Patreon Subscription Report

Oh yea, that Patreon thing.

I would have written about it sooner but it was almost disappointingly smooth. It worked exactly as I had hoped it would, so it faded into the list of things I don't have to worry about.

For those not aware, I started a Patreon page to enable me to make some kind of subscription system. It's something I wish every zine had, considering they traditionally have pretty arbitrary release times. I don't always remember to shower my favourites with money, and some people are very shy when it comes to promotion.

For anyone looking to do similar with their own work (I recommend you do, there's really nothing to lose) I have put all my thoughts in bullet form:

• It's all in dollars. This is a big pain in the arse. Exchange rates mean I can't be 100% sure what this funnymoney is actually worth until it hits my bank account.
• Do not make plans based on the assumption that everything pledged will actually clear. Credit cards and things can get in the way. It's an estimate.
• Trigger the payment a few days before the end of the month or else you'll be sitting around for another month to get paid, and sending physical objects out before you have their cold hard cash is just risky.
• Patreon and PayPal take a cut! Account for this. Assume something in the region of 10%, but take the time to work it out properly or else you'll come up short.
• Patreon's website is awful. Extracting information from it is obtuse and irritating. I'm looking at you, address entry that always closes when clicked on. Not like I want to cut & paste it or anything. Hnnngh!
• I have no idea how I'm ever going to change prices. I assume I have to pretty much just delete an entry and shake the patrons off like sleeping cats. This will be a problem one day, but that's something for Future Dan to deal with, screw that guy.

That's about it. I can't think of any actual issues with it. It's simply a convenient way to arrange an exchange of cash for goods on an unpredictable schedule. 

If anyone wants to know more just ask and I'll sort you out.

As an aside, this is yet another barrier taken down for those considering publishing their work. Unless you're a complete cock-nozzle there are bunches of people who would be more than happy to help, the materials needed are either cheap or free, and there is a small but enthusiastic market ready to jump on you.

Really, if you've ever considered it just dive in and get to it. You are all that's standing in your way.

I Ate'nt Dead

I can assure you that the relative quiet is a good thing. It means work is getting done.

Firstly and most tangibly: The Undercroft #5 is finished. This issue was hijacked by a flood of what people have questionably named "Raggi's Rejects", a term you will find is entirely unjustified in all but the most literal sense. 100% grade A items, cover to cover, accompanied by the prettiest of pictures. They were so good and so many that I had to add more pages to the issue. It'll likely be available on RPGNow at some point, but that's in their hands now. EDIT: Here it is


Secondly, the City of the Dead has just passed the half way mark on first draft completion. After a month of frustration — and with some help from the relentless Matthew Adams — the way forwards was found and the kind-of-mega-dungeon bounds along happily once again. All that's left is for me to do is to get over my fear of gimmicks and people shouting at me for not including trigger warnings. After that it's a clear run to the finish line and palming it off on another play-test group.


Thirdly, the Patreon subscription experiment has gone smoothly. It works as a functional subscription system and takes a lot of the paperwork out of my hands. I'll do a proper report on this for those considering doing similar once everything is sent out and settled.

Undercroft Subscriptions

Ok, you've had a post with content, now back to being a dirty attention whore. Short and sweet though.


Look to the right, there is a big red button. That button links to a Patreon that I made in order to create some semblance of an ordered and useful subscription system for The Undercroft while furthering my sinister goal of paying better rates for my precious contributors.


The first issue to benefit from this will be issue #5. The whole thing may or may not work, but I encourage any interested parties to dive in with me and help test the waters. I'm reasonably sure it can't go that wrong.