A newsletter and podcast focused on Friday Strout's fiction and tabletop roleplaying games. Featuring top industry contributors from both the professional Game Master scene, game designers, writers, artists, and more!
As Americans prepare for the looming threat of stagflation, worry not – international GMs suffer from the dropping value of the American dollar, too! Surviving an economic crunch typically comes down to value provided and attention to a shifting market. Our greatest enemy as forever-freelancing laborers is that we must remain ever vigilant. For some of us? We must remain vigilante.
I encourage you to advocate for fair wages not only in your industry, but for others, too. It’s in your self interest, even! If your customers make less money, that is less they can spend at your table. Ultimately, that’s a lifelong struggle of being a pro-labor advocate. And remember: It doesn’t (always) help you in the meantime.
Whenever our labor rights are weakened in America the spending power of our economy reflects. We are, historically, at an all-time low for union participation – while it peaked in the 1970s. Since the 1980s, wages have not kept up with the cost of living as a consequence of workers not holding as much bargaining power.
What does this have to do with you? It’s simple. Should your players this year experience an economic shock, a sudden bill, or a medical emergency – luxury services like ours are the first to go in a budget. Hell, even if your players are insured, we know that health insurance companies infamously deny, delay, defend. None of your players are “safe” unless they are well above the household median income of 60k/year.
The average American spends about 3.5k a year on entertainment, or $300/mo. When you include movies, streaming services, video games, events, sports, etc – you might be at a lower tier of importance in their budget. Conversely, pro games might make up the largest single item in their expenses. For the $20/game GM or $1000/yr, you are approximately 30% of the average American’s entertainment budget. For the $30 GM, you are 42% or $1500/yr – and for the $35 GM you are 50% or $1750/yr. Wow!
Daily Things To Do About It
Run great games. Prove the value of your service.
Thank your players for being patrons of yours. A little bit of appreciation and respect goes a long way.
Always work on improving your craft. Learn new voices, master new storytelling techniques, try new tech or VTT features, etc.
This well-worn advice is easy enough to digest but difficult to reflect on and incorporate into your daily habits. Be sure to care for yourself, get enough sleep, take a break, go on walks, eat healthy, work out, spend quality time with your family, and so on. You need to be at your best to compete with the best in the world.
Planned Things To Do About It
Organize lower cost One Shots for your community to offset lost income from your campaign tables.
Offer hardship rates for players who are experiencing sudden economic uncertainty. Keep the table together as best you can by giving players grace here and there.
Don’t miss running a game in the first 8 weeks after launching if you can help it. Keeping a table together is much easier once they’re fully invested in their characters.
Don’t miss running a game two weeks in a row if you can help it.
Pre-plan your vacations well ahead of time so you can budget your breaks and recharge with peace of mind.
Work together with other GMs to fill gaps for you if you’re unable to meet the requests of some of your community. Importantly: Recommend another GM if they’re a better fit for a player. You don’t need all the players, you just need enough. Goodwill swings back around to you eventually, I promise.
Good luck.
Finally, there are some announcements I’ll be making this month that will be of interest to every pro GM. Keep an eye on your email! Thanks for reading.
"What Makes A Great Writer" Ep 52 – Hannah Rose (she/her)
Dollars & Dragons Podcast
Ahoy adventurers! I was pleased to run into Hannah Rose (she/her) at Big Bad Con in 2023 and managed to get her to agree to come onto the podcast to talk about her work in the TTRPG industry. You might know her from her contributions to MCDM’s work such as Arcadia or Flee! Mortals, Tal’Dorei Reborn, several Wizards of the Coast hardcovers, the Uncaged series, or even some of her latest stuff at Wildmage Press!
Hey y’all, quick newsletter to share that I’m participating in the Start Playing Games Daggerheart launch event. I’ll be running Learn To Play one shots and offering a dark horror campaign. In addition, you can still find the same hits such as 5e Strahd or Exandria, Heart, and Vampire: The Masquerade. Check me out here!
"Making A Living As An Indie Publisher & Game Designer" Ep 51 – Chris Bissette (they/them)
Dollars & Dragons Podcast
This time I had on Chris Bissette (they/them) who has written for Fallout, Pathfinder, Discworld, MCDM, and also has a massive indie library to peruse. We chat about printing, indie design, freelancing, bouncing at a bar, AI grift and everything in between.
Note: Recorded in 2023! A bit late in publishing it, (sorry Chris).
Are you a forever GM who just wants to finally play? Book me! I have 1000+ pro games run and I’m going back to full time on SPG. Now’s the time to reserve your seat.
"Doing The Hard Work, TTRPG Crowdfunding" | Ep 50 – Lucia Seersword (she/her)
Dollars & Dragons Podcast
This time I had on Lucia Seersword (she/her) who is a young Filipina entrepreneur with two successful crowdfunding campaigns under her belt. It was a real pleasure to speak to her and I took away so many important lessons. You may have heard of The Islands of Sina Una or its adventure book Tales From Sina Una – or seen some of her fantastic art or art direction.
"Knockoff, a solo journaling horror game" | Ep 49 – Banana Chan (she/they/he)
Dollars & Dragons Podcast
Returning to form is one of TTRPG’s premiere designers, Banana Chan (she/they/he) launches a crowdfunding campaign for a game aimed at scaring the shit out of you while you play alone in a dark room. Knockoff is the sequel to Forgery, part of a series of journaling games that will creep you out. My conversation with Banana delved into what Knockoff is and how it was made, his design philosophy, and the future of small independent games.
Check out the video below for a 60 second summary of Knockoff:
"Blood On My Name" | Ep 48 – Kienna Shaw (she/they) & Jason Cutrone (he/him)
Dollars & Dragons Podcast
This time I have on Blood On My Name co-creators Kienna Shaw (she/they) and Jason Cutrone (he/him). We chat about what I personally love about the game, what their process was for its creation, its inspiration, and what solo journaling games are as a medium.
Blood On My Name is a solo journaling TTRPG that follows a former assassin on a mission of revenge. Delve into a shadowy underworld filled with espionage and intrigue, connect to former professional associates, explore clandestine locales, and eliminate anyone and anything that stands between you and your target.
If you choose to support this game, you receive your copy immediately and can start playing it tonight. Supporting indie games is important for so many reasons – and I do not receive any kickbacks for this podcast – I just simply love the game and I’m excited about it. Click on the images below to check it out!
Inspired by the films of Chad Stahelski (the John Wick film franchise) and the spy fiction works of John le Carré (The Karla Trilogy) and Ian Fleming (The Bond Series), this game is not about fame or glory. It’s about vengeance. Violence. The depths that you’re willing to sink to, when everything that you love is dead and all that’s left is the pain of that loss. Death lurks in every shadow that Babel casts, and your character’s survival is far from guaranteed. TAKE YOUR REVENGE, OR DIE TRYING.
This game builds on the Wretched and Alone SRD, utilizing a standard 52-card deck and a block tower. It introduces new injury mechanics to further test your willpower, as well as a “crosshair” mechanic for drawing closer to your target and planning your way out when the job is done. 52 unique scene prompts will guide your story. There are many ways to die, and only one way to make it out alive.
About the Creators
Kienna Shaw (she/they) is an award-winning Canadian game writer and narrative designer based in Toronto. Their work has appeared in numerous publications (including Pathfinder Lost Omens: Tian Xia World Guide, The Ultimate Micro-RPG Book, and Land of Eem), and she’s self-published multiple solo projects and collaborations with Jason Cutrone. They can be found everywhere as @KiennaS (like on Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/kiennas.bsky.social, itchio https://kiennas.itch.io/, or on her website https://kiennas.com/).
Jason Cutrone (he/him) is an award-winning Texan game writer and designer. His previous works include The Hare-Barons’ Estate, Arcon: City of Neon Daylight, and the adventure module Orange Coloured Sky for Modiphius Games’ Fallout: The Roleplaying Game, the first in the Astoundingly Awesome Tales series of products. He has collaborated with Kienna Shaw on numerous projects, which can be found on their itchio (listed above). His solo works are hosted at justjasonpls.itch.io. He abstains from social media but can easily be reached via raven, candygram, or smoke signal.
Dylan Grinder (she/he) is an American game designer and graphic designer based in Toronto. He’s the creator of the widely-acclaimed game Spoken Magic, alongside many other self-published games, tools, and graphical assets. She’s also the person behind Heartheld Games, which publishes Become: Artificial Investigation. Dylan can be found on Bluesky (https://bsky.app/profile/anarisis.dylangrinder.com) and itchio (https://anarisis.itch.io/).
"You Are A Game Designer" | Ep 47 – James Haeck (they/them)
Dollars & Dragons Podcast
This time I have on James J. Haeck (they/them) who uses storytelling on the podcast to educate us how designers can forge their own path. After getting started via Matt Colville videos, James goes through their beginnings as a creative in the industry and how to position yourself to “make it”.
This Valentine's Day, Give Your Players The Gift of Romance
Interview With Contributors of How To GM Romance
Here is your smoochin’ preview, y’all!
We are wrapping up production on How To GM Romance and it is my pleasure to highlight the work of some of our creators for the book. I’m so immensely proud of the writing, design, and art that has come in as we finalize the book! Without community support for queer art, unfortunately it would never see the light of day. Queer art is more important than ever with the current political climate in which bigots refuse us life saving healthcare, wish to erase us from history and even public life. Just as we must resist to exist, we must create and love to fully live.
A short interview with some of our creators is below. Please support these contributors by checking out their work and if you are interested – there is a link to pre-order How To GM Romance at the end of the article. You will also find more information and a fun teaser video on the Backer Kit page. Enjoy.
Cale & Briar, the artist’s supernatural queer cowboys – Coyoteprince
Q: What did you contribute to the book?
Coyoteprince (they/them): Queer and impoverished folk- of which both I and my supernatural cowboys are- are often read through an othering, harsh view. Whether it be simply uncomfortable or an outright threat, the point stands: a miasma of difference follows us with other’s judgement often too distracted to view the context of why we are. I often explore this phenomenon through my work with effort to hint at what lies underneath the initial strange visage- something soulful, loving, and human. I do believe my hardy cowboys summarize this well. At first bright, brash, intimidating- but look a little closer, and you may just see a hint of something more.
Sebastian Yūe (they/them): I contributed the Romance Tracking System, a framework for GMs who want to facilitate romances between player characters and NPCs. Included in the system are a Romance Sheet and an Approval Tracker. The Romance Sheet helps you remember key details about romanceable NPCs, and the Approval Tracker offers a concrete approval score mechanic to represent an NPC’s attitude towards a player character, and instructions on how to use that score to roleplay the NPC’s responses to the player character’s actions.
Alex Roberts (she/her): Sex scene system, a question-oriented system that helps GMs and players create interesting, varied, and meaningful sex scenes.
Friday (she/they): The dispute system, date scenes, and I’m assisting with the romance adventure that my South American trans co-author Luna is masterfully piecing together. The dispute system is for fights, both leading to a break-up and also right back around to steamy encounters. What’s a little romance without spice, I say?
Q: Why is your contribution important?
Sebastian Yūe (they/them): The approval score system is a familiar mechanic inspired by similar systems in video games that feature companion romances, and I’ve adapted it for use in tabletop games and expanded guidelines for roleplay. The other systems in this book are connected to this central system. Importantly, a high approval score doesn’t mean that a romance is necessarily more likely; I’m especially interested in enabling enemies-to-lovers or enemies-and-lovers dynamics. I want to help players and GMs have the spiciest possible time roleplaying complex, messy relationships.
Alex Roberts (she/her): I know players and GMs are both drawn to and intimidated by sex as a subject. I wanted to create a structured, but not restrictive, process by which players can create scenes that are about what actually makes sex interesting – which is less about what physically happens and more about what it means and how it feels for the people involved.
Friday (she/they): The dispute system and date scenes allow GMs to pick up the book and engage with players on a whole new level in a fun, popcorn-fueled spat or happy ending. Often we tune in for the drama, be it from Real Housewives style of trash reality TV or soap operas, to thoroughly dramatized history of our experiences in fiction or on HBO. Dynamic relationships are important to making your game feel real and without some gray area to romance there is a tendency to shove it into the background when it could be more fun.
Q: What is romance’s place in tabletop games?
Coyoteprince (they/them): Tabletop games are all about community and cooperation- and you can’t have either with a bit of romance here or there. It’s a natural option that allows a different exploration of community.
Sebastian Yūe (they/them): Romance adds a new dimension to roleplaying; you can show a new side to a character who is in a romance that you wouldn’t otherwise get to show. The way they act when in the presence of someone they have feelings for is a great way to reveal details about their history and personality. Romance is also a fun excuse to flirt with your friends.
Alex Roberts (she/her): Intimacy between people is one of the most common themes in… the entire history of human storytelling? (Many creation myths start with a bang.) We tell stories to find meaning in our experience, and romantic relationships are central to many of our lives.
Friday (she/they): I think that for my characters I prefer that they are three dimensional and part of that is to represent a character’s desires at every level. While roleplaying sex isn’t necessarily what the table is comfortable with, keeping things PG-13 or even R rated is generally acceptable, dependent on the audience. Even then, you could agree to more “steamy” private sessions via text at each individual’s comfort level. Be it a plain romance for dressing or a deep and fun-problematic romance, GMROM provides the tools for everything.
In exploring my queerness after I came out, I knew that I wasn’t looking for the normative stuff that was displayed in media, so I sought out more queer stories. As it turns out: A lot of queers engage with TTRPGs for this reason – there just isn’t a medium you can feel free like tabletop. In addition to that: Most GMs (pro or amateur) that I’ve spoken to felt as though there wasn’t a very good resource available for GMing romance. Both from an generalist advice angle and a hard mechanics situation, to also finding fluff to help the creative process. We’ve got your hardcore and your fluff, alright.
Q: Do you roleplay romance at your table? If so, what experiences would you like to share?
Sebastian Yūe (they/them): I absolutely do roleplay romance at the table! I’m in a 7-year-long D&D campaign and my wizard is romancing my friend’s cleric. We’re writing an erotic short story series based on the romance, which you can find here: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2941902 Some of the stories even have pictures from artists that we’ve commissioned. If you enjoy unhinged time magic, tragic backstories, and hot sex scenes, you’ll like the series.
Alex Roberts (she/her): Often! I make games about love, because that’s the kind of game I like to play – I love complicated relationships, big feelings, and stories that resonate with real life.
Friday (she/they): It’s actually how I got into this mess in the first place! I’ve had poor experiences with romance in TTRPGs and other roleplaying mediums. Privately roleplaying romance as a woman was my way to survive while in the closet for many years in a world that forced its heteronormative agenda on me daily. It’s always been a safer (when given boundaries, session 0, cards etc.) way to explore without as many risks as being out in the dating scene. For those trying romance for the first time: might even find you are interested in something that you’d have never tried with a stranger or even a trusted partner in person.
You may have heard of the “sexy Jenga” game by Alex Roberts…. Well worth the money! Get Star Crossed here.
Q: What do you think is missing from romance in games?
Sebastian Yūe (they/them): I think games [emphasis author’s] are missing romance! I’m hoping that this book makes it easier for GMs to introduce romance into games where romance isn’t necessarily the main focus, but would be fun and interesting to explore as part of the story. I’m really excited for GMs to receive this book because it contains all sorts of useful tips and tricks for including romance in your game, even if you’re new to it.
Pre-order here! Every bit of support means a lot to us and helps keep queer art alive while livening up your roleplaying at the table.
One of our pieces by Léan
Vote for the Undead Gala in the 2024 ENNIES!
Pretty please?
I made a Twitter post about this, but is anybody really on Twitter anymore?
My team is competing with some real heavyweights. I feel like the new kid on the block and there’s such a small chance that we win. Still – why not ask? I appreciate everyone’s love and support over the past couple years. I’ve sought to make pro GMing more accessible and to have the opportunity to make RPG products I’m really excited about.
I feel so lucky to be nominated! Winning an ENNIE helps sell more books, so it helps my career and my team’s. It also helps my teams get recognized and approved for more projects in the future, because it tells them that we make quality work. Losing doesn’t invalidate the honor of being nominated in the first place, to me.
It would just be nice to win. Thank you for considering us!
Click the cover art below if you’d like to check out The Undead Gala, now on sale for $0.99! It includes a $15 coupon to pre-order the Vineyard RPG book.
