Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Vivian Orozco. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Vivian thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

I think the biggest risk I ever took was diving into my creative dreams. For a long time, I enjoyed making art, but I always viewed it as a hobby- an accessory to the societally defined “normal” life I was supposed to have. It wasn’t until I sat down with my therapist and had a discussion about feeling unfulfilled in my career that I decided to take myself seriously. At the time, I explained that I was passionate about telling stories, and one of the creative mediums I enjoyed was film and animation. After that conversation, I decided to film my first short film.

It was a disaster. I had no idea what I was doing, and I did so many things ass-backwards! But I did it! And then I went on to shoot a documentary, and from there I ended up doing all kinds of production work on the indie scene, as well as pursuing my other creative interests. Taking that risk helped me realize that creative work is an integral part of me, and it is something that makes me feel fulfilled and content.

Vivian, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Hello! My name is Vivian Orozco, and my stage/cosplay name is Vixie Belle. I am a self-proclaimed Jane of many creative trades, but my favorites are film, animation, art, tabletop gaming, and sewing. I have always been a creative person, and I ended up pursuing these interests for one reason: I like telling stories and making things. I’m passionate about putting together a narrative that is engaging and immersive, and I like making things with my hands!

Currently, I am a producer for The Pocket Dragon Pub, a channel that specializes in all things TTRPG. From reviews to actual plays, the Pocket Dragon aspires to have something for everyone. I think the biggest thing that sets the Pocket Dragon apart from other actual plays is the fact that we don’t play the standard fare on the channel. We try different TTRPG systems and make efforts to introduce our viewers to new game systems outside of Dungeons and Dragons via one shots and game reviews, and we’ve partnered with game designers and publishers, and writers to do it!

I think the thing that makes me the most proud of the Pocket Dragon is how much love goes into the production of the show. You can tell that all of our tables, game masters, and production team love what they do. I think when you are passionate about something, it bleeds into your work, and we are all genuinely passionate about the TTRPG hobby. Everyone works really hard to create an open, welcoming atmosphere and present an immersive and well put together story.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

So when I first started up the Pocket Dragon and began producing, it all started as a typical actual play- we were playing Dungeons and Dragons, and it was planned to be a full campaign. All of our tech failed pretty regularly, we lost our original Technical Director about half way through, and the entire table wanted to throw the GM out the window by episode 6.

So, the show goes on hiatus- we got a new technical director, found a new GM, fixed the worst of the tech issues, and started up again with Dungeons and Dragons and a reworked version of the campaign. Sadly, that still did not work out. Behind the scenes issues resulted in the campaign ending early, the GM being fired, and most of the table leaving the show.

In earnest, once again, I put the show on hiatus while it was rebuilt from the ground up. By the time this happened, the OGL license issue was in full swing, with many content creators concerned that they were no longer going to be able to make D & D related content. So I said “Okay. So no D &D until they figure out whether or not we can use their content, I don’t want to do another long form campaign because its too much of a time commitment to ask for up front from people I don’t know. What do I do?” And that was when I decided on the current model at the Pocket Dragon – playing one shots of different TTRPGS that -aren’t- the worlds greatest roleplaying game. Through out all of this, I was also moving through the TTRPG hobby space, and I ended up connecting with game designers, game publishers, and other content creators. I was introduced to Mitch Bustillos, an amazing game developer and ttrpg enthusiast, TheSpaceJamber, editor for Flabbergasted (and ennie nominated), ThatOneBlondeNerd from ADHadventures, Ray Chou, owner of Mythworks Publishing, and Kimi, Ennie award winning game designer and producer for the Happy Jacks TTRPG Network, just to name a few.

I also concepted a new show during that time, called Weal or Woe- this is a TTRPG review show where we talk about three different TTRPGS, rate them, and then choose our favorite to play.

The last thing that I did was switch over from a live stream model to a pre-recorded model. Live Streaming required more resources than my team and I had available at the time, especially as a bunch of neurodivergent nerds trying to make a thing happen.

When the Pocket Dragon came off of hiatus, the current model proved to be a huge success. I was able to streamline our time commitment, there was time to really give each show a distinct look and feel, and The Pocket Dragon somehow managed to build up a nice little following in the process. Today, we are looking forward to playing our first live game at GenCon 2024, and looking at more partnerships and collaboration opportunities in 2025!

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

I think the best thing that can be done for artists is to provide them with an environment that supports them- give them the tools, the classes, and encouragement to produce their art form. We need to cultivate artists that are confident in their abilities, no matter what level they are at, and who are willing to collaborate with each other to create. Artists are often stronger together than apart- at least that’s what I believe.

All too often, careers in the arts are viewed as “not being real jobs” despite the fact that media consumption is something that is near universal. There’s this romanticized notion that creatives “aren’t doing real work” when they are creating art, because it does not fit into what society defines as “work.” Meanwhile, there are creatives who literally give up on the arts because creating can be so stressful, and the pressure to continually create content in a world of instant gratification is far too much to handle. Validate their profession, even if it doesn’t look like work to you.

Cultivating a culture of kindness, understanding, mutual inspiration and collaboration is the key to creating a creative ecosystem that thrives.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @vixiebelle
• Twitter: @pocketdragonpub
• Youtube: youtube.com/@pocketdragonpub
• Other: https://linktr.ee/pocketdragonpub

Image Credits
Photography By: Vincent De Vries Terra Dao Beth Hagans