I’ve been thinking about writing a novel set in Cimmeria for a while. I’ve always wanted to write something set in the campaign world, but it took me a while to land on the idea. The basics is to cover the story of Blendegad, Galandir, and Tereman that I outlined in the First Vampire of Cimmeria series. After writing that series I knew I had my novel’s concept.

Why write a novel? Well, I like writing. The blog is big evidence of that. I’ve written over half a million words of content since the blog started. If all that writing was novels instead of blog posts I’d have 4 or 5 books done at this point. When I’m feeling sad, crumby, or angry, writing helps me feel good again. One of my life goals is to write some significant piece of fiction and get it published, even if it’s just a few copies for my friends and family. Lots of emotional goals that writing fulfills. I’d say writing a book of some kind is something I’ve wanted to do since high school.

There’s also a business perspective to my writing. I’ve been slowly working towards publishing Cimmeria as a campaign setting. And it’d be cool if publishing was actually successful instead of just a friends and family announcement. What’s the best way to make something successful? INTEGRATED MARKETING!

Gotta get that campaign setting present in other media. A campaign setting, a novel, an adventure series, and a custom Magic the Gathering set. All the weak attention that’s given to each release will add together into a snowball of attention.

Of course, that means more initial work so that I can release all of them close together in time. Or a massively increased work ethic so that I complete stuff a lot faster. I’m mostly doing this for fun though, so this is all just a theoretical media strategy that I’ve made up for fun as well.

Back to the actual writing of the novel! I’ll plan on writing it on the blog here. Maybe even do National Novel Writing Month this year! I’m not sure the whole First Vampire story fits in a single novel, but that’s the story I want to tell. Maybe it’ll get split up. I’ve got to write it first to find out.

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I’m Isaac

Welcome to the GoCorral website! I’m Isaac Shaker and this is a place for me to write about D&D and occasionally other topics. I host a podcast called Setting the Stage that interviews different DMs about their campaigns. I’m currently focused on completing the Cimmeria campaign setting and turning it into a book.

Setting the Stage Podcast

81 – Biopunk 2287 RPG (Seiya and Synesthesia Synthetica) Setting the Stage, Campaigns for D&D and Other RPGs

Seiya tells us about his TTRPG system and setting, Synesthesia Synthetica (SNS). SNS is a biopunk game adjacent to the cyberpunk and steampunk genres. After an asteroid induced climate disaster, Earth has rebuilt itself using bio-technology instead of the metal based tech that surrounds us in the real world. Genetically modified humans have split into distinct species and mutant horrors prowl the wastes outside civilization. The rich rule from their space stations up above but resistance is growing in the streets below.During the episode we discussed a piece of art that Seiya had made for the game. A picture of that bio-tank is available for you to look at.At the moment, Synesthesia Synthetica is available for free as an early access game on itch.io and DriveThruRPG.If you want to learn more or find a group to play with, you can do that on the Synesthesia Synthetica Discord.Remember to nominate your favorite TTRPG shows/creators/things for the 2026 CRIT Awards!Check out the Setting the Stage website!Want to be on the show? Fill out this survey.Join our Discord!Support Setting the Stageon Patreon! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  1. 81 – Biopunk 2287 RPG (Seiya and Synesthesia Synthetica)
  2. 80 – Dynamic RPG Countries (Travis and Tetara)
  3. 79 – Dragon Age Degenerates (Zoe from Degenerates with Dice)
  4. 78 – D&D in Suburbia (Ryan and Serenity Springs)
  5. 77 – KPop DnD Hunters (Dan and Idols of the Neon Dark)