch the Crafting Playlist that has a complete run of all 35 of Adrian's videos on it. I'm urging folks to watch the videos, upvote the ones they like, leave comments of at least 7 words (because that's what tickles the algorithm's fancy), and maybe share them around on your own social media pages... because few things encourage folks who make videos, blogs, and games than hearing from our audience, and being told loud and clear that they like what we're making, and we should keep going!

Lastly, if there's a particular type of terrain you're interested in, make sure you leave a comment on the videos asking for a guide! Whether you want full trenches, bombed-out buildings, sniper nests, or anything else, making a suggestion (and getting it upvoted by others) is a great way to let us know what you want to see!

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 Blue Sky, 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!

Dungeon Design Tips: Cover, Firing Lines, and Dynamic Arenas

If you've played RPGs long enough, chances are you've been in your share of scrapes and scraps. And while there might have been one or two memorable events, chances are good that a majority of these combats were in wide open fields, square or rectangular rooms, and with an occasional circular chamber mixed in for variety. But while the shape of these arenas might change, many of them suffer from the same problem; they're wide open spaces with clear sight lines.

So if you want to make your arenas more dynamic, consider changing that up.

Who's up for a little crossfire?

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!

Cover, Firing Lines, And Changing Up Your Formula

Let's use the humble tavern as an example. It's one of the most infamous places in fantasy RPGs, because it feels like this is always where your adventure takes place. And while we often think of taverns as little more than long, rectangular rooms, consider all the potential aspects of them. There's the bar itself, which provides cover for those standing behind it. There might be heavy support columns that could do the same throughout the room. There's also the benches and tables that one could leap up onto in order to claim the high ground, or flip over in order to hide behind them in the event that arrows, crossbow bolts, or spells start flying.

And that is just a single example of how a relatively "normal" location for a combat could immediately become a more dynamic arena. But ask yourself what could happen if you introduced that same kind of philosophy to other places where it's likely that steel and spells will come into play.

This is where creativity can really alter the challenge.

Consider the goblin cavern that most adventurers will venture into at some point in their careers. Are there small niches higher on the wall where said goblins can station archers to fire down on intruders? Are there lower ceilings that make their home difficult to invade for anyone Medium-sized, forcing them to fight at a disadvantage? Are there stalagmites that break up line of sight along the cavern, making it hard to target individual enemies as they converge? You could even take this strategy and apply it in outdoor areas, using tall grasses, underground burrows, and even simple hills to give some targets high ground, cover, and so on.

And this is before you have players assault locations that are specifically built to give the advantage to defenders.

This isn't just castles, though they're the most obvious location. Narrow bridges and hallway choke points, stairways, balconies, fences and barricades can all add dynamic aspects and elements to your dungeons and encounters, while also making particular powers more viable and interesting than they would otherwise be in a game where all your arenas are empty, square rooms with no real strategy involved except swinging a sword or firing arrows until all the enemies fall over.

For example, say you have a castle courtyard where there are melee warriors down in the dirt with the party, but there are archers or spellcasters up along the ramparts directing their aggression downward. At this point, characters who have access to spells like spider climb, or abilities like shadow jump could use those to immediately close vertical distance, shifting their position up to threaten the ranged enemies who thought they were safe. Alternatively, if you had an evoker with a spell like chain lightning or fireball up their sleeve, they could use those to clear the upper deck, while the party melee brutes kept the other enemy fighters busy.

And if you had a particularly acrobatic/mobile party, they might all be able to clamber up to the ramparts, keeping themselves out of melee reach while using their new, more protected position to their advantage by slinging spells, firing arrows, or just hucking bombs down at an enemy that can no longer reach them.

These will fix a VARIETY of problems...

The more dynamic you make an area with things like cover, difficult terrain, high ground, low ground, and so on, the wider a variety of tools and strategies your players will be able to use to achieve their goals. And, on top of that, it can stop combat from feeling like just another slog... which is what this whole series is about!

Lastly, when designing these arenas, keep in mind that this also adds to the CR of the encounter. So keep in mind that fighting a squad of orc berserkers and a single shaman in a knock down, drag out brawl is a very different matter than crossing an area of difficult terrain with cover, Czech hedgehogs, and so on that forces the party to get... creative with their solutions!

If you enjoyed this article, and you'd like more ways you can change things up as a GM, make sure you grab a copy of 100 Tips And Tricks For Being A Better Game Master!

 

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 Blue Sky, 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!

Army Men Mission Packs: Full Modules, Or Merely A Mission Brief?

While the Anniversary Bundle For "Army Men: A Game of Tactical Plastic" is currently going on, I've been thinking on new directions to go with future supplements, and how to expand the game in a meaningful way. Though I've had ideas for expanded equipment, more enemies, additional genres, and more, I figured that the best thing to put out would be a few more missions. Because while there's a single mission module in the core rulebook, and A Night At Breckon's Beacon came out a little while ago, I figured that the best thing to get more people playing was to give them an easy way to get more boots on the ground.

However, a suggestion recently came in for upending the format I have been using so that I can get more missions (and more creative freedom) into the hands of Game Masters... my question for you all is which road you'd prefer I go down?

As always, make sure you leave your comments down below!

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A Detailed Module, Or A Brief Layout?

For folks who've picked up any of my modules, whether it was for Army Men or something like my dark fae adventure The Price of Iron or the fantastical slasher The Curse of Sapphire Lake, you're probably familiar with the way I write a mission. Generally I cover the main plot, I provide a handful of NPCs and interactions, some history of the location, necessary maps for any combats, and some different, branching paths an adventure might take depending on player actions (or lack of actions, in some cases). It's pretty complete, and usually hits just over 10K words (something like 15-20 pages).

However, it was recently suggested that I should release something for Army Men that's along the lines of what Modiphius does for their Star Trek Adventure Briefs. The way these supplements are laid out is that each one details a dozen given disasters that act as the central plot lines of adventures, essentially givine the Game Master the central thrust of the mission, and then leaving them to fill in the blanks to flesh out the mission their own.

I'd check it out if you haven't!

Both of these formats have their own advantages and disadvantages. For example, fully-contained modules have their own maps, NPCs, and a full story along with a lot of safety rails to help a Game Master keep a story going. However, they require a lot of art, a lot of careful weaving together of plot points, and even adventure modules on the shorter side can eat up a lot of word count in a big damn hurry. They're also a huge pain in the ass to write, and frankly they don't tend to move a lot of copies... which are two main reasons I don't put them out as often as other supplements.

On the other hand, a single supplement that contains a slew of potential missions can make it feel like the Game Master is getting more bang for their buck. However, I feel the key is for all of those adventures to take place in a single location, which will act as the tentpole the missions surround. So just like how Star Trek mission packs focus on the ship and its crew, I feel that I would need to release these packs around something like a naval vessel and the situations it engages, or around a location like Fort Foxtrot, detailed in the back of the base book.

Where the hell is our fire support, dammit! We can't lose this fort!

On the one hand, I can see the appeal of getting a bunch of potential complications around a single location. However, given the tactical nature of Army Men as a game, I feel like leaving out all those details leaves a lot of work for the Game Master, who will now need to design encounters with vespoids, shoot outs with cartels, booby traps, maps of where troops are moving through, and so on, and so forth.

So I want to take a moment to ask folks this week, what kind of supplements would you like to see more of going forward? Do you like the detail-oriented missions where the Game Master is given the stats of the monsters, maps, laid-out encounters, equipment recommendations, and all the details they need to run a 2-4 hour session? Or do you think giving the Game Masters some basic tools, the profile of a shared location, and a nudge in the right direction is sufficient, even with all the extra work they'd need to do?

Now, this isn't technically an either-or situation. I'm perfectly capable of doing both varieties of content. However, I can only write so many things so quickly, so what I'm asking for from my readers this week is to let me know in the comments which variety of supplement you would prefer to see first. Are you someone who wants a bunch of loose threads and ideas that can be woven together into a pretty decent arc of a full campaign? Or do you prefer having all of the tools in your hands with as many maps, notes, and NPCs as possible so you aren't caught off-guard?

Let me know down in the comments below, on social media, and so on. Also, don't forget to pick up your Army Men Anniversary Bundle before it expires! And lastly, if this is your first time hearing about Army Men, and you'd like to know more, check out the series Tactical Plastic Report I'm doing about it over on the Azukail Games YouTube channel!

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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 Blue Sky, 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!