Author: Thread of Souls

Misc Posts, The Spool of Souls: Updates & News

“Days of Tales” Interview with TheLionKnight42

Thread of Souls

The second annual “Days of Tales” is coming to Twitch. We were a part of the stream last year, and though we won’t be playing this year, we again are donating copies of our Thread of Souls books to this cause. In anticipation for the upcoming TTRPG event on March 24 – 26th, we reached out to the creator of “Days of Tales”, known across the web as TheLionKnight42, to talk about what to expect.

“Days of Tales” was wonderful fun last year, it’s so exciting to see it make a return! What has inspired you to do this event?

Ha! There are so many answers to that one. If I had to keep it simple, the fact is that the first event did so amazingly well, and was such a huge tool for both supporting an amazing cause in the National Network of Abortion Funds, and for forging so many new relationships between some really great people in the community. I loved seeing everyone get to meet each other and come together to tell these amazing stories while also providing an opportunity to fight back against something absolutely awful that was going on.

It’s also no secret that I was dealing with a lot during the first event. I was still fairly new to the community and just sort of threw myself into this major event, and I lost my father just before we kicked off the weekend. The event was such a big bonding experience between us, and it made him so happy to know so many people wanted to come together for such a great cause, so for me, the hope is that we can run these events at least a few times every year.

We see the charity this year is NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness. This is a wonderful cause, is there any more you can tell us about it?

NAMI is awesome! We try really hard to vet charities before we raise money for them, and everyone had such great things to say about NAMI. So many people struggle with mental illness and we as a society only really recognize so much of it on a day to day basis, and it can lead to a lot of misconceptions or a lack of respect for those struggles. NAMI does so much work to provide support for people who otherwise might be overlooked, and who don’t necessarily get the tools that they need to deal with the struggles that are both inherent to mental illness and those that arise as a result of a lack of understanding or respect that exists in the day to day. 

Educational programs that help with families and educators so that they can better understand the issues, advocacy for people struggling and for smaller groups that fight in endless uphill battles to ensure support and programs, emotional support, and events meant to raise public awareness. These are all such important tools, and NAMI focuses on all of these things. By ensuring that people get financial, emotional, and engaged support and by providing the opportunity for people to get a better understanding of what these issues that people with mental illness look like, NAMI just really does such an amazing job.

 What are some of the games we can look forward to at this year’s event?

Oh we’ve got some great games lined up this time around! From big book games like Vampire from Renegade Studios (World of Darkness) and Pathfinder 2e from Paizo, to an amazing PBTA game called Thirsty Sword Lesbians by April Kit Walsh and Mutants & Masterminds from Stephen Kenson and Green Ronin Publishing, to smaller (but still amazing) games like Eat Trash, Do Crime by ThoughtPunks and When The End Comes by Sandra Catharin, we’re really excited to be hitting all points on the spectrum of games.

We’ve got a really cool japanese TTRPG that hasn’t had an official translation yet called Dracurouge where you play as vampire knights in a time when the sun has been blotted out, and the players struggle with finding passion and positive emotion to stave off their thirst, lest they become monsters. There’s so much room to explore there, and really all of our games are going to provide some really interesting spaces to explore, some emotional, some ridiculous, but all compelling and, most importantly, fun!

It’s really exciting to have such a wide sweep of games, especially at a time when people are looking for alternatives to the Big One, and it’s a great opportunity to give people a look at some of the other fantastic games that exist out there.

Last year’s event had many wonderful creators and players within the TTRPG space. Do you know of any that will be joining this year, or is it too early?

There’s just so many incredible people along for the ride! We’re really excited to be working with Amber (Thespacejamber on Twitter). They were a huge part of pulling off our first Days of Tales, helping us find the National Network of Abortion Funds, helping us figure out how to reach out to people and how to set up the call sheet. Unfortunately they weren’t able to join us for any of the games and I’m really just so glad to get the opportunity to have them with us, so they can hang out and have a good time with a wonderful game from an amazing GM in Justina (JustinaRevolution on Twitter)!

We’ve got Rev from ThoughtPunks who is running the game he wrote, Eat Trash, Do Crime, which is a completely unhinged game of anarchist raccoons and the crimes they commit to amass their shinies and fill their bellies! Rev does some amazing stuff, and it’s always so much fun, so I can’t wait to see that one in action!

You’ll also get to see a bunch of other familiar faces from a lot of our weekly games as well, both as players and Taleslingers (our term for GMs), as well as a number of people coming in from other studios for the cause, all of whom I am beyond excited to get the chance to produce for and host.

 Is there anything else you’d like to share about “Days of Tales 2”?

Alongside the games we’ll be running across the weekend, we’ve also got three panels across the weekend, one each day. We did one for our first event and it went so well that I really wanted to expand. I thought this could be a really great opportunity to provide some space to different groups and concepts that exist within the community that everyone could do with more of, while also providing insight and tools for more than just the TTRPG setting, but things you can utilize in your day to day life as well.

On Friday we have a panel that focuses on Disabled Experiences in Gaming and Accessibility, hosted by Esther, a game designer and the Storyteller for Chromythica (dungeonminister on twitter), which will offer some really wonderful people with an opportunity to share what they’ve gone through and ways that we as the community at large can provide more accessibility, understanding, and support so that TTRPGs can continue to be for everyone. It’s a great panel to kick off the panels for the weekend, and from what I know of the plans for it, there’s going to be a great deal of information and insight laid out that I can’t wait for people to check out!

Saturday we have a panel on Burnout hosted by Julian of Everyday Superhero Podcast (ESHerocast on Twitter). Burnout is such a huge, wide sweeping thing and can take so many different forms, and it’s something that, even if it gets brought up often, doesn’t usually include suggestions or tips on how to combat it, or resolve it. The hope is that this panel will provide a number of tools and concepts that can be put to use in order to better understand, deal with, and avoid burnout where possible. 

And on Sunday we have a BIPOC Experiences in Gaming panel, Hosted by RPG Scholar and Pop Culture Historian Stefan Huddleston (UmbralKnightX on Twitter) which will delve into a lot of the underlying issues that are still rampant in the TTRPG community, offer insight on how some of these problematic concepts came to be, and how we can go about working on removing these issues as we grow together to provide better, safer, and more comfortable experiences for everyone, along with providing their own experiences at tables, what leads them to the stories they tell and characters they play, and why it’s so important to be cognizant of those experiences and voices.

All in all we’ve got a really fantastic crew of people along with us for these panels, and judging from what I know of the plans, they are absolutely cannot miss.

We’ve also got some really great giveaways that we’ll be running through the event, dice and dice trays from Phoenix Dice (phoenixdice on Twitter), a really neat dice box from The Shady Sail (TheShadySail on Twitter), custom art from both our in studio artist Miss Moon & Andy from LostHavenArt (LostHavenArt on Twitter), a bunch of stuff courtesy of Steve Jackson Games, A number of things from Thought Punks library, including a bunch of their games and even the opportunity to have Rev run a game for you and your friends, and of course, your book series as well! 

It’s another example of how amazing the community is and how everyone comes together for these opportunities to show love and support in a way that will always warm my heart. Days of Tales 2 runs March 24th through the 26th, from Noon to Midnight EST all three days, and even if you can’t donate at all, sharing the info and showing up to voice support in the chat means the world to us all. I can’t wait for the event, the taleslingers and casts are super pumped, and we hope y’all are too!

You can watch the “Days of Tales” stream on Twitch from March 24th – 26th 12pm-12am EST.

You can learn more about TheLionKnight42 through his page!

Character Tips, Writing Tips

How to Roleplay a Ranger

Thread of Souls

Rangers are versatile members of any party. They can lead a group through dangerous wilderness without getting lost, track a wild beast or missing person in diverse environments, and are capable of wielding a multitude of weapons. They’re hired by travelers as guides and make excellent bounty hunters and monster slayers when the time calls for it. They’re also quite passionate and considerate of nature and the flora and fauna that live among it.

If you’re playing or writing a ranger, we’ve got some tips on how to get in their head. Dorian has played a ranger for six years and understands them quite well. Having done so for such a long time, or course, not all rangers are the same. So, for those looking to play or create a ranger, here’s what you need to know.

Roleplaying a Ranger

Playing a ranger comes down to a few key factors. No matter if you’re using the most popular TTRPG in the world, Pathfinder, Forbidden Lands, or Lord of the Rings, rangers have several things in common. Focus on the following traits when you create a ranger to improve your roleplay and writing.

Ranger traits

  • Rangers are fierce protectors of nature. They work to safeguard all that is natural in the world.
  • Rangers know their plants. They can tell the party if a plant is deadly, poisonous, edible, or has healing properties. If they don’t know, they work to do so.
  • Rangers are kind to animals. As protectors of nature, they work to understand creatures of the world, even the dangerous ones. If it comes down to a fight with a beast, they may instead choose to scare away the creature instead of killing it. Rangers are also known to have animal companions.
  • Rangers always seek to understand. Rangers tend to stick to the wilds or live away from cities. This can make them curious about the world. Going to a large urban area can seem outlandish to them but with every place they visit, they seek knowledge first. Knowing more about a place, person, or creature is highly beneficial.
  • Rangers can be difficult at first. Like nature, rangers tend to be guarded and may appear off-putting at first. Once they get to know a person, they warm up easily to them and let their guards drop.
  • Rangers are masters of weapons. There is a reason rangers are known as masters of the hunt. Not for their hunting skills, but their ability to wield and master just about every weapon created.

Famous Rangers

As writers, we find inspiration in nearly everything we come across. So, we thought to help with your roleplay, we should introduce you to a few popular rangers from movies and video games.

  • Geralt of Rivia. Geralt is a Witcher, which is a fancy way of saying ranger. He hunts monsters, uses herbs to make potions and poisons, and is proficient in knowing creatures, tracking, and fighting. He’s gruff and blunt but has a kind heart and is always willing to help those in need.
  • Aragorn. Aragorn from Lord of the Rings is one of the best examples of a ranger we can think of. While known as a Ranger of the North, the title referred to a wandering people who protected the land but sought to remain a secret from others. This gave them a reputation for being distrustful, harsh, and dangerous. While Aragorn can appear quite harsh, he’s kind to everyone he meets once he learns more about them. He also has several animal companions during his journey. Brego is with him in The Two Towers and The Return of the King. While Bill the pony accompanies him in The Fellowship of the Ring.
  • Ruuda Drybarrel. Self-plug. Ruuda’s backstory in our fantasy book series Thread of Souls focuses on her interaction with a group or rangers. She was trained by Deep Stalker ranger Nier Shadowsnare but was not blessed to be a Deep Stalker herself. The Deep Staker rangers are protectors of the Deep Hollows and work to ensure safe passage for travelers on the roads, protect creatures, and are hired out when needed for specific jobs. Ruuda’s history with the rangers could play a larger part in her story, but you’ll have to read and find out.
Ruuda
Lore, Misc Posts

International Women’s Day – Thread of Souls Celebrates

Thread of Souls

Here at Thread of Souls we are honoring International Women’s Day with a post about our female characters. As husband and wife co-authors, it is wonderful to take this day to celebrate not only Talia’s contributions to the books, but also the women of Thread of Souls that make it what it is.

From Talia

Hello! It’s me, Talia (aka Ashley) co-author of Thread of Souls and co-owner of Tal & Ru Travels LLC with my amazing husband. Growing up, I was exposed to a lot of sexism from my adoptive family on what a woman should or should not do, say, or believe (and a man, too, but that’s for another time). I am proud of separating myself from those punishing viewpoints, and proud to have a partner that thrives with me in fully embracing ourselves and our dreams for the future.

I have been writing all my life, even before I could properly spell words. I wrote my own books, and when I was old enough to have my own laptop I got into the world of fanfiction and won many awards for my works. Even though I drifted away from my path as an author by following bad advice, I have re-discovered my purpose and passion when I began Thread of Souls with my husband (then-fiance.) You can learn more about my journey here.

Being a female business owner and author, it gives me a wonderful opportunity to showcase characters for who they are in their hearts and souls, and not who they are as defined by gender. I am proud to push a narrative forward that shows complex female characters. Jade was my first character created for Thread of Souls, and the last 8 years with her have been wonderful. Dorian created two of our other major female characters, Ruuda and Jasita. If I had just met Dorian at a TTRPG table and saw the character he was playing was a dual-wielding, super strong, female dwarf with a beard I would have fallen in love with him all over again haha. And if I had met him again when he created and played Jasita, an asexual, analytical, numbers-focused researcher, I would have fallen in love a third time.

We do not create characters with defying harmful stereotypes in mind. Rather, we create a person. As complex, flawed, and beautiful as people are in real life. Men who cry. Women who don’t need romance. Bisexuals that are not horny. Black characters that are kings. For us, we simply ask Who is this person? Where did they come from? What do they want? And How does that shape their personality?

So let’s honor some highlighted female characters from our books below. There are so many more that we can’t possibly feature them all! Monster-hunter Encarna, vampire tyrant Corentin, high priestess Maiathah, and much more. Happy International Women’s Day, and may you continue to showcase complex female characters in your own stories!

The Characters

Ruuda of Clan Drybarrel is a pragmatic, fierce, and no-nonsense dark dwarf. She dual-wields a sword of fire and a war hammer, named Liquor and Forge Breaker respectively. Ruuda loves animals, and would rather spend a night camping under the stars than in the finest tavern in the world. Her love of beer comes from her Clan, which have been brewers for generations. She is the youngest of 12 children and is used to speaking up to get her voice heard. Growing up in a caste system, Ruuda never received a Blessing from their god, the Forge King. This has left a bad taste in Ruuda’s mouth for all things religious and celestial in nature. She has sworn to find the Forge King and make him pay for not Blessing her.

Ruuda

Jade Galanodel is a wild elf druid that lives a nomadic life traveling Corventos. Connected with nature, she avoids cities if at all possible, and is highly judgmental of the urban way of life. She travels with her rescued pet fox, and follows the signs the spirits of nature give her. An accomplished herbalists and cartographer, she is a powerful spellcaster that stands up against injustice. So long as it happens outside of the city walls. Those people can keep their own problems. After losing her fiancé in battle, Jade searches for a new purpose in life. She may have just found one with the mysterious creature known as Rehanine that attempted to kill her in her home city of Oceala.

Jade

Jasita Yolarin is a high elf crystalmancer, researcher, and telepathic prodigy. Growing up in the beautiful capital city Eleste’si to historian parents, she was identified at a young age for her talent and taken to the prestigious Citadel. A place of magical study, law, and authority. Jasita did not fit in well with the other students. She found emotions confusing and relationships complicated. Facts and numbers interested her far more. Especially the study of ancient and forgotten elven history that involves dark elves. Jasita excels in everything she puts her mind to, so long as it has nothing to do with people, and is happiest with a book in her hands. Her life is shaken, however, when she encounters a dark elf that has runaway from his home.

Jasita
The Spool of Souls: Updates & News

The Spool of Souls – Thread of Souls News for March 2023

Thread of Souls

Hello again! Got some exciting news for the start of this month!

Book 5

The fifth book for our Thread of Souls series is in progress! The very first chapter was actually finished on Friday! It’s been a few weeks of finalizing the outline and creating a timeline for the book’s writing, editing, prepping, and release. We’re so excited to start this journey! This is a book big for us since we are starting the second half of the Spider Octology. As the months progress, we will definitely share more about the book with art, excerpts, and a title release.

Hardcovers

Finally, finally, hardcovers for Thread of Souls are a thing! The hardcover for Phantom Five just released. We got the proof in and are very happy with the results, it’s definitely a beautiful book! You can expect the hardcovers for Ash & Thunder, Path of the Spiders, and Asunder to all go live this month.

Art Commissions

Talia draws all the art for Thread of Souls, giving life to this world through cultural concepts, character designs, weapon designs, and more. We also plan to release a graphic novel in the future, and right now we’re both working hard on getting everything set up for that. If you like Talia’s art, she is offering commissions! Check out her DeviantArt page to learn more.

Reviews

BEACN Mic and Create Mix – Review

Thread of Souls

Over the years, I’ve used my fair share of microphones to capture voices and pair them with videos. As soon as I sat down to write this review, I suddenly remembered, the amount of mics I’ve worked with since working in media production. There’s been lavaliers, handheld, studio, and boom microphones. All of them have their purpose but if I had to choose the best for creating content, I’d go with a studio every time.

That’s why when I first saw the BEACN Mic, I was curious to learn more. From its appearance alone, I had a good feeling about it and I’m here to say, I’m not disappointed.

Disclaimer: The BEACN Mic and BEACN Mic Create were provided by BEACN.

I cannot say enough good things about the company and thank them for allowing me to check out the equipment. Having done zero research into the gear beforehand, I jumped in cold and it was worth it.

Plug and Play

The BEACN Mic is a USB mic. Now, before anyone starts any discourse on USB mics, I won’t hear it. As a human being, I once believed XLR mics were the path all professionals should use and I swore by that. However, that is no longer the case. I’ve changed my ways like the ring light on the BEACN Mic changes colors. USB mics such as the BEACNs can be just as professional and high-quality as the XLR you find in voice actor booths across the world. Out of the box it comes with one USB cable for the mic and one for the Create that runs from the both to your computer. You don’t need a fancy external interface, but you will need BEACN’s app to run the mic and BEACN Mix Create.

I need to talk about the USB cables themselves, as they are sturdy and quite lengthy. Their size is by no means a negative, but rather a boon. Having extra cable length ensures you get the optimum reach required for your setup. Plus, you can always hide them or tie them up with zip ties. Like they’re really really long. It’s great.

BEACN Mic

The mic itself comes in a pill shape style with a changeable ring light in the center. It’s lightweight and easy to move around if you need to take it on the go or move it from room A to room B. And with the lengthy USB cable, you can move around your work area like a live reporter out on assignment. Yet, with all that moving you’d expect to get a lot of feedback or outside noise as you moved about. However, that’s not the case with the BEACN Mic.

Actual moving about noise

Noise Suppression

What really peaked interest in the mic, is how it handles noise suppression. When we first started our live streaming journey, we noticed a lot of external noises such as the computer fan, keyboard clacking, and game audio were being picked up by our mics. Having tested the BEACN Mic against the others, the sound quality vastly improved. The external noises were reduced or completely gone when using the BEACN equipment. Even without messing with anything in the app.

Ring Light

The addition of a ring light around the center of the mic is just fun. It’s a visually pleasing feature that offers entertainment to an already entertaining piece of equipment. It’s great for live streaming and adds a bit of flair and uniqueness to the streamer and the mic itself. The light can be changed 20 different colors, be a blend of two, rotate between multiple, or be configured to light up with your voice or specific audio. It’s a gimmick, but as Jeremy Clarkson said, “what’s wrong with a gimmick? That’s brilliant!”

BEACN App and Mix Create

The BEACN App is where you’ll find everything that fuels the microphone. It’s an all in one interface that gives you full control over sound quality, expander, compression, noise suppression, the color of the ring light, and other hardware you may be running. It really makes you feel like you’re in control of the audio production center at a recording booth. You know the ones, where the performer is standing in a soundproofed room behind a glass window. You’re the person making sure their audio is clear, pristine, and doesn’t peak.

You choose your own personal mix and audience mix. Basically this gives you access to where the sound is sent. You can either choose your headphones or another speaker to send the audio to and you can switch between them by moving the fader or holding down a knob on the Create for a few seconds. Whereas the audience mix is what the audience hears. You have full control of what goes out live to them versus what you hear. If you wanted to listen to your music without it going live over the air, you’re free to do just that. You’ll also be able to monitor audio levels from here to ensure they are correct.

On top of all that, you can control additional components in the app as well. Say, you’re streaming through Twitch and have a game running, music playing, and your mic audio. Once you’ve configured each into it’s own channel, you can control them through either the app or the BEACN Mix Create. The app uses faders to control audio levels for each component whereas the Create uses knobs. Both are seamless and simply, but the tactile feel of turning or clicking a knob to reduce or increase volume is a nice touch. Pun intended. If you’re running a larger more complex stream, the Create is probably more you’re style as it’s a physical addon you can set nearby your work station. Then again, both are equal in how they handle audio so it really depends on preference.

The BEACN Mic and BEAN Mix Create are versatile tools for streamers and content creators. If you’re looking to start streaming or creating videos, the mic and interface are great additions to any stream setup.

Thread of Souls, World Building & Lore

Thread of Souls Lore Feature- Who is the Holy Dragon?

Thread of Souls

The Holy Dragon, also known as Halathras, is one of Thread of Souls‘ dragon gods. As one of the Protector Gods, they are worshipped by those who follow honor, loyalty, and truth. They are commonly depicted as a large gold or platinum dragon who resides within a section of the Celestial Plane called the The Platinum Halls.

Significance in the world

The Holy Dragon, along with Iosis the Blight Dragon, created the first dragons in the world of Theretos. Through their creation, the dragons molded and shaped the land. During the Divine Wars, the time period where the gods fought one another on the Material Plane, the Holy Dragon battled the Blight Dragon on the Elemental Planes. Dragons took sides during the fight and in the end Halathras defeated Iosis.

After the Divine Wars came the construction of the Gate of the Gods. This barrier prevented gods from returning to the Material Plane, though they could still aid their followers through as needed. Halathras watches from their seat in The Platinum Halls, granting boons and powers to those who worship him.

Who follows the Holy Dragon?

The Holy Dragon is followed by valiant warriors, healers, paladins, and leaders. Those who worship the great platinum dragon agree to follow a creed to put all other before themselves. Paladins take up the following oath.

I devote my life to follow you, Holy Dragon.
In your example I will be honest, and keep my word in all
things.
I will protect others as though their life is greater than
mine.
I will show mercy to my foes, but punish those who do
evil.
I will obey those with just authority.
I will answer for my actions and ask forgiveness for any
wrong I have done.
And in all things I will be honorable.
May you guide my steps and my voice, so I may always
serve you justly.”

Thread of Souls Phantom Five

What is the Holy Dragon’s symbol?

The Holy Dragon’s symbol is a golden eye. Warriors and paladins carry a shield or armor depicting the eye while clerics and healers wear robes of white and gold.

Thread of Souls book depictions

Excerpts from Thread of Souls

Zok spun his hammer, taking out his shield that
was emblazoned with the golden eye of the Holy Dragon.
He readied his stance. “Round two.”’

Thread of Souls Phantom Five

He supposed he’d always been drawn to the things the Holy
Dragon valued. Kindness, honor, loyalty, honesty. Doing
good to others and helping out whenever one could. He
was in his early twenties when he swore his oath to the
Holy Dragon and became a paladin. And he felt his life
was fuller because of it.”

Thread of Souls Phantom Five

The Temple of the Holy Dragon was beautiful.
Settled on the coast, its gardens were immaculate and it
rose three stories tall, all white and gold. Stained glass
windows of blue reflected the sun.”

Thread of Souls Ash & Thunder
Misc Posts

“Writing Rules” – Do You Actually Need Them?

Thread of Souls

You don’t have to look far on the internet to find multiple people posting their own “writing rules”. It’s on Twitter, Pinterest, blogs, published books, and more. Some are from professional authors, some from amateurs, and some from just random people who think they have talent but haven’t published anything yet. As authors ourselves and people who often publish blogs about writing tips and tricks, this begs the question, do you actually need rules for writing? Are there actual do’s and don’t’s that make or break your book? Or is it all just nonsense from people with superiority complexes?

Too Much Info

When you start to look up some guidelines for writing online, it doesn’t take long before it all just feels too much. “Describe eyes like this”, “Don’t describe eyes at all“, “Don’t use prologues“, “Use prologues”, “Don’t slow down your pace“, “Give the reader time to breathe“. It all feels a bit contradictory. If you are looking for hard advice to follow, it can seem like a losing battle.

This reminds me of an amusing quote I found on Pinterest once that made fun of these writing rules by saying “the best thing to give your reader is just a blank page“.

Do Rules Have a Place in Creative Writing?

When you are writing a creative piece, is there really a need for rules? Do you need to follow a formulaic plotline? Or do you simply write what is in your heart? Everyone has different tastes in stories. What one person likes to read will be completely different than what someone else likes to read. It begs the question if there is much of a point in sticking to certain specifications as if that will magically make your book the perfect story for every single person in the world.

We once worked as part of a writing team for a company, and one member of the team believed that stories should have a “you did this / you go there” POV so that the reader is drawn in to believe they are part of the story. But for both of us personally, we really dislike those types of POV’s and don’t enjoy stories written like that. This team member spouted out all these “rules for writing” to support his point, but does that have any merit when it actually comes down to personal taste?

Breaking the Writing Rules

We watched a documentary about J.R.R. Tolkien once, and something said in it will always stick with us. It said that his Lord of the Rings books would be considered completely unmarketable today because they break all the “rules” of telling a story. And yet, they still live on as one of the best works of fantasy. Unless, of course, you don’t like The Lord of the Rings, in which case refer to the paragraph above.

We knew an author who was a huge Stephen King fan, and he read many of King’s guides on writing. As such, he believed one should never, ever, use adverbs. However, he was also a big fan of Patrick Rothfuss’ Kingkiller Chronicle. Having read The Name of the Wind, we found this an interesting point of view since Rothfuss liberally uses adverbs. In our opinion, both authors tell fantastic stories, though we are much bigger fans of fantasy than horror.

When Should You Actually Pay Attention to Writing Rules?

So, is there any use for these writing rules if all it comes down to is personal preference? When we post blogs or entries on social media giving writing tips, it is with the intention that people will use this if they are seeking help, or an outside point of view. Not as a rule to always follow. We really dislike the dialogue tag “said” and use it as infrequently as possible. We have written a blog post about alternatives to use. But if you like “said” and hate all other tags, more power to you! You do what works best for you. That post is only meant for those seeking input on different ways to write dialogue.

If you love you writing as-is, don’t worry about what others say you should or should not do. We do think that everyone can benefit from hearing outside viewpoints on how others go about their writing, and writing courses, but that doesn’t mean you suddenly have to change what you do entirely just because someone else does it that way.

Final Thoughts

Perhaps we should change “writing rules” to “writing opinions”. So many young, potential authors get scared off of ever starting a book because a random person on the internet will toss around these rules like they are decrees sealed in blood that you must follow or end up a failure with no future. This is just silly. Tell the story that is in your heart exactly the way you want to tell it. There are people out there who it will resonate with. And in the end, you have told your story the way you wanted to, and that is the most important thing.

The Spool of Souls: Updates & News

Spool of Souls – News of February 2023

Thread of Souls

Happy February! A bit late on the draw this month, but we have our Spool of Souls monthly update on what we are currently working on, and our new releases.

Upcoming Book Releases

After a big delay due to an injury, we finally have a date in mind for the publication of the promised lore book “Jade’s Alphabet of Animals”! We’ll be sending it out to ARC readers in March, with publication in April. It will be our first picture book, and will give whimsical insight into lore for Thread of Souls. If you are interested in being on our early reader ARC team, please reach out!

Podcast

We’ve mentioned before that we will be launching a behind-the-scenes podcasts that talks about the creation of the books. That was supposed to launch this week, but we’ve had a few setbacks just with our own scheduling. Life gets hectic. We hope to have it going later this month, and it should be available the same place as our newly released soundtrack.

Merchandise

Our Corventos map blanket is here! It is so beautiful! We have that and many more items available in our Redbubble store. Our roadmap for the year is to release a new product each month, so keep on the lookout for them!

DeviantArt Subscriptions

If you are one who likes to support artists, we have recently opened up subscription tiers on DeviantArt. These include early access to art as well as once-a-month requests. If you haven’t visited our DeviantArt yet, check us out! That’s the main place for all Thread of Souls-related art, and we occasionally host contests, a well!

Uncategorized

Join our adventuring party on Twitch – Fantasy gaming, roleplay, behind the scenes chats, and creating as a couple

Thread of Souls

We are branching out in 2023. Along with playing our weekly TTRPG campaign, turning it into a fantasy book series, and building a community, we started a Twitch. As the head of video, Dorian has been wanting to stream for many years and with the cards of life falling as they did, he finally got to this year. Let’s talk about what you’ll find on our Twitch, why we started it, and how it stands out from other creators.

Why start streaming and why now?

We starting streaming this year after being laid off. The past few years we’ve never found the time to stream while having full time jobs and working on Thread of Souls. There’s the saying of “everyone has the same 24 hours in a day”. While true, not everyone has the same schedule or time within that frame to do what they want. Tis a silly saying and we’re not fans. Now, that we’re free of the corporate monster, we are working for ourselves and can devote as much time to projects as we desire. This led to the discussion of streaming.

We’ve both been gamers our entire lives. From the moment we could pick up a controller and play, we were playing video games. Dorian had a YouTube channel growing up but adult priorities got in the way. Now that we’re older and wiser, we are taking control of our lives and doing what we want. We aren’t passionate about streaming, we’re passionate about telling and playing stories with each other and the community.

What you’ll find on our Twitch

For those who catch our streams, you’ll be entertained by us; a creative couple looking to make it on our own. We stream a few times a week, mainly Tuesday nights, and will pop up randomly throughout the week as we please. You’ll find entertaining stories about our lives as authors, TTRPG creators, artists, and how we make our TTRPG campaign into a book series. Stick around for the following:

  • Cats – Plenty of them. We have two fur babies Gamora and Danaerys who will show up time and again to say meow. Especially Gamora.
  • Games – Elder Scrolls Online, Solasta: Crown of the Magister, tabletop gaming, any fantasy game you can play together
  • Behind the Scenes – How we turn our TTRPG into a book series. It’s unique and we’re one of very few who does it.
  • Creative Couple – We’re a hubby and wifey creative team. We stream and play games together. It is just us two bringing you entertaining stories, dynamic characters, comedy, and spreading happiness.
  • TTRPG Roleplay – When we play video games, we will sometimes roleplay as the character we’re playing as. We’ll speak, act, and behave like they do in the books and in our tabletop game.

What makes us unique?

Streaming is something millions of people do. We’re just two fish in a massive ocean of creators. We aren’t setting out to be the next best thing, we’re here to make you laugh, tell moving stories, and build a community of those who love fantasy, gaming, roleplaying games, and TTRPGs. We do more than just play video games and tabletop games. You’ll get a look into our lives, meet out cats, see our creativity come alive as we draw, roleplay, write, and create Thread of Souls.

Join our Adventuring Party

We invite you to join our adventuring party! Not just on Twitch but everything we create for Thread of Souls. Subscribe to our website, follow us on Twitch and YouTube, as well as our socials. You can even join us on DeviantArt and have us draw art you suggest.

Reviews

Subversion – A New TTRPG is Coming to Kickstarter

Thread of Souls

A new TTRPG that calls itself “Subversion” is coming to Kickstarter next month. And in this age of OGL fiasco’s and the tabletop community opening up to new systems and indie creators, its launch is very timely. Subversion is built off a custom d6 system, and promises a fantasy-sci-fi-grungy adventure that takes place in Neo Babylon. Players can fight against an oppressive systems run by faceless corporations and greedy authorities while balancing their core values that are at the heart of the game.

You are an envoy, using technology, magic, and direct action to serve and save your community in the cyberpunk fantasy world of Neo Babylon.

Subversion will allow players to choose from multiple lineages such as elf, dwarf, goblin, human, or yettin. In character creation, they will also get to choose from a variety of cultures, skills, values, and goals. Subversion uses a creative d6-based dice pool system. The better a player is at a skill, the more dice they get to role, but they only keep the highest three.

Players will be engaged by the Grit system, in which each character has a special reserve resource which they can muster to stand and fight when all looks grim. Alternatively, they can use their limited grit resource to perform amazing abilities or enhance their normal ones. Grit is gained and lost based on how characters interact with their values and impulses.

If you are the type of player who enjoys helping NPC’s and making a difference within the world you play in, Subversion promises themes of relationships, holding to ideals, community, direct action, and hope for the future.

Subversion is designed by Fragging Unicorns, known for Gangs of the Undercity and the Misspent Youth RPG. Subversion will launch on Kickstarter on February 21st.