What Would You Like To See Next? Hunter? Beast? Something Else?

Folks who know my work know that I have a deep and abiding love for the World/Chronicles of Darkness. For several years of my career, in fact, I would release a supplement every month, or every other month, for one of the games in these settings. About two years ago I stopped, though, because it just wasn't financially feasible for me to continue... however, variety is the spice of life, and it seems there are still folks who really want me to come back to these games.

So I wanted to ask folks again... what games would you like to see me come back to?

Speak, and perhaps you shall receive.

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!

My Next Destination... The Vigil? The Primordial?

Back in March, I made an episode of Discussions of Darkness asking viewers what they would like to see me put together for future World/Chronicles of Darkness content. The two games I proposed were Werewolf: The Apocalypse and Changeling: The Lost, since those are the two games I've written the largest number of supplements for over the years.

I started with Dark Reflections: 50 Sights To See in The Penumbra for Werewolf, and yesterday I cracked the seal on my next Changeling project, which deals with the Gentry, and will dovetail very nicely with 7 True Fae in Arcadia for folks who picked up a copy of that supplement from Lily Lessard. However, I'm laying out plans for what I want to start on this fall, and I wanted to touch base with all my readers out there...

First and foremost, I was recently part of the supplement Night Horrors: Primordial Peerage, which is a hefty book for Beast: The Primordial that deals with a lot of extra lore, character archetypes, etc. to flesh out the setting. I had fun with my part of the game, but I was a little surprised by the size of the response from folks. Apparently Beast is quite a popular game, and there are a lot of folks who are hungry for more... so would you like to see me put out some supplements for this game as well? And if so, what sort of things would you like to see added into the mix?

However, I've also picked up Hunter: The Vigil, and I'm working my way through it. I can honestly say I haven't looked at Vigil since I took part in the initial playtest for it, but I'm trying to read a few dozen pages a night before bed. While I'm doing the work for a chronicle I plan on running for my own group, I have several ideas of things I'd like to organize and arrange into supplements based on the material I'm making... particularly since the game I'm writing is set during Prohibition!

So this week, I wanted to check in with you all as my readers... do either of these proposals sound interesting to you? And if so, which one would you prefer to see?

Place your vote in the comments below, and leave it on social media for extra points to be sure I see it! Additionally, check out the 39 supplements I've written in my World/Chronicles of Darkness pinboard so you can see everything I've already put together for this setting!

Also, if you haven't checked out my latest Changeling: The Lost video essay which introduces the host for my upcoming podcast Windy City Shadows, then give this video a look see, as well!

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!

The Transformative Properties of Pain (Delving Into Zon-Kuthon, Slaanesh, and Others)

There are things that exist in our favorite fictional universes that can leave our skin crawling, and our minds rebelling. Things with mutilated flesh, who are seemingly unbound by moral precepts, and who are a dark mirror to many things we hold dear. They are not just monstrous, and not just evil, wicked, or blasphemous... they are alien. They are so removed from our experiences that the only way we can categorize them is to say they are insane... that only the mad would see logic in what these things are, and the actions they take.

Despite that, though, many of us feel drawn to them. We want to see more, to understand more, to experience more... and this is both the power of these things, and a cornerstone of what makes them what they are in many ways.

Because to desire, to want, is the gateway. And even if what lies beyond that threshold is pain, we will endure it precisely because of the want that made us open the door in the first place.

Come... I have such sights to show you...

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!

Pain and Transformation

Zon-Kuthon. Slaanesh. The Cenobites. The Godhand. Even my own god Tensa found in Gods of Sundara (available for Pathfinder as well as DND 5E). Our fiction, and our games, are full of creatures shaped by alien forces and impossible desires... things that corrupt you, twist you, and which bring their followers to the other end of madness.

And while that works well enough for antagonists in a story, things and people we want to see as cold, alien, and unknowable, it doesn't work as well for our characters. Because we need to understand them, and we need those around us to understand them. Which is why it's important to think of desire, pain, and the transformative nature of the experience that comes with these things.

Consider for a moment seeing someone in middle school or high school who is in their first official relationship. You've never seen anyone that happy, riding high on a fresh emotion that has them walking on air. And then when they have their first break up, it is devastating for them. They bawl, they kick, they scream, and they might even break things. To adults looking on, it seems so petty, and unimportant, because most of us have gone through this process many, many times before. We might remember what it was like when we went through this when we were children, but it's so far removed from who we are now that it often feels like it happened to someone else.

Going through that pain, and recovering from it, changed us. We shifted something in ourselves. Some of us heal, and some of us limp, but we continued on.

Alternatively, think of the original Little Mermaid. She was given legs, but every step was agony, akin to walking on razors for the rest of her life. A bargain she made with her eyes open because she wanted that so badly. She knew that to be changed would bring agony, but the change was worth the pain.

These are two halves of the same coin. On the one hand we have pain that transforms us, and on the other side we have transformations that hurt us. In either case, we will become a different person than who we were... and in some cases we may no longer even recognize what we've become. Or who we used to be.

This is a philosophical basis that can act as a starting point with characters attached to a philosophy of pain, darkness, or even depravity. However, it's important to remember that even in the case of a penitent being remade by the cenobites, or someone rising to become a member of Berserk's Godhand, the transformation doesn't begin with the dramatic final step... the transformation began down a long and winding road that led to where they wound up.

A Thousand Resurrections On The Path of Corruption

Even if you are not a drug user, you're familiar with the idea of building up a tolerance. The first time you take even the smallest dose, the drug hits your system like a freight train, and you feel it pretty intensely. And if you only indulge every now and again, that level of intensity will be your normal experience... but if you use a drug regularly, your body and mind will get used to it. You'll have to take more, and more, just to move the needle. It's why a child being allowed to have a normal caffeinated soft drink might be bouncing off the walls, while their aunt or uncle can drink 2 cans of Monster before they start to shake off feeling like they need a nap.

Alternatively, think of how muscles grow. When you exercise, you create a small tear, and when your body fills that small tear back in the muscle grows in size and power. This allows you to easily lift something that would have been far beyond your capacity even a few years ago, because you have slowly transformed yourself through regular rituals of suffering and self-inflicted pain.

And when we take these relatively mundane things, and apply them to a darker path, we begin to see how characters might walk into the shadows deliberately and with great purpose.

No one comes to sit where I do by an accident of fate...

Through a steady diet of pain, bloodshed, suffering, or even torturous rites, a character might become something new... something different than they were before. Perhaps they were seduced, as we see with hedonists who had exhausted earthly pleasures who pursued the Lament Configuration to experience the next level of sensation. Or they were told there was a way they could overcome an earthly weakness, but only if they followed the path of the Black Spiral, and reached the end.

If these characters simply swallowed a mouthful of this poison, it would kill them, or cripple them. But if they swallow a little at a time, over and over again, year after year, soon they would build up a functional immunity. This is how they might accept the early rites or requirements of these dark gods or strange philosophies, building up the tolerance, determination, and iron will that will see them through as they pass over the threshing blades that will tear them apart, and allow them to reborn anew.

Others may stare at them in horror. They may see what they're doing as an abomination, a desecration of morality, or a grievous sin. But they have not seen what the one on the left-hand path has seen. The naysayers have not walked where they've walked, and done what they've done. And while the dark pilgrim might try to explain these truths, there are certain experiences that words fail to properly convey. It is only through first-hand knowledge that one can truly understand what lurks beyond pain, and beyond the transformations it heralds.

And on a final note, those who haven't seen this article should check out my Pathfinder character conversion for the cenobite Pinhead!

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!