June Plans & Important News

Hi everyone!

This post got a bit long, sorry about the wall of text. I tried to bold text or use lists for the important stuff, so it's easier to browse through the post. There's some important stuff related to the upcoming tier and reward updates. 

Please, ask or comment if there are any concerns or unclear bits. There was a lot to cover, but I didn't want to split this into multiple posts. 

Thanks!

The main topics are:

1) June releases

2) Upcoming Reward Updates

3) Upcoming Tier Updates 

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June Releases

So, I have roughly one month to go before I get to dedicate myself fully to tabletop role-playing games. Now that the plans are moving ahead I have realized that all sorts of preparations and my day job are taking more time and energy than I expected. 

So, take the above as a sort of a heads up about this month's releases. I'm not quite sure how many maps I'm going to get done, but I'm committed to finishing the layout of the Outpost Sisyphus sci-fi horror scenario's 2nd part and the related maps. 

In addition to this, I have plans to finish some miscellaneous unfinished maps. These include at least: Mjolnir-class spaceship's deckplan, crystal cave with ruins, and a (post-apocalyptic) wasteland ambush scene. 

The hull design for the Mjolnir-class scout ship

Line art and notes for the Kaibur Caves. 

Upcoming Reward Updates

Related to the changed conditions and my recent workflow experiments I've been thinking to update my tier rewards to reflect these changes and my future plans. 

Basically, what I'm trying to do, is to streamline and simplify my workflow, drop repetitive tasks and reduce the number of duplicate files in my cloud storage. 

Here are the biggest changes:

Monthly themes

The backbone of my releases will be a monthly theme starting from July. I will not have polls between themes anymore, but I will certainly ask for your ideas and input once the theme is set for specific maps. 

I don't have a set number of releases per theme yet in mind. I want to see how things settle down and some themes might work better with multiple smaller maps, while another theme might require bigger or more detailed maps. Likely, the number will be somewhere between 4 and 12 :) 

Monthly themes will be wrapped up in a zip file containing any additional content like adventures, sounds, assets, illustrations, etc, and this will also include and/or function as a Foundry VTT module for foundry users. 

Extra Maps

I know that it's not easy for me to stick with one topic for a full month, so I decided to have a sort of creative outlet to deal with this. In addition to the themed maps, I will also publish other maps on the side. The extra maps might be other than sci-fi or cyberpunk maps, but if I know myself well enough they will have some sort of science fantasy or steampunk twist. Mythos Maps releases will be part of the Extra Maps reward.

Extra maps will be also published for Foundry VTT, either as part of a growing collection or as separate modules (for practical reasons related to my workflow). 

Fewer Variants, More Maps

I've been moving towards this approach lately, and so far I feel it has had a positive impact on my productivity. I don't think I will drop the variants completely, except for some maps, but the amount will be minimal (probably: day/night, propped/unpropped, and some theme, era, or color variant).

My intention is to include all variants in a single map pack. So, all tiers will get all variants in the map packs that are available to them. 

More Collaborations

I've been in talks with a few other Patreon creators, especially writers and composers, and I'm trying to set up more consistent (ideally weekly) bonus content releases. It's likely that most will be related to the theme of the month, but some might be for the extra maps. 

Custom Maps Are Coming Back

I used to have a tier with custom map requests as a benefit but had to unpublish it because I could not commit to making the custom maps anymore. Now, the situation has changed and I'm going to republish it. I need to revise the guidelines and terms a bit and there will a limited number of spots open (some are taken already)

No More PSDs or Commercial Tier

Ok, this is a big one for some of you who are my patrons because of these. I've been thinking about this for a long time, and especially now that I'm going to base my income on my maps, I don't feel like sharing the source files (they've been a bit "cleaned up" already, and as copies, they also hog a huge amount of my storage space) and I want to have more control in who uses my maps in their publications in the future. 

Current releases are not affected, and I'm more than willing to discuss the use of my maps in your commercial products or streams, but from now on I want to do this on a case-by-case basis. So, if you are my patron because of the commercial use rights, please hold on, and let's talk :) You can reach me through patreon DMs or Discord the easiest. 

I think this wraps up the biggest changes in the rewards. 

Tier Updates

I need to make some updates to my tiers. Even if the tier pricing is updated, as an active patron you will not be affected. Only the rewards at your tier will change. If you are happy with the updates, no action is required from you. 

These changes will take place within the next couple of weeks, as I will gradually start implementing the new reward model, but before the end of the month at the latest. 

I'm still going through the fine details, but currently, my plans regarding the tier updates look like this:

All Tiers

• Access all locked Patreon posts at your tier
• Vote in Patron-only polls
• Discord "backstage" access

Explorer

This will be a "maps only" tier with a limited number of maps per month. There will not be a limitation to the variants per map pack anymore. 

• Thematic Maps (Up to 4 Maps per Month, one per week if my plans go as expected)

Adventurer

Adventurers will have access to unlimited thematic maps and assets, and the latest themed Foundry VTT module. Older releases can be purchased at marketplaces (at least Forge Bazaar)

• Thematic Maps (no monthly limit)
• All Thematic assets and other bonus content
• Thematic Foundry VTT module (current theme only, changes monthly)

Hero

This tier will include monthly thematic maps and extra maps and some other extra perks. 

• Thematic Maps (no monthly limit)
• All Thematic assets and other bonus content
• Extra maps and related bonus content (not guaranteed every month)
• Full Asset Archive (access all map assets and props)
• Dungeondraft Asset Pack (The latest pack in case there will be multiple packs at some point)
• Thematic Foundry VTT module (current theme only, changes monthly)
• Extra map FVTT modules from the past two months.
• FVTT Premium map modules 1-5 (the current modules)
• Dropbox access (includes PDF and WEBP map files)

Legendary

This will be the "Access All Content" tier for those who want to give some extra support. 

• All Hero Rewards
• Highlighted Discord Role
• Name in the credits (PDF, print publications, and Foundry Modules.)
• Deep Archive Access (Access the full Foundry VTT module backlog, Dungeondraft asset packs, and other limited-time content) 

Epic

This is the custom map tier with a limited amount of spots. The terms will be revised and clarified. Commercial use and exclusivity are something I'm considering, but I haven't made up my mind yet.

• All Legend Rewards
• Custom Maps (in brief: you collect "credits" equal to your lifetime support and can spend those credits for custom maps. Credit cost would depend on map size, complexity, exclusivity, and commercial use rights, for example. If you have been in this tier previously, you have been collecting credits all the time. Once I have everything set up, I will contact the current active patrons at this tier for details and your current credit balance.)