An Autopsy On My Recent Deal of The Day

For folks who haven't been keeping an eye on things, I was recently the Deal of The Day over on Drive Thru RPG. My supplement Beyond The Black: 100 Dread Scenarios On Stranded Starships was on-sale for 50% off for 24 hours or so, and I figured I would take a moment to delve into what happened, and to draw a couple of conclusions from the results.

Before we get started, though, if you grabbed a copy during the sale (or really at any time) please take a moment to leave a rating and review. And if you didn't get a copy... well, consider doing so today! The sale was enough to push it from Silver to Electrum, and I'd love to get it up to one of the even rarer metals if I can!

If you run any kind of sci-fi game, I'd highly recommend grabbing this one.

But before I get into the meat of today's post, remember, don't forget to sign up for my 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's Break Down The Numbers, Shall We?

So, let's break down exactly what all went down for this particular sale, because it was one of the best DoTD sales I've been part of so far!

- 240 sales (at roughly $0.38 per sale)

- Roughly $90 in sales for that singular supplement

- Around 11 additional sales for related sci-fi supplements

- Total cumulative royalties of $100 for all sales during this period

Now, that's just royalties during this period. However, I sold 261 total supplements during this time. And $100 for a single day? Well, that's pretty good money for someone in the small press, digital only side of things, right?

It sure as hell is! However, take a moment to consider that, on average, I sell somewhere between 3 and 15 supplements a day that I have royalties in. Some days are serious outliers, though, and I'll move 20 or even 30 supplements (usually because someone decides to buy an entire series, or a bundle deal gets popular). But consider that difference for a moment. 30 supplements, versus 261 supplements. This sale performed over 8 times my normal outliers. So, one of my really good days, times 8.

That sounds amazing, right? But let's extrapolate.

Let's take a moment and say that I somehow managed to perform at that level all the time. I've got something like 216 unique supplements out there with my name on them that I've written over the past decade and change, so it's not out of the question. Now, let's say I'm making $100 a day. $700 a week. $3,000 a month or so. $36,000 a year (or $36,500 if we want to take a full accounting of the days).

Sounds like a lot, doesn't it?

It's about to get a lot smaller...

 

Unfortunately, this doesn't take into account taxes. And if I somehow managed to make $36K a year in taxes, I'm probably going to have to write a check for around $6-8K or so, depending on exactly how many deductions I can claim. So we'll take the smaller number, and say I still clear $30K in a year in sales. That means I lose my health insurance, and as an independent creator I don't really have options to go get an affordable plan anywhere else. I also lose any eligibility for most government programs (utility assistance, SNAP, etc.), so all those doors are now shut in my face. And yeah, I might have some additional earnings from affiliate sales, royalties for my novels, and up-front costs from freelance RPG work, but that's pennies per word, and I cannot physically churn out that much stuff every year to make a meaningful dent.

And this is something I've been thinking about today. Because even if I somehow managed to multiply my best days 10-fold and to make that my new norm... I would still be financially screwed in this economy we're operating in.

You can't buy a house on $30K a year. Hell, you probably can't even rent a 1-bedroom apartment in any place worth living for that much, while also buying food. You can't get health insurance. You sure as hell can't afford luxuries like going to conventions, or buying a new car when your old one craps out.

 

So what sounds like an impossible fortune (which would honestly be several thousand more than I've ever earned at any job I've ever had in a year) is still just enough to fall short with.

This Is Why Creators Need Your Support

Buying merch from creators is just one form of support. And while buying books, funding us on Patreon, and giving us tips on Ko-Fi certainly help, there are also free things you can do to help us pay our bills, too. Because if you watch our videos on platforms like YouTube, and subscribe, then that means we earn ad revenue. When you read articles on places like Vocal.media, that earns us money. When you share videos, supplements, or just the posts we make on your social media, that gets us an organic reach that we cannot duplicate, and that will help draw other people to the stuff we're making.

If you want to help a particular creator (whether it's me, or someone else entirely) it costs you effort. But putting a playlist on in the background, hitting a few buttons to subscribe, and leaving a review of something you really liked so others will check it out all adds up at the end of the day.

Almost no one who writes RPGs "for a living" makes enough money doing it. So help folks where you can to ensure they can keep putting food on the table, and keeping the utility company happy.

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 the ongoing audio drama channel The A.L.I.C.E. Files! Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like 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!

Looks Like Paradox Did It Again (The Fallout Over "Werewolf: The Apocalypse" 5th Edition)

Over the past several years I've put together quite a number of supplements for the World of Darkness setting, and of the pieces I've written a majority of them have been for Werewolf: The Apocalypse. From my 1,600 NPCs in The 100 Kinfolk Project, to a list of potential antagonists in Evil Incorporated: 10 Pentex Subsidiaries, and I even helped push through an anthology of short fiction titled Tales From The Moot, where I wrote both the introductory framing short, as well as the Silver Fang tale Late Bloomer. I say this to establish that I've played my share of Werewolf as a game, that I am quite well aware of the issues it had with racism and representation, and that I tried to do what little I could to mitigate that with my additions to the world.

I had not been keeping up on the changes made to the setting as it was updated to the 5th Edition... but seeing the behind-the-scenes from J.F. Sambrano left my jaw on the floor with how badly the ball was fumbled in trying to "improve" this game's less-than-stellar record.

Younger Brother cannot believe this shit.

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!

So What The Hell is Going On?

For those who haven't seen it yet, check out Sambrano's detailed post about what went on. And, if you can afford to, I'd recommend becoming his patron to help him out as a creator. But for those who just want the short version, I'll do my best to sum it up.

All right, deep breath...

In its original incarnation, Werewolf: The Apocalypse was a game that drew on a lot of Native American ideas of spirituality and legend, but it did so in the most crass, poorly-understood way you could. The short version is that while it was really unique having native representation at all in a major property in the 90s, a lot of it can be summed up with a sigh, and then following it up with, "Well... you did your best, I suppose."

This didn't stop the game from being successful, of course. Far from it, Werewolf is probably one of the best well-known parts of the World of Darkness, just behind the flagship game Vampire: The Masquerade. So when the 5th Edition came along and it was time to update the game and setting to bring it more in-line with modern sensibilities, and to make it a more inclusive product, designers like Sambrano were brought on board...

Only, it seems, to be promptly ignored.

Those are all great ideas... we're not using any of them.

From what was shared in the above post (which has already made the rounds), it seems like the design team made two, major errors. The first is that they kept too many of the problematic relics of the past (even when a lot of the designers they explicitly hired to help them fix these problems told them to chuck said relics), and the second is that they seem focused on including as little complexity and gray area as possible... which has led to them, once again, have problems with white supremacists, eugenicists, and Nazis.

Now, just for clarity, Nazis make great bad guys. If the goal had been merely to add white supremacists, nationalist terrorists, and other groups to the game as servants of the Wyrm in much the same way the original game did with capitalism in the form of Pentex, that would have actually been a smart move. Especially since the 5th edition release of Vampire: The Masquerade was plagued with problems regarding the inclusion of racism and white supremacy as story and game design in certain books (largely due, if memory serves, to a designer who was part of those communities). The wrong way to do this was what they chose, which was turning the Get of Fenris (arguably one of the most popular tribes among the player base) into a Nazi-majority tribe. Because, as Sambrano points out, this is inevitably going to lead to players trying to figure out how to keep the characters they had and liked to play, while attempting to include this new story element, rather than all players just letting the Get of Fenris go as a player option and relegating them entirely to villains.

Honestly, it just feels like bad design choices were made all around, and I'm glad I chose not to step into any of the 5th Edition releases for the World of Darkness as a whole.

While We're On The Subject...

I've been talking a lot about World and Chronicles of Darkness projects of late, and I wanted to take a moment to clarify something that got some folks asking questions. As I said recently in Why I Will Have Fewer Community Created TTRPG Products Coming Out, I'm going to be taking a small break from working on platforms like Pathfinder Infinite, Storyteller's Vault, and even on Call of Cthulhu titles, simply because of the increased rate-of-pay my publisher agreed to for my work on other, non-CCP products.

However, I also posted recently about "Windy City Shadows" A Chronicles of Darkness Podcast Proposal, talking about putting together a long-form audio drama podcast set in the world of the Chronicles of Darkness. For clarification, the podcast is a separate endeavor from my supplements set in the World/Chronicles of Darkness, and even if I'm writing fewer supplements (which people have to buy in order for me to get paid as the creator), I would still like to put together the podcast (which will be free to anyone who wants to listen to it).

So if it's something you'd interested in, check out the article above, and the video below, for how you can help make it happen!

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 sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, my dystopian sci fi thriller Old Soldiers, 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!

Help Us Take The Hill! Stretch Goals For "Army Men: A Game of Tactical Plastic"

As I'm sure regular readers are aware, the Kickstarter for my first full RPG "Army Men: A Game of Tactical Plastic" is still ongoing! There's 9 days left at time of writing, so please consider backing it if you haven't yet.

EDIT: We reached out goal, and Army Men: A Game of Tactical Plastic is now on DTRPG!

The good news is that we have reached the minimum funding we need for the game to be released. However, before we all start high-fiving and pouring champagne, I wanted to take a moment to talk about the stretch goals for the game, and why it's important for projects like this to get more than just the minimum amount of funding they ask for.

We've got them on the run... take that hill!

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!

Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!

The Difference Between Funded and "Funded" on KS

Crowdfunding has been a viable way of getting games made for a while now, but there's still a lot of us who don't know what goes on behind the scenes. Academically we know that the more money and pledges a project gets, the more money the creator makes, but it can be tough to really grasp what that means when it comes to specific terms. So I wanted to pull back the curtain a bit on my project, and give my readers an unvarnished look at what goes on behind the scenes.

Watch the shell casings. There's been a lot of test runs around here.

Typically when a creator asks for a minimum funding amount, that's the price tag it takes to get all of the initial bills paid so that a thing can exist. In the case of this RPG, that's the amount of money it takes to pay the other writers (I did the bulk of the work, but this was not a one-man show), the artists, to print and distribute the books, to pay for layout, and all of the other necessities.

So while getting over the minimum goal is definitely a good thing, it's by no means a full "Mission Accomplished" kind of situation.

If I were making a movie, or writing a novel, then this might be a one-and-done sort of setup. Backers give me the funds I need to finish the product, I deliver it to them, and everyone walks away happy. However, while Army Men is a stand-alone RPG you can play in its entirety with just the base book, I have additional supplements and follow-ups that I'd like to write for it. I mentioned some of them a while back in What's Next For "Army Men: A Game of Tactical Plastic" After The Kickstarter?, but from expanding the rules to include vehicles, mounts, and animal companions, to writing out mission packs, making new monsters, adding new factions, and generally expanding the setting, my hope was that this book would be the first stepping stone in a series that would grow over time.

And while that's still very possible, the best way to ensure that happens is if Army Men manages to hit its stretch goals so that this extra funding can be used to make those additional installments happen.

I can certainly write supplements and expansions for Army Men; that's not even a question. However, it would be a lot easier to write them if there was a little nest egg of extra funding that came from the initial Kickstarter that would allow me to keep the lights on and the rent paid for a little while, allowing me to dedicate my full time and energy to the project. If there's extra money in the pot, then I won't have to take on additional freelance work for other systems to pay my bills. I won't have to pitch fresh projects to other companies, and find time for Army Men in between paying gigs. I could just focus on these expansions, giving them the attention and polish they need to put our best foot forward!

If the audience makes it clear they want more content, then more content is what I'll provide... I'll just be able to do so a lot faster if I'm not juggling a dozen other assignments, and I can focus entirely on building up and expanding this game.

Which Brings Us To Those Stretch Goals!

The main way that you persuade your audience to help you expand a project, and to fund it past the base level (aside from just making something that a lot of people want to see become a reality) is to offer stretch goals. For those who aren't familiar, these are options that unlock once a campaign has reached a certain level, and they're usually fun, extra things to go along with the base product.

So what does Army Men have to offer?

Glad you asked!

The first stretch goal we have unlocks at $10K, and it's a "standard-issue" set of army green dice. While it may not have the floating skulls, light up numbers, or irreverent phrases some specialty dice have, that's almost kind of the point. Just like how bags of the little plastic toys were always the same, these dice are meant to give you that feeling. Instead of being issued a pair of combat boots, a set of BDUs, and a rifle, these dice are meant to be the weapons you take out into the world with you to help you achieve your missions in this RPG.

The second stretch goal is something I absolutely love, because it was partially (though not completely) my idea. Some folks might remember how, in decades past, you could sometimes get a foot locker of little plastic army toys. Well, to sort of recreate that feeling, we wanted to offer an ammo can that will hold your book, minis, dice, and other accessories that will unlock at $15K.

At time of writing we've slipped down just under $7K... so while both of these stretch goals are a goodly ways off, there's no telling what the Internet may do with a little bit of prodding.

So if you'd like to help us reach those goals, and help myself and other members of the team get the resources we need to work on everything from rules expansions, to mission packs, to future installments of game books, please back Army Men on Kickstarter, and share the link in your social media for folks to see. We're in an uphill battle against the algorithm, and even against gamer apathy, and we need all the help we can to plant our flag so folks can see it from miles around!

Thanks in advance for all of your help... we really can't do this without you!

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 Daily Motion channel!. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like 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!

Owen KC Stephens Tells It Like It Is With #RealGameIndustry

The general populous doesn't have much of an idea about what goes on in the publishing industry in general, or the RPG publishing industry in particular. All they see are the finished products, with their flashy art, shiny minis, and polished presentations to make them look as appealing as possible. And the things people do see tend to be celebrity gamers with big budgets and huge followings, forgetting that they're putting on a show. So naturally many players assume that RPG designers, much like authors, are making some solid earnings, and that companies whose games are popular have big slush funds of cash with which to design new and exciting games for all of us to play.

Let me burst that bubble for you right now. Because none of that is remotely true.

Because trust me, the whole industry is a gamble. With VERY long odds.

I have not been in the industry as long, nor have I worked with as many companies, as some. That said, I can confirm more than a few of the #RealGameIndustry statements made by Owen KC Stephens.

No One Gets Paid, Everything is Broken, We're Trying Our Best

The first thing I can confirm is that no, no one in the RPG industry is paid well. There are lots of people who are, "paid well for RPGs," but if making games is your main job there are just certain realities you've probably had to make peace with. Things like never owning a home or property of your own, for example. Only a tiny fraction of people in the industry have benefits or insurance, and a frankly staggering number of us make RPGs as a side hustle (or have to depend on a spouse's job for main household income, vision, dental, etc.). A lot of us can't even afford to actually buy games, much less the high-end accessories you see like fancy gaming tables, elaborate dice towers, or gaming scenery.

Personally, one of the only reasons I have access to any new games is this blog, and the reviewer files I get from publishers looking for promotion. Something I'm very grateful for, and which I'd never be able to afford to buy if I still wanted to eat.

So if you have ever had that moment where you thought we game designers were some kind of big-money rock stars, scrub that idea right out of your brain pan. And if you really want to make the creators you love feel like rock stars, go support them right now! I'm on Patreon at The Literary Mercenary, and if you're a fan of Mr. Stephens' work, check out his Patreon too!

That's far from the only truth, though.

Another thing that I can testify to is that RPGs are very similar to novels in another respect. Everyone thinks they can do it, and those who have interesting ideas, those who can write compelling stories, and those who can actually sell books are rarely the same person.

Incidentally, if you haven't picked up my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my short story collection The Rejects, go check them out!

To be clear, here, this is not the criticism it sounds like. However, when it comes to RPGs, you often have to wear a bunch of different hats in order to get the job done, and if you can't wear a particular hat that job tends to go to a freelancer. If you have great ideas but can't put them into words, you hire someone like me to take the core of your idea and flesh it out into engaging prose. If you can write a story or create a setting, that doesn't necessarily mean you have any aptitude for designing functioning rules systems. And if you can design rules systems, that doesn't mean you have any marketing knack at all.

The sexism, racism, and other issues in tabletop gaming Mr. Stephens mentions? Definitely present. I've been fortunate enough that I've not witnessed it from other professionals or companies that I've worked with (quite the opposite, in that most companies I've worked with have been trying to educate themselves to make sure they don't alienate potential players by looking or acting biased) but I have seen quite a lot of it from the fans who play games. Mostly white guys (several of whom are older than me) who lament that they're now minorities because their games only have 40 percent white guys instead of the more accepted 80 percent when they got into the hobby. The sorts of fans who will violently stomp out of the room (or flounce from a forum) because games include black elves, non-European cultures, or because the game made it clear that prejudice against LGBTQ+ people is not a part of their game or setting.

And I've only witnessed a tiny portion of this behavior, as most of it doesn't get slung my way as a masculine presenting white dude. Though I do seem to recall there was one guy who called me a race traitor because I pointed out that fantasy settings have a somewhat less than stellar record on diversity and inclusion. That was a weird day.

It's Still a Business (Even If It Looks Like Fun and Games)

I wanted to add my own contribution to the #RealGameIndustry hashtag. This was present in the spirit, but I didn't see it spelled out, so I thought I'd add it in.

There are a lot of people out there trying to make games. But there are not a lot of folks out there who actually know how to run a business. And that becomes a problem when you expect to actually get some kind of return for your efforts.

Money make the world go round.

Finding people who are making games isn't hard. Go to a con and throw a rock, and there's a decent chance you'll hit somebody who's tinkering with an RPG project. But far too many people get caught up in the art of the game, and the rush of actually creating, and then don't ask how they're going to sell it. Forgetting, of course, that games are expensive to make... and more so if you had to hire freelancers to help get it done.

Your art, your text, your editing, your rules, your maps, the publishing... all of that takes money. And if you don't sell copies of your game, then you're not going to make money to invest in future projects and installments (or pay your bills). More than that, though, freelancers tend to avoid dead-end projects once they recognize them for what they are. Because a paycheck is nice, but if that game is never going to be published (or if it has, "pet project" stenciled on in big red letters), they're going to jump ship. If their name is in the credits, it's on their work history. If you don't treat your game like a product you intend to sell (and to sell as widely as you possibly can), then you're going to have trouble attracting serious talent to your table.

Just some food for thought.

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like 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!