Extinction 2 | Aurochs, Dodos, and Fairy Shrimp (Patreon)

We're chugging ahead with the Book of Extinction! More monsters, more encounters, and even a Nazi super cow. 

But while you're reading that, let's have a powwow and talk about the Patreon, the content we're putting out, and how we can improve.

Patreon Schedules

The last year or so has been terrifically positive for Mage Hand Press, but it has increasingly put the Patreon in an awkward squeeze. The books we like the most, like Fantastical Felines and the Mimic Book of Mimics, simply cost too much for Patreon to cover their cost in art, to say nothing of the time they take to design, write, and layout. Thankfully, Kickstarter has essentially covered that cost, by giving us a second place to distribute our content. Much of 2021 was bolstered by the fact that the Complete Classes acted as stepping stones to a larger release in Valda's Spire of Secrets. 

As we approach 2022, I'd like to look at the overall shape of the Patreon together, and come up with solutions that keep this valuable for you, but also help us progress toward other exciting projects at the same time. Basically, I'd like to make some proposals, and see how you feel about them.

Proposal 1: Kickstarter Books Get Patreon Releases

I'll freely admit, this could be a silly idea, since I wouldn't want people avoiding Kickstarters just because Patreon offers the PDFs as well. However, I believe there's a workable system here: we'll do one-time releases to active patrons via mass-emails a month or two after the Kickstarter goes live. The only patrons who will get these books are those with a lifetime pledge amount greater than the PDF cost -- nobody should be able to pledge $3 and get a $30 PDF.

If this arrangement is acceptable, we can send out Valda's in a month's time. Furthermore, we can promise to offer other books, like the Book of Extinction and Cakewalk, to patrons when those Kickstarters arrive.

Proposal 2: Fey Folio

The release schedule in 2022 is divisive to say the least. Extinction is educational and occasionally depressing; Cakewalk is a lighthearted romp that doesn't fit with a lot of people's D&D games. I firmly believe that these will be exceptional products when they're done, but I also understand that they're not targeted at the core Patreon audience. 

My proposal is to bolster this release schedule out with the occasional chapter from Fey Folio, which we're reworking and expending for an eventual Kickstarter. Originally, I didn't want to show that book off while it was in progress (since you already have seen the older version), but Fey Folio is undoubtedly a more classic D&D book than our other contenders. If this seems interesting, I can take some of the Extinction releases off the queue and show off more Fey Folio instead. 

Proposal 3: Foundry Modules

If enough of you use Foundry VTT, we can bolster the release schedule in 2022 with Foundry integration for some of our most popular books. My Foundry person is currently working on the other big books at the moment, but we could do releases for the rest of this content sooner than expected.

If this is something you're interested in, let me know and I can run a poll to see how many people actually use Foundry.

Proposal 4: Experimental Stuff

It's hard to find space on the schedule for big art-heavy books, but smaller, more experimental projects? Those we might be able to do more of. There are a handful of things I've had floating around in my mind for a while that just don't have a good space in more polished books: classes that might not work out at all, spellcrafting rules, minigames you can play within D&D, etc. But releasing these usually comes with the implicit promise that we'll be finishing them and ironing out the kinks, where realistically, half of them ought to hit the cutting room floor instead.

If these are things you're interested in, I'll start drafting some stuff this month!

Stuff We'll Be Doing Regardless

I'm still very much getting my legs under me after this recent Kickstarter. When I wasn't underwater with work this month, I was quite sick, so I'm definitely not happy with my output. But when I'm back on top of everything, there's a few things we're for sure doing:

• New subclasses in many of the Complete Classes
• Updated PDFs for books which are released as softcovers
• More Dark Matter content, both for worldbuilding and adventures

So let me know what you're interested in seeing on this Patreon!