Moving Into the New Year

Happy New Year! May your dice rolls be high and your adventures in the new year be filled with fruitful encounters and thrilling battles!

A YEAR IN RETROSPECT

I started this Journey on Aug. 1st of this year and it has been an interesting 5 months. It has been a wild ride on my end and you all made it possible. From the bottom of my heart, Thank You, I am glad that I get to keep doing this! I hope that the maps I create enrich your games and inspire stories to be told at your tables. 

I have put some time into making goals for the coming year and am evaluating how to continue adding value to my catalog and offerings. 

So let's talk a little bit about what is to come.

MAPS

Since starting I have let my own interest take the wheel and guide me from map to map. While I think this allowed me to create some memorable maps, I am starting to think that some structure is needed. Structure will allow me to create cohesive map sets; and thus, provide you all with maps that have a higher chance of being relevant to your needs.

As such, I would like to begin focusing each month on creating a set of maps that share a theme. For example, at the end of this year I put out three maps that all fell into the theme of winter/artic with Desolation Point and the two Winter Forest packs. This will most likely unfold as a one or two larger point of interest maps (Desolation Point) and the rest of the maps for the month being supplemental but related in theme (Two Winter Forest Packs). 

So, how do we pick which themes to do? It is going to a bit multifaceted. A big goal for this year is to round out the catalogue so there is a map for every occasion. So I will be focusing on the biomes/locales that you are voted on, taking into consideration where there are current gaps in the offerings. I have a set of maps in mind for the beginning of the year but I am also hoping that in the near future I will be able to present some options for you all to vote on. That way, you can give the priority for what comes first.

TIERS

I have been evaluating, and will continue to evaluate, the patron tiers from the perspective of providing content to you all and generating revenue to keep my process growing.

The first thing is evaluation of tier rewards. For Wanderers I will be adding the night version of the base map to your packs going forward. I quickly felt like this should have been baseline from the start, and I have done this already on a few occasions. I will work to retroactively add these back to the packs that have already been released. 

For Pathfinders, not much is really changing for you all outside of me trying to make sure the number of variants is sufficient under this new system. I come up with variants normally after the base map is almost complete, and as always, suggestions on variants is wanted and welcome. 

For Trailblazers I am still evaluating how I want to do these Seasonal Map Packs. My intention is sit down in the first half of January and come up with a plan for these in 2023. I will follow up then and give some guidance on how I want to proceed. I also want to tease to you that I have begun work collaborating on a adventure with a fellow creator. The work that comes out of that partnership will be made available to you all as it unfolds. 

Finally, for full transparency, I am considering adjusting the tier pricing in the new year. This WILL NOT affect your current pledges. Your current pledge will persist and remain unchanged, this only affects new patrons. With that said, if you are considering changing your tier, doing so before the switch over would be recommended.

I will go live with all tier changes on Jan 9th.

STORE FRONTS

I have been working to get my maps purchasable on some of the major storefronts, like Roll20 and DriveThruRPG. As of right now, all new maps will be made available for purchase on Roll20 and I am slowly uploading the backlog. On the DTRPG front I am in talks with a publisher to get my content set up there in the near future, I am pushing hard for this. I understand that Patreon is not the ideal platform for everyone and I want to make sure that my content in purchasable in whatever way you prefer. 

With that said, I will also state that my intention is to keep Patreon as my main platform for distribution. My goal is to strive to make pledging here the best way to receive ALL of my maps, be the best deal, provide direct access to me, and provide helpful secondary benefits . 

So to clarify: all of my official module maps will only be available on Patreon, patron only holiday and bonus maps will always be free here, and all collaborative maps I make with other creators will be free added bonuses for patrons. 

WELCOMING IN THE NEW YEAR

With all of that said, I am immensely excited for 2023 and cant wait to get to work on some of these new avenues. I will work to keep you all up to date as things unfold. To start, I will publish a second post like I typically do for the month of January, I'll outline the immediate things happening there.

Truly, these last few months have been great and I couldn't be happier that all of you have decided to join in on the journey and support me in this endeavor. Lets keep making cool things happen.

Cheers,

- Nate | Bearworks