I've Got Over 200 TTRPG Credits Now! (Technically 201)

Well, I knew this day was coming sometime in 2025, but with all the things going on it seems that I overshot this celebration just a bit. In my defense, though, there was a bit of a glitch in Drive Thru RPG last time I tried to look, so this little occasion slipped past me.

However, it seems that I've finally crossed the finish line I set for myself, and I've now got over 200 TTRPG titles with my name in them! And, because I missed the deadline by a week or so, it turns out I actually have 201 titles! So, bonus celebration, I suppose!

If you could, please give me a single "Huzzah!" under your breath. Thank you.

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!

One Goal Scratched! (But I've Got 2 More Left To Go)

For folks who were watching the Azukail Games YouTube channel, then you may have come across the video I made earlier this year where I set some of my goals. And while I wanted to try to get my RPG Army Men: A Game of Tactical Plastic to at least Silver metal status in terms of sales for Drive Thru RPG, and I wanted to try to release 5 starting missions for the game to give players and Game Masters plenty of options, the third goal was the one I was certain I was going to clinch.

I wanted to have my name in the credits of at least 200 TTRPG titles by the end of 2025... and huzzah, I did it!

So, what was I working on that finally got me over the hump? I'm glad you asked!

In case you didn't see it, #200 for my titles was my Storyteller's Vault supplement Like A Good Neighbor: Portraying The True Fae in Your Chronicle for Changeling: The Lost. As the title suggests, this supplement is all about adding a little depth and flavor to the most powerful entities in the game, but it was also the first time I tried a long-form supplement that talked about Storyteller advice instead of delving into a list of items, NPCs, and so on for the Storyteller to make use of.

And if you haven't grabbed it yet, I highly recommend it!

The other title, which dropped this past weekend, is the first sci fi horror piece that I've put out in a while. I'm back to the list format with this one, but it's 100 different scenarios that a crew might run into on a stranded starship. From deadly aliens, to insane robotic staff, to quantum time loops, there are so many things that your players might have to deal with... so check out Beyond The Black: 100 Dread Scenarios on Stranded Starships!

And if you don't have this one yet, you know what to do!

So, I wanted to take a moment this Monday to celebrate making this goal. However, if you really want to make my day, consider picking up copies of these two titles, or any of my others from Drive Thru RPG! Pushing these two up into Silver metal status, or beyond, would be a great way to start regaining my momentum so I can push forward and get a few more titles cranked out by the end of the year!

And, of course, I've already got some ideas for where I want to go from here... because there ain't no rest for the wicked, and I can't afford to sit on my laurels for long.

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 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: Find A Reason For PCs To Survive (And Try Again)

In the early days of RPGs, death walked with every character as a constant companion. All it took was a single bad tumble of the dice, or the wrong word spoken to the wrong NPC, and it was time to roll up a new character. As games have grown and changed, though, a lot of us have gravitated toward the party-as-main-characters model, where the party are the cast of the novel that is your campaign.

However, while it's a lot harder to kill PCs in most modern games (as long as you aren't playing an OSR game, or something deliberately lethal), it can still happen. Which is why it's a good idea to make sure you have something in your back pocket in case the dice roll hard against your players, but you don't want their stories to be cut short just yet.

You're in a dungeon, after all.

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!

To The Dungeons With Them!

Consider, just for a moment, some of the standard low-level adventures that you often go on. We've all likely been through:

- Bandit hunting

- The goblin cave

- Orc raids

- An evil cult

There are dozens of other options out there, but these will work to illustrate what I'm talking about. So, your players have gone off on one of these missions, and they either bit off more than they could chew, or the dice really went against them, but they find themselves on the wrong end of the stick. If that's the case, ask what happens to prevent this from being the end of their stories.

- The bandits gather the party's gear, and haul in their unconscious bodies. They can always kill them later, but anyone with the skill and bravery they showed might be worth a ransom... the boss is the one who gets to decide that. So they get their wounds treated, and might have to escape from a stockade in order to get their gear back, and take the fight to the bandits.

- The goblins felled the ones who thought they could stop them. They could just kill them, but they want to play with them. Dragging the party to the shaman so they can be healed, the party is now forced to participate in gladiatorial combat for the goblins' amusement, or they get shoved into a cage with wargs, or something else deeply dangerous. An opportunity to escape and retake the advantage is what they need... but will they get the chance?

- The orcs managed to smash the party. Do they awaken hours later, their gear taken, but each of them left with a weapon as a sign of respect? Or do the orcs take the party, healing their captives whom they intend to make into slaves, as is their right as the victors in combat?

- The cult realizes the party is going to be a serious problem... but it's also what they represent. They need to interrogate them to find out who else knows about the cult, and who will be expecting the party to surface again. They may need to torture them, and as we saw in The Princess Bride, they need to be healthy before the torture starts. And when the cult has all the information they need, the party will make for potent sacrifices... they just need to escape before that happens.

Let's see... what other plot twists can we create?

Of course, low levels aren't the only times characters can meet unfortunate or unexpected ends. Especially since high-level encounters can feel like a game of rocket tag where one bad save can lead to your character being down for the count.

And while death may not be the end in a lot of RPGs, there are things you can do to make their escape from the jaws of defeat more dramatic than just forking over some diamond dust and having a cleric cast a spell... especially if you wind up with a TPK. So consider the types of creatures your party is fighting, the current plot they're part of, or even the location they happen to be in.

As an example, if your characters are involved in conflict with fey, is there some obscure rule of hospitality that means they cannot be slain outright? Must this matter be escalated to one of the high nobles, and a ruling established? Perhaps requiring a trial by combat, allowing the party to take their best shot in a different arena?

Alternatively, if you're running a more traditional, Chosen One sort of game that expects these specific characters to press forward and save the world, do they have the ability to try to escape from the Underworld? While this might become a secondary dungeon crawl, or a combat against one of the psychopomps that try to usher souls to the other side, it can give your players a sense of purpose and power over their own deaths by having to fight their way back to their bodies... literally as well as metaphorically. And if this is a plot you intend to run, I'd recommend checking out The Black Ballad by Storyteller's Forge, as it's a great resource for this sort of thing. There's also a Pathfinder Conversion Pack, which can be useful.

Lastly, consider the place the party meets their ends. If they're in a place that's rife with undeath, does dying in this location curse someone, giving them a kind of dark resurrection? Perhaps adding one of the half-dead racial templates found in my supplement Moüd, City of Bones (available for Pathfinder and DND 5E)? If they're on holy ground, are they offered a bargain by the god, goddess, devil, or demon this place is dedicated to (or was dedicated to, if it's been forgotten)?

It All Depends On You And Your Game

Some groups like it when death has teeth, and the end is final unless someone survives and manages to resurrect or reincarnate the dead or defeated party members. However, it's often a good idea to have some dynamic plans so that defeat and death don't just feel like an arbitrary roll of the die... especially if that puts major kinks into the story you're all trying to tell!

But as with all things, make sure you talk this over with your group to be sure you're all on the same page before it's time to start rolling dice.

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!

Do We, As Players, Own The World/Chronicles of Darkness Now?

Folks who keep up with me as a creator are aware that I've put a lot of supplements out for the World and Chronicles of Darkness over the years. Last time I ran the numbers, it made up roughly 25% of my total title count. However, I had to step away for a year and a half or so because Storyteller's Vault was just too big of a hurdle for me to overcome, financially.

But 2025 has seen my name returning to these dark and dreary streets. First I released Dark Reflections: 50 Sights To See in The Penumbra for Werewolf: The Apocalypse, and then Night Horrors: Primordial Peerage dropped for Beast: The Primordial (I was a small part of this project, but it was enjoyable to work on). And then this past weekend my latest piece for Changeling: The Lost dropped... Like A Good Neighbor: Portraying The True Fae in Your Chronicle!

I noticed an unusual refrain as I was going around and trying to do my part to promote these titles, though... players, reviewers, and commenters keep saying that "we" own the World and Chronicles of Darkness now. And while this is absolutely NOT a statement on the legal rights and intellectual property of the setting, it does seem to be true in the sense of the new releases we're getting... or, more accurately, not getting.

Hand over the monsters. Slowly.

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!

Who Is Still Lurking in The Shadows?

Back in the 1990s, the World of Darkness was once called the DND Killer. Vampire, Werewolf, and the other bruisers were everywhere, and sucking up the oxygen in the room. Players were wearing their sunglasses inside, dressing in black leather, playing club music, and doing their best rendition of a modern day (and edgier) Dark Shadows. It held steady, and even into the 2000s it was doing strong numbers. It eventually started flagging, which led to the re-invention into the New World of Darkness, which eventually became the second edition known as the Chronicles of Darkness.

And even though the setting is a shadow of its former self, there is still a dark power to it. There is something about it that captures the imagination, and leads one down a dark alley to show them the broken glass of shattered dreams, and to whisper to them that monsters are real.

However, Onyx Path Publishing seems to be focusing on the other games it's publishing these days. Curseborne is (or at least was) the new hotness for a while, but there's focus on the Trinity Continuum, as well as on up-and-coming projects like Monster Kingdoms, and a slew of other games and settings that already exist.

But the World of Darkness, and the Chronicles of Darkness, seem to be largely abandoned by the company and their official releases. It seems like nothing really new has come out for even the most popular spheres of the game, and there isn't any buzz about up-and-coming projects players should look forward to. Now, there's still a huge amount of stuff already out there... but new supplements and books don't seem to be coming through official channels...

... they're coming from the community.

The call... it's inside the house.

With releases like Book of Lineages for Promethean: The Created, Book of Courts for Changeling: The Lost, or something like Dark Eras: A New Origin, there's clearly a lot of interest still going on in these settings... it's just that the designers aren't currently part of the Onyx Path/Paradox/etc. stable (anymore, at least, as I've heard there are several former designers who are trying to shoot adrenaline into the setting by lending their talents to community releases). So, that puts us all in something of a unique position.

On the one hand, Storyteller's Vault lays out clear rules and requirements we have to follow to make products for these settings... but on the other hand, if the company isn't planning to keep the games we love going, then why shouldn't we, as a community, pour that love into them (along with some other dark, alchemical fluids)? For all the flaws, missteps, and problems in the games we love, why shouldn't we keep doing our best to refine them, to offer fresh perspectives and ideas, and build them that much bigger, better, and darker?

I say this as someone who has designed my fair share of WoD/CoD supplements, and who still has a slew of projects I'd like to put up... if you want to see these games keep going, then make sure you're supporting the community creators as best you can. Check out new releases, leave ratings and reviews, and help us spread the word so that we can defray our costs, and pay our bills, while putting out fresh stuff for everyone out there who isn't ready to leave the shadows behind just yet.

Also, if you're someone who enjoys the World and Chronicles of Darkness, but you haven't yet checked out Discussions of Darkness, consider giving the series a look over on the Azukail Games YouTube channel!

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 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!

"Showdown in Sector 33" Presents A New Story Format... Should I Stick With It?

Roughly 5 months or so ago, I came out with 100 Station Security Officers, which was my first Starfinder supplement that I'd worked on in years. And with how busy things were, I didn't get around to putting together a little audio drama for the intro fiction until fairly recently. Thanks to the algorithm being such an issue, though, I wanted to take a brief post to talk about what I was trying to do, and to ask all the readers and listeners out there to give me your thoughts on the matter!

Real talk, your opinions could very much shift how I make my content going forward, so please weigh in on this one.

Seriously, give this one a look if you haven't yet!

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!

Taking Inspiration From A Warhammer 40K Creator

Showdown in Sector 33 was something of a challenge for me as a creator, and I tried to put everything I've learned over the past few years into effect so I could differentiate the characters as much as possible! A nasty, brutal little story about station security standing off with a collection of gangers, I'd like to ask everyone to give it a listen, and to subscribe to the Azukail Games YouTube channel if you haven't yet!

However, in addition to trying to go all-out on the SFX and voice effects, I wanted to try a new format for the video itself. Because up until now I've mostly used either still images, or switched between different full-screen images when making my dramatizations. However, for this story I tried to do something to make the flow of conversation and story look more like a throwback to a classic video game RPG. I'm thinking about trying to refine this for future videos, and perhaps adding in some text blocks for the dialogue being spoken by characters in order to really lean into that classic RPG feel... but this is not an idea that came to me out of nowhere.

And this is where I recommend everyone reading this check out the channel Warrior Tier... and specifically his ongoing series regarding the Horus Heresy for Warhammer 40K!

He's currently 3 videos in on this series, with Horus Rising Part One: The Path of The Luna Wolves, followed by Act II: The Emperor's Children, and then with Part III, The Sons of Horus. It's beautiful, has a talented cast, and from what I know about making audio dramas like this, there is a lot of work put into this series! So if you're a fan of grimdark sci fi in general, and Warhammer 40K in particular, please go and check that series out. It deserves all the love, and it's an absolute joy to behold!

I probably won't end up going quite that far with my own productions... but if I could get a couple thousand people to raise their voices and demand I make something that big for Starfinder, I suppose I could expand on what I've made so far! So if you've got thoughts on Showdown in Sector 33, please leave them in the comments below, but even more importantly, in the comment section of the video over on YouTube! Stuff that shows up over there will be seen by my publisher, but it will also help tell the algorithm to boost the video, and show it to more people.

As always, any and all help is appreciated! So if you enjoy these stories, make sure you share them around and let folks know about them!

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Table Talk. 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!

How To Avoid Decision Paralysis Among Your Players (The 3 Choices Method)

Generally speaking, as a Game Master, you want your players to have a good experience playing with you. And it's not really controversial to say that most players want to feel like they have input in how a game is run, and that the decisions their characters make really matter. However, it's one thing to say that you want freedom, and to do whatever you want in a game... but it's another matter entirely to actually exercise that freedom in a way that helps build a story.

And while you don't want to impose your will on the table as a Game Master, sometimes you have to facilitate swifter decision making, and you have to support your players. Which is why I'd suggest taking the following tips to heart!

All right, so, let's work on a combined vision, shall we?

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!

The 3 Choices Method

Too often we end up with either a completely scripted plot that the Game Master wants the players to follow, or the Game Master spreads the world out at the players' feet and waits for them to choose the direction they want to head off in. This puts the onus entirely on the Game Master, or on the players, when the game should be a collaboration between both sides of the screen.

Which is why I recommend what I call the 3 Choices Method.

This inspiration partially came from my 3 Solutions Strategy which I recommend for the World and Chronicles of Darkness. That strategy, for those who didn't watch the video, boils down to making sure there's a Physical, Social, and Mental way to solve most situations that players are faced with. The idea is that everyone at the table should have something they can do to help advance the plot with the options in front of them.

The 3 Choices Method is meant to provide enough options that players feel like they have real choices, but to stop them from overanalyzing and second guessing themselves as they're overwhelmed by being able to choose anything.

For example, you know what game system you want to run, and the table is all in agreement. You know what world you want to run your campaign in. But where in the setting should you explore? While you could leave this decision up to the players to figure out, it's often faster to provide 3 choices for the players to pick from. Those choices should be different enough that the distinction feels meaningful, but they should all be options that you are willing to follow through with as the Game Master. The same is true when it comes to the genre of plot you offer your players (say a Dungeon Crawl, Political Intrigue, or Kingdom Building plot); they should be distinct enough to be different, but you need to be willing to follow through on whatever the table picks.

This isn't just for the foundational stages of making your new campaign, either; it can be used for major decisions throughout the game as well. For example, if there are large organizations or patrons vying for the characters' services, it's a good idea to give your players 3 viable options to choose from. This makes it feel like they have more than just a binary choice, but it stops them from being paralyzed by too many paths to pick from. If they finish one arc of a campaign, and they're deciding where to go next, providing 3 choices can cut down on deliberation so that decisions can be made relatively quickly. Even if you're snatching rumors and plot hooks out of a supplement like 100 Ads and Announcements To Find on a Village Noticeboard, giving 3 to follow up on gives your players choices, without giving them room to spiral.

Now, the key here is to think of this method in terms of a road trip. There are several different routes that will get your party to their destination... but you're letting them choose the forks in the road. They choose where they're going, who's going to sit where, and who's going to be in charge of what responsibilities, but after that they can only exercise their choices when there's a turn to be made. If you got on the freeway, you need to see that choice through until to find a turnoff to a different path if you want to change. If you opted for the back roads, you've got to keep following them until you intersect with a highway, and you can make a choice to take an alternate route. And so on, and so forth.

There are many roads in your campaign, and your players should have a lot of say in which route they take to get where they're going, and how they deal with the hazards or threats in their way. This takes a little more prep on your part as a Storyteller, but it can be really worth it in the end!

Lastly, don't forget to check out some of my other advice in my Electrum bestseller 100 Tips And Tricks For Being a Better Game Master, as well as the Silver-selling sequel 100 Tips And Tricks For Being a Better RPG Player... both of them are jammed full of all kinds of things that will make your games go more smoothly from both ends of the screen!

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 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!

Game Masters, There's Nothing New Under The Sun (So Don't Stress About It)

There is a fear I have seen among a lot of writers out there. In short, it's a desire to make something genuinely new and different the no one has seen before, which is driven by a fear that someone will accuse their work of being derivative, or of simply being too similar to other stories that have been told before. And, for some reason, this fear seems to affect Game Masters (particularly newer Game Masters) to an even greater extent. They worry their players will guess their twists, figure out their inspirations, or that once they get a bit of insight they'll be completely uninterested in the game because it won't be new or fresh anymore.

Now, I don't often turn to the bible in situations like this. Not my faith, not my book. With that said, though, I'd recommend Ecclesiates 1:9 for advice. What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.

I'll be damned... it's right in the book.

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!

Seriously, Just Embrace It!

There are a lot of Game Masters who likely laughed, shook their heads, or rolled their eyes at the introductory paragraphs. I've lost count of the number of people who are all too happy to list the books, movies, and even other RPG settings they've stolen their ideas from, talking about the various NPCs, locales, and plot arcs they've snagged from other places to make their own Frankenstein creatures to serve up to their players.

And in some cases the GM had wider, deeper, or older tastes than the players, so nobody realized the campaign, world, etc. wasn't spun entirely out of whole cloth. However, most of the time realizing that a Game Master took inspiration from a particular property (or even an entire part of history, for those who know that Game of Thrones is based on the War of The Roses) doesn't ruin the experience for the players... because it's not about being utterly and completely unique in a way that no one has ever done things before. It's about providing your players an experience that's unique to them and which has your signature style on it.

Put another way, think of your campaign as a grilled cheese. Everyone knows what a grilled cheese is, and everyone has probably had them dozens of different ways over their lifetime. Now, you might make yours in a slightly different way that some people (maybe your cheese is spicy, maybe you use mayo instead of butter to ensure the bread is toasty, perhaps you like to put bacon bits in it, whatever it is you do), but others are going to take one bite and it will be instantly familiar to them. That doesn't mean they stop eating the sandwich, especially if you prepared something they like in a way that is fresh, delicious, and which is served up on a platter to them.

Case in point...

I've got plenty of examples in my own catalog where I embraced the inspirations for a particular project. My elevator pitch for The Curse of Sapphire Lake is, "The love child of Beowulf and Friday the 13th," after all. And fans of classic action movies will quickly recognize the inspiration behind my Army Men mission module Assault on Outpost 13, since even the title is an homage to the film Assault on Precinct 13. My Sundara: Dawn of a New Age fantasy RPG setting completely does away with the convoluted multiplanar structure used in Pathfinder and Dungeons and Dragons, opting for a simpler, more streamlined system of the material world and the Prim, which I explained in Gods of Sundara... and it's going to look very familiar to any fans of the Warp in Warhammer 40K as far as structure goes.

Hell, even my World of Darkness supplement Evil Incorporated just looked at historical atrocities (and modern ones) committed by corporations and billionaires. The introductory fiction even has a veiled call-out to the owners of Hobby Lobby who (at least allegedly) paid a ridiculous amount of money to terrorists in the Middle East to purchase stolen relics which they kept in their own homes.

Now, I'm far from unique in this aspect. Zon-Kuthon, from Pathfinder is clearly heavily inspired by the cenobites of Hellraiser, but not only that, the nation that worships him is steeped in winks and nods to Melnibone, the nation from the Elric novels by Moorcock. The same can be said of the supposedly cursed kingdom of Valyria from Game of Thrones, for the record. There are references all over our games to works by H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard, to say nothing of Tolkien. And that's before we get into the copious use of world mythology, and great works of fiction like Arthur and his knights of the round table.

So while a particular game might have a different flavor, or a unique twist on things (such as a medieval fantasy game where you have to investigate the Cthulhu Mythos, or recreating the Trojan War as a starfaring space battle using mech combat), the inspirations are going to be present. There is always going to be a story that came before you, or a character someone else has seen, that bears some similarity to what you're doing at your table. More importantly, if you spend all your time focusing on what you don't want your game to be, then you're going to define it by what it isn't, rather than what it is.

I'm not saying you should shamelessly copy someone else's homework and just change a couple of the names around (I'm looking at you, Games Workshop). However, if you're tying yourself into knots worried that your players are going to figure out that your particular order of cavaliers is based on Lancelot, or that they're going to guess the plot twist for the traitorous noble because he's basically Count Dooku with a bastard sword, don't sweat those kinds of things. Instead, focus on the presentation and preparation for your game.

Everyone has had a grilled cheese before. Just make sure the one you serve them is perfectly crispy, melty, and delicious, and everyone will probably enjoy it!

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