I'm A Little Behind (Here's What's Going On)

I wanted to take a moment this week to apologize to my readers out there. The wheels haven't come off of the struggle bus, but there have been a lot of doings on my end of the screen of late. Because of this, I've missed a couple of updates, but I wanted to take this Monday's post to catch you all up on what's been going down, and to say sorry for the missed steps, and for getting some projects out a little more slowly than I'd like to.

Sadly, there just aren't enough hours in the day or gas in the tank to do absolutely everything I want to. Or even need to!

It's been... a lot of a lot.

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 Have I Missed (And What Am I Doing)?

Though it might not seem obvious to everyone, I've missed a couple of updates recently on both my gaming blog, as well as over on my writing blog. I also missed my newsletter this past Sunday... but I have a good explanation for both of these things!

The short version is, I've been busy. The longer version is detailed below!

All gas, no brake.

Well, first things first, I've been trying to keep the plates spinning on all of my major TTRPG projects. For folks who didn't see it, my Sundara: Dawn of a New Age supplements were all on sale for DND 5E earlier this month in an attempt to stir up some more attention for them. Not only that, but my TTRPG Army Men: A Game of Tactical Plastic was deal of the day on DTRPG earlier this month. I spent a lot of time running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to make sure those sales got all the eyes I could reach, because my hope is that I'll be able to keep expanding both of those games and settings for at least a few years to come.

In addition to those things, which ate up a great deal of my time, I'm currently working on 2 new TTRPG supplements, and I'm trying to make sure we keep getting new videos for the Azukail Games YouTube channel since we're still in need of about 1,000 hours of watched content from our viewers to get monetized. I've even got our first short up, taken from the Geist: The Sin Eaters audio drama Russian Roulette, and you should consider checking out both if you haven't yet!

As if all of that weren't enough (and it definitely was), I was also at the Chicago Steampunk Expo this past weekend. It was my first time at that particular event, and it was a lot of work. And while I sold a handful of books, it was hardly enough that I can kick up my feet and take a breather. And if you missed out on getting copies of my Hardboiled Cat novels Marked Territory and Painted Cats, I'd highly recommend stopping in to grab some copies soon. Also, if you missed out on the hardback copies of Snowhaven, I'd recommend giving this snowpunk TTRPG setting a look, since it was the second most popular thing I brought to the show (which is damning it with pretty fine praise).

There's also a thing I can't talk about right now that I'm working on, but if it goes the way I'm hoping it will (fingers crossed on that) then it should open up several new projects in the future. But while I'm focusing on Project X, I won't have as much time and energy to keep up with all of the balls I've already got in the air!

How You Can Help

Again, regular readers, your patience and interest is greatly appreciated. If you want to help keep me going so I can keep making all this lovely content for you to enjoy, then please consider leaving me a tip on my Ko-Fi, or becoming a full-on patron on my Patreon page. If you're a reader or a gamer, please grab a copy of some of my books, or just take a spin through my Vocal archive to boost my numbers. And if you're someone who prefers video content, head over to the Azukail Games YouTube channel and check out some of the stuff I make there.

I'm doing my best to catch my breath, and to get back on top of the to-do list. But I could definitely use a little extra support, if you have the power to give it right now.

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!

Does A More Unique Setting Draw More Attention To Your Game? And Is It Worth The Risk?

There is no silver bullet when it comes to getting your gaming project popular among players. Not only that, but the results of all your factors are always going to be more than the sum of their individual parts. In short, every piece of advice is just us divining meaning by looking into a darkened mirror, and doing our best to interpret the shadows we see beneath the glass. And no piece of advice is ever perfect, because there will be something that defies that advice, and goes on to be extremely successful despite going against the grain of common wisdom.

With that said, it seems like audiences definitely perk up a lot more when you present them with a completely unique setting and world, rather than a world that looks and feels familiar, but which might have a couple of unique devils in the details.

My take on this is the difference in audience reaction between Sundara: Dawn of a New Age, and Army Men: A Game of Tactical Plastic.

And if you haven't checked out either, you really should!

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!

The Projects, and Reactions To Them

Sundara: Dawn of a New Age is a fantasy TTRPG setting that has been releasing in both Pathfinder and DND 5E formats for the past 3 years or so. The original release was Cities of Sundara: Ironfire, and since that time there have been 5 city guides, 6 species guides for players, and half a dozen faction guides covering everything from mercenary companies and cults, to merchants, guilds, and gods. And while these splats come packed with unique material for players and Game Masters alike, and they take several unique steps for their games (such as completely removing alignment from the games entirely), they are still recognizably part of a high fantasy TTRPG setting.

I'd say the reaction to Sundara has been mixed. Some players have enjoyed the splats, and there's a very small, but very vocal block of folks who are always asking for more. However, it doesn't get much of a reaction overall, and it is regularly outsold by my more generic supplements like 100 Body Mods and Augmentations For a Sci Fi Game or 10 Fantasy Villages.

But what about Army Men: A Game of Tactical Plastic? Well, for those who haven't heard me get on my soapbox about it, it's a game where players take on the roles of resinous persons, fighting to preserve the lives of the people of the Plastos Federation against the insectoid menace of the vespoids, which have united the four nations in a single purpose. The game is crunchy, tactical, and has a great deal of bizarre and unique lore to drag players and Game Masters alike into things.

So what were the results for this book? Well, this game has sold just over 30 books on DTRPG since its release, but there were over a hundred books (digital and physical) that went out as a result of the successful Kickstarter campaign that made it a reality in the first place. That makes it more popular than all but a handful of Sundara supplements (I believe Towns of Sundara is the only one that can beat those numbers), even though it's only been around for a few months (or just over a year, if we're counting the original Kickstarter and BackerKit purchases).

 What are people saying about these projects?

Before I get into analysis, I want to point out there are lots of differences in these projects. Army Men is a much bigger book, with a much bigger price point. Sundara is more numerous, has a smaller price tag, and it's been available (overall) for much longer. Sundara has received different types of marketing than Army Men has, and Army Men was crowdfunded rather than merely published and put on the market.

With all of that said, in addition to the sales numbers, I feel like the comments left by people on the projects can tell us a lot.

Because very few of my Sundara projects have received comments, whether it's in the social media posts I make about the supplements themselves, or about the blogs and videos I've made about them over the years. The attitude seems to be, by and large, that it's just another high fantasy TTRPG setting, and while it's got some fun aspects and unique flavors, it's more or less what one would expect. So if you've played Pathfinder or Dungeons and Dragons before, this is basically ordering the same pizza you're used to, but getting it from a restaurant that uses different cooking methods and ingredients.

The comments and questions regarding Army Men have been distinctly different.

Firstly, there's generally a lot more of them, as people ask what the game is about. A lot of folks also ask if it's connected to the video games from a decade or more ago (they're not). In addition to those two questions, people ask if you can use army men toys as miniatures, if it's a Toy Story situation, or if there's something else going on, and what sorts of adventures characters have in this RPG. A lot of folks comment on the art, and they'll ask what kinds of gear and equipment players have access to regarding artillery, vehicles, weapons, etc.

I covered some of these in the AMA that came out a while ago, if you're curious!

So, at the end of the day, this might feel like a bit of an apples and oranges comparison. However, acknowleding this is not a 1-to-1 situation, it definitely appears that games that have a unique style, which present players with an uncommon setting, and which give you a different kind of premise is more likely to turn heads than giving folks another helping of the same old same, but with slightly different ingredients... though it does seem to help if they underlying mechanics are recognizable, and draw on a well-known RPG that most folks will own copies of.

Just in case folks were curious.

Lastly, as it seems appropriate, I covered a topic on design trends recently on Tabletop Mercenary. Give it a watch, and if you enjoy it, subscribe to the Azukail Games YouTube channel to help keep that show (and others) going!

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!

Sundara is On Sale (For 1 Week Only)!

As my regular readers know, I've been putting out content for my Sundara: Dawn of a New Age fantasy TTRPG setting for just over 3 years now. I've covered many of the fantastical places in the setting, along with delving into the different species that players have access to in Sundara, and I've put out dozens of factions including mercenary companies, cults, guilds, and even merchant houses. And as if all of that wasn't enough, there's also half a dozen audio dramas on the Azukail Games YouTube channel set in this place to give listeners a little taste of the kinds of stories they're going to run into when they crack the covers on one of these splat books.

And if you've been looking to get into this setting, we have a DND 5E bundle for Sundara going on right now!

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!

What You'll Find in This Bundle!

I know this is Crunch week, but given that this is a 1-week bundle, I wanted to make sure that folks heard about it before it was gone. So, what is included in this package, and what does it do for you as a player, Game Master, or both? In a mechanical sense?

There's a LOT of nonsense in here...

Well, this bundle contains:

- All 5 Cities of Sundara Splats: These books come with maps, plot hooks, NPCs, location history, district-by-district breakdowns, and usually some extra mechanical pieces like write-ups for unique animals, new Backgrounds for players to use, air or spell-based firearms, etc.

- All 6 Species of Sundara Splats: These each offer 5 subraces for players and GMs alike to use, and it covers elves, dwarves, orcs, gnomes, halflings, and the Blooded (half-elves and half-orcs in one).

- Sellswords of Sundara: A book of mercenary companies, this one has subclasses for fighters, barbarians, monks, rangers, and more!

- Gods and Cults of Sundara: These 2 splats contain unique rules for followers of the gods, as well as magic items one will find in the hands of various cults throughout the setting.

- Guilds of Sundara: In addition to providing GMs with a collection of guilds that come with NPCs, rumors, plot hooks, history, etc., there are also a selection of fresh feats that can be used by players to tie them more closely to these organizations.

- A Dekas of Sundaran Alchemical Constructs: A handy guide full of weird equipment, this pairs particularly well with the aether weapons found in the Cities of Sundara book for Silkgift, where these air-powered guns first debuted!

So, all in all, that's 16 splat books for about $30 and change. And if you bought all of them separately, that would run you over $60... so you're currently looking at a lot of new toys to play with for 50% off this week!

And best of all, Sundara is designed to act as a kind of modular setting. So if you like the idea of these books, but you'd still rather run them in your own setting, they're kind of designed for exactly that kind of setup! So whether it's a city, a species, a guild, or a cult, you can take the parts you like and import them into your own game world with very little additional work on your part! I actually talked about it a while back, for those who are curious about this setting's modular design style.

If You Don't Play DND 5E, Stay Tuned!

Several folks have mentioned that they like the idea of Sundara, and they would get this bundle, but their table doesn't play DND 5E, so it wouldn't really be something they'd use. If that's the case, don't fret, there's more on the way!

Because while there have been talks to expand Sundara into a variety of other game systems, most of those haven't happened yet. However, it is available for Pathfinder classic, and that bundle is coming down the pipe! So if there's a particular supplement that catches your eye, or you just want to grab one to see what the fuss is about, I'd definitely urge you to do that. But if you're totally onboard, and you just want to get a version of the game you will actually use, then make sure you follow all my social media pages because when the next bundle drops I'm going to make sure everyone hears about it!

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!

Supplement Sequels- What Would You Like To See?

Folks who've been following my work for a while know that the bulk of my TTRPG supplements have been described as GM Prep splats. In short, I write a lot of lists of people, places, things, random encounters, setting flavor, plot hooks, rumors, and so on, and so forth. And while I've tried to keep things fresh over the years, some ideas clearly hit (like my 100 NPCs You Might Meet at The Tavern, which was my first platinum-level supplement, or A Baker's Dozen of Brothels, which is my fastest Electrum-level seller ever), while others have missed the mark somewhat.

However, since I've had to change-up some of my content strategies recently, I wanted to run an idea past some of my readers out there. To that end, would any of you be interested in sequels to any of my existing supplements where I give you even more of a particular topic to work with at your table?

After all, I want to give folks stuff they'll actually use.

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!

Trying To Take The Audience's Temperature

I want to start off here by saying that I am far from dry on ideas. I've got stuff I'm actively working on slated to get turned in over the next 2-3 months, and a list of potential projects that goes on for a page or two in my deskside notebook once I manage to finish those off. For those who are curious, it includes a meta supplement, some more stuff for Army Men: A Game of Tactical Plastic, as well as some miscellaneous fantasy and sci-fi supplements I've been kicking around for a bit.

However, rather than rolling the dice and hoping that one of my new ideas is going to be something that really strikes a chord with GMs and players out there, I figured I'd see if there were any particular wells people wanted me to go back to, and expand on a little more.

Such as with this early Electrum seller.

The setup these sequels would take would be something like, "100 More Cults to Encounter," if I were to try to write a sequel to the splat book linked above, or "Another Baker's Dozen Pieces of Lore," if I wanted to write a sequel to one of my earlier books A Baker's Dozen Pieces of Lore. The general idea is, of course, that I would cover the same topic with new entries, giving GMs even more things to work with that fit this mold.

Or, if folks would like a more detailed version of a longer list, I could take an existing "100 X" list, and instead make a "Baker's Dozen" version of it where I either choose existing entries to really flesh out, or where I provide new entries with a lot more heft to them than the original book. This is not dissimilar to how I used the freelances in 100 Random Mercenary Companies as my fodder for Sellswords of Sundara, or how several of the entries in 100 Fantasy Guilds acted as inspiration for the follow-up supplement Guilds of Sundara.

This Is, Of Course, Just An Option

As with so many other things I propose here on this blog, this is just an idea. If the audience isn't really feeling this direction, I can pursue a variety of other projects. But if this is something you'd like to see from me in the coming months, here's what I need you to do for me:

- Leave a comment below, telling me whether you want more 100 lists, or Baker's Dozens

- Tell me which of my existing lists you'd like revisited (full archive here)

- Mention which RPG system, if any, you'd like to see the books made for

And, of course, if you'd rather see me break new ground on new material, rather than revisit old topics, let me know that in the comments as well! The whole goal of this update is to figure out what it is you all want to see coming out in the near future, after all!

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!

Character Trailers (A Small Sample From An Upcoming "Exalted" Project)

I like to try out new TTRPGs and new systems (both for personal reasons, as well as professional ones), and no one has ever accused me of half-assing something I've done for a table of mine. Recently a friend of mine decided to really make a pitch to get me to try out Exalted. I wasn't a huge fan of the pitches I'd heard in the past, but I was given a little extra incentive with the Green Sun Princes... characters that were given corrupted power through a pact with the deposed and mutilated Primordials who now rule in hell as the Yozi.

I've been craving something grim, dark, and dreadful, and so what was born was a man named Barabbas. A man who lost everything, and has now taken up the cleaver once more in dreadful service to new and terrible masters. Allow me to present the character trailer for Barabbas The Butcher!

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!

Character Trailers, And a Potential Project

Regular readers round these parts know my fondness for the art of the audio drama, and I like to think that the short little video I made introducing Barabbas above is enough to both convey the broad sweeps of his character, and to give those who see it an idea of who he is, and what he's about. I found myself thinking of it as a character trailer, and I have suggested making them for other members of the game as a way to quickly sketch out who they are, and to give them the same kind of time in the spotlight.

We've met devil Hulk... what about the rest of the team?

While roughly half the players have expressed an interest in getting their own trailers made (and I'm hoping to dump the dossiers on our Sidereal player for the final installments, since all of us are going to be his problem), I feel like this little side project opens a potential door. After all, the world of Creation is a wild setting, and it hasn't gotten as much attention as more traditional, Western fantasy ones have.

If you're a fan of my work, would you like to see me throw my hat in the ring to make more Exalted content? Whether it's to create some towns, villages, or secret societies to find in Creation itself, working on some more mechanics-based supplements, or just expanding on the tales of Barabbas and the others to make something a little heftier, like an episodic podcast telling of their adventures?

All of these are on the table! But I mostly just wanted to share this piece, and get some feedback from folks who didn't see it, or who simply hadn't heard about it. And if you enjoyed this, don't forget to subscribe to both the Azukail Games YouTube channel, as well as my Rumble channel The Literary Mercenary!

As an added note, this story will be set in the 2nd Edition of Exalted, which is not the current edition of the game. If you want to follow-along with the tale, consider grabbing a copy of Exalted's 2nd Edition base book, or if you want to go whole hog, grab the full Exalted 2nd Edition bundle!

Lastly, if you're interested in other contenders for a podcast-style project from me, make sure you check out Windy City Shadows, A Chronicles of Darkness Podcast Proposal as well!

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.

More RPG Bundles and Products To Help Owen KC Stephens In His Battle With Cancer!

As most members of the TTRPG community know by now, Owen KC Stephens is battling cancer. This has been the case for a while, and since Owen is one of my fellow American creators, he's got a two-front war to fight; one against cancer, and one against capitalism. Since healthcare in America has its hand in your pocket up to the elbow, he needs all the help he can get!

Which is why, first and foremost, I wanted to remind everyone to donate to Owen's Go Fund Me to cover his cancer payments. This is the most direct way to help, and it is one of the best ways to provide assistance.

With that said, if you're someone who likes TTRPG products and bundles, but you still want the proceeds to go to a good cause, then check out the list below!

There's some great stuff in here!

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!

Bundles, Art, and More!

Look at this awesome thing!

At the top of the order we've got the Owen Stephens is... RAD! bundle. This bundle has well over $1,000 worth of supplements in it for Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder, D20 Modern, Starfinder, Star Wars, Call of Cthulhu, and many, many more... all of it for about $30 or so.

That is a deal you absolutely cannot beat! And if you haven't grabbed your copy of this yet, you should put it in your cart ASAP so that you don't miss out, and so that Owen can get one more arrow in his quiver for winning this fight.

And some great stock art for those who missed it!

For those who didn't see this stylish piece of stock art from Publisher's Choice stock art, Owen The Sage is another fun piece whose proceeds go to help Owen win his fight, and get back on his feet so he can keep doing what he does best for many years to come! Whether you just want to have a fun little piece of art for your home game, or you feel like Owen's all-knowing art would be an ideal addition to your supplement, don't let this one pass you by either!

This is all we have going on for now, but you can rest assured that as new bundles crop up I'll be doing my best to boost the signal on them!

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!

Milestones and Struggles For The Azukail Games YouTube Channel

People asked me for ages why I didn't make video content, and a few years ago I finally bit that bullet and started making stuff for the Azukail Games YouTube channel. While I've been working hard on making videos talking about my Sundara: Dawn of a New Age setting, dramatizing stories from my various supplements, and running shows like Discussions of Darkness and Tabletop Mercenary, there's only so much that I can do on my end to make the numbers go up.

Which is why today I wanted to talk about one number that's been going up pretty high... and one that I need your help to push up so I can keep putting out content for everyone!

Programming like this is literally made possible by viewers like 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!

The Good, The Bad, and The Frustrating

So, first things first the good news! At time of writing the channel has 985 subscribers, meaning that we're only 15 subs away from hitting that first major milestone of 1,000 people! So if you haven't done so yet, please subscribe to the Azukail Games YouTube channel to put us over that goal!

Okay, now for the bad news... which is a little more complicated.

This is where the algorithm gets involved.

For most of 2023 things seemed to be going pretty good for the channel. Videos were being well-received, the audience was growing, and I was doing my best to diversify the content. Changes were being made to tweak and improve as I picked up new skills, got new equipment, and generally tried to make things better for everyone. For a while it seemed that we were getting between 200 and 400 views on an average video, with occasional outliers climbing to 700, 800, and in a few cases with videos even breaking 1,000 views. Small views for the site in general, but still a positive trend for a small gaming channel.

So what happened? In short, the algorithm happened.

Around November of 2023 we experienced a big slow down in our traffic, even as the number of subscribers to the channel grew. For the past several months we've had to fight tooth and nail to get any of our videos up over 100 views, with the only one doing notably well during that time period being my unboxing video for Army Men because... well, the algorithm likes unboxings, it seems.

What that means is that, while we were making slow but steady progress toward actually getting the channel monetized (which requires a minimum of 500 subscribers and 3,000 watched hours of content in the past 365 days), we've hit a big bump in the road that's trying to become a full stall. Last month we needed about 800 hours and change of watched content to get across that line... but now it's fallen to the point where we need a full 980 hours (because if your traffic slows down, you start going backwards on this count)!

Unfortunately, whatever was done to the algorithm doesn't seem to be something that making more videos, or sharing more links on social media, is helping with. We've got a wet blanket thrown over us, and we don't have the power to do anything about it all on our own.

That's Where You Come In!

At time of writing, there's a couple hundred videos on the Azukail Games channel. And while a majority of them are previews for the various supplements the publisher has put out, there's also a lot of other content I'd recommend checking out!

First and foremost there's my rather long list of audio dramas! These cover fantasy stories from my Sundara: Dawn of a New Age setting, as well as stories taken from supplements for Vampire, Changeling, Geist, and Mage from the World of Darkness! There are also miscellaneous fantasy and sci-fi stories in the mix, many of which are connected together into various serieses, as I talked about in my older posts My Sci-Fi Audio Drama Trilogy is Now Complete and My Cyberpunk Audio Drama Trilogy is Now Complete!

Another series of videos I've been working on is my Discussions of Darkness series, which talks about the World and Chronicles of Darkness setting, and which shares advice (much of it hard-won) about how to really make these games work. The most recent episode, linked above, actually started a decent amount of conversation regarding mortals in the World of Darkness, and how strong mortal weaponry is... but for all that conversation, very few people actually watched my video on the subject.

This has been something of a pattern for the last little while, actually. Because while there have been some rather impressive comment threads, and a few folks have expressed interest in the topic of particular videos as well as the channel overall, that interest doesn't usually translate to views... and views are kind of what we need right now!

My most recent series, Tabletop Mercenary, is all about what happens behind the curtain when it comes to being a professional TTRPG designer, and about giving folks advice on this career path should they choose to seek it out. While there were a lot of folks who said they wanted something like this to exist (and I've got a decade of experience in the industry at time of writing) I've had trouble getting eyes on these episodes.

So if you would like to see more of this series, by all means, share any of the videos that exist right now, and leave comments telling me what topics you want to see going forward! Audience feedback is how I decide what questions to answer, and what topics to research (if I can't speak from experience)!

Lastly, we have my Speaking of Sundara series. These were actually the first videos I made for the channel, and the ones where you can see the most growth and change in my presentation style, my setup, my equipment, and more. These videos cover the supplements I've released for Sundara: Dawn of a New Age as a setting, discussed some of the ideas that have slipped between the lines, and what I'd like to do with the setting going forward. While Sundara has a few fans, it could always use more love... and for folks who are curious, the above video is all about how ideas get recycled in some of my projects, allowing me to keep turning out fresh material while saving myself creative juice in the process!

Whichever videos interest you, and whatever you prefer, please go check out some of our content over on the Azukail GamesYouTube channel today! If everyone who is currently subscribed to our channel just went through and watched 1 video per day, we'd have ourselves monetized by the end of the month.

It might not feel like the handful of minutes you spend listening to an audio drama, or watching me talk about TTRPG design, makes a big impact... but nearly 1,000 people all doing one, little thing consistently can make a big damn difference when all is said and done! So please watch, like, and share videos around if they're the sort of things you want to see more of! Lastly, make sure you leave your thoughts and comments on our videos in order to give us feedback, boost us in the algorithm, and to let us know the direction you want us to go in.

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!