Community Resource Outreach (Patreon Funded)?

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So, to be fully open and honest, I’m a blessed individual. Everyone on this board is, financially, we all own computers or internet devices of some sort. Some of us, less so, and we all know other folks who are even LESS blessed.

I’ve not known anyone in the Open Legend community personally, except a handful of friends I’ve brought to Discord, but I have noticed one thing: we have a kickass group of people who are in love with this game. We, so far, lack any trolls. We have an amazingly helpful bunch of patient people on the Discord server. Its fucking brilliant.

However, I think we can do more. I was reading some posts on Discord this morning and noticed we have community members who are (I suspect) awesome and amazing people who, for whatever reason, unable to afford the basic PDF and/or hardcover book. Normally, I am not a man for charity (I believe in the teach a man to fish principle), however this got me thinking.

There has been a near constant request for Bestiaries, NPC lists, maps, settings, stories, etc. Small things that as a community we are happy to provide for one another. We just currently suck at compiling them (which is fine, its a new site/community for a game that hasn’t even launched its final product yet).

What if we started a Patreon project (or something similar) that community members who have a few extra dollars a month can pledge to, that folks submit NPC ideas, Maps, Monsters, and “approved” house rules to. This Patreon can then, possibly, provide one anonymous community member a free copy of the Open Legend Core Rules PDF or hardcover rule book, whether for themselves or other people in their local gaming community.

In exchange for their generosity, members of the Patreon will receive snazzy cool things such as: small compiled bestiaries, maps drawn and populated by other community members, possibly character sketches, etc.

What I’m getting at here is this: we got a really kick ass group of people who love a really kick ass game. Some of those who love this game are themselves, or know of others, who might have a hard time getting a physical or official digital copy, by no fault of their own. I think it might be cool to find a creative and exciting way to help each other out.

Thoughts?

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I think this is a great idea, would certainly put a bit towards it.

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I’ve signed onto a patreon Campaign for less. I like the concept, and I wouldn’t mind sharing my ideas.

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@brianfeister, @Ryan… I have literally no experience in these kinds of matters… do you guys or the girls know any one who might be able to help? Maybe even be an officially Seventh Sphere project (which would look amazing for publicity).

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We would want to have something clearly figured out as to what is delivered every month, or at the least what type of things.

Like… 5 bestiary entries, 3 items, 1 map, etc.

Or you will get 1 (or more) of the below items each month, and then bullet points of the above.

Then at the very least, we would need to have some dedicated people to put out some stuff in case the community doesn’t provide something in a month type a thing.

I don’t think it would be too hard to do, but having something that is concrete would certainly help for those who want to support it.

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So each month, a well designed, spiffy looking group of 5 NPC bestiary entries would be easy to grab from the community, or a small set of creators. As would a grouping of “Bunny’s Special Item Stash” for Patreon members

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Maybe creatures instead of creators. But yes, that was my thoughts.

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What I meant by that was we have a volunteer group of people who are creating bestiary entries purely for the Patreon

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Haha,

Well, I think creatures still works better for that too! :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

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I’d be honored to create NPC entries, beasts, and many other goodies for a patreon campaign

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The trouble with you mentioning Patreon specifically as a platform is it is not a good platform for multiple creators to provide content to multiple supporters. It’s really meant to be managed by an individual who can represent themselves or an organization and is putting together the content.

Now, I’ve just described an Open Legend Curator role, which is totally possible for someone to do, but I have the following concerns:

  • How do you vet the ‘free copies’ since the curator is essentially trying to run a non-profit?
  • What is a fair percentage kept by the curator for their time given to the project (even if it $0 now, I promise that eventually maintaining the same level of work 3, 6 months, 1 year down the line will require more than willpower.
  • This fails to address a bigger issue: easy access to find/sort existing content (that’s definitely not a strength of Patreon posts and unless there is a special secure thread created on here that is verified high-quality content, finding the content will be more work than necessary.

Now, I’m biased in the sense that I believe strongly in the UX (User Experience) side of things, because without it, data is noise, whether it be maps, creatures, etc. Just wanted to point out a few things that go into the details of getting this done, rather than the top-level feel good discussion.

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100% agree with you there, @ucffool, on all points. One of the main reasons I wanted to try and involve Seventh Sphere publishing is the mere fact that @brianfeister has shown time and again that he is very good at organization and getting the right people for the right work.

I would like this to go past a “feel good post”, but I personally have to face the fact I 1) don’t have time & 2) don’t have the experience or head for organization. If this falls through the cracks it will be disappointing but I would rather it never start up than to have it be a failed or corrupted project.

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There are two fundamental premises here that don’t make sense to me:

  1. The idea that some content is hidden from people. The Core Rules are free on the website as a way of making everything available to people who want it.
  2. The idea that Community contributions would be kept behind a “pay wall” via Patreon. I’m not doing that with the Core Rules, why should the Community do it? Just use this very website, community.openlegendrpg.com and start more threads that compile lists of content that people want.

This feels like an excuse to not put out free content. The Community is already doing that all the time here and on Discord. Why can’t the @moderators be charged with capturing, organizing, and publishing any magic items, NPCs, monsters, etc. here on the Community site?

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Agreed, this seems like a rather unnecessary idea. If someone can’t afford the book, than the site is still available to them.

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and as we all are aware, third party publishing is possible for the system, so if per say, one of us community members decides to ask around and compile a portfolio of our favorite community submitted pieces of content into a book for easier reference for those who prefer books, then we can do so.

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Good points, @brianfeister, and I often forget that there WILL be a downloadable SRD document for the people unable or unwilling to purchase the full color PDF.

As far as a “paywall”, I really hadn’t thought of that in those terms, though now that it’s brought up it seems very counter to the spirit of the company and product.

As far as compiling information for the bestiary and other such products, the community is doing a fairly good job for what it’s got.

Sometimes, I think, I let an idea run away from me. :stuck_out_tongue:

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Love you buddy, no worries! You’re appreciated :sparkling_heart:

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