Rewards re-jig

I'm changing my Patreon rewards structure around a bit.

When I started out, I figured I'd be running off daft little 10-page RPGs and sending them to my friends. This has succeeded more than I'd ever imagined it would; and I've progressed up to 60-page rulebooks with full colour art and character portraits. I'm no longer working to my original brief, though.

To this end, and to get together some money up-front to cover artist costs, I started charging for my games – they were still free on Patreon, but elsewhere on the internet I asked for $5 a game. It's not a lot of money, I suppose... but in the month I charged for games, I made a full $25. About $5 more than I'd normally make from non-Patreon donations, and only four people have downloaded my games.

(Full disclosure – I didn't manage to break even on The Homecoming Collection; I think, with art and print and postage, it saw me out about 15 bucks. Not a big problem, all told, but I didn't start up Patreon to spend money on it, you know?)

Was it a bad idea, to charge money? Maybe. I'm not sure if it's a model that works for me, especially with the bulk of my funds coming from you, the Patrons. I was trying to patch up a system that was fundamentally flawed.

So, my digital games are free again. I've set up an account at Magcloud that can handle print-on-demand orders for physical copies at $15 each. (Here's a link, if you want a copy of any of them: http://www.magcloud.com/browse/magazine/767617 )

I'm going to change the reward structure, too. Here's a full breakdown of what's changing:

ONE. I'm setting the “I mention your name and thank you in the book” reward level at $5. This won't affect you, though – I'll still thank all of you in print.

TWO. I'm scrapping the $30 Elite Meatspace Edition reward level. Gone. Laters, potatoes. Feel free to downgrade your pledges, or leave them at $30 if you're feeling really generous.

THREE. I'm opening up the $15 Meatspace Edition reward level to unlimited Patrons. If you back me at the $15 level, and select this reward, I'll automatically send you a copy of each new game I release, and I'll cover Postage and Packing myself as a way to say thank you for supporting me. The Meatspace edition will include any special $10+ Patron content in it, because it's silly not to.

If you've got any questions, please get in touch in the comments below or send me a message, and I'll do my best to get you an answer.

Righto; that's it from me, for now. I'll keep you up-to-date with whatever I'm working on every week or so. Mechs, next, I think. Stonking great mechs with massive hammers and unknowable nanotech cores. Yeah.

That, and an illustrated special edition of Goblin Quest - but I won't put that through here, I don't think. I've got an illustrator, and once I can get funds together, we're gonna knock this out of the park.

- G