What a week!

So I wanted to work out how I am feeling and one of the best ways I know how to do that is to write it out. Doing this “Heroes of” thing has been a rollercoaster ride. I decided in November of 2018 that I wanted more out of my love for Geeky things. I wanted to share my years of enjoyment for D&D, video games, Fantasy Books, Sci Fi, and everything in between with like minded people.

So, I created Rogue’s Hollow. This name comes from a conversation that Jack and I had about what we would name our fictional comic book shop if we ever opened one. I don't remember what I called mine but Jack’s Rogue’s Hollow stuck in my mind. So I started to create a brand that was called just this, but as I researched it was clear that this name was already used; by many different Youtube channels, Instagram accounts etc. I thought about it all day at work: What could I use that would be unique and really exemplify my friend group. See I started this not only because of my love for all things Geeky but for my friends too. Mike, Jay. Phil, Jack. My d&d group. My social circle. The friends I go to movies with, when movie theatres were actually open that is. I wanted this to strengthen the bond I had with this group and to share this special connection I had with them.

After searching the mangled mess that is my brain for inspiration; i thought of our long standing D&D campaign called The Swords of Hacathra. Our characters in that game are known as the Heroes of Hacathra. In truth, I only found out recently that Jack, our DM, always spelled Hakathra with a K. I took this and created a gmail account but did not include the K. An instagram and twitter account as well but with a C and not with a K. I made it my own I guess.

I started out creating a youtube channel Heroes of. I would talk about D&D and be like Mat Colville or someone. I did a series on prepping for our Dragon heist game and it was fun to do but i learned alot about what i wanted out of this whole thing. I posted on Instagram, all sorts of different RPG related pics. Instagram was an amazing place and i met so many people on there. With all these new contacts and friends on IG,  I decided to pivot and do an interview podcast and talk to people about their D&D home games. It was great! We cantrip, Ballad of the Seven Dice, all natural 20s, Michael Sharp and the Guardian of the Gigaxy, all sorts of different people. I had plans on continuing this series but I quickly pivoted again and started recording our Invisible Sun rpg home game and started releasing those for people’s listening pleasure. We played and recorded around 8-9 sessions and we had to stop when COvid hit in March of last year. The plan is to finish but we will see if we can.

This summer i was rereading The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson, and once i was done, I wanted to reread it again. How foolish. Not so if you've ever read the series. I decided that if i was going to reread it again i should podcast about it. At first I put feelers out into the community to see if anyone would want to Co Host a SA podcast with me. Then I spoke to Jack and he seemed interested. He had never read the books before however. I listen to a couple of podcasts that do one veteran reader and one newbie. The wheel weaves; covering The wheel of time series and the Great Natasha and Roshawn that do Unspoiled Dresden FIles. These were great inspirations going forward. So we decided to record in 2 days time and see how it goes. You can clearly hear in that first episode that we were literally unsure how and what to do. But here we are with 16 episode published, and 30 recorded and its working.

This is all to say that this week we got our 2 first real Patrons on Patreon and it rocked my world. The fact that people out there: here’s looking at you Chris and Casey, believe in us so much that they are willing to support us like this makes me feel like never before. I wept. Truthfully I did.  With the support of our friends Mike, Phil, and Linda, and now with the support of our Team members: Chris and Casey, the show supports itself. I always said that I wanted us to get to a point where they show could pay for itself and that would be a victory.

We are there now and it feels great. Thanks to everyone who listens and to everyone who has supported us along the way. What a week!