It's been one hell of a year, and I've had a rough ride over the past decade or so. The wheel doesn't stop its grinding just because you have a milestone coming up, though, so I wanted to take a moment to both acknowledge my birthday this year (something I don't normally do), and to ask folks to help me out with a couple of projects I've been having trouble getting eyes and ears tuned in to.
So, if you'd like to help me make sure that this Douglas Adams birthday of mine is a good one, please check the list below for how you can help!
It would really give me something to celebrate!
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!
How Can You Help (Free Stuff)?
First and foremost, I know we're all on the struggle these days, and most of my regulars are on very tight budgets. So, most of the things I'm going to ask for are things that will cost you nothing but a bit of time, but it will still go a long way toward helping make my coming year a little easier.
I'm not getting any younger, after all.
At the top of the list is the new project I launched with Alice Liddell a few months back, The A.L.I.C.E. Files. This YouTube channel features audio book readings, as well as an ongoing plot involving the mysterious Carroll Institute, and the latest "Alice" who has signed on as a witness cataloger. And because this project is new, we simply aren't getting paid for it yet. It's a huge amount of time, effort, and energy, though, which is why I'd really appreciate folks going to the channel, and giving the episodes we have out a watch. If you like what you see (or you just want to help us reach our goals so YouTube will actually share ad revenue with us), subscribe to the channels, like the videos, and leave some comments on ones you enjoy the most.
We just broke 300 subscribers, and we've got less than 1,000 watch hours. Those numbers need to be 1,000 and 4,000 respectively for us to actually start getting paid... so even getting us a few steps closer would be great!
The second thing you could do to help also involves YouTube! I've been making videos for the Azukail Games YouTube channel for some time, and we did manage to get the channel monetized (in no small part thanks to the surprise success of my video essay The Problem With Pentex). However, we're really close to hitting a new milestone over there as well! At time of writing we're about 30 people away from crossing over the 2,000 subscriber mark... it's a drop in the bucket by YouTube standards, but it would still be a pretty awesome finish line to cross.
Especially since the channel only had 300 and change folks subscribed when I first started making videos for it.
Second verse same as the first with this one. If you aren't subscribed, please do so. And whether you are or not, watch a couple of videos, and see if there's something here that you'd like! We've got advice for World/Chronicles of Darkness, discussions about my fantasy setting Sundara: Dawn of a New Age, crafting videos, previews of supplements, videos about my RPG Army Men: A Game of Tactical Plastic... and so much more!
And last on the free list, I want to let folks know about my Vocal.Media archive. I've got more than 300 free articles over there covering fantasy and sci fi, RPGs, fan and original fiction, and more... but more importantly, I get paid for every read! So consider bookmarking it, and reading through the archive. It's only a penny a read, but if you find something you really like, consider sharing it on your socials, telling your friends about it, etc. as well to help me grab some more eyeballs.
It really does help, when all is said and done.
If You Want To Throw Money At Something, Though...
If you're one of those people out there who wants to get me something to mark the occasion, and help me pay my bills at the same time, then you might consider becoming a Patreon patron. I recently switched to the monthly subscription model, and it's been tough to rebuild my earnings on that platform. Or if you just want to give me a little tip to help keep me going, you could just Buy Me A Ko-Fi.
Of course, you can also check out my Amazon author page, or type my full name (Neal Litherland, for those who don't know) into Drive Thru RPG. You'll find a dozen or so books on the former site, and over 200 separate supplements on the latter to choose from!
However you choose to help, it's much appreciated! Thanks in advance, and I'm going to try to keep things going in 2026 to get even more stuff right in front of all of 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!
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!
Normally I'm not a real big birthday guy. It's nice when people remember, and I love presents as much as anyone else, but ever since I turned 30 they've been sneaking up on me more and more to the point where I sort of forget until I wake up and have three dozen messages on Facebook sending me well wishes.
Which is definitely a nice change of pace from the sort of messages I usually wake up to.
However, this year is something of a milestone for me. I'm turning 40, but I've also been a professional TTRPG writer for a little over a decade now. I've weathered a lot of storms and disappointments, and I've managed several feats that I'm relatively proud of. So I thought I'd set myself some goals for this month, and ask my regular readers to help me achieve them before May's flowers give way to June's insufferable heat index.
All righty... let's light those damn candles already!
As always, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! Also, be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree.
Lastly, for hundreds of extra articles on gaming, weird history, and for more free fiction, check out my Vocal archive, too!
Goal #1: Break That 50-Review Goal For My First Novel!
I'm a big believer in achievable goals, and I do my best to be realistic with the things I set. So I wanted to put the layup achievement first... getting my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife up over the 50 reviews it needs to finally get noticed by the Amazon algorithm! For those who don't know, 50 is the point when Amazon starts sharing your book around, and letting it be seen by other people because it's proven popular enough to garner a sizable amount of reviews.
The book has been out for a few years, and it's just been teetering on 49... so all it needs is at least one person reading this to push it over. With that said, when it comes to book sales and reviews, more is definitely better!
This novel, my first one on the market, follows the adventure of Dirk Crier as he's sent on a task to go retrieve a wayward cousin... an errand that becomes far more complicated when Dirk finds out his kin has gotten himself mixed up with some dangerous folk far in the hinterlands. This far from the mountain, this northern cult doesn't recognize him... but they'll learn well why the hill folk say that only a dead man crosses a Crier.
If you're one of my regular readers who's already got your copy of this novel, and you've left a review, then thank you very much for the assist! But if you like my books, consider grabbing my Hard Boiled Cat novels Marked Territoryand Painted Cats, which are all about the cases of a Maine coon alley cat named Leo trying to navigate the cutthroat world of the street beasts of New York City. Or if you've enjoyed my stories of space marines, consider checking out the dystopian sci fi thriller Old Soldiers, where we follow Pollux and the other myrmidon as these genetically-engineered shock troopers try to unmask a conspiracy before it puts a bullet in each of their backs!
Goal #2: Get "Army Men" Up To Copper Metal Status on DTRPG
Regular readers know that my first full tabletop RPG Army Men: A Game of Tactical Plastic went live on Drive Thru RPG a few months ago. The game was successfully Kickstarted, and it's been met with some pretty positive reviews by folks who've actually played it. It was also Deal of The Day last month, which helped get a few more eyeballs on it.
At time of writing, though, it's still about 20 sales shy of hitting Copper status on DTRPG. While I would love for it to hit Silver, Electrum, or even Gold status, I feel like Copper is something that could be achieved by the end of the month with a little luck, and some help from all of you!
Army Men is a game where you and your companions take on the roles of a squad of troopers in the Plastos Federation, defending your people and your homeland against the invasion of the insectile creatures known as Vespoids. However, while that is a simple setup, there are politics and bad blood that exist in the corners of the Federation, and this game is being expanded into all kinds of different modes of play and genres... and the more people who show interest and grab some copies, the more time and energy I'll be able to dedicate to getting stuff into your hands as players and Game Masters!
If you've already grabbed your copy and left a review (reviews matter on DTRPG the same way they do on Amazon), then consider picking up a copy of the game's first supplement Army Men: Threat Assessments to ensure that you have enough enemy threats to throw at your players during their next mission!
And if you've already done all of that, consider sharing a link to the book so all your fellow gaming friends can see it! I've been doing everything I can think of to get the word out, and a little help can go a long way.
Goal #3: Get The Azukail Games YouTube Channel Monetized!
While my previous two goals are leaning hard into sales and moving copies of books, this one is completely free to anyone who wants to help! If you have access to YouTube, and you enjoy my Sundara: Dawn of a New Age setting, the World/Chronicles of Darkness, an insider's view into the business of RPGs, building your own map terrain, and audio dramas from a slew of different settings and genres, then you should definitely be subscribed to the Azukail Games YouTube channel!
I've been making video content for this channel for several years now, and at time of writing we have 1,028 subscribers (which is more than enough to get monetized), but we're lacking the second goal required to make YouTube give us that stamp of approval; watched hours. We still need, as of the moment I put these words on the page, about 800 hours of watched content before we can get monetized, and actually get a cut of the profits our videos are generating.
So, put bluntly, if folks reading this wanted to give me a great birthday present, subscribe to the channel, and spend the rest of this month watching 1 video a day.
I know it sounds like a big ask, but let me break some numbers down for folks:
- Our average video on the channel is between 6 and 15 minutes, give or take. We'll say 10 for an easy number.
- There are 60 minutes in an hour.
- Even small word counts for readers on this blog tend to get at least 300 views.
So let's say 300 people out there each watched a single 10-minute video on the channel. That's 50 hours of content. If those 300 people did that every day for a week, that would be 350 hours. Two weeks? 700 hours. In three weeks time, the channel would be monetized, which would allow me to start in on making bigger, more involved video projects for all the folks who've been wondering why we tend to stay small and simple when it comes to our shows and series.
Of course, if you want to help add a little gas to this race, consider putting on a playlist, and watching through any of the various shows and series we have for you. Share videos you like with your friends, and toss them onto your social media pages... we're in a, "So close, yet so far," style situation, and I would deeply appreciate a boost to help me meet this goal I've been working toward for years before I turn 40 this month.
Goal #4: Expand My Patreon Following
I'll be the first to admit, I'm my own worst enemy when it comes to Patreon. I know that the best way to expand your Patreon following is to put certain kinds of content behind a paywall, so that when someone becomes a supporter they gain VIP access to something that non-supporters don't get. Whether it be bonus episodes of a show, or early access to content, or the ability to help steer the direction a creator goes with their work, all of these things are good motivators in building that fan base.
And I don't do that. The one real perk I can offer is that, when I get free copies of a new supplement, I offer it to my Patreon patrons as an exclusive, but that is a relatively small perk.
The reason I do that, though, is that I know a lot of the people who enjoy my content do so because I don't put it behind a velvet rope and a cover charge. A lot of my fans are on fixed incomes, or like me they're struggling just to pay the bills in this capitalist hellscape, and even $5 a month is too much for them to justify when they sit down and really weigh their budgets. Unfortunately, though, AdBlock has basically made putting ads on a blog pointless (I removed mine over a year ago because it just wasn't worth the effort), and though I try to utilize sites that pay creators based on traffic (like my 300+ article archive over at Vocal.Media), it requires over 90,000 reads a month on those articles just to pay my part of the rent.
Patreon is basically the way I fund my blogs, though, and it is a major part of my monthly bills (it's actually what I use to buy food, for those who are curious). So if you want to help keep this blog going, and ensure that I've got enough coffee and tacos to keep churning out fresh articles, please consider becoming a Patreon patron today! And if you're just someone who wants to give me a little tip so I can go get myself something nice as a reward for surviving four decades, you could buy me a Ko-Fi as a tip for a job well done instead!
All Help Is Appreciated!
I know this seems like a lot to get done in one month, and while I'm doing my best to reach these goals, I won't be able to do it without all of you! So whether you're just a regular reader, you lend me a few hours to help boost the YouTube channel, you help me get my books noticed by the algorithm, or you decide this is the year you want to help fund this blog so I can keep it going, I appreciate everything you do for me.
Without readers like you, I wouldn't be able to do any of this!
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!
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!
Those of you who've been regular readers for the past year or so know that I've been trying to big-up the signal for TTRPG designer Owen K.C. Stephens. He's had his hands in some of the biggest games to come out in decades, and all of us have probably played something that has his name in the credits, or his fingerprints on the design. And while designing TTRPGs is often as frustrating as it is satisfying, one unavoidable truth is that it is not the most lucrative career in the world... even for those of us who are legends in our own time.
Let's cut right to the chase, here; Owen's Go Fund Me for his cancer treatment is trying to raise $150,000. And I think we should do everything we can to get him there!
One of our own calls for aid... can we answer?
As always, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! Also, be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree.
Lastly, for hundreds of extra articles on gaming, weird history, and for more free fiction, check out my Vocal archive, too!
Help If You Can, And Spread The Word!
There's no beating around the bush with this week's update. I'm not trying to sell you on a bundle, or boost the signal on somebody's YouTube channel... this is literal life and death. Unfortunately, America has decided to make how much money you can cough up the most important facet of whether or not you get to keep living, and the difficulty curve just goes up when you get really sick.
But there's no point in hemming and hawing over how things should be. We can worry about those things after Owen wins this battle, and more importantly, can afford to keep living his life once he's defeated the enemy within.
When it comes to situations like this, numbers are what matter!
So please, if you can help donate to Owen's Go Fund Me! Even just a small payment can make a big difference if enough of us do it.
And if you want to do more than just a one-time tip to help with this process, consider sharing the link to the fundraiser, or even to this blog to help boost awareness, and overcome the algorithm! Also, consider doing the following:
- Follow Owen on Twitter (yeah, it's falling apart, but a replacement has yet to take its place)
While it might not seem as important as providing direct assistance, remember, social media boosts our signals as creators based on our audience share. So making sure you plug-in to Owen's channels still helps his messages reach a wider audience. Still, give if you can, and boost the signal regardless of the state of your wallet. All it takes is a few minutes of your time!
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!
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!
A few weeks ago I let people know that I was putting together a new show titled Tabletop Mercenary, which is going to be me (and possibly an occasional guest) trying to pull back the curtain, and to show people how the sausage gets made in the tiny niche of the publishing industry that is tabletop RPGs. Well, the first episode dropped this past Friday, and as I've said with my previous endeavors, if you want to help shape the content going forward, now is the time to make your voices heard!
Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! Also, be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree.
Lastly, for hundreds of extra articles on gaming, weird history, and for more free fiction, check out my Vocal archive, too!
What The Show's About (And What I Need From You)
Just to re-iterate what I said above for those who skimmed to this point, Tabletop Mercenary is a show all about the business side of TTRPGs. I want to dispel the mystery behind being a creator, answer questions about what it is that goes on behind the scenes, and give what advice I can for those who are hoping to make gaming a side hustle, or perhaps their entire career. In addition to being featured on the Azukail Games YouTube channel, episodes of this show will also appear on my Rumble channel The Literary Mercenary, alongside various audio dramas and other, long-form creative projects I've worked on previously.
And for those who have expressed curiosity as to why this show is appearing in two different places, it's at least partially as a dry-run for bigger, more involved content that would need to be able to both reach a bigger audience, and to have multiple income streams in order to keep it going. Especially since the Azukail Games YouTube channel is not yet monetized (we still need at least another 1,000 hours of watched content to make that happen), and I've got to do what I can to keep the lights on while I'm making things.
For those wondering what those "other" shows I'm talking about are, I mentioned this a while back on Discussions of Darkness.
But, back to Tabletop Mercenary and how you can help me going forward.
First and foremost, if you've ever had questions about how games go from ideas to products, or about how creators actually get paid, please go to the first episode of the show, and leave your question in the comments on the video! Additionally, it would mean a lot if you could share the video around on your own social media channels to help me reach a larger audience, and get more eyes on this show while it's in its larval stages so we can build up the momentum to keep going.
As to which link you should share, that will depend on how you want to help. If you share the episode on YouTube, that will bring more attention to the Azukail Games channel, and help get it monetized, while also growing the subscriber base. If you share the episode on Rumble, that will help me get noticed on that much smaller platform, but it will also help me build up the earnings from the video, since Rumble doesn't have a 500 subscribers and 3,000 watch hour requirement for creators... they just pay you straight from the get-go based on your traffic.
I would also appreciate it if folks could tell me what I could offer as a creator to get your support for this show via my Patreon page. Would you want early access to new episodes? Shout-outs in the outro for your support? The ability to request specific topics, rather than merely lobbing a suggestion at me and hoping I take it? These are all on the table at present, but if you have other thoughts that would get you to throw money at the operating budget, I'm all ears!
Speaking of funding...
On that note, if you want to help me keep this show going through the early stages (as well as support me keeping this blog and my sister blog The Literary Mercenary running), then please consider putting some money in my tip jar on Ko-Fi, or becoming my Patreon patron. It takes a lot to keep the content flowing, and the more fuel my readers help put in the tank, the more stuff I'll be able to make going forward.
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!
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!
It's been one hell of a year on my end of the screen, folks. And while I've (so far) managed to weather the worst of it, I wanted to take this Monday's post to send out an S.O.S. I'm currently dealing with a rather unfortunate situation, and I could use a hand up before the root I'm holding onto gives way, and I go tumbling off of this cliff I'm currently dangling over.
Details are below, and there's a lot of a lot going on here.
Things are... sort of dire at the moment.
Before I get into the details, though, 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! To be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!
Also, since it keeps getting lost in the shuffle, check out my Vocal archive for more articles about RPGs, character conversions, character concepts, weird history, nerdy topics, and more!
So... What All is Happening?
All right, this is going to be a string of depressing events that I've been dealing with the past year. Apologies in advance, but I feel it's important to explain the timeline to put things into perspective.
It's a lot.
Let's start with this time last year. My apartment building was under construction for the majority of 2022, which was frustrating in and of itself, but last summer I had to pull stakes and leave my apartment to stay in a hotel. What was supposed to be a week-long stay ballooned out into over a month where I was doing guerilla blogging and video recording, trying to keep up with deadlines while not actually being home. I didn't have to pay for the hotel itself, but the sheer stress levels of working under those conditions (along with all the other expenses you accrue while in that kind of situation) took a toll on me, and on my work.
Around that time Eric Flint died, as did his company Ring of Fire. This meant that not only did I not get a royalty check for any book sales I'd made from December to June in 2022, but it also meant 3 of my novels were now off the market. I had to scramble to try to find them new homes, while also dealing with not receiving a check that should have (based on the numbers I was seeing) paid for several fees I had to dig into my savings to cover.
I was back in my apartment by September. Just as I started getting back into the groove, my cat started showing a lot of distressing symptoms I couldn't explain. I took him to the vet in November, and paid several hundred dollars for a battery of tests. I then had to pay several hundred more dollars to have him put down, because his heart was just giving out after 16 years of being my companion. That was a huge blow to me both emotionally and financially, but I figured that if I could get on the other side of it that I could start rebuilding and moving forward.
At the beginning of 2023 we had all the fuckery (and no, I will not use a more family-friendly term for it) from Hasbro and Wizards of The Coast. This disrupted a majority of my income, forced last-minute readjustment, and caused a lot of issues with my Kickstarter for Army Men, which was first delayed, and then had to contend with the wave of people who'd sworn off of anything even tangentially connected to DND 5th Edition (which, when the game was first created, had been the dominant system in the RPG sphere for years).
I finally managed to get all of that mess straightened out, and the flow of my projects coming out again, when the electronic fuel injector gave out in my car. This basically meant that my car couldn't accelerate, leaving me going at an idle speed whenever I took my foot off the brake no matter how far down I pushed the gas. That was not a good situation, but I managed to get it into a local shop, and they made the necessary repairs. While I had some help at the time, this still set me back several hundred more dollars, on top of all the previous things I still hadn't recovered from.
Wait for it, friends, because this is where things get even worse.
Then there's the crescendo... because, you see, that fuel injector has been nothing but trouble since it gave out the first time. A few weeks back I was driving to my weekly game at a friend's house (it's about an hour or so from my apartment to their house, and a lot of it is interstate driving). I was on the interstate when all of a sudden that warning light came on, and I started losing speed. I managed to pull off without getting creamed by a semi (it was a bit of a near thing), and then I had to arrange for a tow truck to come get my car, and for a friend to pick up myself, and my two roommates to drive us back home. The shop covered all of the expenses, diagnosed the problem, and I was back on the road seemingly no worse for wear.
Then there was last Friday. I'd had no problems for a few weeks, and I was just starting to relax. I figured if I kept my head down and my nose to the grindstone that I would be able to come out on the other side of things, and start backfilling the holes that had been sinking my ship. I was on my way to my Friday game, and the only worry I had was getting the rest of my bills covered... then my injector went out again. This time it left me stranded in Gary, on the IUN campus where I graduated college. It was also around 5 o'clock, which is when all the auto shops close, and no one can do anything for you. It was a repeat of the whole previous kerfuffle, with a tow truck bringing my car back into town, friends coming to pick me up, etc.
The difference was that this time I'm the one who got stuck with the tow truck cost. Which was another $200 I hadn't planned on spending.
As of time of writing, I don't know if I'm going to end up paying a few hundred dollars more to get additional repairs done on my current vehicle, or if I'm going to need a few thousand in order to get a replacement car that will actually be safe for me to drive (something I sort of need to have if I'm going to go to cons and similar events to sell books, network, etc.).
And that is why I'm asking for your help today.
How You Can Help!
Because I could really use a hand up.
As most of my regular readers know, being a professional creative doesn't pay all that well outside of a handful of rockstars in any particular part of the industry. I'm not one of those folks, and according to my own tax documents I didn't even break $13K last year... and that's been my average for half a decade or more. Keep in mind that's before taxes... I have to pay all of those at the end of the year.
I wanted to front load that so readers know where I'm at, what I'm working with, and why I'm putting out an S.O.S. to help me deal with this unfolding situation.
#1: Direct Support (Donations and Patronage)
Direct support is always the most efficient.
The best way for folks who want to help me dig my way out of this hole (or at least throw me a line so I can start climbing) is direct support. If you want to throw me a quick one-time donation, go to The Literary Mercenary's Ko-Fi page. Alternatively, if you want to provide me some long-term support so that I can keep taking steps forward while paying my new bills, consider becoming a Patreon patron. This helps keep my two blogs going, and I try to give my patrons as much free stuff and extra content as I can.
I know times are tough all around, but I'm front-loading this option because it provides the best, most immediate support not just for me, but for any creator you want to help out.
If that's too many options for you (decision paralysis is a real thing, after all) and you're looking for good value to you as well as to me, I'd recommend checking out the following bundles:
- Inn & Tavern Bundle: A great one for all fantasy games, this has some of my most popular splats in it!
- 100 Kinfolk Bundle: This was my extra large Werewolf: The Apocalypse project. There's 15 supplements in here, and that's a total of 1,600 kinfolk NPCs for your Werewolf chronicle!
In the interest of transparency, this is my second option because it takes a lot of sales to add up to a meaningful number, and they take a little while to clear. Sales of a supplement like 100 Body Mods and Augmentations For a Sci Fi Game pays me about 30 cents or so, while a supplement like 10 Fantasy Villages pays me about 60 cents per copy sold. In either case it can take a month or two before DTRPG releases the funds, and I can cash them out. So if this is an option you want to take, please consider also leaving a rating and a review on any supplements you get, and sharing the links to them on your social media, discord server, etc., so I can reach a bigger audience, and put a few more coins in the jar.
#3: Buy A Book
I'm still so ridiculously pleased with this cover...
I mentioned that my old publisher shuttered its doors, but my books are starting to make their way back onto the market. My dystopian sci-fi thriller Old Solders presents my own take on the space marines in the form of the myrmidon, and Pollux has to outwit a conspiracy tracking him (and possibly the former members of his squad), with the intent of eliminating them... or is it all in his head, a product of intense paranoia left behind as a relic of his time in the Hyperion Conflict?
If that doesn't quite sound like your cup of tea, though, there's also my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, about a young man sent to go retrieve his missing cousin, and to bring him back to their home on the mountain... or, if his cousin is dead, to make sure he's got plenty of company on the reaper's cart. And if you're one of those rare folks who enjoys short fiction, my collection The Rejects is also on Amazon, and you can check out audio dramatizations of at least one short story, Suffer The Children, on my Rumble channel The Literary Mercenary.
Then there's this book, too...
Lastly, for folks who didn't get in on the Kickstarter for it, Army Men: A Game of Tactical Plastic is currently on pre-order through Backerkit! We're currently handling layout, editing, art, etc., but this book is definitely going to happen, and throwing your support behind the project by pre-ordering your copy would definitely help ensure that it's profitable enough to both pay the folks involved, and maybe to underwrite sequels and supplements in the future!
This option is third on the list for two reasons. First, it takes time for sales of books to clear, and to come to me. A few months for my novels, and probably half a year or more for Army Men to really finish up, and for the profits to be divided among all the contributors. But if you want to help out by buying a product that isn't a TTRPG supplement (especially if you're one of the folks out there who enjoy my fiction, but might not be a gamer) these are good options to pursue.
#4: Engage With All of My Free Content!
Seriously... I have so MUCH of it!
I don't want to dislocate my shoulder patting myself on the back, here, but I make a lot of content, and I do what I can to make sure that a lot of it is free so that people who don't have a big budget for extra stuff can still enjoy what I make, and have fun with some of my ideas.
If you're one of the folks out there who doesn't have any spare dosh lying around (or maybe you've pursued one of the above options and want to do a little more to help as a cherry on top), then please consider doing any or all of the following!
- Check Out My Vocal Archive: I have 283 articles on Vocal at present, and these cover my RPG character conversions, weird history, a decent amount of free fiction (including stories for both Pathfinder and Warhammer 40K), and more! Vocal pays me roughly $6 for every 1,000 reads my articles get, so I encourage folks to bookmark my author page, read an article or three a day, and please share the ones you like on social media to help boost their numbers!
- Subscribe to (and Watch) Videos on The Azukail Games YouTube Channel: I do a lot of work for Azukail Games, and I try to put one video onto the company's YouTube channel every week. At time of writing we have well over the 500 subscribers we need to get it monetized, but we only have about 1,000 of the 3,000 hours of watched content we need before YouTube shares any earnings with us. While this won't help me directly (it's not my channel, I just contribute), if it starts pulling in money, then it's likely I'll be able to do bigger, more involved projects, and to get an increase in my pay for making those videos in the first place. Again, interacting with those videos, and sharing the ones you like so more people can see them, would be a big help.
It would also let me justify my Windy City Shadows project, which I talked about recently in Discussions of Darkness Episode 11, for folks who missed it.
- Check Out My Rumble Channel: I've said it before, but I legally cannot be paid by YouTube, because Google AdSense banned me from their platform. I've been looking for some kind of alternative for a long time, and the closest functional thing I've found is Rumble. My archive there is small, and I'm adding to it as I can, but like everything else in the free section it takes a colossal amount of activity to make even a few nickels fall out of it. I'd probably need hundreds of thousands of watches on those videos before a C-note made its way into my hands, but I won't say no to views, shares, and folks who want to help me grow my audience this way, either.
This option is last on the list because it's the hardest to affect immediate change with. If I could get 1,000 people to all watch the full playlist for my Discussions of Darkness show in order to monetize the Azukail Games channel overnight, that would be awesome! If I could somehow get an article like Partners and Polycules: Polyamorous Designations Based Off Dungeons and Dragons Dice to go viral and get 1 million reads (which would be about $6,000 for me... which seems like a lot of work for not a lot of pay) that would solve a lot of my current problems.
For this one to work, a lot of people need to work in conjunction to overcome the algorithm, and to generate the huge numbers it takes to make free content actually pay me as the creator. The upside, though, is that this one is open to everyone! So if you have a few spare minutes to read and share an article, or you just want to put on a playlist in the background while you do chores or plan your campaign, it would be very much appreciated!
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!
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!
This one is a bit of an 11th hour update for a lot of reasons, but I'm really excited about it, and I wanted to share it with folks. I just finished up chatting with Matt Yancik over on Manufactured Myth and Legerdemain, and in the event you didn't catch it when it streamed live, go watch the interview for yourself!
Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!
Is That All?
Well, yes and no.
On the one hand, it was very kind of Matt to have me on his channel, and I wanted to give him a shout out to see if my audience could do him a solid. So let's see if we can get enough folks to subscribe to Manufactured Myth and Legerdemain to put them over 500 people (the channel is sitting at 480 at time of writing). And if you want to stay on top of all the folks who come on the channel (and there are some seriously heavy hitters in TTRPG circles who've been interviewed), make sure you also follow Manufactured Myth and Legerdemain on Facebook, as well as on Twitter.
The other thing I wanted to talk about is that the Kickstarter for "Army Men: A Game of Tactical Plastic" has 36 hours to go at time of writing. We are also just under $1,600 away from our first stretch goal, or 40 book-level backers on the project.
So if you haven't backed the game yet, please consider tossing a little extra weight behind us. If you have, then please reach out and tell your friends about it, or share the campaign on your social media channels, because we need one, big push to seal the deal, and to at least get those "standard-issue" green army dice to sweeten the game for all the folks who want to play it.
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!
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!
As regular readers know, I've been putting out splat books for my Sundara: Dawn of a New Age fantasy RPG setting for more than a year now. Compatible with both Pathfinder Classic and Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition, the idea was to make a fantasy setting that gets back to basics, but then goes off in unexpected directions, while also standing certain givens of fantasy RPGs on their head. From eliminating alignment, to making gods multi-faceted and beyond the true understanding of mortals, to making a setting that foregoes nations as we know them in favor of towns, villages, and city states, Sundara feels familiar while still being an utterly new and unique place to play.
The setting is still fresh and growing, though, which is why I figured it was a good time to open the doors, and to start taking questions from the readers out there so I could get an idea of which areas folks wanted to see fleshed out more in-depth going forward!
Seriously, come take a look around!
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!
Got Curiosities? Well, Ask Away!
As I mentioned in my most recent Speaking of Sundara video over on the Azukail Games YouTube channel (which you should totally go subscribe to so I can try to make bigger, longer, and more involved videos going forward), I recently hit a kind of end of Phase 1 release for Sundara. From the initial Cities of Sundara books, into Gods of Sundara, and then through Species of Sundara, I laid the ground work for locations, magic and the divine, and talked about how a lot of the available fantastical creatures work. And that all came full circle with Towns of Sundara, which provided a sampling of 10 towns complete with maps, histories, notable locations, named NPCs, and potential plot hooks for Game Masters to use as seeds for side quests.
As I mentioned in the video at the time, I've got some plans for what I want to do with Sundara going forward. I want to focus more on organizations, like I did with Sellswords of Sundara (for both Pathfinder and DND 5E) where I put together 10 different mercenary companies in the setting and used them to build stories and lore while also giving players and GMs some mechanical toys to play with. I'm thinking about cults, merchants, and guilds, just to start off with.
However, I also want to take a moment to bend an ear to those who are actually checking out the setting. That is where you all come in!
For an upcoming Speaking of Sundara video I want to address any questions, curiosities, or suggestions people in my audience have. Whether you're wondering about what kinds of governments exist across the setting, what weird kinds of technology are going to be added in the future, the plans I have for any of the existing cities that have come out, or a question you've been wondering about for a while now, I want you to ask it!
Where? Well, to ensure that I see it try to direct your questions to these spaces:
- Sent directly to me via the contact widget on this blog
- Left in the comment section on social media where I share this blog post
My hope is that over the next week or so I can collect enough genuine inquiries from folks that I can put together a decent video to address your questions, and perhaps to get some idea of what players and Game Masters alike want to see from Sundara as it develops.
So don't be shy! If you've got a question, fire away.
Why Not Take a Closer Look For Yourself?
If this is the first time you've come across my Sundara setting, and you're not sure what it's all about, consider checking out the supplements below! Also, don't forget to stop by the Azukail Games YouTube channel where I've talked about the setting at length, in addition to presenting some short audio dramas (like the one below) set in the world of Sundara!
Cities of Sundara
The setting first began with the Cities of Sundara splats. Self-contained guides to some of the larger and more powerful centers of trade, industry, arms, and magic, these unique locations provide plenty of fodder for character generation and plots. Not only that, but each one comes with unique, mechanical goodies for players and GMs alike to take out for a spin!
- Ironfire: The City of Steel (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Built around the Dragon Forge, Ironfire is where the secret to dragon steel was first cracked. The center of the mercenary trade in the region, as well as boasting some of the finest schools for teaching practical sciences, Ironfire is a place where discovery and danger walk hand in hand!
- Moüd: The City of Bones (Pathfinder and DND 5E): An ancient center of trade and magic, Moüd was lost to a cataclysm, and then buried in myth. Reclaimed by the necromantic arts of the Silver Wraiths guild, this city has once again become a place teeming with life. Despite the burgeoning population, though, it is the continued presence of the undead that helps keep the city running, ensuring that Moüd is not swallowed up once more.
- Silkgift: The City of Sails (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Built on the cottage industry of Archer cloth (an extremely durable material used for sails, windmills, etc.), Silkgift is a place that prizes invention and discovery. From gravity batteries that store the potential of the wind, to unique irrigation systems, to aether weapons, the city positively churns out discoveries... and then there's the canal they cut through the mountains that makes them a major center of trade across the region.
- Hoardreach: The City of Wyrms (Pathfinder and DND 5E): A center of power across an entire region, Hoardreach is ruled over by a Cooperation of five different dragons. A place for refugees and outcasts of all sorts, Hoardreach boasts some of the most unusual citizens and creations from across Sundara. Infamous for their sky ships, which require the cast-off scales and unique arcane sciences of the Dragon Works to take to the air, one never knows just what they'll find in this city built atop a mountain.
- Archbliss: The City of The Sorcerers (Pathfinder and DND 5E): A floating city in the sky, Archbliss has been a refuge for sorcerers for thousands of years. It's only in relatively recent years that the city has allowed those from the ground below who lack the power of a bloodline to join them in the clouds. However, while there are certainly amazing wonders to behold, there is a darkness in Archbliss. Something rotting away at its heart that could, if not healed, bring the city crashing to the ground once more.
Gods of Sundara
- Gods of Sundara (available for Pathfinder and DND 5E): In a world with no alignment, and where the gods are often genuinely mysterious forces that are far too large for mortals to truly comprehend, the divine feels genuinely strange and unknown... something that really does have to be taken on faith. This supplement provides a sample pantheon for Sundara, but also provides instructions on how to easily make your own gods in a world where you can't cast a spell and tell whether someone is good or evil.
Species of Sundara
Sundara is filled with creatures that many of us recognize, but I wanted to give greater depth to their cultures, and a wider variety of options. After all, humans always get 15+ ethnicities, languages, and unique histories, while elves, dwarves, orcs, halflings, etc. are almost always left with footnotes, or maybe with a handful of offshoots. So, in short, I wanted to give all the fantastical creatures the treatment that humans usually get in our games.
And there is no human book yet. If readers demand to know more, then I may sit down to pen one... but I figured that humans didn't need to be front-and-center in this setting just yet.
- Elves of Sundara (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Elves are one of the most quintessential fantasy creatures... but if you want to see more than just high elves, wood elves, and elves of the sun and moon, then this supplement has you covered!
- Dwarves of Sundara (Pathfinder and DND 5E): The children of the primordial giants who were meant to fill in the details of the world they'd made (or so the myths say) there are as many kinds of dwarves as their are kinds of giants... and possibly more, depending on who is keeping count.
- Orcs of Sundara (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Supposedly a creation of the elves, none can say for certain exactly how or why orcs have been made. What most agree on is that these creatures are far more than most may think at first glance.
- Halflings of Sundara (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Little cousins to the dwarves, halflings are tough, clever, and not to be underestimated. From living beneath the hills, to taking up residence in the deep forests, halflings in Sundara come in quite a variety!
- The Blooded (Half-Elves and Half-Orcs) [Pathfinder and DND 5E]: When orcs and elves mix their bloodlines with other creatures, the result is one of the Blooded. This inheritance takes many forms, and it can even wait generations before manifesting when the right combination of individuals come together to have a child.
- Gnomes of Sundara (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Gnomes are strange creatures, found in places where the spirit of the land has coalesced and made children of its own. The sons and daughters of the ancient nymphs, they are the stewards of these places, and they change as often as the weather and the land.
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!
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!
