I can no longer sell Pathfinder-Inspired Miniatures (good news/ bad news)
Added 2021-07-16 19:50:47 +0000 UTCLet me start by saying that I found out some bad news today and it has been rough and I really don't know what this means for my Patreon and my work.
Long story short, I reached out to Paizo to make sure what I was doing was legally okay and was informed it was not. I can not make and sell miniatures based on Paizo's designs as Paizo is already commercially contracted with Wizkids to do that. So what does this mean, I am not quite sure myself but what I do know is that I can no longer sell my miniatures if they are Pathfinder-specific monsters.
Sure, most of my releases are different enough from Paizo's work that I could just call them something else and be fine ( Cacodaemon = Flying Demons, etc.) but I don't really have the desire to play that game.
Another issue I am facing is I am not making enough money to justify the hours I put into this work. I work about 20-40 hours a month on making the new models and make about $70 a month give or take. I continued because I enjoyed it, loved seeing everyone print and paint my models, and saw an upward trend. I figured I could continue at a loss if it meant someday I could be making enough to justify my time.
So what do we do now?
The good news is, there might be a way forward, but I need your help. Referencing Paizo's Community use policy applicable to non-commercial use activity https://paizo.com/community/communityuse I can release my work for free and receive support or donation through Patreon.
Therefore, I plan to do the following:
First: Change the pledges to indicate they are general support. Sure they might give access to voting on next month's monsters or something similar but the tiers are not required to gain access to the files.
Second: Make all the files free.
Third: If I make enough to justify my time spent, I can continue to release monsters every month (for free).
That begs the question though, what is enough to justify my time? Honestly, as long as I see a continued upward trend I would be inclined to continue my work. But that means I need to get at least some support. Therefore, if you have found my work worth you money and would like to continue to support me; I would invite you to continue to support me be being a patron.
Next month's Xulgaths are already done, so I will release those in August and re-evaluate if I am getting enough via general support/donations to justify my time.
Thanks everyone for your support, and again I invite you to continue to be a Patron if you find what I do worthwhile; even if all my old files (and hopefully new) will be free.