PENNY: Welcome Grant! I’m so happy to welcome you to the glitzy dungeon! Pull
up a chair and please ignore the Sinister Ducks -just give them a cherry tomato and they’ll stop trying to devour your soul 🙂
GRANT: I will be A-OK. Call me Denethor: I have a bag of tomatoes and no soul at all.
PENNY: I’m sure lots of folks reading this already know and love your work but for those who haven’t met you yet, can you give us a quick lil intro to yourself and your creations?
GRANT: Hello there! I’m Grant Mielke and I’m the founding partner of Vala Marketing, a
decent-sized marketing & branding agency in the Midwest, the DM of The Homebrew,
the CEO of The Homebrew Network, and most recently the CEO of QuasiReal
Publishing!
I’m probably most known in this space for The Homebrew. We’re a fairly
well-established Actual Play and have charted in the top 10 on both Apple & Spotify
“Games” charts!
PENNY: How long have you been playing ttrpgs and what first lured you into the hobby?
GRANT: I have been playing TTRPGs for about 16 years now! (Holy crap.) I started playing heavily (multiple nights a week) around 11/12 years ago as a way to keep in contact with friends and people I played World of Warcraft with.
PENNY: There are so many amazing games out there. Do you have a particular ttrpg type / style or system that’s your favourite to play?
GRANT: D&D is still my favorite. I love introducing people to the game and playing with them and showing them my favorite podcasts and art and… There’s just a lot more resources for D&D players than other games. You can basically “Pick your tutorial” with D&D and read, watch, listen, play along… The tools are just developed. I find I don’t branch out as much as I’d like due to the nature of growing the network and bringing in new people.
When I am not in a guiding or leadership role I personally prefer sci fi, survival, and
post apocalyptic style systems with gritty realism. The harder & more deadly, the
better!
PENNY: And when you play, do you prefer to control a PC, or guide a group of friends through the world you”re playing in?
GRANT: I usually take the role of Storyteller or Game Master, but I love both dearly.
PENNY: We’ve talked about playing games but as a creator, can you give us a quick intro to your latest project?
GRANT: My most recent venture is with QuasiReal Publishing. Our first publication is
MythCraft – it’s a complete TTRPG system and universe that has very robust character
creation, reimagined combat, and a huge universe that we’re creating in partnership with the great folks at The Homebrew Network.
PENNY: What was the driving inspiration behind it?
GRANT: These plans have been long in the making, but I was originally going to publish a 5e module first called Bria’s Mythical Menagerie. It was a creature collector adventure with 45ish new monsters, new rules, and even plushies.
When the OGL debacle started, I realized it was time to stop deriving D&D works and move into publishing my own system. That was always the plan, but specifically these last few months there was just this huge “It’s Time” feeling that I couldn’t work past.
PENNY: So much goes into our projects from the writing side but what about the artwork, maps and layout as well – do you create everything yourself, do you use public domain art or do you commission or collab with artists and designers?
GRANT: QuasiReal Publishing has 8 individuals working actively on MythCraft, we have ~20 people on the network who are assisting, and Vala Marketing (my marketing agency) has a pretty good-sized staff of designers and developers that we’ll pull in, depending on Kickstarter funding, to get some of this stuff out.
While it’s our first Kickstarter for OURSELVES, we’re not strangers to the process and have plenty of experience both creating and getting things into people’s hands.
PENNY: Being an indie creator means being your own boss and that can be tough! Do you find it easy or challenging to manage your workload while juggling the rest of life as well?
GRANT: It’s been quite the grind for all of us! Luckily my family is very interested in the whole thing so they’re very supportive and helpful. It’s definitely like having a 2nd full-time job, and I am grateful I love it so much, or I could see it getting overwhelming. I feel like I was pretty well equipped and well prepared for all of this and it still surprised me how much work it was!
PENNY: Do you have a dedicated workspace?
GRANT: Yes! I have been working remotely since before COVID so I learned a lot time ago how to set up my workspace and carve out a physical and mental place to focus. I’m a huge productivity nerd so don’t get me started on all this!
PENNY: What motivates you to create on those days where the well seems to be dipping dry?
GRANT: Well, I mostly believe motivation is a lie! Haha. I know my brain is trained to protect me from bad feelings and urge me to chase good feelings and neither of those really works in a space where you have to be creative on demand. Anyone who has waited for motivation knows that it’s unreliable.
As a professional “Creative on demand,” my greatest advice is from Mark Twain: Eat the frog. Identify the hardest thing, or the thing you want to do the least, and do that FIRST every day. Instead of having a long list of things you don’t want to do at the end of the day or week, you’ll have the easy or fun stuff left over, and usually, the stuff that isn’t urgent or on fire, meaning if you need a break, you can take the break!
PENNY: It can be daunting taking that first step to make your own projects come to life, what’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far and how did you overcome it?
GRANT: Scrapping Bria’s was the hardest thing I’ve done. I was ready to take that to Kickstarter and realized I didn’t want to publish D&D content after most of the work had already been done. You’re spot on: starting MythCraft was so, so daunting but I’ve been so blessed to have amazing partners in Jake, Andi, and Nathan, an amazing network behind me, extremely supportive Homebrew fans, and so on. I overcame it because of the people around me!
PENNY: Still on that note, what advice would you give to anyone who is just thinking of starting out on their creative journey?
GRANT: You should always decide what you want, first, and then run your energy though the filter of “does this advance or defend what I want.” Maybe even write it down. If your goal is to make a career that’s a very different set of things you need to worry about than if your goal is to have a side gig, which is a very different goal than just creating for creations sake. It’s easy to get lost just “working to work” or “seeing what happens.” Not knowing why you’re doing what you’re doing will eat up your joy real fast.
PENNY: And what are your goals for the immediate future?
GRANT: Honestly, we’re just working hard and waiting to see if MythCraft funds! MythCraft is life right now. On March 15th the journey begins!
PENNY: We’re all lucky to have such a great online ttrpg community – what’s the best thing for you about being part of that?
GRANT: Probably the same boring answer as everyone else here. My whole life people said “do something else,” and in the ttrpg community, everyone is cheering me on.
PENNY: And for those who don’t yet know, where can we find and follow you online?
GRANT: Follow Mythcraft at mythcraftrpg.com, and the best way to jump into the Homebrew family is discord.gg/TheHomebrewPodcast
PENNY: Thanks so much for coming to visit me in my glitzy dungeon today it’s been so much fun!
GRANT: Absolutely – Can I take a duck with me?
PENNY: I am hatching some more soon so yes, you may XD
Glitzy Demon's Dungeon 