Improved Initiative Needs Your Help (And It Won't Cost You A Dime)!

One good thing that came out of the whole power grab with Wizards of The Coast trying to take back the open game license at the beginning of this year is that it pulled back the curtain for a lot of folks in the TTRPG community regarding exactly what people who make games for a living get paid. And generally speaking, unless you work for WoTC or a select few other companies, you probably aren't making much. This goes double if you're a small publisher, a jobbing freelancer, or an independent creator.

And while a lot of players did their best to support independent creators to help get us over this hump, I'm the first to acknowledge that there's only so much spare change in everyone's pockets. So while I will never say no to selling some of my RPG supplements, and I won't turn down people who want to become Patreon patrons, or who want to buy me a Ko-Fi, I wanted to ask for something other than just a donation from my readers this week.

If I can get enough folks onboard, it will really help me out, and allow me a second or two to catch my breath while I actually plan out some bigger pieces of content for the future. And best of all, it won't cost any of you reading this so much as a dime!

And together, hopefully, we can really fill up my tank!

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!

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

So, What All Has Been Going On?

I already mentioned the recent kerfuffle with Wizards and their attempt to completely upset the TTRPG industry. This led to a LOT of my projects being put on-hold, and it's meant that a lot of other projects have been thrown into chaos regarding what is and isn't a priority for myself and my publishers. However, that whole situation is in addition to the pandemic wiping out thousands of dollars of outstanding work that clients owed me money for, but which vanished into thin air due to many of them ceasing to exist. Not only that, but last summer my publisher for my novels died, and the company dissolved. This took my books off the market, and I didn't even get my final check for the royalties I'd accrued during the final quarter before everything crumbled.

So, saying that things have been a little stressful is a bit of an understatement.

The list goes on, but I'm trying to be brief.

There is, however, one other problem I've been dealing with. Because for those who don't know, aside from the money pledged by my patrons, and sales for supplements through the affiliate links in my articles, this blog doesn't actually make me any money. Ad services are so universally blocked and ignored that over the decade or so I had ads on Improved Initiative, I earned a total of $50 or so, and the last time I got a check for that payment was several years back.

I made up for this by also creating content for Vocal. As some of my readers know this is the website that hosts all of my Character Conversion Guides, as well as a lot of my Unusual Character Concepts, my 5 Tips articles, and more than a few of my short stories. Vocal pays me roughly $6 for every 1,000 reads my content gets, and this time last year I was pulling down $60-$90 a month from Vocal, with some months going as high as $120 or more. It wasn't huge, but it was a big help when I needed it.

Now... well, now I'm lucky if I can even get $20 worth of reads in a month. So what changed?

The short answer is the algorithm. The more complicated answer is that Facebook is a shadow of what it used to be for interaction, Twitter is now a sewage dump where it was once at least a passable silver mine, and Reddit banned Vocal links entirely, adding them to the auto-remove list of websites the bots dump in the trash as soon as you try to share them. This last one hurt a lot, since it also removed probably a year or more of backlinks to my articles that I'd shared to various subreddits.

Here's What I Need You All To Do

At time of writing, I have 269 stories (nice) in my full Vocal archive. From TTRPGs and short fiction, to weird history, bizarre linguistic dives, and a couple rants about horror movies, there's a rather ridiculous amount of content on there. Additionally if you want to narrow your scope then you can just click which topic you want to see along the top of the archive (just below Pinned Stories), and it will sort the articles by topic for you!

What I really need is folks to read these articles. Not just click them, but actually read through to the end.

To be clear, you don't have to read all of them. You don't need to spend hours gorging yourself on my text. But if all of my regular readers could bookmark my archive, and just make it a point to read at least one article a day, that would help. Even more importantly than that, though, if you find an article you like that you think more people should read, share it on your socials. FB, Twitter, Tumblr, LinkedIn, Discord, I'm not picky... but there's only so much traction I can get on my own, and I'm definitely sliding down the hill right now as it gets harder and harder to promote myself across the board.

Every read, share, and like helps... seriously.

The reason I'm asking for this instead of just soliciting patrons or donations is that Vocal is completely free to anyone who wants to read it. Not only that, but reads are tallied every day, so there's a minimal wait for me to cash-out if something I write does go viral and explodes with coins like a Mario enemy that ate an entire bank vault.

But as I mentioned in If 90,000 People Read This Article, I Can Pay My Bills This Month, it requires a frankly absurd level of interaction just for me to pay my rent. However, if you're one of the folks out there who wants to help a creator out, then all you need is an Internet connection and a willingness to consume content to help me stop falling behind!

And if you're looking for some places to get started that have proven popular in the past, might I direct your attention to the following articles?:

- 5 Things You Can Do To Be a Better Ambassador For Your Hobby: This one still gets a little play every now and again. Mostly I just wanted to do my part to help other folks realize that if we don't let fresh blood into our hobbies, then they're going to die in fairly short order.

- It's Okay To Admit There Are Problems in Your Hobby: This article was so divisive it got people to make a meme out of me. It resurfaces every few years, but it's not enough to keep the wolf from the door.

- Partners and Polycules: Polyamorous Designations Based Off Dungeons and Dragons Dice: This was a silly article of mine that is the closest thing I've had to a viral success in the past few years. If you haven't seen it, give yourself (and maybe your friends) a giggle!

- The 5 Awful Paladins You Will Meet in Your Gaming Career: This was the first of my ongoing series about awful character archetypes that we all run into if we play TTRPGs long enough. While several of the follow-ups were also popular, none of them seemed to draw quite as many eyes as the paladin for some reason.

Oh, There is One More Thing You Can Do...

In keeping with the spirit of the title, I'm going to keep my suggestions to things folks can do for free that will have a tangible effect on my income stream. But if you don't have as much time to read as you'd like (or you just prefer to listen to videos while doing chores, painting minis, or getting your steps in), you could also subscribe to the Azukail Games YouTube channel, and listen to videos I make for them.

Full disclosure, I do not own this channel. It's the channel run by one of my publishers... I do, however, make content for it. And the more hits my videos get, the more likely it is that the channel will get monetized, and that I can (perhaps) ask for a bump in my compensation for making said videos. Because it takes 1,000 subscribers, and 4,000 hours of watched content in the past year (or about 11.5 hours a day for 365 days, if you were wondering) for YouTube to even think about letting you make money off your videos, and that is a high bar to clear when you're doing everything all on your own.

So, while this isn't as direct a hand up as reading and sharing my Vocal articles would be, it would still be a big help, and assist me in getting a slightly bigger share of the pie with at least one of the publishers I work with.

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!

You're Not Missing My Updates (They're Over on Vocal)

Long-time readers know that I generally update this blog twice a week, once on Mondays, and once on either Friday or Saturday. Sometimes the weekend post gets wiped out because of a convention or other major event where I just can't sit down at my desk long enough to put some text on the page, but when that happens the Crunch, Fluff, Table Talk, or Unusual Character Concepts post usually goes up the following Monday.

However, you may have noticed there have been some... gaps on this page of late. You're not imagining things, but I wanted to take this week to let folks know what I've been changing up, why I'm changing it, and what sort of results I'm trying to generate with this shift in approach.

And like everything else, it's been a roll of the dice.

Before I get into the details, as always, make sure you sign up for my weekly newsletter if you want to get all of my updates, and if you've got a little extra cash to toss around for the holidays you should consider becoming a Patreon patron to help me keep the blog going.

And if you want to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my Linktree!

Vocal, And Return on Investment

I've been running Improved Initiative for quite a few years, and while my content, style, and organization have changed over time, one thing has remained the same... the blog doesn't really put any money in my pockets. Even if you don't have AdBlock on (and to the six of you that turned it off, my thanks), the ads that run on this site pay terribly. We're talking like $25 a year or so on a blog that (to toot my own horn a bit) draws between 20k and 50k views a month.

So if you wondered why it was I'm always pushing my Patreon page, my Ko-Fi link, or supplements like the Inns and Tavern Bundle or Evil Incorporated: 10 Pentex Subsidiaries, it's because the blog itself doesn't really earn any money on its own.

No student loans here, but definitely a cat who needs his treats.

As a way to shake things up a bit, I started experimenting with putting some of my regular, weekly updates over in my Vocal archive instead of on Improved Initiative, linking them in the master lists when the article goes live. I started with Table Talk, starting with That One Time My Bard Made The Dungeon Master's Girlfriend Jealous, and then I put the first 3 installments of the Silver Raven Chronicles up (my group's run through the Hell's Rebels adventure path). I also put a few of my Unusual Character Concepts posts up there, such as The Anti-Party and The Possessed, and I also put my most recent Crunch installment Tips For Writing RPG Character Conversions there as well.

For the record, it's been a bastard and a half to get eyes on The Silver Raven Chronicles. So if you haven't read any of the installments yet make sure you check out Devil's Night, From The Ashes, and The Raven's Nest. It would be greatly appreciated!

Why did I do this, you ask? Put simply, return on investment.

As a Vocal+ member, I make roughly $6 per 1k reads my articles on that site get. While it's true that they'd be more visible if I put them here on my blog, all the traffic in the world does you no good if it doesn't actually generate anything. I could write a blog entry that pushes all kinds of buttons and gets 20k hits in the space of a weekend, but it won't give me anything for my trouble. I could publish that same article on Vocal, get half the traffic, and still have $60 in my back pocket for the weekend's work.

Is This Blog Dying?

No, not in the slightest.

While I'm probably going to keep both my Table Talk and Unusual Character Concepts on Vocal (at least in the near future), Fluff, Crunch, and my Monday posts are going to keep showing up here. Mostly this change in platform for some of my articles is just me trying to diversify my income streams so I can keep doing what I'm doing, and ensure that rent gets paid. Because while I know I have fans out there who love my RPG work, as well as folks who want to see me release more novels, I'm trying to work smarter instead of harder.

Especially since I've been going at about 130% since last March, and I really need to take my foot off the gas a bit before something blows in my brain. There will be more of an update on that later, but the short version is that with so many clients going silent during the pandemic (and all the work I'd already done for them just not getting paid for) I've been on more of a scramble than normal. While I'm by no means on top of that, it's important to acknowledge that you can only run in the red for so long before you burn yourself out... and that isn't something I want to do.

As such, you're going to see me trying some new things, expanding into different areas, and trying to get better results. All I ask from you fine folks is that you keep giving me your eyeballs, and help me get back up on my feet before the rising tide comes for me.

Until then, though, go check out my Vocal archive! It's got over 200 articles in it, and if you haven't been there yet it should keep you scrolling for quite a few hours to come!

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 YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my cat noir thriller Marked Territory, its sequel 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!

Who Cares If Your Character is Cringey, Silly, or Basic? Play It Anyway!

For people who have never met me in person, I have a very particular look I tend to go for. From my combat boots, to my army surplus field jacket, to my beret and belt pouches, to the patches, pins, and innumerable numbers of skulls, I've often been mistaken for someone in cosplay at conventions. I have since been informed that this fashion choice is referred to as Warcore, and it is something I've embraced wholeheartedly. While it sometimes causes me minor issues (see my article I Was Never In The Military. Please Stop Thanking Me For My Service), it's both practical and aesthetically pleasing to me.

I also got sexy new masks for con season!

When I was younger I occasionally had people ask me why I chose to wear BDUs, or why I bloused my pants into my boots, or why I had a purse on my belt. Those questions became fewer and fewer as I got older, and the opinions of random strangers mattered to me less and less. Now during the time of Covid I've become the strange, wasteland wanderer that I always read about in comic books and saw in post-apocalyptic films.

What does that have to do with RPGs, though?

In short, a lot of us get self-conscious about the characters we bring to a table. We worry about whether a concept is too derivative, or too edgy, or too dark, or too silly, or too whatever. So we play something acceptable, or which has an element or two of what we want, but is really a watered-down imitation of what we would like to do. Like how a lot of us will wear something fun underneath our business casual when we go to the office, but we lack the confidence to show up with a cloak over our shoulders.

This week I wanted to deliver a clear message. RPGs are the playground of your imagination... go wild on that shit!

As always, subscribe to my weekly newsletter so you don't miss anything! And if you want to help oil the wheels so I can keep delivering you content like this then become a Patreon patron! Seriously, even small donations can make a big difference.

Seriously... Why Are You Trying To Be Normal?

I want to start this with a caveat; I am not suggesting that people reading this go and play a monkey wrench (a character who deliberately does not fit into the game everyone else is trying to play). Your character has to follow all the agreed-upon rules of the game, and they should still fit the agreed-upon tone and theme of the campaign you're playing. Don't bring a thunderously grim concept to a light-hearted game, and don't try to shoehorn in a happy-go-lucky concept into a game that's meant to be dark and serious. Don't try to bring in themes and topics that will make the table uncomfortable, or that people don't want to be part of. Don't bring characters who weigh down the party while making everyone else work harder.

With that out of the way... you should go absolutely nuts when it comes to what you want to bring to the table!

Seriously... sky's the limit!

RPGs are meant to tell stories, but more importantly they're meant to tell our stories. If you want to play an old-fashioned knight in shining armor as a paladin who is Disney hero levels of uncomplicated, that doesn't make you a bad gamer. If you want to play a dull-witted bruiser barbarian complete with Hulk-speak (or who is actually the Hulk if you follow my conversion guide), you shouldn't feel that you're being lazy if you're having fun. If you want a ranger with murdered parents and a vengeance-flavored chip on their shoulder, have a blast with it! A good-hearted member of a traditionally monstrous species who's out looking to prove themselves? Go for it!

Too often we look at the characters we want to play (thematically, at least), and we tone them down or change them because we think this or that concept is too immature. Or it's been done too many times. Or it's too similar to something that already exists in a different game, or a piece of pop culture, or whatever. Whether it's skull-painted vigilante with a full-auto crossbow, or a literal magical princess with animal friends and an enchanted voice, we tell ourselves that we shouldn't play these characters.

As someone who has had a lifelong love of grimdark characters, bleak settings, and harsh storylines, which are all things that get me the side-eye from people who consider those the ear-marks of an underdeveloped gamer, I'm here to tell you to free yourself from this judgment. Don't ask whether something is too immature, or has been played too many times, or is too silly or edgy for you to be allowed to have fun with. Instead, talk with your GM (and your fellow players if necessary), strap on that brace of daggers, and play that "ridiculous" character that would make you happiest to put on the tabletop!

And if you need character conversions for folks from John Wick, to Iron Man, to Ghost Rider and more, don't forget to check out my Character Conversions page before you go!

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Fluff post!

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 alley cat thriller Marked Territory, it's sequel Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my recent 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!

Examining The Fantasy Atheist

For a moment, the light dimmed. It was as if a cloud had passed over the sun, leaving the companions in shadow. Then there was an impact in the air, as if the world itself had gasped, and a being stood before them. It glowed with a preternatural light, and it gazed upon them with eyes of fire. It possessed a dozen arms, each bearing items of a strange, alien origin. It turned to the one who had summoned it, nodding its head in acknowledgement. Before it could speak, though, Korrun rolled his eyes.

"Really?" he said. "Don't you think this is taking your make believe a little far?"

The Herald reached out its empty hand, and touched the cleric on the shoulder. "You bear a great burden traveling with this one."

"I do," Invaris replied. "This I know well."

Could I trade him to you? Please? Any bid, I'm listening.

Before we get into the week of this month's character concept, sign up for my weekly newsletter to ensure you don't miss anything! And if you want to give me the fuel I need to keep content like this coming your way consider becoming a Patreon patron! It really helps.

There Are No Gods!

Chances are good that if you've been playing fantasy RPGs for a while that you've come across the atheist character at some point. Though, for added clarity, The Fantasy Atheist is the name of a trope, and is not meant to be a deeper examination of this form of philosophy... especially since that's not how these characters tend to be played when someone decides to use this archetype. These characters are, in most cases, merely a more specialized version of the Fantasy Flat Earther, which I talked about in Examining The "Doubting Thomas" Character Archetype in Fantasy RPGs a while back. Because just like the sorcerer who claims magic isn't real, the Fantasy Atheist will watch a cleric perform a miracle, or even summon a celestial being from the outer planes, and stubbornly fold their arms, refusing to acknowledge the divine exists at all.

This is not a clever or unique character concept. It's a joke character, and it's a joke that was never funny to begin with.

You Can Make It Work (With The Right Circumstances)

With all of that said, there are certain ways you can play this style of character, and certain circumstances that can make them workable. I would still recommend against it due to the baggage the concept has, but you can do it if you're determined enough.

I provided some circumstances in my Sundara setting.

The first way to make this concept work is to play in a setting where the divine is largely mysterious, unknown, and unknowable. Mortals still have their myths and their legends, and you'll still find clerics, oracles, druids, and others wielding the power of the divine, but the gods aren't fully known or understood. Settings where there's an unknown quantity of gods, or where it's impossible to know if the gods of a certain faith are who their followers believe they are, work as well. In short, you need some kind of doubt that what people believe (even people who have been empowered by the gods) is the truth of what's happening beyond the material world.

This is very much the sort of setup you find in my recent release Gods of Sundara, available both in a Pathfinder version and a DND 5E version. Because in Sundara the gods are truly cosmic, which means that mortals can only ever see and comprehend a small portion of these beings. They are alien in many respects, taking different forms and appearing in different ways to different people. So Grimwald with his black sword worshiped by the hill clans of the far north, and the colossal dragon De'nagi paid homage by the lizard folk tribes of the southern swamps are, in fact, both manifestations of the same god; Charne, god of war. The fluid nature of the divine, where people really do have to take it on faith that the things they believe are even remotely true (and not some shell game played by the beings of the spirit realm) means there actually is plenty of room for doubt and argument as to whether a particular god or a particular faith is what someone thinks it is. And that leaves room for discussions on faith, the trustworthiness of religion, and how much knowledge is lost or misunderstood in translation from the realm of the gods to the mortals.

On that note, wanted to mention my 5 Tips For Playing Better Clerics for those who haven't checked it out yet!

Alternatively, You Need To Change Your Character

Not every fantasy setting has that element of mystery to it regarding the divine. In a lot of settings the gods are set in stone, and the faith taught to people on the mortal plane is true. The myths and legends are real, and these divinities will walk the world and perform great deeds... and when they aren't personally appearing, their servants often will in the form of angels, devils, and other divine/infernal beings.

If you're playing in a setting where there's no need to take things on faith because they've been confirmed multiple times, and there are records that this is how the cosmos is structured, then you don't have the wiggle room of a setting where things are more vague. It's hard to argue that the gods don't exist when their servants can wield divine fire to slay demons, and when avatars manifest to aid in your fight against the army of undeath around level 12.

All right, all right, I get it. They're real, okay!

In a setting that doesn't really require belief (since these creatures and powers are just facts of life), you have a few options to really make the atheist character work. The first is using it as a character arc as they learn more about the universe itself. We saw a version of this in Marvel comics when for years Tony Stark refused to believe that Thor was who he said he was. Until finally, out of patience, Thor grabbed Tony and transported them both to Asgard. So Tony saw with his own two eyes that the rainbow bridge, the city of the gods, and more were real. And he learned that the Thor from the old Norse myths and the being he fought alongside were truly one and the same.

As a character arc, this works pretty well. It's usually meant as a way to take an arrogant aspect of a character, and to humble them by showing there are things they don't know, and entities beyond them in the universe. It's similar, in a way, to how we see Han Solo go from, "The force is just a fairy tale," to simply acknowledging it as a fact of the universe.

However, there's the seed of a second way to play this in the Thor and Iron Man example. Because as folks who read Marvel know, Asgardians are not gods as we typically think of them. They are an alien species whose technology is so advanced that it is in many ways indistinguishable from magic. So while it is not inaccurate to call them gods, it is also accurate to say they are highly advanced beings whose understanding of the universe is inexplicable to humanity. It doesn't change the nature of what they are, but the altered definition can make someone seem far more reasonable. Because they aren't denying that these beings exist, nor are they denying the power they wield. Instead, they are simply saying that calling them "gods" is inaccurate, and that more nuanced language is required to understand them more precisely.

The third option was one popularized by Rahadoum in the Golarion setting for Pathfinder. The so-called Kingdom of Man does not allow divine worship or magic within its borders. Not because the gods aren't real, but because the nation acknowledges that they are real, and they want no part of the gods or their followers within their borders. So in this case the "atheist" character isn't denying that gods exist, and that there's some other explanation for extraplanar manifestations and the power of divine characters; they're just saying they want no part of the divine and the mess it represents.

Of the three of these options, the third is probably the easiest to make work in a high fantasy game. From refusing boosts from the cleric, to using health potions and alchemical tablets for restoring your own hit points, to refusing to participate in any form of religious ceremony (or merely making sure others understand you're just being polite), it can cause some friction and challenge, but it isn't usually enough to make the rest of the table want to grab you by the shoulders and shake you for obstinately proclaiming the sky to be chartreuse when we can all plainly see that it's blue.

Like, Follow, and Stay Tuned For More!

That's all for this installment of Unusual Character Concepts. Hopefully this one gave you something to chew over, whether you're a player, or a game master.

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 alley cat noir novel Marked Territory, its sequel Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my most recent collection of short stories 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!

GMs, Don't Make Players "Prove" Their Classes To You

I want you to take a moment and ask how many times you've had a really fun idea for a character that you were really excited to play. Maybe it was a swashbuckling bard, or a longbow wielding paladin, or a wizard astride a proud, white charger. If you are a fortunate player, your GM looked at the character, made sure it didn't break any agreed-upon rules, and said sure, sounds good!

However, there are a lot of GMs out there who will simply fold their arms and refuse unless your character looks and feels the way they think a member of this class should look and feel. This sort of behavior never improves a game, and it will always drive a player's interest right into the ground. So please, my fellow game masters, open your imagination and try to see things from your player's perspective.

Barbarian prince? No. You can't even read, much less run a country.

While we're on this topic, I'd urge readers to take a gander at my ever-expanding Unusual Character Concepts list to see some more examples of the sorts of characters that a lot of GMs will flat-out refuse even though they don't break any rules. Also, while we're at it, consider signing up for my weekly newsletter to make sure you don't miss anything that comes out in the future.

Lastly, for GMs who are looking for a new addition to their settings, "Silkgift: The City of Sails" is now out for my Sundara setting! Aether weapons, brigandines, net launchers, and a bunch of other nonsense is in this one, so check it out for either Pathfinder Classic or Dungeons and Dragons 5E!

Flavor To Taste (And Don't Keep The Gate)

Any time I suggest that GMs give players more freedom and options, the response is always something along the lines of, "Oh, so I should just let players bring a half-angel, half-demon dragon to my game? Uh-uh, not happening!"

So in the interest of crystal clear communication, I'm not saying that GMs should open up every book in the whole game and let players go wild. I'm saying they should stop gatekeeping the options the players actually have available to them (the ones in the character creation section, not the entirety of the Bestiary/Monster Manual) and demanding players somehow "prove" that their character should be allowed if the concept they're proposing doesn't violate the ground rules of the game.

Meaning they have chosen a class (or classes) you said were available and allowed, pairing them with a creature type that you also said was available and allowed. But, for one reason or another, you don't like the flavor of the character because it goes against what you think/feel/believe it should be, so you make the player jump through hoops, or outright deny them the ability to play that concept.

Should is open to interpretation. If the concept doesn't break the rules, let your players have their cookie.

Trust me... they will love you for it.

Like I said, dig through my archive and you'll find dozens of articles that have polarized GMs. Some of the more common include:

- The Noble Druid

- The Sudden Wizard

- The Drill Sergeant Bard

- The Mutant Sorcerer

Some of the debates over these concepts have been interesting. Others have been incendiary. But the point at the heart of it, nine times out of ten, is that the DM who would ban characters like this (base classes played in an unexpected way) simply cannot conceive of these characters in any way outside of the box they've been placed in either by their experience as a gamer, or in popular fiction. In their minds druids are always tree-hugging hippies who live in the woods like bears. Wizards must be geniuses who study for years of their life, rather than someone who develops an intrinsic grasp of the math of magic via an accident or injury. Bards are singers and storytellers, not bellowing commanders slinging spells and steel on the front lines. Sorcerers are either born that way, or they're not, they don't just gain spell slots by exposure to a lab accident like in a comic book.

Of course, none of that is in the game as it's written. There are tropes and stereotypes, and examples of classic versions of these characters, but there's nothing actively preventing these concepts in the rules. A barbarian can be a prince or princess as surely as they can be born in a windswept crag somewhere in the northern reaches, and a paladin can be a scarred, sour enforcer in studded armor with a longbow as surely as a beautiful knight in shining armor.

By all means, ask for a backstory. If something doesn't add up, ask for an explanation. But don't waste your GM fiat on telling a player no because their elf isn't barbaric enough to fit your pre-conceived notion of what a barbarian "should" be.

The class is just a rules chassis; the character isn't part of a union that demands codes of conduct, and will show up to take their class card away if they don't act a certain way. All they have to do is obey the rules actually written into their class, and if the class doesn't say they must be or do X, Y, or Z, then it isn't mandatory.

The "Well in My Game" Defense

Again, in the interests of clarity, this advice is to be taken for games as they're written, and as they're portrayed in common world guides for those books (Golarion, Forgotten Realms, etc., etc.). If you have made your own, custom game setting with additional red tape that isn't in the common rules, then there is no possible way I could know about it when writing this piece. However, before leaving comments, consider the wording of what I said above.

If a player's concept does not violate the rules, don't make them jump through additional hoops. That includes any additional rules you have put in place for your setting, or as part of character creation at your table.

However many rules those are.

As an example, if the major religions of your world are at war with arcane magic, then sure, it wouldn't make sense to have a sorcerer as a holy warrior beneath a church's banner. Same way that if you have decided paladins can only be made by taking vows before a holy order and being anointed by them, then of course you can't have someone being chosen out in the boondocks by a divine force to act as their champion.

But if a player's concept follows all the rules (including the ones you have added for whatever custom world you've made), then you're not doing yourself any favors as their GM by making them write a dissertation about why they should be allowed to play their concept. Because just like how railroading characters onto plot leads to player disconnect and a drop in interest, railroading their creativity can suck out their enthusiasm before the game ever really starts.

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 YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my cat noir thriller Marked Territory, 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!

Closure Is Important For Players To Move On To New Concepts

We've all been at a table with that player. You know the one I'm talking about. The one who always seems to play the exact same character when a new game starts. Not just mechanically (though that's usually part of it) but thematically, as well. They're always the same elven renegade, the same assassin seeking redemption, or the same fighter looking for revenge on the creature that destroyed their home.

The character sheet might have a new name on it, but everything else is always the same.

Thought you'd seen the last of me, eh?

I've seen this happen a lot, and there are all kinds of reasons for it. Sometimes it really is just a failure of creativity, and the player is unable or unwilling to try something different (in which case, I'd recommend a scroll through my Unusual Character Concepts list). However, a far more common reason for this habit in my experience is that a player has a story they want to tell, and they aren't allowed to actually tell that story. Whether it's because the campaign abruptly ends, or a character gets killed, or the DM just stymies certain avenues, the player simply can't finish the story they set out to tell.

This is the same feeling a lot of folks get when they're at dinner with friends, and they're halfway through telling a story, and suddenly they get interrupted or the conversation changes. They weren't done yet, and even if they'd like to join the new conversation, all they can focus on was that they didn't get to finish the story they were trying to tell.

Which means that they're going to try to bring it up again, and again, until they get some damn closure.

You'd Be Surprised How a Finished Story Moves People Along

As I mentioned back in That One Time I Played a Bard Out of Spite (And Had a Ball), I myself was trapped in a stutter loop by constantly flaking DMs who never let me finish my character's arc. I had a whole tale I wanted to tell, but every time a game got cancelled after three levels, or someone's work schedule changed, or the group broke up, I was left feeling like I was just getting to the meat of my story when everyone stopped paying attention.

And that was an intensely frustrating feeling to have.

My imagination is not understanding when it comes to failure.

The thing was, I didn't realize that wasn't a normal part of the gaming process until I actually had a DM who stuck with the group and finished a campaign. The first time I ever got to actually finish something (which if memory serves was Carrion Crown, whose ending was told in That One Time My Paladin One-Shotted The Campaign's Final Big Bad), I had this feeling of intense accomplishment. Not only that, but I didn't play a paladin for years after that game, nor did I play anyone from that character's homeland. I certainly felt no urge to play someone who was hoping to earn good favor with the goddess of death in order to finally be reunited with his wife... because I'd already told that story. I got my satisfying ending, and I moved on to other things.

And I think there are a lot of DMs (and even other players) who don't really appreciate how draining it can be to put down a story you were really invested in, and to make up something else entirely. Because that other tale is still waiting, and we're going to want to finish it sooner or later.

A Solid Ending Makes A World of Difference

The most important thing to remember here was the point I made back in Before You Start Your Campaign, Know Where You're Going, but it sometimes bears repeating. In order for your players to feel they've accomplished something, and that a particular PC's tale has been told, they need to have a complete story. They need an adventure where they went there and back again, and which allows them to get the character out of their system. When the song is sung, and their tale told, it becomes significantly easier to put that character aside and come up with someone else for the next campaign.

All right, next character I'm thinking like a rebel noble who turns to piracy... sound cool?

Another thing to keep in mind, though, is what I said in If DMs Want Personal Investment, Their Games Need Personal Stakes. Because just finishing a game isn't enough; you need players to feel like they finished the story they were telling. And if the party was nothing more than the randomly chosen heroes of the land, with events happening around them rather than actually happening to them, then they might feel less like they told their story and more like their PC had a really weird dream. They need to be given a chance to achieve their goals, and to make the overall story their story in order for the character to feel complete.

Now, as I said, this is not guaranteed to work with all players. Some players will be stuck in the same character because that's all they know, or they may not want to branch out to different mechanics. Sometimes it can feel like it worked well enough last time, so why not do that again? But for a lot of players, the chance to finally finish the story they were telling is all they need to move on to something new.

And hopefully just as interesting!

Last Minute Announcement!

Before I close out this week, I wanted to let folks know I'm thinking about starting a new series here! I'm tentatively calling it Alignment Deep Dives, and the idea is to break down pop culture characters through the lens of the alignment system so they can be used as a touch stone for players who may be looking to get a handle on one of the 9 boxes. I've already covered Judge Dredd (lawful evil), The Punisher (evil), and Robocop (lawful good), but I'm interested in hearing what other characters you'd like to see join the list, and if it's something you'd like to see more of in the future!

Also, if you scroll up to look at the new display, you'll see that there's even a title for the Alignment Deep Dives page!

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!

DMs, Remember That "No" is Not The End of The Conversation... It's The Beginning!

One of the most common pieces of advice I've seen for newer dungeon masters is not to be afraid to tell your players no. Whether it's saying no to a race that doesn't fit your setting, or no to a third-party class you're not familiar with, it's important for you to have confidence in your ability to run the game effectively. Sometimes that means saying no to something your players want.

With that said, though, a lot of DMs make the mistake of assuming that their "No" is where the conversation ends, when it's actually the place it should be getting started.

An excellent question, Cindy. I'm gonna have to say no, though, and here's why...

Explain Why You Said "No"

To be clear, here, we're not talking about scenarios where players are asking about the rules as they're written, or checking the hard limits of a game. Those are simple yes/no questions that have a binary answer. However, when a player asks whether it's okay for them to take a certain feat at this level, play a creature of a certain race, or take levels in a particular class, these are usually options that are perfectly legal by the rules of the game.

Or, put another way, it's you as the dungeon master that stops a player from doing this, rather than the game as it's written.

Pay no attention to the man behind the screen!

When it's you, and not the rules, that's preventing a player from moving in a certain direction, it's your job to have a conversation with the player to explain your reasoning. While we all joke about how the dungeon master is god, it's important to remember that your players are just as much a part of the game as you are. They're equal participants, and if you're going to stop them from contributing to the game in a certain way, they at least deserve some kind of explanation as to why.

If, for no other reason, than to help them figure out what you found objectionable, and why so they don't just keep running into a wall.

For example, say that you had a player who wanted to play a tiefling ninja in your Pathfinder game. By the rules, that race is completely legal, and the class is part of the game's rules, so there should be no problem. But maybe you're running a homebrew game where tieflings aren't really a thing, and it didn't come up until just now because no one else asked for a native outsider. Alternatively, you might not feel that the ninja is a proper fit for your game due to its skill set, and that it won't have the chance to really shine taking on the challenges you have planned in the campaign. Maybe you're not comfortable with classes or races outside of the core book, or you've heard horror stories about that class and it makes you worry. Whatever it is, talk about it with your players.

Remember, the more specific you can be here, the better the results you'll generally get. You want your player to see your position, and to understand your reasoning so you can both find an amenable solution.

Hear Your Player's Point of View

The second part of this conversation is letting your player actually respond to your points. Because just like the characters in the game, you're not making these decisions in a vacuum. The game is a group endeavor, and sometimes it needs to be talked out.

All right, I see what you're saying, but hear me out on this...

In order to keep your player enthused with your game, you need to make sure they know they're being heard... so listen to them. If they make good points, discuss those points and see where it leads you. If they find inconsistencies in your rulings, don't hedge or dodge.

The goal here is not to be right, because as pointed out above, there is no right answer when it's not a specific rules question. The goal is to make sure you and your player can both see each other's point of view, and that you're both on the same page moving forward.

Work Together To Find A Solution

Let's return to the concept of the tiefling ninja, to continue our example. Perhaps the thing you're objecting to is not that tieflings don't exist in your setting, but that they are often marginalized and looked down on in the nation where your game is taking place. Having a tiefling PC is going to create a lot of unnecessary friction, and you're worried it could cause problems not just for the player, but for the rest of the party.

What's that? Roll initiative? Ah, well, if you insist...

That's a fair point, and one worth raising. However, the player counters, what if they took the tiefling variant that allowed them to pass for human, displaying very few traits one associates with a tiefling? In this instance they could still have the race they really want to play, and as long as they take a few basic precautions (not putting their feet in the fire and taking no damage, not using their spell-like abilities where it could cast suspicion on them, etc.) then they should be able to keep their true heritage a secret. This could create a fun cat-and-mouse dynamic, and even add another dimension to the game!

Alternatively, if your concern about the ninja is that you don't want your player to portray them in the way we typically see them in fiction (the age old, "No Eastern classes in my Western fantasy!" argument), then an alternative compromise might be to simply rename the class as the Agent, instead. I talked about this a ways back in Want To Play a Ninja, But Your DM Said No? Try Calling it "The Agent" Instead, but the point is that if the objection is to the class's imagined flavor instead of its actual class abilities, just change the flavor to fit your game. In much the same way a monk can be a half-orc prize fighter who's never once set foot in a monastery, a ninja could just as easily be an agent of the crown who fulfills the role of a fantasy James Bond or Black Widow (incidentally, it was the base class I used for my Pathfinder character conversion for Natasha Romanova).

On the other hand, if your primary objection was that you didn't like the class's main features, then a different compromise might be to allow the player to build a rogue, but to take the rogue talent that allows them to substitute ninja tricks, thereby giving them some of the things they wanted from the ninja class, but working it into a core class that you're more comfortable with instead.

Remember don't get so invested in your "No" that you cling to it even in the face of a workable solution.

However, if there is no way to find a compromise for your player's original proposal, then you need to throw them a life preserver instead of letting them flail around and hope to reach the shore. Ask your players why that wanted that class, that race, etc. What was the benefit they needed for their concept to work?

Because if it was just the aesthetic ("I thought being descended from demons would be cool flavor"), then you could propose alternative choices to give them that same look and/or feel without being a full tiefling, such as feats or traits that give them hints of an infernal bloodline, along with small powers to add to the mystique. If they needed a stat boost, maybe you could suggest a race that offered similar benefits they didn't think of ("Hey, catfolk get a boost to that stat, and you'd be considered weird in a positive way"). If they really wanted to combine monk and rogue, you could point out archetypes from either class that give them that kind of strange, dangerous infiltrator feeling, but which don't use the class you'd rather not have at your table.

Leap tall buildings at a single bound? Okay, I think I know a different way to make that work....

Incidentally, talking about tieflings so much reminded me that I came out with 5 Tips For Playing Better Tieflings and Aasimar a little while back. Figured I'd share that, for any folks who find this example I'm using hits a little too close to home.

You're All in This Together

In order to actually run a game, you need to keep your players interested. Even if your initial premise hooked them, you have a finite amount of goodwill from your table. Generally speaking, every time a player has to move to a secondary or tertiary concept, path, or idea, you're going to lose some of that goodwill. The best way to minimize that loss is by having open, frank conversations, and working with them to make sure they're as enthusiastic as possible when it comes time to roll the dice.

Because once a player has lost their enthusiasm for your game, it takes a whale of an effort to reel them back in... and most of the time, it's just not going to happen.

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. Hopefully you enjoyed, and if you've used run these kinds of games before, leave us a comment to let us know what worked for you!

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, 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!

You Don't Get Brownie Points For Building Ineffective Characters

This week's title is a bit incendiary, but it's an issue I think we all need to have an open, honest conversation about. Because, on the one hand, our characters are special to us. As players, we put our minds, and our hearts, into these constructs of lightning and imagination. We invest in their stories, and in many ways we view them as extensions of ourselves. When they succeed, we triumph. When they fail, part of that failure laps around our knees like a salty, lukewarm sea.

The thing is, though, this isn't a playground game of make-believe where you can just out-imagine the monsters to win. Roleplaying games are about story, but beneath that story is the underlying bones and muscle of the world in which we're playing. The same material that you need to build your characters from in order for them to function. And if you take all the gooey story-flesh, and slop it into a pile, it isn't going to stand up. You need to have the bones, and that is something a lot of gamers simply do not want to hear.

What do you mean I can't start this game with three dragons that do my bidding?

You Need One To Make The Other Work

I'm going to tell a story you've probably heard before. While the details may be different, you may even have a tale like this of your own.

Years ago, I joined a table that was running Shackled City in DND 3.5. I knew the others at the table casually, and I'd played with the DM before. I noted our lack of a front-line meat shield, and asked the DM if he would allow me to build toward the Frenzied Berserker, or if he thought that would be too broken. He gave me his assent, and I started going through the options, and assembling the usual suspects. Power Attack, Cleave, Combat Brute, Shock Trooper... we all know how this dance goes. The goal was to assemble a barbarian/fighter who could do his job, and buy the rest of the group time to do theirs. This was aided by a bullshit set of stats where my dump stat was a 10, but my Strength, Dex, and Con were all nearing superhuman levels.

That was when two options presented themselves. Options that shaped the flavor of the character, and explained his mechanical monstrosity.

You going somewhere with this, boy?

The first was that Arius wasn't, in fact, human. He was a half-orc who was passing as human (something my DM offered as an enticement because he wanted a half-orc in the party). The second was that this campaign gave us a background trait we could take. I took nightmares, which made me immune to the fatigued condition. So I had a barbarian who couldn't be fatigued.

Where does the story part come in? Well, Arius's mother had been captured by raiders, and had never told her husband what they'd done to her. Arius was born from that violation, and the boy suffered awful night terrors. He'd often wake up screaming and howling. His parents sent him to the temple of Kord, and though they didn't cure him, they channeled his energy into fitness and prowess. Arius was a prodigious weight lifter, a canny wrestler, and a brutal swordsman, because whenever he couldn't sleep, he would train. He didn't ask what kept him awake, and he didn't want to know the terrors that lurked in his mind. But when his Rage manifested, he fought in his sleep. The things in his dreams filled him, and made him a monster that knew no fear, no pain, and no mercy.

Now, I told you that story to tell you this story.

There was another fellow in the group who opted to play a cleric. A good choice, since every group needs a cleric, and they have a lot of options when it comes to what they can accomplish. He also opted for a non-human race, the problem was that the player chose a winged, half-bird race with an equivalent character level. For those not familiar with 3.5 rules, that meant he'd always have fewer levels than the rest of the party, because he gave up several levels in order to trade for the race. Much like how you could play a frost giant, but you'd be a level 1 fighter, while the rest of the party was level 14.

The primary appeal of this avian race was that he would, eventually, get functional wings. Eventually was the key word. This meant that the player gave up several levels of spellcasting in exchange for an IOU on flying a handful of levels from the start. That's not an inherent problem. It became a problem, though, when he expected to be able to waltz into a fight, and swing around the sort of numbers Arius was capable of. The cleric couldn't crack skulls the way the secret half-orc could, anymore than Arius would gain the ability to fly. But the player had an image of his character as a warrior priest, and he wouldn't be dissuaded no matter how many times he got his ribs kicked in when it came to melee.

The Unicorn of Optimized Fluff

In the above example, the player behind the cleric was getting quite frustrated after the fifth or sixth time he had to be fireman carried off the battlefield. So, when we had a gap in play, I asked why he kept rushing into melee, when he saw it clearly wasn't working. His reply was that his character was a fighter, and he was going to stand up for what was right. I asked what mechanics he was using to make that work, thinking perhaps I could make some suggestions on feats or strategy, and the response was a scoff. He was convinced that an out-of-the-box cleric, fighting with one arm tied behind his back, was the equal of a monster truck that ran on the blood of innocents.

And he just couldn't figure out why I was cleaving a bloody trail, while he struggled to take down a single enemy by the end of the fight.

You're adorable.

Rules matter. Even if your DM completely re-writes your game manual, and you have a 3-ring binder full of house rules, you still have to build your characters, and play them, according to those rules. And, while you should make a deep, compelling, interesting character, that doesn't excuse you from following those rules.

By extension, if you spend your resources frivolously, you don't get roleplay brownie points for it. Mistakes aren't magically transformed into roleplay decisions just because you did them for story reasons. You're shooting yourself in the foot, and then asking everyone else to tell you how brave you are for struggling on through your newly acquired disability.

Play To Win (But Not How You Think)

Player characters exist to accomplish goals. Whether you're raiding a fire giant stronghold, sniffing out a spy, or keeping the peace in the city's slums, your character has a job to do. As a player, it's your responsibility to make sure your character is built in such a way that they will be effective as a part of the overall team. Or, at least, that they have certain things they can accomplish which will explain their presence in the story, and as part of team protagonist.

The safety is coming off.

For example, you only have a certain number of skill points to spend every level in Pathfinder. Even if you have a high Intelligence score, and you play a class that gets a lot of skill points, you should make sure the points you spend are going into skills you're actually going to use. Say, for example, that your character is highly dexterous, so you invest points into Sleight of Hand. That's not a problem, but if you're spending those points, you are declaring that this is a skill you intend on using. Not just in downtime, or between the scenes, or just for flavor, but all the time. If you aren't the kind of character that will be picking pockets, or who intends to secrete weapons on his person in case you get captured, then this may not be a useful skill for you.

But what if your backstory is that you grew up as a pickpocket? Don't you have to spend ranks in Sleight of Hand to justify that? Not really.

This is where flavor and practicality come together. Say your character is a brawler who grew up on the streets, and she was a thief until she became a cage fighter. You aren't required to buy Sleight of Hand just because you were once a sneak thief. It would be far more likely that you'd have skills like Intimidate, Acrobatics, and Escape Artist. After all, you haven't been a sneak thief for a long time, and after countless matches your knuckles are more effective for cracking skulls than they ever were at riffling a purse.

Being "Well-Rounded" is Often a Defense of Poor Budgeting

One of the primary arguments on this topic is players who say they want to play "well-rounded" characters. That they would rather go into a game having a wider set of skills at a mediocre level, then one or two abilities that they excel at. That's a fair opinion to have, but ask yourself if you were hiring someone for a specific job, would you hire the guy with the specialized degree and field research, or the person who's worked in a bunch of different areas, and who has a smattering of skills?

Jeff is a great camp counselor... but I wouldn't hire him to re-wire my house.

No one character can do, or be good at, everything. The mechanics of any RPG are set up so that the choices you make when you invest your points define your areas of expertise. As such, you need to know what you want to do, and you have to realize what goals you have for this character.

We do this all the time at lower levels, but for some reason many players turn their noses up at playing the long-game. If you're a level 1 character in Pathfinder, and you want to deal a lot of damage in melee, the feats you'll take are likely Power Attack and Furious Focus for a Strength-based character, or Piranha Strike for a Dexterity-based character. If you're going to operate at range, you take Point Blank Shot and Precise Shot, whether you're a ray specialist, an archer, or someone with an unhealthy love of throwing axes. If you're going to multiclass as a spellcaster, then one of the best traits you can take is Magical Knack, because it helps keep your caster level on an even keel.

Does that mean there's only one way to play a character? Of course not! But you need to know what you're going to do, and how you're going to back-up that concept, if you are going to get the results you want. Can you play a hedonistic privateer on a mission from the gods who has a parrot familiar, and who is out to become the governor of his island in order to protect his people? Sure you can! But you need to know what abilities that character has to have, and you have to incorporate them into your concept.

Lastly, talk to your DM. Make sure your concept works the way you think it works, and be sure that what you want to make will actually be useful in your game. A swamp-dwelling druid who wrestles gators for fun might be a deadly grappler, but if you're playing a highly political game in the big city, with lots of backstabbing and innuendo, you might feel as useless as a fish with a new bicycle.

Thanks for reading through this week's Moon Pope Monday post. It's on the longer side, but I had a lot to say. If you enjoyed it, and would like to see more, then why not stop by The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to leave a little support? Even $1 a month goes a long way, and there's some free swag in it for you! Lastly, if you haven't followed me on Facebook, Tumblr, or Twitter yet, now would be a great time to do so.