"Ship of Martyrs" Showcases A New Video Format (Should I Keep It?)

As a lot of regular readers here know, I regularly dramatize the introductory short stories from my TTRPG supplements on the Azukail Games YouTube channel, and those videos often show up on Drive Thru RPG as well. Recently I've been tinkering with some different effects, and I think I finally managed to really capture the feeling of an old-fashioned video game RPG, which I think really adds some strange elements to the latest story I put together, Ship of Martyrs from my supplement Beyond The Black: 100 Dread Scenarios On Stranded Starships.

My question for you all this week is do you find this format engaging? And if so, is it something you'd like to see me do in future videos?

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my bi-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!

How You Can Make Your Voice Heard

Generally speaking, when I try something new with a video format, I keep an eye on what the reaction is to that video. So if you're someone who enjoys this look who would like to see me make future videos with this kind of setup (whether you just find it visually more engaging, or you like following along with the dialogue), here are some simple things you can do to make sure that this format sticks around in future videos!

- Watch The Video: Views are hard to come by with YouTube's constant algorithm changes, and even breaking 100 views was tough to manage. Getting it up over 500, or even 1,000, would be a clear message!

- Leave Comments of 7+ Words: The algorithm, for some reason, likes longer comments. But if you want to see more videos like this, then the comments are one of the best ways to help. Also, more comments helps the video get seen by more people, so, bonus!

- Share The Video on Your Social Media Pages: While a lot of people are awed (or annoyed) at my ability to share my work as widely as possible, I really need your help on this one. If you like this video, please share it on your own social media pages so more folks can see it.

- Subscribe To The Channel: Any time there's a big boom in subscriptions, there's often a correlation to the latest video released when they happened. So, if you haven't subscribed yet, then please do so! And mentioning your subscription in the comments will help, too.

I am asking for a lot of feedback in this week's post because this is a format I had to tinker with for a while to get it to look good, and function right. As such, I want to make sure it's something you all enjoy, and that you think is neat, before I roll up my sleeves and put in the work to do it with future videos as well!

And, of course, the more views you all give my work, the more money my publisher makes, and the more they can afford to pay me for future projects... just something to keep in mind!

There Are Actually Two Previous Stories You Should Hear, Too

While Ship of Martyrs is the newest story out, I've actually written stories about Argent, Grady, and their ship's adventures in the black before! The first actually appeared in the supplement 100 Spacer Superstitions, and Voices in The Void deals with the rather rocky relationship the two spacers had with one another when they were first serving on the same crew.

And a follow-up story to the crew of this ice hauler was found in 100 Sci Fi Cults. In Saints Among The Stars, the crew has been boarded by the Star Breakers, a crew of space pirates. All seemed lost, until unexpected aid came from a single member of the Knights of The Void. One of the more popular stories on the channel, it was also the first time I experimented with the audio effects to create a space marine style voice for the crew's savior!

So, if you're looking for the history of Argent and Grady's adventures together, check these supplements and videos out (and leave some comments on them so that I know you found them via this post)! And if you want to see more of the things that lurk out in the black, let me know that too so I can return to these characters, and the things they've had to encounter on their runs through the emptier parts of space.

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Table Talk. 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!

What Is Your Character's Vice?

Palavor arrived at the inn with leaves in his hair, and dark circles under his eyes. His robes were in disarray, and his boots had picked up new stains. He swayed where he stood, and he absently scratched the inside of his left wrist. Vitrin was the first to see him, and she sighed as she set her teacup down.

"Palavor," she said, her voice carefully neutral. He winced, ceasing his scratching and putting a hand to his head.

"Not so loud..." he moaned, dropping into a chair. Vitrin poured him a cup of tea, and set a bowl of porridge in front of him.

"You did it again, didn't you?" Vitrin asked. Palavor lowered his head, shame in his eyes. He started eating carefully, his hand trembling on occasion as he brought the gruel to his lips. Vitrin shook her head. "You have to stop this."

"I will," Palavor said around the tea as he poured it down his throat.

"I mean it," she said.

"So do I," Palavor gasped, reaching for the kettle.

"You always do on the morning after," Vitrin said. She pushed herself up from the table. "We depart in half an hour. We aren't waiting for you."

"I'll be there," Palavor said, wincing. "And I'll... try to clean up between now and then."

It's the only thing that lets me feel free from this prison of flesh...

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!

What Vices Does Your Character Have?

We are all just collections of experiences, memories, learned responses, and habits... and some of those habits are bad ones. Those are usually the ones we think of when it comes to vices. Whether it's the habit itself that's bad (they tend to indulge in random acts of violence against folks who don't deserve it) or merely the length to which someone takes it (they can never have just one drink, or one hit, but will go on a full weekend bender if no one stops them), vices often define characters just as much as their virtues.

So take a moment to ask yourself what your character's vices are, but in addition to that, where did they pick them up? How much of a problem are they in their day-to-day life? And are they trying to leave those bad habits behind, find some healthy outlet for them, or are they simply giving into their worst impulses with gusto?

What day is it? Huh... I seem to have lost a whole week. What MONTH is it?

As an example, does your sorcerer find their day-to-day life difficult to live because of the power burning inside of them? Do they seek out drink or drugs to dull the edge of living in a body that can only handle so much magic at a time? And is their vice the substances they abuse, or is it the magic itself, which they can only dip into so often before they burn out or burn up, feeling empty all the way to their bones?

Does the fighter have a need they don't like to talk about? A part of them that feels excited when they draw blood, or crush bones? Do they crave the sensation of watching the light bleed out of someone's eyes? Did they take up the life of a soldier, or a bodyguard, hoping they'd be able to shed blood with impunity? Does the cleric have a weakness for the pleasures of the flesh? Do they fight against it, or do they find themselves giving in when their will is weak? Or has it created problems with them being tricked by fey, or falling victim to devils in disguise?

Even if a character's vice doesn't put them or their companions in mortal danger, or risk losing their class features for violating their tenets, they can cause other sorts of problems. For example, if the bard has light fingers and a compulsion to steal things, that can put a bounty on their (and their companions') heads. Greed could lead to someone taking terrible risks in the pursuit of treasure, and those who have a need to gamble (with either their money or their lives) might end up taking foolish risks, or biting off far more than they can chew when it comes to their adventures.

Finding Balance For Your Vice(s)

All of us have vices. Some of them are small, and are really more of an indulgence, like smoking a pipe of an evening, or having a second cup of strong brew with breakfast to start the day. Sometimes they don't really rise beyond this "personal quirk" level. Sometimes they do, and they can become small (or even large) problems for a character and their companions.

However, and this cannot be overstated, make sure that your character's vices don't become an undue burden on the rest of the table.

We are not breaking you out again. Not after what you did.

On the one hand, there's the mechanical issues that can come with certain vices. Characters with addictions who can't get their fix often operate under serious negatives. Characters who have psychological compulsions might have to spend resources to resist giving into said compulsions, and so on and so forth. And this is something you need to consider as a player, because it might mean that under a lot of circumstances your character might end up becoming a burden on their companions. No one wants to deal with someone going through withdrawal while they're about to raid a dragon's lair, after all.

On the other hand, it's important to ask about the larger implications of your character's vices. Does giving into their vices create a pattern of arrests, angered NPCs, or tortured prisoners that actively creates problems for everyone else? And are these problems serious enough that the character's companions might decide it's better to part ways with them?

There is no right answer to this question; it's a matter of the sort of game you're involved in. One game might be focused on evil characters where someone flaying prisoners might be seen as little more than a hobby that others will just put up with if it keeps them on-task. However, if there's a game where everyone is trying to play a noble hero, that might not be a game that will appreciate a fighter with an old war injury, a taste for blood, and a monkey on his back thanks to the alchemical treatments he's taking to manage his pain.

Talk to your Game Master, and your fellow players, and find the answer that works for all of you!

Lastly, consider grabbing some of the following supplements to help flesh out your characters in the future:

- 100 Questions To Ask About Your Characters

- 100 Dark Secrets

- 100 Character Goals and Motivations

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

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

Should I Add Another "Werewolf: The Apocalypse" Story To The Channel?

If you're one of the readers who also checks out my contributions on the Azukail Games YouTube channel, then chances are good you are one of the folks who saw the latest audio drama Screams in The Shadow. This short little audio drama follows a strike team of garou who delve into the Umbra in order to purify a corrupted place... a place whose constant spewing of vile hatred has led to a spiritual cancer in the hearts and minds of those who listen to it for too long.

This little story was the introductory fiction from my supplement Dark Reflections: 50 Sights To See In The Penumbra, which is for Werewolf: The Apocalypse. And if you haven't grabbed a copy, consider doing so... I'm still trying to get the supplement up over Copper status. However, putting that audio drama together got me thinking... would my regular readers/listeners be interested in more Werewolf content?

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my bi-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!

Breathing Life Into Tales From The Moot

Most folks who are familiar with my World of Darkness supplements know me for my 100 Kinfolk supplements (which are still in the 100 Kinfolk Bundle, which has something approaching 1,500 NPCs in it). However, in addition to those supplements I also put together Evil Inc.: 10 Pentex Subsidiaries, and I was invited to be part of the Savage Age project, penning 101 Savage Kinfolk. However, what a lot of readers might not know is that a few years ago I managed to get a project going where I gathered several of my fellow authors and Werewolf enthusiasts, and we put together Tales From The Moot; a short story anthology filled with the kinds of stories the garou tend to tell around the fire to their fellows. Some are filled with action and savagery, others sorrow and heartbreak. Some seem to underline the pointlessness of this long war. But this collection has, largely, been overlooked by readers out there.

Which is why if you haven't checked it out, you definitely should!

I'll be honest, I've been wracking my brain for some way to get more eyes on this collection. I've written about it on this blog several times, it's gotten shout-outs on several WoD podcasts in the past, I've shouted it from the hilltops of social media, and my fellow creators did their best to spread the word so other folks could find out about it... but we could just never seem to really reach the folks who would be interested in tie-in fiction.

Which made me wonder... would you all be interested in hearing a few stories in the collection get the audio drama treatment the way some of my other vignettes have?

The way this project would work is that I would begin with the introductory story (which is a van of three kinfolk on their way to the moot), and I would make it as a kind of lead-in/commercial for the anthology as it stands. And if folks enjoyed and supported that part of the project, I'd look into dramatizing my contribution to the collection, Late Bloomer, which is a story about a Silver Fang who had his first change while he was on deployment in Afghanistan. And if folks wanted to see more of the stories then I would reach out to Josh Heath and the folks over at High Level Games, as well as contacting the authors of some of the other pieces, to see whether this is something they'd be interested in.

And if you're one of the folks who would like to see this project go forward, then leave your thoughts in the comments below, and make sure you respond on social media! In addition to your thoughts, consider grabbing a copy of Tales From The Moot for yourself, and leaving a review where you tell us which story you'd most like to hear get the audio drama treatment!

Because, as I repeat so often on this channel, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. If this book suddenly gets a lot of fresh interest, sales, etc., it's very likely that future anthologies could finally go into production... but at that point we'd be asking you, our audience, what you'd like to see from us going forward!

Lastly, if you're looking for something else to get excited about, I'm still scripting season 1 of Windy City Shadows, which is a Chronicles of Darkness podcast project. And if you haven't heard about that yet, then check out the AMA I did for it a little while ago.

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Table Talk. 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!

3 Tips For Writing Adventure Modules

Adventure modules are the quintessential tabletop RPG supplement. While there are world guides, NPC lists, villain stat blocks, factions, and a thousand other things, the most common item folks often add to the base game book is an adventure to run with their shiny new roleplaying game.

However, while more of us can create adventure modules than ever before thanks to the nature of modern day publishing and programs like DMs Guild and Storyteller's Vault, there are still a lot of hurdles to overcome. So if you're considering writing an adventure and putting it on the market, consider this week's tips from someone who had his share of rodeos under his belt at this point.

It's not as easy as it looks, I can tell you that...

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!

Tip #1: Get The Art First

Like this one, if you haven't checked it out yet...

I talked about this a little while back in the interview I did with Isaiah Burt, but it really bears repeating; before you put a single word down on the page, make sure you have ALL your art assets in place and ready to go.

Art is the most expensive part of most RPG products, and modules require cover art, interior art, and maps to make sure that you have all the resources possible to run your players through this adventure. And since getting custom art is expensive, it's important to make sure you have all the art assets ready to roll before you come up with the story you intend to write... assuming you want to stay under budget, that is.

The Price of Iron, pictured above, was the first time I did this, and it made everything go a lot more smoothly than previous adventures I'd written. Additionally, if you are working with the art assets you have access to, it can often make you more creative as a writer. For example, when I sat down to gather assets for the Army Men mission module Assault on Outpost 13 I was looking everywhere I could for a map of a modern (or at least semi-modern) jail. I couldn't find one, though... all I could find was a bank. Which gave me the idea to canonically write the jail the PCs have to enter in order to protect a valuable prisoner an old bank that was converted to a jail during the revolution that led to the Styric Republic, thus allowing the map to make sense, while still being an asset that didn't cost me (or my publisher) any extra money to use.

Tip #2: Don't Hide Necessary Advancement Behind Checks

So, I don't know... I guess just keep rolling till one of you manages?

A method I've developed over the adventures I've written is to use "trap mentality" when it comes to designing the mechanical challenges in an adventure module. We all know how traps work, of course. A character looks for the trap, and if they meet the Perception DC they spot it before it goes off. This gives them the ability to try to avoid the trap, to disable the trap, or to knowingly set it off in some way. However, if they don't see the trap, then it goes off in their face and they have to try to save against it, or hope their armor and speed protects them.

The same logic should be applied to everything from gathering information, to Survival checks, to Stealth rolls, in that failing doesn't stop the players' progress going forward... it just means that progress is going to happen to them, instead of the other way around.

Put another way, provide ways for players to fail forward, or ensure that success gives them a boon, but isn't required for progressing.

For example, there's a section in my murder mystery module False Valor where players get to ask around at the bar to gather information. A local girl was murdered, and the circumstantial evidence says it may have been done by factions of an elven nation in a nearby forest who once fought a war across this region. While everyone who asks around gets a base bit of information, for every additional success on a Persuasion check, the players get another tidbit of information. Those who succeed really well find out that the leader of a local gang who seems to be champing at the bit to avenge the death on the elves has a lot of ideas in his head about what the war was like... mostly because his grandfather told him a lot of lies about the glory and honor of the fighting.

Now, players don't need that information to find the answer to the mystery. If they don't hear that piece of gossip, they can still go investigate the murder scene, and even talk to the girl's family to try to gather information about the events leading up to her murder. And even if they don't do that, the perpetrators are going to end up ambushing them to try to make the party look like more casualties in an escalation of hostilities.

The only difference is the more information the party successfully gathers, the faster they can put the pieces together about what happened, and the less taken off-guard they're going to be when the confrontation occurs.

Tip #3: Multiple Paths, and Multiple Ends

This was one of the first times I experimented with this...

Let's get the obvious out of the way first... you cannot cover every, possible action the players might take. It isn't going to happen. The best you can do is set up the steps of the adventure, and how things are playing out for the Game Master, and then provide some suggestions for the most likely player actions.

What you can do, though, is create funnels to drive the players to certain events, and to provide a handful of descriptions based on these outcomes. A funnel is different from a rail. Rails are where players have to follow a specific course of events from A to B. A funnel is more like a particular event you need to get them to, one way or another, but which is more flexible with the journey overall.

For example, in The Curse of Sapphire Lake, the town is being terrorized by a massive figure in a bone white mask. Players will have a run-in with him, and whether it goes well or poorly, he retreats to his underwater lair. This funnels players to him, because waiting him out won't work; they have to go in after him. When they do they find a tragic situation at the end, and they're faced with a choice. Do they slay this figure, cutting him down? Do they allow him to live? And in either case, do they attempt to go back and tell the town chieftain what happened? Because depending on their actions there are at least 3 different ways the story could end... of course, GMs are free to add their own ending text, if the included ones don't cover enough options.

This can take some trial and error, and if you have the time (along with a dedicated playtesting group) consider incorporating some of these changes into the final product before you're ready to put it out to market!

Additional Modules

A last piece of advice I'll give is that if you want to write adventure modules you should study what other folks have done. Not just in terms of story and plot, but in terms of layout, how stats are presented, and even how maps are marked for certain incidents. Seeing what works, and what doesn't, is solid research for how to write your own modules.

And in addition to the ones I've mentioned above, I'd also recommend checking out:

- A Night At Breckon's Beacon (Army Men): Your squad is tasked with finding soldiers who went missing on patrol. Near the ruins of an old border fort, you find evidence they were here... but what happened to them?

- Ghosts of Sorrow Marsh (DND 5E): The town of Bracken is beset by something terrible. There's a bounty for those who save them from this lurking threat... but will you survive to claim the reward, or merely vanish beneath the waters of the Sorrow Marsh?

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!

"Broken Heroes" Is Finally Available (And You Should Check It Out Immediately!)

For all the folks who've been awaiting fresh Warhammer 40K content from yours truly, you're going to have to wait just a bit longer... but I do have something that turned out phenomenally I want to share! Because a majority of my stories have been about space marines, ogryns, and the imperial guard, but I have had a single story that really stuck out for me as a writer. A story about a feudal world that had, once upon a time, been a knight world... and which might become one again!

A story about a one-armed smythe's apprentice named Renn who finds a weapon lost to time that is ready to get back into the fight against the insectoid creatures that have overrun the world, Broken Heroes has always had a soft spot in my heart.

Even better, it can now have a special place in your ears, thanks to Altered State Adventures!

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my bi-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!

There's More To Come (But Only So Many Hours In A Day)

As I said late last year in Hungry For More Warhammer 40K Content? You're In Luck!, I've had a lot of plans for working on additional stories from the grim darkness of the far future. However, I've got a lot of stuff on my plate right now with running two blogs, needing to put out two RPG supplements out a month, working on at least one video per week for the Azukail Games YouTube channel, putting together a Chronicles of Darkness podcast, and dealing with other, miscellaneous projects... and there just isn't a lot of free time to pen more short stories with all of those plates spinning.

Doesn't mean I'm not gonna try, though.

Forward! For the Emperor!

While I'm going to start working on the third story in the Waking Dogs series of tales about my renegade World Eater Crixus (Waking Dogs and Broken Chains are the first two stories that are already out), there is another, small achievement that I want to acknowledge in this week's update. Because now that Broken Heroes has debuted, that means there is only one original story of mine that hasn't been given an audio version yet; my Death Watch story, Blackest Knights!

(And technically my Leagues of Votann story Pyramid Scheme hasn't been dramatized yet, either, but that was a two-person job, so it gets its own category.)

So, if you want to stay tuned for more great audio dramas based on my work, definitely subscribe to Altered State Adventures, and dig through their archive of content! And if you're hoping to catch Blackest Knights when it finally comes out, along with listening to a lot of my older stories, you should also subscribe to A Vox in The Void if you haven't done so yet!

And in the event you didn't see the video about some of my other goals for 2025, please take a moment to check that out, too!

What's Next on Table Talk?

That's it for this installment of Table Talk! What would you like to see next? I'm listening for your comments and votes!

For more of my work, check out my Vocal archives, as well as the YouTube channel for Azukail Games. Or, to check out books like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, my hard-boiled noir series featuring the street beasts of NYC in Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my dystopian sci-fi thriller Old Soldiers, or my recent short story collection The Rejects, head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Bue Sky, Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter, as well as on Pinterest where I'm building all sorts of boards dedicated to my books, RPG supplements, and greatest hits. Lastly, 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 donation can have a big impact.

Hungry For More Warhammer 40K Content? Well, You're In Luck!

It's time for another Table Talk update! And while I've got a lot of things going on behind the scenes, this week I wanted to draw folks' attention to a very specific plate that I'm spinning. Because I mentioned this a while back in Gathering The Grimdark (Tying My Warhammer 40K Shorts Together), but I wanted to give my regular readers an update on progress!

And if you haven't read any of my tales of the grim darkness of the far future, the full list can be found at the end of this article.

I've been waiting to start on these for a while, now...

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my bi-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!

Expanding My Current Series Offerings (Ogryns and Renegades)

First things first, while I love the grim darkness of the far future (and adding my own little touches to it), one reason these stories come so slowly from me is that these aren't an independent endeavor. When I write one of these stories, it's because I'm working with someone else (usually, though not exclusively, the YouTube channel A Vox In The Void, whom you should follow if you haven't), so I have to take their workload and schedule into account. As a result, folks tend to only get these stories from me a few times a year.

But after some talks, I have the next two installments figured out, and I'm currently working on the first of them!

This tale is something that I'm sure regular readers will be excited for... a new Gav and Bob story! As we draw closer and closer to our own Winter holiday, we're also approaching Sanguinala. And since it's become something of a tradition now, both Paul and myself thought it would only be appropriate for Gav to have a new adventure during one of the holiest days of the Imperium's calendar.

And while I don't want to say too much about our boy Gav's latest adventure (though it is a Warhammer Christmas story, so be prepared for elves to be involved somehow!), I also got the greenlight for yet another tale which will mark the triumphant return of the Old War Hound himself, Crixus!

The third tale in what I guess I'm now calling the Waking Dogs series (the first two are below), this tale will feature Crixus in a fight for his life aboard a World Eater vessel. Turned loose in the gladiator pits, he will face trial by combat... but will he be fighting alone? And what horror awaits in the bowels of the ship that his erstwhile brothers will loose on him after all the death and destruction he has sown among their ranks? Stay tuned and find out in Waking Dogs: War Hounds!

And isn't THAT just a pair of tales?

While I still have quite a lot of other projects that I'm working on, these are the current pieces of fiction I'm planning on finishing up while I try to push the Azukail Games YouTube channel over the finish line to get it monetized. Once that happens it will be time for me to break ground on the audio drama series Windy City Shadows, which will take place in the world of the Chronicles of Darkness! If you haven't heard about it, I did an AMA for it a while back, and I could use all the help folks can give me to help make it into a reality!

My Grimdark Tales (Many of Which Have Audio Drama Versions)

- Waking Dogs- A World Eaters Tale: When Crixus awakens from the haze of the Butcher's Nails, he decides he has had enough of being a dog for one warband after another. The old Warhound is awake, and he means to put down the rest of the World Eaters like the rabid dogs they are.

- Broken Chains- A World Eaters Tale: Crixus settles a grudge with his former brother sergeant... and a part of him that he'd long forgotten is rekindled in the soul of this vengeful renegade.

- Blackest Knights: The debut tale of Kill Team Errant, this squad of Blackshields assists a captured inquisitor, only to find this situation is larger, and more dire, than they'd anticipated.

- The Final Lamentation: When the Black Legion takes a Lamenter prisoner, they quickly realize that the cursed luck of his legion is also their problem when he's present on their ship.

- Field Test: An inquisitor claims to have a secret weapon that can wipe out an entire ork waaaaugh... but no weapon seems to be in evidence. Just her retinue; a Catachan, a tech priest, and a hollw-eyed young man who may be far more than he seems.

- Broken Heroes: A scouting party is trying to recover an experimental piece of ammunition... but they find something far more dangerous when they're surrounded by a swarm of enemies, and they stumble upon an ancient bunker where a terrible weapon has waited to finish what it started.

- Gav And Bob, Part IV: The Emperor's Hand: An adventure of the Imperium's Bravest Ogryn, Gav Smythe finds himself on a world in the midst of a war. When he crosses paths with a strange, black sword, he hears the voice of the Emperor, and knows what he has to do.

- Gav And Bob Part V: Faith And Martyrs: Gav is brought to a shrine world where he speaks with a Canoness Confessor of the Sisters of Battle. She will be the one who weighs his sanity, and his soul.

- Pyramid Scheme- A Leagues of Votann Story (Part One and Part Two): When the Ironbeards hear of great wealth on a jungle moon in an uncharted corner of the sector, they rush in to try to earn a big payday... the danger that awakens, though, might mean they never survive to spend it!

- 50 Two-Sentence Horror Stories, Warhammer 40K Edition: The second installment of my 50 two-sentence horror stories project, this one was quite popular before the algorithm started excluding Vocal links from being shared. Still, check it out if you're looking for some short, snacky scares!

What's Next on Table Talk?

That's it for this installment of Table Talk! What would you like to see next? I'm listening for your comments and votes!

For more of my work, check out my Vocal archives, as well as the YouTube channel for Azukail Games. Or, to check out books like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, my hard-boiled noir series featuring the street beasts of NYC in Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my dystopian sci-fi thriller Old Soldiers, or my recent short story collection The Rejects, head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Bue Sky, Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter, as well as on Pinterest where I'm building all sorts of boards dedicated to my books, RPG supplements, and greatest hits. Lastly, 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 donation can have a big impact.

All The Little Details (Supplements For Filling In Your Character's Backstory)

Making organic, well-rounded characters is no easy task. Even if you have your mechanical progression completely sorted out, you still have all of the ins and outs of their history, family connections, love life (or lack thereof), titles, alliances, dark secrets, and more to figure out. And for folks who didn't see the news, a brand new supplement of mine just dropped on this subject (100 Questions To Ask About Your Characters, in case you want to pick it up).

However, I wanted to take this week's Fluff installment, and gather a bunch of my supplements and resources in one place for folks who are still figuring out their characters, and trying to make sure they feel as real as possible!

Because it's not as easy as we sometimes make it appear.

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!

Filling In Your Background Details

I've been writing TTRPG supplements for quite a few years now, and a lot of the ones folks most readily think of are what I call my blue book supplements (as they were, by and large, assigned the same general blue cover image by my publisher). While a lot of these are meant for Game Masters to fill out the world, a lot of them are also useful for players who are looking to fill in parts of their characters' backstories.

For example, you might have come across:

- 100 Monastic Orders

- A Baker's Dozen of Noble Families

- 100 Knightly Orders

- 100 Secret Societies

- 100 Fantasy Guilds

And the honorary inclusions which aren't blue books, but still useful, 100 Random Mercenary Companies and 100 Fantasy Tattoos (And Their Meanings).

Seriously, go grab a copy if you haven't gotten it yet!

However, a while back, I started putting out supplements that were more geared toward players who were looking for ways to flesh out their characters, and to fill in all the details. These ice covers (the cover looks like cracking ice on a frozen river to me, so that's how I think of them) have been growing slowly but surely. And while these supplements are still useful for Game Masters (especially if they're looking to add some real depth to villains or important NPCs), they're written primarily with players in mind... particularly players who may not be authors or storytellers, and so they have a little trouble really sliding into a character's skin.

With the latest release included, the list currently consists of:

- 100 Questions To Ask About Your Characters

- 100 Dark Secrets

- 100 Fantasy Professions (That Aren't "Adventurer")

- 100 Character Goals and Motivations

And there are the two original supplements 100 Tips and Tricks For Being a Better Game Master and 100 Tips and Tricks For Being a Better Player, which are a little more meta than the others.

It's breezed past Copper, and is on its way to Silver... possibly even further!

Aside from just presenting this list of resources for folks this week (including the free article 10 Questions To Put On Your Character Creation Document, which you should also check out), I wanted to take a moment to ask folks what they'd like to see for future installments of either of these two series.

What blue book titles would you like to see added to the list? A baker's dozen of arcane colleges, perhaps? A sequel to any of the above books (or the half dozen I didn't mention, like 100 Cults to Encounter or 100 Fantasy Bands)? Or is there a list of character building questions or topics that you'd like to see added to the growing list of ice covers? Do you have any particular genres you'd like to see it focus on or expand into (such as books that cover sci fi topics, world building, or horror topics)?

Whatever you'd like to see in the future, leave it in the comments below, or reach out on social media to let myself and my publisher know! And if you get copies of any of these supplements (or you already picked some up when they first dropped) make sure you go back to Drive Thru RPG to leave a rating and a review to help us get found by other gamers looking for a little help with their heavy lifting.

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

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

Explaining The "Attention Economy" And Why It's Killing Creators

I had planned to write this up over on my sister blog The Literary Mercenary, but I know that this blog gets far more eyes on it, and this is a topic I feel quite strongly about. Not just because it affects my life, but because it is the way the entire publishing and entertainment industry works, and so I feel it's important for as many people as possible to really understand this struggle, their place in it, and what the creators they love need from them in order for us to stay out of the grave for one more day.

In case you haven't heard the term, we're all stuck in the Attention Economy... and it's drowning a lot of us.

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!

The Attention Economy: What It Is, And How It Works

The short version, as Coursera explains, is that the attention economy is just that; attempts to get people's attention (their engagement in social media parlance). There are only so many hours in a day, after all, and there's only so much content someone can consume in that time period. With millions of books, thousands of TV shows, decades of archived films, and untold hours of uploaded videos on the Internet, there's only so much that people can look at, and be engaged by before they run out of steam, and give-a-damn.

This is not, strictly speaking, a new phenomenon. It's the same basic principles that were used by TV and radio stations, as well as by movie studios and publishers in days gone by. People only have so many hours in the day, and with all the things they could be doing with what free time they have, how do you make them engage with what you're making? Especially since that engagement is what determines whether you have enough to eat this month, or if you have to pack it in?

After all, if you sell more copies of a book, then you make more royalties. If you can prove you have more people listening to your radio show, or watching you on TV, then you can sell more advertising spaces and get more sponsorship. The concept isn't new... but like so many things in our day and age, it's been pushed to such an extreme that the magnitude of it can feel insurmountable.

Gimme, it's mine!

That last part is important. Because your attention has always been a resource... but now it's more limited than it's ever been before, and there are more people using more tricks to try to get it through means that feel like something out of 1984. You receive notifications for every app you use, social media blasts you every day, advertising blares before nearly everything you consume, and there is so much happening so fast that you can only absorb a small part of it before you're utterly spent. Add to that all the misinformation, cickbait, and out-and-out bad actors stirring up drama solely because more eyes on them means more money in their pockets, and it's like being at a rave, in a concert, being held inside an active combine harvester.

Your attention is valuable, and this economy turns every minute you watch a video, every click of the Like button, every review you leave, and every follow on a page into a transaction as you signal what you want to see more of... but at the same time, that economy moves the goal posts for creators, and makes it even harder for us to reach our perpetually more tired audience. Because it also refines your searches, your feeds, and what you see and hear based on your previous activity. So if you don't take control of your own behavior, you're only ever going to see and hear the same things over and over again, because that's what this modern media landscape (and the algorithms that power them) are designed to do; keep feeding you whatever it is that will keep you reading, watching, or playing.

Attention and Exposure

I've said this before, but creators are like gladiators. If the audience isn't watching us, and isn't cheering for us, then no one cares what we do, or what happens to us. The more you cheer for us, and the more you follow our careers, and talk about us, the more successful we become. Your attention, your raised voices, make or break whether we live to fight another day, or whether we die on the sands to the indifferent silence all around us.

And that is true... but it's not the entire story.

There is no signalling for mercy in this economy.

Take a moment, and think about the creators you follow in the TTRPG space. Maybe they're bloggers, or YouTubers, or podcasters. All of those watched hours of content, all those reads, all those listens, as well as the likes and comments on social media, those are worth something in the attention economy... however, it is often not worth as much as you think.

It is, to use a dreaded word to every artist out there, exposure.

Consider that Weird Al Yankovic, arguably one of the most accomplished musicians of an era, was paid $12 for 80 million streams on Spotify. Consider the fact that, according to Descript, YouTubers need to get hundreds of thousands of people to subscribe to their channels, and to get hundreds of thousands of views on those videos before they make anything approaching a living wage. And that's on top of the fact that YT doesn't pay creators at all until they have at least 500 subscribers and 3,000 hours of watched content on their channels... until you hit that point, the only person making money is them. Over on Vocal, if you're a Vocal+ member, it takes 90,000 reads on your articles just to make $500. And that's the good rate.

We are competing for eyes and ears every day, yes... but to add insult to injury, even if we get the input and attention from people that the platforms and publishers want, that's still no guarantee that we actually get anything out of it. Because unless that attention is mystically transformed into dollars through ad revenue, sponsorship deals, or merch sales, it's the same as getting a million upvotes on Reddit.

Utterly useless if you need to pay your rent.

As I said in Writing Isn't What Makes Writers Succeed, this is a two-pronged problem for us. Because we need a sizable audience to know about us, and our work, and to give us all the things that make social media happy (clicks, follows, likes, etc.), because when that happens it means we get promoted by the algorithm. Which means that more people will see us, which means more people will find out about us and our work. But even if you manage millions of shares and a huge following, that exposure is no guarantee of income... and it's exhausting pursuing fame, but then having the powers-that-be refuse to give you fortune to go with it.

Which is why, as a consumer, you need to know the value of your attention, and your power, but also its limitations, and the reality creators you love are dealing with. Because as I've said, your actions are all tallied on the board by the machines that run the media landscape. They count your likes, your follows, your retweets, comments, and all those other social transactions. At the same time, if the 700 and change people following my Facebook author page all gave me $5 a month on my Patreon page so I could keep doing what I'm doing, I would never need to bother with social media again.

Just saying.

I want to end this with some words of commiseration. Because I know it is frustrating as someone who just wants to play a game, or just wants to watch videos or listen to podcasts that you are constantly bombarded with the knowledge that your support is what determines whether or not a creator can afford food, and pay their rent. You are often more interested in whether a novel is entertaining, or a comic is funny, than what your impact on the creator's life is going to be.

I get it. Feeling responsible for other people, even if you have a parasocial relationship, is exhausting. However, this is the unfortunate reality we live in. If you want to see creators you like keep making games, videos, podcasts, music, art, or whatever other product you want to see from them, they need your support in order to make that happen.

It is your decision when it comes to what kind of support you want to give, and what you are comfortable with. But there is no secret hand of fame and fortune that will pluck only the worthy and the talented from the dirt and ensure their success. 50 Shades of Gray isn't a bestselling record-breaker because it was an amazing work of literary brilliance... it got where it is because people bought copies, talked about it, left reviews, and supported it. The same is true of Alex Jones, Steve Bannon, and every other rich fraud, dodgy host, and terrible person who made fat stacks of cash.

It wasn't the quality of their art. It was the support of their audience, plain and simple.

On that note, if you haven't heard about the changes of on the Azukail Games YouTube channel, a fairly recent update talks about some of the things you can do to help support us if you want to be sure we keep making videos 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!

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 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!