Making Improvements Over Time (Progress on My RPG-Inspired Audio Stories)

Back in February I started doing something a little different in terms of producing content. I've been a lifelong enjoyer of audio dramas and audio books, so I wanted to toss my hat into that arena while still staying firmly within my pond as an RPG writer. Not wanting to get too ambitious right out of the gate, I thought I'd turn the intro fiction in several of my recent RPG releases into audio dramas that might get folks interested in the products they came from!

As with anything else, you never start off being the best. But looking back on what I've learned the past few months, I can definitely see the difference.

Well, hear it. You know what I mean!

Before we get into it 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!

Theater of The Mind

The first piece that I dramatized way back in February came from the supplement 100 Resources and Rumors to Find on SchreckNet. Though it didn't have an official title in the supplement, I tend to think of it as Missed Connections, as we have a Nosferatu attempting to arrange a rendezvous with a contact via the network. While the result wasn't bad (I don't think) it does have a rawness to it, and it comes across a little flat.

Still, not bad for all that.

Over the past few months I've made 8 such audios, taken from both my Cities of Sundara series, as well as other World of Darkness supplements like 100 Hobs to Meet in The Hedge, 100 Mourning Cant Dialects, Phrases, and Meanings, and most recently 100 Gateways Into (And Out Of) The Hedge. While I did acquire a new mic since I made the first video, I also started figuring out editing tricks, returning to old places where I used to get foley sounds, and watching tutorials from other creators on how they make their audios more unique and engaging.

And this is where I'm at now.

While this isn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, I'm trying to improve one thing per video. Whether that's finally figuring out normalization settings (which is what I did with this piece), fine-tuning voice editing effects, trying out new tricks on creating monster voices (I have something planned for that when I do the story from Hoardreach), or even using a totally different recording program so viewers don't have to deal with that ugly and distracting watermark, I'm sticking with my one-thing-per-video rule.

I have half a dozen more of these to put together going forward, and they're going to be from both older supplements, and upcoming ones. If this is something you'd like to see more of, the head over to the Azukail Games YouTube channel, watch more, and subscribe while you're there! It takes 1k subscribers and 4k hours of watched content in the past year (which is 11.5 hours per day, for those who like numbers), so we're going to need all the help we can get if we're going to pull that off!

Lastly, if you have any particular stories you'd like to see me tell in this audio format, or if you'd like to see me do longer videos with more involved tales (I have kicked around the possibility of doing an audio rendition for Devil's Night, as an example), leave a comment below and let me hear your thoughts!

And for anyone else running a podcast, making videos, etc., I highly recommend Tabletop Audio! If you haven't checked them out yet, and you're working on a small to nonexistent budget, you really need to give them a look.

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!

Do Not Hide Bad Behavior Behind The Game's Meta

In the event that you're living under a rock these days, you probably haven't heard all the discussions about the triumphant return of the kender and the gully dwarves. If you're even marginally plugged-in to the happenings in gaming circles, though, you have likely seen three hundred or more discussions of these, along with a lot of other aspects of the Dragonlance setting the World of Krynn, since it was announced it was going to get a re-release recently.

However, while this has sparked its share of flame wars, I wanted to focus on a specific aspect of the conversation going on right now. Because this is bringing to light how a lot of players will use the meta of a game or setting to cover up their own bad behavior... and that's something we all need to learn to recognize, and put a stop to before it ruins the game for everyone.

Because the problem isn't the kender... most of the time.

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!

Thieving, Practical Jokes, and Responsibility

For those who aren't familiar with Dragonlance, this setting goes all the way back to the first edition of Dungeons and Dragons. Last I saw any content for it was in the 3.5 edition, and it seems to have skipped over the 4th edition entirely. But now it's coming out for 5th edition, and a whole new crop of gamers who've never heard of it are dealing with a lot of old gripes and even older horror stories from the so-called old guard.

Sitting at the top of that list is the kender.

If you have not encountered a kender before, picture a halfling. Now add an unquenchable wanderlust, an utter lack of understanding of the concept of personal property, a cultural emphasis on cutting insults as a form of entertainment, and curiosity that borders on a death wish. For the book series, where a single author was in charge of how scenes went and how characters acted, kender were amusing creatures that we often found entertaining or endearing. However, if you handed that to the wrong player (and most people who ask to have it will reveal if they were the wrong player soon enough) that is a recipe for frustration, irritation, and a lot of player-v-player combat.

Do not anger the barbarian. They don't take jokes well.

A lot of folks will say the problem is the kender for the way they're written. Or the gulley dwarves, which are, at best, a silly take on gnomes attempting to be dwarves in the most absurd way possible (and at worst they're a way to punch down at people who live with mental disorders). Or how many settings describe gnomes specifically as, "playing practical jokes on people," as part of their write up. The list goes on.

Honestly, at the end of the day, this is just another version of someone saying, "But it's what my character would do!" as a way to duck responsibility for stirring the pot, and being a pain in the rest of the table's collective backside.

You Can Play Any of These (Without Irritating Everyone Else)

All of the characters mentioned above are completely playable concepts. Just like how you can play an evil character in a non-evil party (as I mentioned in Making The Lone Evil Character in a Good Party Work), if you really want to. The key to it is to look at the character you're playing, at the table you're playing with, and to ask yourself, "How do I have fun with this concept in a way that won't piss everyone else off?"

Some concepts are, admittedly, tougher than others.

I covered this in Make Sure Your Character is as Much Fun To Play With as They Are To Play, and all those lessons stand. Everyone else at the table is spending hours of their time in-game with this character; at least do them the courtesy of making the experience as positive as you can.

That doesn't mean you need to utterly ignore the meta, either... you simply need to adjust the dial to fit the table you're at.

For example, if you're playing a kender, you may still randomly pocket stuff on your day-to-day... but make sure you aren't pocketing the rest of the party's stuff. Hell, you can't carry the fighter's great sword, and the barbarian's shield is bigger than you are, so what would even be the point? Instead, swipe some apples from a cart as you walk by, and toss one to the sorcerer because they didn't have an apple and they looked hungry. Take the jailer's keys when they walk past, and then just hand them over to the rogue who is now in on the joke with you. And if you really want to go whole hog with it, walk away from any kind of treasure that's heavy or pointless, because if you don't acknowledge personal ownership chances are good economics is far beyond you, and someone else in the party tracks your share and covers your bills.

That kind of stuff might be amusing, and while it could generate some negative situations between you and NPCs, it isn't putting you directly at-odds with the rest of the party. And as long as you're contributing to the group's efforts you're more likely to be seen as a scamp or a minor troublemaker than a nuisance that has to be dealt with.

Long story short, don't be a jerk. Have fun with your character, and mold them to fit in with everyone else. This is a team sport, and everyone needs to be having fun if you expect the group to get back together next week.

Also, even though I couldn't find a convenient place to fit it in here, don't forget to check out my 5 Tips For Playing Better Evil Characters along with 5 Tips For Playing Better Noble Characters. They tend to generate a lot of friction as well, so I wanted to toss them here at the end.

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!

Dungeon Keeper Radio Needs Your Help!

If you're a regular reader on my blog, then you know I've got a dozen different plates spinning at any given time. One of those plates is Dungeon Keeper Radio, a YouTube gaming channel that I help out with, along with several local gamers I know. Our goal, when we decided to start it, was to have some fun, immortalize a few of our characters, and see if we could entertain other players out there. We also wanted to get the channel monetized, though, because while it's fun, there are investments that come with making this kind of content. There's the mic, trying to find quality software, and at the end of the day we'd like to offer our voice actors more than our thanks, and a few pieces of pizza. That's in addition to all the time, travel expenses, and work it takes to turn something from an idea into even a few minutes of audio/video content.

Sadly, our hoard isn't much to write home about.

The problem we've run into is that we thought we'd made our goal... but then the goal posts mysteriously moved on us.

Sorcery Most Foul

Back when we first started this channel about a year ago, before we even uploaded our first episode of Dungeon Hacks, we clicked through the fine print to figure out just how feasible it would be to get our channel monetized. According to the site at the time, for a channel to apply for monetization, it had to have a minimum of 10,000 views. That's a decent barrier to entry, especially if you're a relatively niche channel like a radio show that talks about tabletop games, but it was far from impossible to reach.

As evidenced by the fact that we reached it earlier this month.

Thanks for all the traffic! Your money is in another castle.

The problem, of course, is that by the time we hit that goal, the goal posts had been moved. You see, beginning 2018, YouTube decided that in order to get monetized, a channel must have 4,000 hours of views in the past 12 months, and it must also have a minimum of 1,000 subscribers.

Needless to say, that is not something we have at present. In fact, we are nowhere even close to hitting that goal.

Which is why, as we get ready to record our 18th episode of the show (Mythconceptions about clerics, for those who are interested), I wanted to do my part to reach out to my audience. We're doing all right in terms of viewing time (under the 4,000 hours, but we're gaining steadily as we increase our archive), but we are just under 310 subscribers at time of writing. Which means we are, at minimum, 31% of the way to the "new" monetization goal.

So please, stop in and check out what we're doing over on Dungeon Keeper Radio. And, if you like it, please subscribe to the channel. And tell your friends about us... that helps. And if you really like what we're doing, we have the Dungeon Keeper Radio Patreon page in addition to a Ko-Fi page if you want to give us a tip or two to help us along until we can get ads put on our videos... just like this one, our most popular video to-date.

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday update. If you want more content from yours truly, you should check out my Vocal archive. To keep up-to-date on all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter. Lastly, if you want to help support Improved Initiative so I can keep bringing content straight to your door, head over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page, or click here to Buy Me A Coffee!