The Difficulty of Destined Heroes and Fail States

We have all been in those games where destiny takes a hand in the plot. Perhaps our heroes are chosen by the gods to act as their direct representatives in a spiritual proxy war (a similar setup to what I called The Cold War of The Gods). Maybe there was a prophecy that foretold them rising up to challenge a great power. Or this just happens to be the trope the GM is leaning on because it was difficult to find an organic way to get such a disparate group of killers, thieves, and liars to all come together to accomplish a shared goal.

However, there is nothing more likely to result in a clash between rules and plot than something going wrong in a destined hero game. Which is why, before you gear up to run one, you need to think through how you plan on dealing with a fail state.

The dragon warriors were supposed to free us all... but then they died. To one lucky goblin.

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 Does Destiny Manage To Weave Through Failure?

We've all read a story where a hero or heroes were destined to do something, and while things might have seemed bleak or hopeless at times in that story, the characters always seemed to make it through in an interesting way. Which is why if you're playing a game where the plot device is that your party have been chosen by fate, the gods, or some other higher force, you need to take a moment to ask how you're going to keep the game going if bad luck stalls out the story's progress.

The gods are not so easily denied, small one...

Let's start with the obvious... what happens if one or more of the characters get killed? They've been chosen for this great destiny, and they're on their way to fulfill it, when an orc ambush goes a little too well, and the party goes down. Now you've lost the champions of the plot... what is destiny going to do now?

Well, I have a few recommendations for how to handle this.

Firstly, if you're going to run a chosen one plot, wait until the PCs have gained a few levels before you start throwing around that kind of language and making them officially chosen ones. The major advantage of this is that it gives your players a couple of levels to get into the groove of their characters, and to get past the point where one good critical hit can spell an unlucky game over. The secondary advantage is that it gives the party time to become cohesive, and for players to get really attached to their characters. After all, a player wanting to bring in a completely different PC can screw with the whole destined heroes plot just as much as a character death.

However, even waiting until the PCs are a little beefier doesn't guarantee they won't meet with an ignoble end. That's why it's a good idea to have some kind of force in place to give the characters a way to survive at least 1 death. However, as I mentioned recently in both Undercutting Death Can Undercut Your Story, as well as Villains Can Cheat Death (Without Taking Away Your Players' Victory), it's important that this doesn't feel like you're just throwing your players a bone. Overcoming death should come with some kind of cost or hardship, or it should be uncertain in some important way. Perhaps a divine being must stand in the place of a PC in the Underworld until they complete their quest, or they have to make some kind of bargain with a powerful outsider.

You can even have a whole separate part of the campaign happen in the land of the dead if you want to bring in a game resource like The Black Ballad, which is all about running campaigns that take place partially (or even entirely) in the hereafter. Alternatively, you might find some inspiration in I'm Back! - 25 Reasons For A Villain's Survival.

Resurrection can be a finnicky thing.

Lastly, and this might sound counterintuitive at first, you should try to come up with fail states beyond death for the PCs.

I've talked about this before, but when it comes to a destiny-style game, consider the implications of death in the ongoing power struggle. Will killing the heroes of the prophecy actually stop the prophecy from coming true? Or will this just allow the divine essence to slip away, where it will empower a different, unknown hero that the villains will have to find and track down all over again? Do the villains want to steal the PCs destiny, but they can't do that if they're dead, so they have to be kept alive and captured? Are the PCs themselves a necessity for the villain to win, whether it's by turning them away from their current path, making allies of them, or getting them to somehow renounce the quest laid before them?

It's your game, so you're the one who gets to decide how the prophecy, destiny, or driving plot force behaves. However, providing multiple fail states, or a way for players to fail-forward is a good idea. For example, have the villains been given explicit instructions by their master to take the PCs alive at all costs? If so, then they should find themselves held prisoner in the enemy's fortress when that was where they were going anyway... the difference is that now they have to engineer a jailbreak instead of just sneaking in. Alternatively, perhaps they're in a race to acquire magical artifacts, and the fail state for that arc of the quest is not being killed, but rather the enemy acquiring the items first, which puts the PCs at a disadvantage they need to recover from in the next arc.

And so on, and so forth.

To wrap things up, I'm not saying that games where PCs are the chosen ones, or where they're fulfilling some grand destiny, are bad. Far from it. After all, everyone likes to be special from time to time. However, if that is the trope you're using as the main thrust of your campaign, it's important for you to have off-ramps and work arounds in the event things don't go according to plan.

Which every Game Master will tell you is basically guaranteed to happen as soon as you hand the reins over to the players, and the dice start hitting the table.

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 additional audio dramas over on The A.L.I.C.E. Files! Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my dystopian sci-fi thriller Old Soldiers, my hardboiled gangland noir series starring a bruiser of a Maine Coon with Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on 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!

"May I Enter" Is A Different Sort of Vampire Game (Now On Kickstarter)

The night is dark, and full of terrors... some are nameless things that haunt the shadows, and whisper on the winds. Some, though, are things we know. Things who are bound by rules and laws that can be used to remain safe from them... and in some cases which can be used to kill them. There is a night walker who feeds on the hot blood of the living, who cannot walk beneat the sun, and who cannot cross living waters. They cannot see their reflections, the sights and sounds of faith are anathema to them, and most importantly, they cannot enter without permission.

There have been a lot of RPGs about vampires... but May I Enter really does appear to be something different.

And the answer is, yes you may...

But before I get into the meat of today's post, remember, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! Also, be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree.

Lastly, for hundreds of extra articles on gaming, weird history, and for more free fiction, check out my Vocal archive, too!

So What Is "May I Enter"?

While I would highly recommend folks check out the Kickstarter for May I Enter to get a more complete answer to this, the short version is that it's a game based on Powered By The Apocalyse that takes inspiration from OSR-style RPGs where you all play vampires. However, while there is very much the same dark tone we're all used to in games where players take on the role of these infamous bloodsuckers, in May I Enter the game focuses on vampires who have been Bound. Helen of Troy (yes, that Helen of Troy) laid down a Binding that tied most vampires to a code they could not deviate from. And at the heart of this Binding are vampires who must serve, rather than command. Creatures who must ask, rather than take. And while you have great power at your disposal, and you wish to change the world for the better, you can only do that if others bid you to do it.

So, more "Forever Knight" than some vampire games...

Humans aren't the only things these Bound vampires have to content with, though. There are the Unbound members of their kind who are true monsters, dark fae with their strange word games and unfathomable logic, and a bevy of other things that haunt the dark edges of the world... except werewolves. They aren't real.

And at the core of it all there are primordial vaults that contain ancient, forgotten secrets that your vampires will need to recover... both to use them as tools, and to keep them out of the wrong hands. And these vaults often act as parallels to what is happening in the world above, invoking the ancient alchemist's balance of As Above, So Below... or perhaps it's the other way around?

So if you're someone who likes the idea of a vampire game, but you want something with more streamlined mechanics, a unique world setup, and where you get to play monsters who are trying to be the good guys without people looking down their noses at you, I would highly recommend checking out May I Enter. The Kickstarter has a few more weeks at time of writing, but don't let it pass you by!

Also, if the name Josh Heath looks familiar to you, and you're a fan of the game Vampire: The Masquerade, you've probably seen some of his other work before. And if you haven't (but would like to), I'd definitely recommend taking a look at the Dark New England Bundle, which has 5 one-page chronicle jumpstarts for your World of Darkness game!

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the Azukail Games YouTube channel, or my Rumble channel The Literary Mercenary! Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my dystopian sci-fi thriller Old Soldiers, my hardboiled gangland noir series starring a bruiser of a Maine Coon with Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on 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!

Myrrorside- A Horror Experience You Should Definitely Check Out

While the Halloween season is officially over, there is one, last item on my to-do list that I've been meaning to cross off. And since I don't want to be haunted by a review I didn't get around to, I figured there's no time like the present. So if your need for a horror game hasn't left you quite yet, and you still haven't tried anything that's really scratched that itch, let me invite you to take a walk with me.

... a walk to the Myrrorside.

It's wild out there, trust me.

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! Also, be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree.

Lastly, for hundreds of extra articles on gaming, weird history, and for more free fiction, check out my Vocal archive, too!

So Just What IS Myrrorside?

The world around us seems solid enough, at a glance. And in the light of day, all the myths and whispers about people who've disappeared, or monsters crawling out of the shadows, seem ridiculous. There are some places, though, where the boundaries wear thin, and where one might find themselves falling through a hole in the world. A hole that tumbles them into a place where everything is upside down, and where the normal rules of reality don't make sense. A place filled with the hostile, and the alien, where the comforts of logic and science crack apart, and where dark magics and terrible legends reign supreme. It is a place where nightmares stalk, where the currency is screams, and where terror is the only feeling that can survive.

A dark reflection of the world we know, this place is the Myrrorside.

It is a grim world full of horror and dread.

As a setting, Myrrorside puts me most in mind of Changeling: The Lost, though with heavier doses of Beksinki in its makeup. Not only that, but characters are even more at risk, since they are assumed to be normal mortals who have stumbled through the darkened mirror, and found themselves on the other side of reality. A place where monsters dwell, and where true horror stalk their steps. If they survive long enough they might grow wise to the ways of this place, and perhaps even learn some of the tricks known to the creatures who reside here. Of course, those who remain too long may find themselves unable to return back to the mortal world, finding that in their attempts to merely survive they've grown too adapted to the Myrrorside to ever leave.

Adding into the horror, the Myrrorside is accessed through places that have endured great tragedies, and suffering. Sites of mass violence, torture, senseless crimes, and other places that usually end up with the label of haunted are often the thin places in reality where one might step through into this dark and dreadful realm. Or, almost as bad, these are places where residents of the Myrrorside might emerge, hungry, and looking for prey... or just to lay hands on a piece of the mortal world before their time runs out, and they must return to the terrible place they call home.

Maybe your players fell through a hole in the world, and they're trying to get out again. Maybe a monster is stalking their home, or their neighborhood, and they have to figure out how to send it back. Perhaps they wind up in a psych ward where no one believes the patients' panicked screams about the things living in the walls. There's all sorts of ways this game could go, depending on how creative you want to get.

How Does It Play?

Regular readers know that, generally speaking, I'm not a fan of rules-lite games. With that said, Myrrorside bears a strong resemblance to Savage Worlds, which is about as rules-lite as I'm willing to go when it comes to sitting down and rolling the dice at my own table.

Like most RPGs, Myrrorside gives you a list of Attributes, and a list of Skills, and like Savage Worlds each one of them has a die type ranging from 1d4 to 1d12. When you roll a check, you roll both applicable dice (Attribute and Skill), and take the better result before adding any appropriate modifiers. 0 is considered a Pyrrhic victory, where you do what you wanted, but there's complications. A -1 is just barely failing to do what you wanted. +10 is considered a monumental success. -10 is considered a colossal failure. If you come into a situation where you don't have a particular skill then you can often roll just your Attribute die, and hope for the best. Additionally, you may have situations where you gain Advantage and Disadvantage, and it works the same way as in DND 5E; except in this game you might be rolling 4 dice and choosing the best of your results.

The last thing that makes it really similar to Savage Worlds, to me, is that there's no hit points. I know the SWADE system isn't the only one that does that, but it sort of goes with the comparison. Where Myrrorside innovates is that you can go down levels physically, psychologically, and socially, meaning that you can injure your body, your mind, and your reputation, which can make for interesting challenges as the tale unfolds. And of course your body heals faster than your mind, which heals faster than your social standing... particularly among those who call the Myrrorside home.

Consider Giving It a Try!

The usual warning for content here, Myrrorside is not a game for the faint-hearted. It really embraces the horror aspect, and from the eldritch to the splatter there's some stuff in here that might be disturbing for some gamers. So before you crack these covers, take a deep breath, and make sure you're in the headspace for a game that can get bleak if the dice aren't with you.

If that sounds like your cup of bloody tea, though, then grab a copy of Myrrorside, as well as The White House, an adventure that will really grab you, and suck you into the setting for your first 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!

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 dystopian sci-fi thriller Old Soldiers, 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!

Under The Hood With "Army Men": A 5E Game With a Lot of Tactical Add-Ons

Folks who have been around here for the past few weeks have likely heard that my first RPG "Army Men: A Game of Tactical Plastic" is now live on Kickstarter! And while I've been talking about the game in very general terms the past few weeks, for this particular Crunch installment I wanted to get into what I did with the game's mechanics. Because while it uses the rules of Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition as a basis, there is a lot more to it than the basic package you might expect with a standard 5E game.

EDIT: Army Men: A Game of Tactical Plastic is now available on Drive Thru RPG!

Let's pop the hood, and see what's going on beneath your top coat.

Before we get into the details 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!

The Origin of "Army Men: A Game of Tactical Plastic"

I've talked about it in a couple of interviews thus far, but for those who haven't caught any of the media I've been sharing around, Army Men was first devised several years ago when I was more or less put on retainer for a new game company who wanted to put together a product they could break into the market with. The head of the company wanted to design something that would appeal to the wargaming crowd, and while they originally wanted something that ran on the FATE system, after a lot of discussion we finally settled on using a system that was going to be more tactical in nature, but which was still going to be simple enough to pull in newer gamers.

And while there were a lot of options available at the time, DND 5E was definitely king of the heap. Even now, post-OGL, it's still a system known to a large portion of the tabletop community. It might not be their favorite game, but it is still one they won't need a crash course to learn how to play. And while this game was originally designed as an add-on for DND 5E, it is now a stand-alone game which uses the parts of Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition that have gone into the Creative Commons.

However... I felt the need to make additions.

First, Tactical Options

Targets acquired.

As we all know, Dungeons and Dragons was originally inspired by miniature combat games. It's one reason that, for all its story potential, DND (and games that use its various engines) is still a very combat-forward game. The 5th Edition, of course, was a little light on tactical rules... so I felt that should be corrected. Some additions I made include:

- Suppressing Fire: A standard tactic used by modern militaries, this maneuver is a particularly useful in Army Men where it allows you to give your allies cover... but it may be a tactic your enemies use against you as well!

- Taking a Knee: No one stands up during a firefight. Dropping to a knee is similar to going prone, but it only gives you some of the AC bonus. It does allow you to make better use of existing cover, however, and it's easier to get up and run from kneeling than from full prone.

- Flanking: While the 5th Edition of DND rules did have optional rules for flanking, Army Men makes them standard.

- The 5 Foot Step: A rule that was removed for 5th Edition, I felt it was a useful thing to bring back. For those not familiar, it allows someone to take a single, 5-foot-step in any direction without triggering an opportunity attack. This removes the need to spend your entire turn disengaging in case you just want to step behind cover, or give yourself a bit of breathing room before emptying your clip.

- Morale: Army Men has a morale system that takes you from +1 (battle frenzy), to -4 (utterly demoralized). This system provides a fluid way for battle to shift and change, and things like the Shake It Off action can be used to remove negatives from you and your comrades. It also means things like critical hits, and slaying enemy commanders, can have a serious effects on your team's ability to keep fighting.

Streamlined Gear Acquisition and Character Advancement

One of the major challenges that Game Masters have to deal with in traditional DND games is treasure acquisition, and making sure that PCs are properly equipped. This means you need to give them proper amounts of gold, make sure they have proper gear in treasure hoards, and so on, and so forth. Not only that, but if you follow the traditional rules, you also have to make sure your players are getting enough XP to level up, and that they're given the proper number of challenges to justify that reward.

Army Men does away with both of these concerns, in a way that gives more power to Game Masters.

Treasure management is a thing of the past.

First and foremost, Army Men does not have any XP; player characters will level up roughly every 3 missions. This saves GMs and players a lot of headaches when it comes to keeping track of who is close to leveling up, but it also removes the onus to solve problems in a particular fashion so that players will get the points. If they can sneak past periphery guards to steal the documents they were sent in to get without being caught, the mission is accomplished. If they infiltrate a militia as double agents, get everyone absolutely hammered, and then arrest them while they're passed-out drunk, the mission is still accomplished. And if they build layers of booby traps for a nest of Vespoids, and then lead the insects into the maze of tripwires, stake traps, landmines, etc., so that they barely have to pull a trigger at all to win the battle, the mission was still accomplished.

This flexible style also lends itself well to pick-up games, as well as character swaps due to death, wanting to try something new, etc. If someone new shows up (or a player had to make a new character), there's not really a lot of hemming and hawing over adding the new party member; command simply assigned them to the squad, here's their specialty, now shake hands and share your names, you've got a mission to complete.

Secondly, while characters in Army Men may have personal items and gear, a majority of what they're bringing into the field was given to them by the military before they were sent off on their mission. This removes the GM's need to make sure everyone is getting gold and treasure, because the PCs can just fill out a requisition form for the weapons, armor, ammo, etc., they want. But the Game Master can also restrict the gear that's available to add challenge/threat to a particular mission, if they so choose.

The very same mission with the same layout and the same enemies can be a very different game depending on what you allow the PCs to take into the field. If they're going to be fighting waves of Vespoids, but you give them huge belts of machine gun ammo, boxes of grenades, and high-quality armor, then it's going to be a Hollywood blockbuster sort of setup, with bullets flying and bugs dying. But if the PCs have standard armor, limited ammo, and they have to scrounge additional weaponry from the destroyed wreck of a base while avoiding Vespoid patrols, now that mission is going to feel tense and dangerous, with the squad choosing sneakier approaches, conserving ammo, and trying to keep moving.

Guns, Armor, and More!

Lastly, something I tried to do with this game was to try to avoid what's been dubbed the D20 Modern problem. Which is, namely, a game that has page, upon page, upon page of firearms, but where there's no real functional, mechanical difference between most of them. What I wanted to do instead was to present weapons and armor choices that each had their own strengths, unique capabilities, and which will allow players to really customize their characters in meaningful ways.

From plate carriers that can sacrifice a certain amount of armor to negate critical hits, to ballistic shields that can bring an old-world aesthetic to a modern battlefield, to shotguns rammed full of shrapnel to wreck utter devastation on close-range targets, there's all kinds of unusual options for players to play around with.

One shot, one kill.

And speaking of character customization, I altered both the way character backgrounds work, and introduced the Exploits System.

The changes to backgrounds is fairly simple. They still take the same form they did in Dungeons and Dragons 5E, but the difference is that each background gives you access to a specific, mechanical ability, in addition to a bonus exploit. These background abilities might be the power to requisition bonus equipment because you were a supply sergeant, so you know who to make the right phone calls to. Alternatively you might have been an irregular, so you can gain short-lived proficiencies in skills you don't normally have. You might be a spy with a cover identity, or a conscript who has friends in low places, allowing you to call in favors from the criminal elements of the setting.

And what is the Exploits System? Well, for folks who've played older editions of the game, it's basically the DND 3.5 version of feats. For those who haven't, they're a series of abilities that can shape the unique things your character is capable of doing when combined with their class features and background ability. Characters gain 1 exploit every odd level (including at creation), as well as an exploit from their background.

Exploits can do everything from making you better at hand-to-hand fighting, to granting you proficiency with certain types of weapons and armor, to allowing you to speak different languages, or granting you additional skill proficiencies. Some eliminate penalties from shooting from a prone position, while others give you bonuses to resisting fear and maintaining your morale. And by combining these abilities together, you can create a truly unique skillset for your soldier.

We Need You!

If that sounds like an interesting game system you'd like to give a try, back the Kickstarter today! We're 84% of the way to our initial funding goal at time of writing, but we have stretch goals at 10k and 15k that I would love to hit. And the more support this game gets at this stage, the more likely it is that we'll be able to expand and make even more supplements, missions, etc., going forward!

Like, Share, and Follow For More!

That's all for this week's Crunch topic! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio! Or if you'd like to read some of my books, like my alley cat noir novel Marked Territory, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well! And if you'd like to help support me and my work, consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron! Even a little bit of help can go a long way, trust me on that one.

If You Want To See More of a Game, Help Make it Popular!

There's an old two-panel comic that I couldn't find a copy of, but it's something I think about fairly often these days. The first panel is a gaming group sitting around a table, and a friend of theirs comes in to tell them that the company in charge of their favorite game has elected to discontinue it. Everyone expresses outrage and frustration because they love that game, and they play it every week. The second panel is one person at the table talking about how they printed off a pirated version of the rulebook, and someone else who stole several of the game's official minis, and a third player talks about how they use these other dice rather than the game official dice to play, but they're so much prettier than the ones the company put out.

And I get it; as a gamer who lives below the poverty line and has for the better part of a decade, I really do. Today I wanted to address that disconnect that so many of us have between audience lack of support, and a game, line, or setting being written off and discontinued. Because every time it happens there's gamers scratching their heads wondering why, when the answer is right in front of them.

This is not the way.

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!

RPGs Are a Business

I've said this before, but it bears repeating; RPGs are part of the publishing industry. The purpose of the publishing industry is to sell books, and things related to books. At the end of the day, the publishing houses that make up that industry don't care if an author is supremely talented and created a rich setting full of amazing stories, or if they're a hack who spits a load of regurgitated dreck onto the page. What they care about is which books are moving copies, and which titles are sitting on the shelf taking up space?

The books that sell copies? They get sequels greenlit. The ones that don't move copies? Those authors get form letters as the company moves on to the next thing.

Prospects are bad. On to the next thing!

And for all the folks out there who are about to point out the very large market of independent creators, I want to make it clear that this applies to all publishers great and small. Whether you work at one of the big-name game companies, you're part of a smaller game publisher, or you're an independent RPG creator, anyone who does this for a living is paying attention to their numbers. If they write something that gets a lot of positive reactions from readers, or which gets a lot of positive attention, that is what they're going to want to do more of in the future. If they put out something that does poorly then regardless of how much love they have for that kind of product, or how much effort they put in, it gets abandoned.

At the very least it goes to the bottom of the priority pile.

But what about passion? Love of the game? The thrill of seeing a thing you made finally show up on the market? Those are all good things to have, and I've never met anyone who writes RPGs (or any kind of fiction, for that matter) who doesn't care about those things. However, you can't pay your rent with love of the game. You can't put passion in an envelope and send it to the power company. You can't trade your pride as a creator for groceries.

We can hem and haw about that all we want, but at the end of the day companies and creators are stuck living in the economic system we have. As such, if a game or product isn't earning enough money at the end of the day, it's not getting greenlit for expansions, sequels, or in some cases even being kept in the catalog.

So What Can You Do To Make a Game Popular?

So, the fate of the company, designers, and/or a game you like rests on your shoulders... what are you supposed to do? After all, you're just one lowly gamer, how can you make a difference on the scale necessary to get future expansions greenlit by publishers? Or to encourage an independent designer to make more of a game/setting you like?

Well, it isn't just about money. Don't get me wrong, money is nice if you have it, but there's other stuff you can do besides just spending your paycheck on new books, minis, tokens, dice, maps, supporting a creator's Patreon and Kickstarters, and so on to boost your game of choice.

Though by all means, inject cash flow if you have the dough.

In addition to buying the game and all of its expansions (again, money talks in publishing), the best thing you can do is to try to raise the profile of the thing that you like. Whether it's a core RPG, a setting, a supplement, whatever it is, boosting that signal is often the shout that starts an avalanche.

So how do you do that? Well, you can:

- Leave Reviews: Whether on Amazon, DTRPG, or elsewhere, reviews make games easier to find, and often persuade potential buyers. Just, "I love this, and I want more!" is enough if you aren't the sort of likes to leave essays about why you love certain things.

- Talk About The Game: Whether on social media or to your friend group, sharing stories of games and supplements you love is a big deal. Sharing links is also great, as creators often aren't allowed to do this in social media groups because there are rules against self-promotion. And as I mentioned in 5 Things You Can Do To Be A Better Ambassador For Your Hobby, bringing in new people helps a lot!

- Share Posts From The Creators: Whether it's the designer or the company, sharing news about latest releases, interviews, articles, and other content helps send the word along. It can also be a big help since YouTube channels, blogs, etc., often act as secondary sources of income for smaller companies and creators.

- Follow on Social Media: Just clicking that Follow/Subscribe button makes a difference. The more followers a page has, the nicer the algorithm is to it. So if a few hundred (or a few thousand) people just show up and click, that creator/company already has a bigger reach than they did before.

- Play The Game: Just playing a game is often enough to turn your friends into true believers; especially if you make the experience a great one. For bonus points, if you enjoy doing live plays then uploading your game where others can see it might be enough to spark interest beyond your immediate circle.

- Request Channels You Like Review The Game: Whether you run a game review blog, a YouTube channel, or some other sort of content creation outlet yourself, making content about a game can often be a huge deal when it comes to finding a new audience for that creator. And if you don't make content yourself, reach out to creators you like and ask if they'd check out a game/setting/supplement and help shine a light on it.

All of the things I've listed above may take varying amounts of time and energy on your part, but a lot of them are things you can do for free. However, the louder a creator's signal gets, the more likely it is to draw in more people. The more folks who show up, the more likely it is that some folks decide to buy copies. And if a YouTube channel run by the creator/company starts blowing up with views and comments, well, the revenue generated from that can help offset the cost of something a lot of folks seem to enjoy, but which hasn't exactly flown off the shelves. Yet, anyway.

I've said it repeatedly, but creators and companies need readers in order to keep doing what they do. A lot of us like building worlds, creating new classes, coming up with adventures, and exploring the possibilities of our game worlds... but we can't do that if it isn't keeping the wolf from the door. And if the choice comes down to working on a project we aren't as passionate about, or keeping the lights on, most of us will opt for the latter.

So make your voice heard, and make sure we know what you want from us so that we can keep the content coming!

Also, Check Out Sundara: Dawn of a New Age If You Haven't Yet!

As an example of something that I've put a lot of work into, but which I've had a tough time getting people to check out, consider taking a look at my "Sundara: Dawn of a New Age" setting for Pathfinder Classic and DND 5E. And if you're one of those folks who wants to hear a pitch before you make a purchase, I've been putting together episodes of Speaking of Sundara on the Azukail Games YouTube channel (which you should definitely subscribe to) talking about some of the design strategies I've used, breaking down what's in particular supplements, and explaining some of the changes I've made to what folks might expect from a traditional fantasy RPG setting, from how I chopped out alignment, to the uncertain nature of gods, to how technology and magic both lead to unique inventions among the people of Sundara!

Check out the full 26-video Speaking of Sundara playlist, in addition to the following supplements!

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!

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!

The Dime Novelist (Character Concept)

"And so their blades clashed. The Red Knight was the rolling fury of thunder, but Kialla was lightning, her sword always there a moment before his blade could fall. Steel slid against steel, the spells sparking against one another, until faster than a blink Kialla slipped inside his guard. Though the knight's plate was crimson from slaughter, it availed him not against her righteous fury, and his head fell at her feet."

Kialla looked up from the book, one eyebrow cocked. The scar that bisected that brow, the one she'd been given as a parting gift from the Red Knight, was white and clean. "This really the way you remember it, Dendrick?"

Dendrick smiled at her, showing a touch of the underbite his orcish heritage had given him. "I took copious notes that night, if you remember."

"I stabbed him through the heart," Kialla said. "In under the armpit. His gorget was thicker than three of my fingers. If I'd tried to cut through that the only way he'd have died would have been laughing at me too hard."

"Artistic license," Dendrick said with a shrug. "You did sever his head to collect the bounty, so it still happened."

Dialla shook her head, sighing. "I can't believe people pay you for this."

"Highways are long, and often boring," Dendrick said, smiling. "Besides, they pay me, and I pay you, so everyone gets their portion of the proceeds."

"This keeps up, I might not have to hunt bounties anymore," Dialla said.

Dendrick winced. "Don't say that! I need to have something ready by next summer. The readers are going to want another."

So who is next? A bandit king, perhaps? That cult we keep hearing about?

A Chronicler of Low-Price Legends

Our games tend to be replete with tale-telling bards and traveling minstrels, but there is another form of entertainment we often don't think about... especially if our worlds are advanced enough that the printing press exists. Because if there is a publishing industry, people are going to want entertainment from it. And once cheap materials can be used to turn cheap profits, all they need are cheap stories to fill the pages with.

And that is where the Dime Novelist comes into the picture.

"The Bloody Blade of Brighton"? I think we still have a copy somewhere...

For those not familiar with them, dime novels were the precursors to the pulps. They were written quickly, tended to be lurid, and they were printed on cheap paper, bound with cheap glue, and they hit newsstands and stores as fast as publishers could pump them out. They were quick, disposable entertainment, and most of them were about gunslingers, detectives, outlaws, and other adventurers who tended to be far removed from the readers in terms of lifestyle, distance, or both.

While most individuals who penned these books were just slapping words on the page, piecing together gossip, fantasy, and lurid stories with their own artistic flare, the concept of the dime novelist as a character is someone who wants their stories to be more authentic (if not precisely an exact accounting of events). Whether it's because they believe that what they're doing deserves to have integrity, or because they feel that being an eyewitness to the events will make for better sales, adventuring is merely a means to an end. After all, if they want to get a good story, they have to go to where the story is happening.

This concept can be done in a variety of different ways. After all, one could play a bard who prefers the written word over the fife or the drum, publishing the adventures of themselves and their companions to earn a living, but also to big-up their reputations. If there's too much embellishment, this could lead to people over-estimating them, or to individuals trying to ask them about things they never actually did. The sort of thing that leads their Small Legend to grow much faster than they'd like. Or, if the novelist is unscrupulous, they might specifically cause trouble in order to give their companions a threat to deal with... something that could end badly for them, if it's found out the novelist was the source of a dangerous situation.

Additionally, though this is an ideal concept for a bard, they're far from the only characters capable of making this idea work. A retired fighter might pen their memoirs, and find they need fresh material to keep putting more books out (the Richard Marcinko career path), or a wizard might intercut their field notes with stories of how their companions fared against various challenges. A monk might use the tales of their allies' actions to illustrate finer points of combat philosophy in their manual, or a sorcerer might need extra funds to support a lavish lifestyle. All the characters needs is the necessary skill to put the words on paper, and someone willing to distribute their stories... which is a significantly more interesting use of the Leadership feat when you consider your dozens of followers could all be your sales reps helping spread the word of your and your companions' great deeds!

Lastly, while this is an interesting role for a player character, this is also one that can work beautifully for a supporting NPC. And if you are going to go the bard route for it, I'd highly recommend checking out my 5 Tips For Playing Better Bards before putting this one in game!

Speaking of Dime Novelists...

One of the comments I keep getting on this particular series is how much folks enjoy the little snippets of fiction I put in the opening paragraphs. Even if the character concept isn't for them, or they're not sure they'll like it, they often find those little flashes to be of interest.

If you're one of those readers, you should know I write books as well. And, in fact, I just had a new one drop on the 1st!

Sci-fi thriller about de-commissioned super soldiers, anyone?

Old Soldiers is my most recent novel, and if you've had a hankering for 9-foot-tall albino bioweapons that Resident Evil hasn't quite satisfied, then you are definitely going to want to take a moment to meet Pollux and the other Myrmidon as they try to unravel a shadowy conspiracy that reaches all the way into the heart of New Liberty.

Or, if you're more of a modern fantasy reader, you might want to check out my other series. It's got hard-boiled mysteries with dark alleys, shadowy players, gangs of bruisers... and all of them are street animals in New York City. Our protagonist, Leo, is a Maine Coon with a bad attitude, a heart of gold, and a serious curiosity streak that gets him into trouble in Marked Territory and the latest tale Painted Cats which came out in May.

If you're a fan of traditional sword and sorcery adventure, then my novel Crier's Knife might be more up your alley. Alternatively, if you like game tie-in fiction then my story The Irregulars from the Pathfinder Tales might be more to your taste, and if you enjoy the grim darkness of the far future take a look at Waking Dogs- A World Eaters Tale. The last one's even free!

And that's just a smattering of what you'll find on my Amazon author page, in addition to the now triple-digit search results you'll find for my supplements on Drive Thru RPG! So if you enjoy my work, please, go check those out too!

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!

"Force Multiplication" is a Useful Idea For RPGs

Folks who've been around this blog for a while know that, while I love story and character arcs in RPGs, I am also very invested in strategic play, and accomplishing goals. A term someone used in a forum that caught my attention presents an interesting idea that can alter the way we think of our games, strategies, and resources, so I thought I'd talk about it this week.

That term is Force Multiplication.

Great, just what I need... more math.

 

What is Force Multiplication?

The short version is that force multiplication is a military term, and it refers to the degree by which an attribute (or combination of attributes) increases the efficiency of a particular force.

For example, say it takes 1 fighter with silver weapons to take out a werewolf. Without those silver weapons, it would take a force of 4 fighters to do the job. Therefore the silver weapon is a force multiplier of 4 in this situation.

Ah, now it begins to come clear...

While you don't necessarily need to crunch the numbers to work out exactly what percentage of effectiveness certain spells, magic items, abilities, etc. add to your party's effectiveness (you can if you've got the math chops for it, but you don't have to), this creates a useful lens to view your resources and abilities through in terms of strategic effectiveness in the game.

Spells like haste or abilities like bardic music? Those are force multipliers in a game, and I pointed out as much in Vulgar Displays of Power: Tips For Getting The Most Out of Your Magic in Pathfinder. A paladin's ability to grant their smite to their companions? Serious force multiplier when facing devils, demons, undead, etc. The same can be said of a ranger's ability to grant their favored enemy bonus to their companions in a fight. Anything which increases effectiveness falls into this category, and when it affects more than one person then it becomes even more effective overall.

Everything is Situational

Though I've said it before, I feel it needs to be repeated; everything in an RPG is situational. Certain spells, abilities, skills, etc. will be extremely potent in certain circumstances, and next to useless in others. This is important to remember when thinking in terms of force multiplication, because in order for the item, ability, spell, etc. to qualify it has to actually increase your effectiveness in the situation you'll be going into.

In other words, if you bring a gun to the knife fight, you're going to win. But even the biggest, shiniest knife isn't going to help you that much if everyone else brought a gun.

It seemed like a good deal when I bought it!

As an example, take an ability like Improved Evasion. This ability is a huge deal if you're going through a dungeon that has primarily area of effect traps, or if a majority of your enemies use things like breath weapons, fireballs, etc. In situations like these the benefits of this ability cannot be overstated. But if you never fight a sorcerer who tosses around fireballs and lightning bolts? If there's never an area effect you need to nimbly dodge aside from? Well, then it's just sitting on your sheet gathering dust.

This is something to keep in mind for everything you expend your resources on; you need to keep in mind the goals you have, and the challenges you're actually facing.

The paladin smite and ranger favored enemy I mentioned above? Those are potent benefits against the proper foes, but if you're not facing the right enemies, they're useless. The ability to fly is usually considered a force multiplier, but if the arena is too small to make full use of it, or if you cannot use it to put meaningful distance between yourself and an enemy (they can also fly, they have reach/range, etc.) then its effectiveness is hampered. The ability to turn invisible, or to protect yourself and your companions with illusions is usually a powerful ability, but against enemies who have blindsight, true seeing, or other effects, it's rendered moot.

One truism that players often forget is that what I said in Everything Has A Weakness (So Be Sure You Know Your Options) also applies to the PCs. Just because you have an ability that is particularly potent in one situation, that doesn't mean it applies to all situations.

Keep that in mind when you're looking at all the available levers you have to increase your party's force with.

Like, Share, and Follow For More!

That's all for this week's Crunch topic! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio! Or if you'd like to read some of my books, like my alley cat noir novel Marked Territory, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well! And if you'd like to help support me and my work, consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron! Even a little bit of help can go a long way, trust me on that one.