IMPORTANT: Patreon Tier changes in Year 4

Bottom Line Up Top: Available tiers to new patrons will be $5, $9, and $13, and will offer exciting new content. The $1 tier is being deleted next month, and the $3 and $7 tiers are being unpublished. Deleted tiers will force you out of them, whereas unpublished ones will let you stay in them for as long as you keep your pledge. This means that now is the time to shift your tier if you're a $1 patron, otherwise you'll lose your access to the content next month and will need to re-pledge at the $5+ level instead. Moving up to $3 now is the most affordable change for you, but you may want to read on to see what else is coming next month!

Hey heroes!

As many of you veterans might recall, I typically only introduce changes to the Patreon at the start of new Saddleyears each November. The last two years have been pretty steady, with only some relatively minor adjustments here and there. To make this as brief as possible, here are the changes that you can expect to see starting next month:

• New $5 Patron benefits:

  • All the original benefits, plus...

  • Access to exclusive future Settings and Subclasses

  • Tier renamed to Admirable Hero!

• New $9 tier benefits:

  • All the previous tiers’ and original benefits, plus...

  • Monthly Foundry VTT item packs of the items from the previous month. (Yes, these include DAE)

  • Tier renamed to Esteemed Hero!

• New tier level: Legendary Hero ($13)

  • All the previous tiers’ benefits

  • Your name in the end credits of new digital setting PDFs each month you pledge. Your support makes a huge difference!

  • 33% discount codes for older Foundry VTT item pack purchases on the Saddlebag website.

• Settings and Subclasses are now exclusive to $5+ patrons and higher, including the unpublished $7 tier, and don’t become public after 1 week.

• Deleted: $1 tier. If you're a patron at this level, you'll lose access unless you change your pledge to a different tier this month! You might have noticed that the $1 tier is unpublished now, too, in order to keep new supporters from joining only to have to immediately change their pledge again.

• Unpublished: $3 and $7 tiers. You can stay in these tiers for as long as you want if you’re already in them and like the rewards!

• No more Elite Workshop polls. The Renowned Ideas polls will still be live with weekly item polls for $5+ patrons!

• Extra Bonuses for $9+ patrons next month:

  • $9+ patrons will receive all of Saddlebag Year 2 as Foundry-ready item packs next month only. Beyond that, each month of this next year, all $9+ patrons will also get a bonus Foundry pack from Year 3 (starting with November 2020). All Foundry packs from years 2 and 3 will be added to the webshop for purchase, if you don't want to wait for the monthly bonus Foundry pack releases for all of year 3's content!

Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to reiterate these changes a few more times throughout the month to help you remember!

But Why?

A while back, Patreon changed how it displayed tiers so you only get to see the first three available tiers. What this has done is make a strong push to only ever have 3 tiers available, as most anything other than the first three won't even be seen by new patrons. Truthfully, the change has actually made it punishing to have more than 3 tiers at a time.

There's also an overwhelming amount of content on the Saddlebag Patreon after three years of daily posts. New $1 patrons have access to over 800 items' art files, which honestly feels like more of a dishonor to long-standing patrons than it is a bonkers value. These tier adjustments are only possible because of the long-term support of you all, regardless of your level of support, and I want to make sure that these new values honor your lasting support, as well as reflect the value that new patrons receive with their support.

And again, to re-emphasize, if you're a $3 or $7 patron, you don't have to do anything. You can stay at that tier for as long as you like: you're grandfathered in! If you're a $1 patron, you'll just need to adjust your pledge to at least the $3 level before the end of this month to keep your existing benefits, plus the base Ledger compendium access.

As for the why's of other changes:

Foundry content is kind of a no-brainer. Thank you to everyone who's been patient with me while I get this set up and organized. I'm sure it'll get even smoother with practice. Unfortunately, other VTTs like Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds don’t allow for this kind of 3rd party content. It’s honestly crazy how much red tape you have to cut through to get stuff out there on VTTs that aren’t Foundry. Further, I can make edits or updates to Foundry content just by re-uploading files to a server, which is something you can’t do on other platforms.

Settings and Subclasses moving to $5+ patron-only. This was a hard call to make. I love, love, love making sure that this content can get into the hands of as many people as possible. However, as their quality increases, so too does the time and effort it takes to make them. There are also more people involved in these now, too, and I frankly need to make sure that they're properly compensated for their hard work.

However, it’s important to me to keep this content available to people, so they’re remaining available to $5+ patrons instead of locking them away behind a significant paywall. To be transparent, I’ve been told by numerous other creators to make them exclusive to the $9+ tiers to better account for their costs, but I honestly value your access to them more than that. However, it’s your support at these higher tiers that signifies to me, and to those that work on these releases with me, that you value their time and skill like I do.

And if you’re like me and love the nitty-gritty and themes of subclasses, I’m excited to help organize Adventure-League-like playtesting sessions through Discord. More information will be made available about this on the Discord server as it's organized.

New Role: Legendary Hero. This is actually a re-publishing of an older tier, technically, but at a new value and with different rewards. I’m excited to put your names in the setting credits each month to show how much I appreciate your generous support. Really, you're the best, and you can only imagine how much you make my heart soar. Plus, the bonus Foundry coupon codes are a nice touch to let you do a quick and cost-effective bulk-buy of all the older VTT content, too.

No more Elite Workshop Polls. These were never as popular as the Renowned Ideas polls, and took a fair bit of time fiddling with on the weekend. Many Elite Workshop participants submit to both polls, so I don't expect there to be much lost here. Putting more weight on the Renowned Ideas polls also rewards the hard work the community puts into these submissions each week, too. Again, if you’re not on the Discord and want to try your hand at item creation, the community there is welcoming and engaging! The Renowned Ideas polls will also end up having a slight name change in order to accommodate the new tier names, too.

Bonus content for $9+ November 2021 patrons. This is a way to say thank you, while also letting you get a head start on that Foundry content backlog. If you're content to stick with me and wait it out to build up the full Year 3 Foundry library, awesome! If you'd rather get 'em all at once, and maybe use that sweet Legendary Hero coupon, that works great, too!

Leaping into Year 4. Together.

As always, you're my honest heroes. You have made it possible for me to play a part in countless stories, worlds, and friendships around the world, and not a day goes by that I don't appreciate and marvel at your generosity. I still love every bit of the work I get to do for you each day, and I'm so excited to move into our next year together. Your support goes directly into making this content better for you and everyone else around the world.

And, in case you're wondering: yes, Book Two will be coming to Kickstarter in the Spring next year. It'll include everything that's been released since Book One up through the end of Saddleyear 3: around 500 items, 14 settings, 12 subclasses, and 2 races! Whew!

Again, you are my shining heroes. Thank you so much for your support, and as always: keep on adventuring!

-g