The Stratagem’s Archive

Category: Inspiration

  • I Made Small Tangible Artifacts of the Archive

    Welcome — However You Found Your Way Here

    The Excitement Is Real

    A few days ago, I had shared in my post, Two Manifestos + A Gift (For Fellow Archivists), that I was working on something exciting, and I promised more than words. I promised proof — proof that this archive is alive, that it grows, and that I’m daring myself to do things I never thought I’d do.

    So here it is:

    Two manifestos — The Stratagem’s Manifesto 1.0, The Stratagem’s Manifesto 1.5.

    And now, four sticker designs.

    I finally have them!!! The extra $25 for express shipping was worth it!!!

    They started as experiments on Canva. Just sketches of ideas, small reflections made visual. But I decided to make them real. To hold something in my hands that wasn’t just another file on my laptop and I paid for express shipping so I could experience them sooner.

    Now they exist — 24 of each design, 96 stickers total. That’s it. Two sheets are already heading with me to work, to share with coworkers who’ve been curious about this project. The other 56 stickers are for anyone else who wants one.

    This isn’t merch. It’s not a launch. It’s my way of saying thank you. For subscribing. For reading. For coming back quietly, even if you’ve never left a comment. For letting this space mean something beyond myself.

    If you’d like one, let me know in the comments or send me an email at whatimtryingoutnow@gmail.com. I’ll respond as soon as I can and will figure out how to ship them.

    The Spark That Started It All

    While I was playing around with Canva to make my stickers using the AI tools, I asked myself two questions before printing these:

    • If not now, then when?
    • If not me, then why not me?

    I’d put things off, never follow through with some projects, then hate myself for chickening out. It would be the typical, “I have time to do it later,” lie then never do it out of fear.

    Then I’d go to the other extreme and be like, “If I could do this, then why can’t I do that?” And I’d push myself to do something purely to see if I could be the one to finish a project. For example, The Stratagem’s Manifesto 1.0 was made in a day, The Stratagem’s Manifesto 1.5 took less than a week, and now I’m working on an ebook. All to see what I could do.

    That’s how these stickers came to be. I have other designs I’m saving money for, below are what they look like that I’ve made for my blog, to have, and to share:

    Next print
    Next print
    Next print

    These new sticker designs encapsulate the reality behind my blog and how it was made. It was born from boredom, written by rage, and held up by spite.

    Nothing more, nothing less.

    If these little projects of mine are well received, then I’ll do what my coworker asked me to do and see if I could sell these on my blog and at my part time rage room job. I told him these were gifts first and foremost, then I’ll see if I’ll follow through with monetizing them through work.

    For now, I’m just excited that something of mine is real, in my hands, and ready to share. Something I’ve never, ever, done before. Although, I’ll probably hold off with shipping just stickers because they’ll easily get lost through the shipping facility.

    Maybe I’ll reconsider the sending the thank yous with only a sticker once I can make more stuff: keychains, book markers, and/or printing out my manifestos for more weight. I’ll have to see how this goes, now that I thought it through.

    I’m practically daring myself to try new things out and these sticker ideas, tangible and intangible, are the first step in doing something new.

    And maybe, just maybe, trying something new is how the rest of this archive will keep growing too.

    — Stratagem’s Archive

    Call to Action:

    If you’ve made it this far, thank you. Whether you’re a subscriber, a silent reader, or just wandering through for the first time, you’re part of what keeps this archive alive.

    Subscribers get early looks at new ideas, experiments, and the strange little things I’m building here — manifestos, reflections, and the occasional gift (like stickers) shared through my newsletters, Letters from the Void Newsletter, first before everyone else. It’s my way of sharing the process, not just the polished or structured parts.

    If you’d like to join, you can subscribe wherever the button is on the page. If not, that’s okay too — coming back to read is more than enough. Either way, I’m grateful you’re here.

    Update Note:

    My hoodie came in!!! This one was a personal thing, so yeah.

    Also, my hoodie came in!!! Paying the extra $25 for express shipping was worth it! Thank god I was home in time to receive it, I wouldn’t want anyone taking my package because it’s out in front of my door. If I had a way of dealing with package pirates while away, then no one would take things that doesn’t belong to them again. But it didn’t come to that.

    The hoodie is a personal thing that I wanted, so I don’t know if I’ll branch out with these just yet.

    I liked how it came out, and I can wear it in my apartment. Not ready to show my family what I’ve been spending my money on, let alone share them my blog. That’s a whole different dare I’m not willing to do just yet.

    I’m still looking for someone to help me make book markers and keychains that are affordable and good quality. I’m not in a rush, though knowing someone would help make those become reality too.

  • A Quiet Door I’ve Left Open Ajar

    Welcome — However You Found Your Way Here

    Fear Grips Me, But I Won’t Let It Win

    Hey there, fellow archivists,

    I wasn’t going to share this yet, however, with how things have been going on this side of the screen, I had nothing to lose, so, I made a page called Open to Collaboration, quietly in the background.

    This isn’t a sales pitch and I’m not pretending that I have everything together. If you’ve read any of my posts prior to this, I don’t have my self situated with.

    It’s just a page that says: here’s what I’ve been building, and if it speaks to you, let’s talk stories— or not. That’s fine too.

    As a fellow archivist myself, I wanted to share a few things, if I haven’t mentioned it already:

    • I’ve never had any credentials.
    • I’ve been told my work wasn’t good enough.
    • I’ve been afraid of sharing, asking, or “advertising” myself in ANY capacity.

    Speaking of which, I’ve also been writing non-stop for a few months now, and something in me said, “maybe it’s okay to try something new and open another door of possibilities”.

    So this is me saying: the door’s open.

    If you’re a reader who’s connected with any of what I’ve written — this is where I am:

    Open to Collaboration

    And if not? That’s okay too. I’m still writing. Still here. Still fighting for my own little space in this life.

    If this spoke to you, leave a comment — I actually read them. They remind me I’m not alone in this either. Sharing helps others find this space too. That matters more than you know.

    Thanks for reading — as always.

    P.S. If you’ve been afraid of putting your work out there, I get it. I was afraid to hit publish for this post and page, but clicked it anyways. This post is for you too, to say, “let’s do it anyways.”

    You’re not invisible, even if it feels that way. I can see your own light across the void, even if I can’t hear you yet.

  • Quarantine Life: In The Confines of Comfort: Idea #1:

    D&D Ideas For Later Exploration

    Welcome, Co-conspirators, to The Stratagem’s Archives, open for perusing. Today, the archives will be exploring story ideas for D&D that I want to explore in the future, be it a one-shot or a full campaign, and articulate it here.

    Author’s Note: I used ChatGPT to assist in this article and further expand my idea, not write the idea itself. ChatGPT has been a collaborative tool and soundboard, it’s not a ghost writer. The ideas in these posts are from my own imagination and stories I want to explore. Thank you.

    Quarantine Life

    I recently thought about took place during a world wide pandemic where people fled to quarantine zones that wizards control to keep the healthy people safe from infection. The facilities have Golems, known as R.O.A.M (Ready Optimal Articifical Mediator) take care of everything for the players and keep the facility on lockdown.

    The players have been in the facility for so long they don’t remember what outside is like. R.O.A.M. Also makes the players take medication to keep them healthy that it is part of their routine and they don’t see the Golems as threats, but active caretakers.

    The purpose is for the players to want to escape, to see if the pandemic is real or fake, and why there are less people in the facility than when they went in. This will also have the players figuring out what armor, weapon type, and skills they would choose for their character creations live and in the moment thnn pre-game. I want people to be engaged and invested than existing in the game.

    How ChatGPT Made This Sound Epic

    D&D Campaign Intro Prompt: “Quarantine Protocol”

    You don’t remember the last time you saw the sky.

    Not clearly. Not without a ceiling light buzzing above your head.

    You’ve lived inside this quarantine facility for what feels like years—or maybe longer.

    A global arcane contagion swept across the world, and the wizards promised protection.

    Here, inside the walls, you’ve been safe. Monitored. Medicated. Kept alive.

    The caretakers are artificial constructs called R.O.A.M.s—Ready Optimal Artificial Mediators.

    They glide down corridors in absolute silence. They never sleep.

    They know your routine.

    They always know where you are.

    You take your daily pills like everyone else. You eat the food that appears in the walls. You watch the faces of others, dwindling in number—

    —and no one questions where the missing have gone.

    Until now.

    As the Game Begins

    You don’t remember who you were before the facility. Not completely.

    You don’t know what you can do. Not yet.

    You’ll discover your abilities—your class, strengths, and skills—through play, based on how you react to the challenges ahead.

    Are you strong? Clever? Dangerous?

    You’ll find out soon enough.

    For now:

    The power flickers. The alarms stay silent. And the hallway is empty.

    Something is different today.

    It’s time to remember who you are.

    It’s time to find out what’s outside.

    From Concept to Campaign: A Taste of What’s to Come

    This idea is just one piece of a larger concept I’ve been developing—a narrative that explores memory, obedience, curiosity, and the subtle horror of being too comfortable. It’s a story where players will discover who they are in real time, shaped by their choices, not their character sheets.

    This blog post marks the beginning of what I hope becomes an evolving project—one I’ll be expanding on with additional encounters, player-facing materials, worldbuilding ideas, and campaign tools that encourage deeper roleplay and immersion.

    If you’re interested in campaigns that challenge the mind more than just the dice, or stories where truth is a puzzle waiting to be unraveled, I invite you to follow along.

    More will be shared in future posts—ideas around character creation as discovery, subtle dystopia in fantasy, and how you can make your players want to escape before they even know why.

    Until next time, thanks for exploring the Archives.

    More D&D Articles to Explore

  • The Autodidact’s Journey: Introducing the “Starting Over” Series

    What Will This Series Be About?

    Welcome, Co-conspirators, the Stratagem’s Archives are now open for perusing. Today I will be starting a series called, “Starting Over.” To put it simply, let me ask a single question.

    “What skills or hobbies did you want to learn, but stopped MOSTLY because of an awful experience?”

    That is essentially what “Starting Over” is going to be about; returning to pick up the skills and hobbies I gave up on and didn’t pursue for years. All thanks to the experiences I had that convinced me I wasn’t smart enough to learn, or that, because I had no prior knowledge or experience or skill, I shouldn’t have pursued those skills or hobbies in the first place.

    As you already know, “The Stratagem’s Archive,” is a place where I document my interests, thought experiments, what I’m learning, what I’ve learned, and what I’ve tried so far. Despite not having credentials, formal education or a mentor, or prior skill and knowledge, I didn’t want the obvious to prevent me from trying again.

    Fear, criticism, boredom, lack of money and time and energy, and every other obstacle under the sun already dictates majority of our lives.

    As a lifelong learner, a person, and an Autodidact, I am choosing to say, “No More”, and start my journey with picking up the things I gave up on because I “failed to learn it the first time.” (HEAVY AIR QUOTES).

    Anyways, each “Starting Over” installment will be different and broken up into parts:

    • My previous experiences and what made me stop.
    • The resources I’ve chosen to get back into learning.
    • And what I’ve learned and made so far to showcase here on the blog.

    I am extremely excited to begin this project; I had stood in my own way for a long time, believed people who knew better tell me to give up, but I only have this one life.

    • When will I ever get the chance to do anything ever again if I keep letting myself waste time with sulking and wishing?
    • When will any of us finally decide that NOW, choosing to try again, to start again, will be the only time we have now?

    Whether we are “Starting Over” or trying something new for the first time, we get to decide to:

    • shift our perspectives and psychology.
    • adjust our relationships with success and failure with learning and ourselves.
    • be proactive with our learning anyways.

    That is the beauty, and challenge, of being a lifelong learner and a fellow autodidact, polymath, renaissance person, and everything in-between. I have a similar post down below that you could check out, and I’ll see you in the first installment. Thank you.

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