AI chatbots are immensely popular tools, and many have speculated about how to use them to improve D&D and other TTRPG games. Here’s a list of prompts that you can use to improve your game.
Add Variety to Your Game
Give me some recommendations for great D&D 5e books and resources from third party publishers
If you ask a chatbot for these resources directly, it can create suggested resources from adventures to stat blocks, but because AI uses an average of everything, you’ll only get average results. It can be helpful to get you past Blank Page Syndrome (AKA Writers Block), but everything gets repetitive quickly, and don’t expect any ideas that will blow away your players.
But by suggesting products made by actual design professionals, it might show you some of the more popular books by creative designers who know and love the game and have invested themselves in making your game better. Or you can check out the most popular titles at the DMs Guild.
It will hallucinate though, suggesting books that don’t exist, so you’re probably better off asking people about their favorite resources or going to the suggested companies’ websites.
Get Advice to Improve Your Game
Give me a list of D&D 5e blogs that give Dungeon Masters great advice, and give me directions how to subscribe to them
Because you don’t know what you don’t know, it’s hard to get general advice from a chatbot that’s helpful beyond the most generic suggestions. But thankfully, the hobby boasts many amazing blogs full of great tips that will answer questions you didn’t know you had and give you tips you’d never think to ask for. Or you can follow the RPG Blogroll to get a steady feed of insights and suggestions from people who know the game and write from extensive experience.
Get Feedback to Improve Your Ideas
Give me a list of online communities where Dungeon Masters give each other advice
While you could feed your latest adventure idea into a chatbot and ask for feedback, even minimal experience playing the game as a human will give you more insight than a chatbot. The problem is that chatbots don’t have insights. A black pudding has more insight than a chatbot.
Instead, find online places with other players and GMs. All of the major social media platforms have them. Personally, to avoid chasing algorithms, I prefer oldschool forums like EN World.
Make a Game Your Players Will Love
Give me a few questions I can ask my players to make sure they’re all enjoying the D&D 5e game that I’m running as Dungeon Master
You can’t ask a chatbot what your players value most in a game. It has no values. You have to ask the players. But a few pointed questions can be helpful.
Impress your players with amazing art for your encounters
Give me a list of sources to find low cost or public domain non-AI fantasy artwork that would work for my D&D game
Instead of exploiting talented artists by using their work without their permission, find some interesting art & use that for inspiration. It’s the reverse of how most DMs design their encounters, but perusing the Smithsonian collection, Wikimedia Commons, or other sources can give you many adventure, monster, or treasure ideas. Sadly, most public stock art sites have become nearly useless as they’ve been flooded with AI images. If you’re looking for something specific, DriveThruRPG is the only fantasy art site I know of that forbids AI images to be added as stock art (although they still allow it to be used in other products with a content flag and haven’t removed the hundreds of AI-generated images currently in their library), support actual artists so they can keep creating original pieces by purchasing stock art from DriveThruRPG.
Notice the Pattern?
OK, this article is a but tongue-in-cheek, but I hope you recognize the point. What makes tabletop roleplaying games great is the people. For all the amazement over AI tools, human creativity can ponder an idea, consider it, and imagine it. AI takes a Mrs. Murphy’s Chowder of words and mindlessly puts them into a mold, the opposite of what makes analog games so great.
Talk to people — local and online communities. Support creators, both the homebrew community and professional designers and artists. Get advice from people who care about their players and want everyone at your table to have a great time.
Accessible DnD Character Sheets for Disabled Players
April 21, 2024
Are you or someone you know a Dungeons & Dragons player with print or reading disabilities? We’re excited to announce a new resource designed to enhance accessibility and inclusivity in tabletop gaming.
We understand the importance of accommodating diverse needs within our gaming communities. That’s why we’ve developed a set of character sheets tailored specifically for players who have difficulty with traditional text-based materials.
They should be fighting monsters, not their character sheet!
Our Accessible Character Sheets utilize 🧙emojis🧝 alongside text to help players navigate character information efficiently. Whether it’s tracking ⛑️🎶Abilities♿️🪽, ✨Spells⚡️, or ⚒️Possessions🪙, the intuitive layout makes it easy to find what you need at a glance. Plus, with blank spaces for personalized drawings, players can create visual cues that resonate with them, enhancing memory and engagement.
Key Features:
🧑🎨 Emoji-based design for easy navigation 🧭
Blank spaces for personalized drawings
Images of dice shapes for quick reference
Available in PDF and DOCX formats for flexibility and customization
Screen reader-friendly DOCX option for enhanced accessibility
We’re committed to promoting diversity and inclusion in gaming, and these character sheets are just one way we’re working to make TTRPGs more accessible to everyone. Best of all, they’re offered under a CC-BY-4.0 license, so you can share and adapt them to suit your gaming group’s needs and share your creations.
Join us in fostering a more inclusive gaming community. Download our Accessible Character Sheets today so everyone can explore together!
Together, let’s make tabletop gaming accessible for all.
Breaking Barriers: Accessible Braille 5e SRD!
April 21, 2024
We’re committed to creating a more inclusive gaming experience for everyone. We’re thrilled to announce the release of the first-ever braille conversion of the 5th Edition System Reference Document (SRD), making the core rules of 5th edition accessible to a wider audience of players and creators.
This comprehensive resource is completely free and available in multiple formats:
Players Guide: Explore core character creation options, including races, classes, backgrounds, and equipment.
Game Master Guide: Discover essential rules for running the game, crafting engaging campaigns, and utilizing magic items (with harmful content removed).
Monster Guide: Encounter a vast library of creatures, faithfully adapted for braille readers.
Spellcasting Guide: Master the art of magic with comprehensive spellcasting rules and descriptions.
Step-by-Step Tutorial: Designers, open your games and supplements to more fans and customers!
Designed with accessibility in mind, the SRD braille conversion comes in two formats:
BRF: Optimized for dynamic braille readers and physical embossers.
BBZ: Editable in BrailleBlaster software for further customization.
This resource is released under a CC-BY license, allowing anyone to freely use and adapt it for their projects. We encourage the RPG community to embrace accessibility and make their content inclusive for all players!
This braille conversion marks a significant step towards a more inclusive gaming space. While we continue striving to create RPG materials that are not only accessible but also celebrate diverse representation, this resource provides a valuable starting point for players and creators who are blind or visually impaired.
Join us in breaking down barriers and making gaming a more inclusive hobby for everyone!
Throughout its entire history, what monster has wiped out more parties than any other, through every edition?
Nothing can TPK an adventuring party before it even sets out like the dreaded Schedule! (Mwah-hah-hah…yeah, I know. It’s so deadly, it’s not even funny.) Trying to coordinate 4–6 schedules and find a time that works for everyone consistently is a feat that few with outside responsibilities ever gain.
And even when you can set something up, what do you do when three players have to cancel at the last minute?
Imagine a magic item so powerful that it can give you advantage against such a powerful foe! Introducing…
This adventure has 1 charge. While carrying it, you can expend the charge as an action to start an adventure with the 1 or 2 players who could still make it. The adventure regains its charge every time you’re with a different player.
That’s right — a one-shot adventure for a DM and 1–2 players that’s designed to require no prep. You can carry it on your phone, as a pamphlet, or as a card deck in your pocket, ready to play for characters of level 1–4! The adventure includes quick reference tools to help the DM keep track of NPCs and other details. And you can get the whole adventure for only $1!
The First in a Series
The first Ready-to-Roll Adventure, Feyweather Friends, launches on Kickstarter this spring. Mix an invasion of new aberrant Far Realm nasties with fey creatures, and you’re sure to have a great time instead of calling it off and going home!
And of course, like all of our work, this adventure is designed for inclusivity.
Gaining Advantage 033: Using TTRPGs for Healing, Community Building, and Mental Health Support
April 21, 2024
Join Dale as he interviews Jonathan Connor Self, a top-rated pro DM and founder of the D8 Summit, a charitable organization using TTRPGs for good. They discuss using games therapeutically, fostering community, and supporting mental health. Connor also discusses Koboa, an upcoming RPG based on South American mythology.
This episode covers using tabletop RPGs to heal trauma, build connections, and create positive spaces. It’s about leading with compassion at the gaming table and using the hobby to give back. From small local charities to suicide prevention, learn how you can make a difference through something you love. See how gaming can transform lives.
Reddit Alternative: A Response to Reddit’s Accessibility Hostility
April 21, 2024
D&D is turn-based, but there comes a point when you can’t wait any longer and take action.
I was one of the mods over at r/disabled_dungeons, and we had a promise to keep. If Reddit didn’t change its ways, I vowed to find a new alternative community for everyone there, and if I couldn’t find one, I’d create one. Well, the time has come.
Reddit’s Accessibility Puzzle
This past summer, Reddit made changes, like setting an impossible cost on their API, which basically banished many third-party Reddit apps. Some of these apps were like magic items, offering better accessibility options that made our community more inclusive. In response, like many subs, r/disabled_dungeons went dark (private) in protest. Reddit doubled down and forced many subs to reopen, removing existing owners and mods and replacing them.
Our New Quest on Lemmy
In the face of these challenges, we decided it was time to embark on a new adventure, a quest for a more accessible and inclusive home. We found Lemmy, a federated Reddit alternative that’s more aligned with our values.
At this new community, we encourage people to find what access tools work for them. You can expect the same supportive community there with opportunities to make friends and share your adventures.
Join the Party on Lemmy
We invite you to join us and continue the mission of making TTRPGs accessible and enjoyable for everyone. Your wisdom and insights are our greatest treasures on this journey.
Now, here’s the exciting part. Our Discord remains a private sanctuary for our patrons and the talented freelancers who bring our products to life. But this new community is an open tavern where you can chat about our creations and all the fantastic products from other companies that champion accessibility and representation.
Top 10 Reasons to Click the Button: Limitless Champions Adventures: DnD 5e + Disability Representation
April 21, 2024
We have exciting news! The pre-launch page for Limitless Champions Adventuresis live! We’ve got a groundbreaking Kickstarter campaign on the horizon, and here are the top 10 reasons why you should click that “Notify Me” button right away:
Historic Inclusivity: Be part of history by supporting the first-ever published collection of D&D Adventures featuring a wide variety of disabilities represented. Join the movement for a more inclusive gaming world! Click here to get notified 👈
You get to push the button! Unlike the elevator buttons where you had to take turns with your siblings to push them, you can push this one yourself without waiting! Push it now! Don’t wait your turn! 🔘👈
Versatile Adventures: These adventures can be used in any campaign world and at any 5e table. Whether you’re exploring the urban sprawl, braving the arctic tundra, scaling mountain peaks, wandering enchanted forests, or spelunking in dark caves, we’ve got you covered. Now you have my attention!
Free Adventure for Early Backers! Get a free bonus horror mystery adventure, The Insiders, if you back it for any reward tier within the first 48 hours of launching. I don’t want to miss out!
Cards and Handouts: Dive deeper into the adventures with tarot-sized character and encounter cards and immersive handouts. It’s all about the details! What a great deal! (Catch what I did there? 🃏)
Digital Options: We’ve got you covered in the digital realm too! Access our adventures in PDF and other accessible digital formats like plain text, audio, and ePub for easy integration into your campaigns, and all copies include downloadable 4K digital maps for every encounter. I am proficient in clicking!
Miniature Add-Ons: Enhance your tabletop experience with miniatures available as add-ons, plus links to extra free downloadable STLs or low-cost printed miniatures to complete the adventures. Paint ‘em, display ‘em, and bring your adventures to life! Color me intrigued!
So, what are you waiting for? Click that “Notify Me” button, join our quest for limitless adventures, and help us make gaming more inclusive than ever before!
Small Miniatures, Big Impact: Disabled Dungeons and Dragons Miniatures Now Available
April 21, 2024
I keep seeing headlines like, “(Some name) becomes first Black/Latino/etc. (some respected position),” and every time, I think, “Wow, what year is it that this is the first time?” But besides women, disabled people are the largest marginalized demographic in the world. Their “firsts” are still rare. For most of those same positions, “…becomes first disabled…,” hasn’t happened yet.
But we tabletop gamers live in worlds filled with minotaurs and merfolk, halflings and centaurs, so we of all people should have no problem imagining people with diverse abilities in every segment of society. And yet we encounter fewer disabled people anywhere in TTRPG worlds than in executive real-world positions.
Disability representation in tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs) fosters inclusive gaming environments. It creates a diverse and welcoming experience. Disabled miniatures enhance the overall storytelling and offer a more authentic and empathetic gaming experience. By incorporating disabled miniatures, RPGs acknowledge and validate the experiences of individuals with disabilities, promoting inclusivity and breaking down barriers. Players with disabilities can recognize themselves reflected in the game, communicating belonging and empowerment.
I never see my condition represented in any media, and now, I’m in D&D!
A Limitless Heroics backer
Diverse miniatures featuring representative characters also broaden the narrative possibilities within TTRPGs. They allow players to explore different perspectives, experiences, and challenges that disabled characters may face. This not only enhances storytelling but also encourages empathy and understanding among players. This representation promotes dialogue, encourages education, and contributes to a culture of acceptance and respect.
Accessible Conditions
Most TTRPG content is still only available in paper or PDF, two of the least accessible formats for blind and low-vision players, especially watermarked PDF, which screen readers can’t access, and PDF without image alt text, which is common due to all layout software except Adobe InDesign refuses to include image alt text capability. For miniatures, condition rings may be color-coded or use embossed text, which gives the same accessibility issues.
So we offer plain text versions of our products and audio and ePub for most, plus the Lair, our online compendium that’s accessible to browser tools and screen readers and offers the most affordable option to access all of our content.
For miniatures, we’ve included condition monitors as bases that give visual and tactile indications of their meaning, and as bases, they’re easy to use—players just set the mini on the base. The bottom of each base also has a braille label as an additional accessibility measure.
Access the Discount
Through the month of August 2023, the Limitless Champions miniatures are available at Kickstarter prices, which is the lowest price we can offer. We hope you love them as much as we do.
Social Spell Schools: Welcome the Isolated to your Dungeons & Dragons Game
April 21, 2024
Disabilities and chronic conditions are isolating. For us, any kind of social life is a unicorn. As Briana describes at The Daily Disability,
The more my health problems grew, the harder it was to find a community that I felt like I fit in to. I joined group after group in hopes of finding a few that would help how I was feeling. I ended up not even being able to join discussions in one of the groups, because I didn’t have close relationships with anyone in the group. It was very disheartening.
Even when we have a free block of time that could be spent with friends,
My ADHD and hearing loss make parties, conventions, crowded restaurants, and anywhere else with a lot of noise nearly impossible to navigate, as I can’t filter one voice from another.
Other neurodivergent traits and mental illness in my family lead to disdainful looks and disparaging comments from the public.
Potential friends ghost us when they get a taste of the chaos that is our life, unable to handle the stress.
Neighbors avoid us.
You might be experiencing stress just reading this list.
But aside from our church, the one environment I’ve found welcoming is the tabletop roleplaying game community, at least the ones I’ve facilitated. Here’s how that magic works:
Enchanting Communities
While the enchantment school of magic tends to focus more on manipulating people, there’s power in making a roleplaying game community charming. An accessible environment communicates a welcoming atmosphere. Proactively designing an environment considers a wide range of access needs.
Consider diverse mobility needs. Do people have space to move?
How does your environment affect those with sensory needs, such as sensitivity to noise?
Do you allow electronic character sheets and other assistive technology?
Do you meet in a place that’s financially prohibitive to people on limited budgets, like a restaurant or a FLGS with a cover charge?
Do you exclude people like us from your game world? (Check out Limitless Champions as a way to add that representation.)
Evoking Trust
You can say you’re welcoming, but we’ve been targets of Vicious Mockery before, so you’ll need more than one successful Charisma check to gain our trust. So be patient with us if we seem reserved or aloof. It’s not arrogance. It’s caution. If you want people to feel like they can relax and truly have fun at your table, allow time for that to happen.
We may ask for less than we need, worried about how willing you are to coexist with us and being used to settling for less.
We want to be treated like any other member of the party, but don’t ignore our traits and degrees of ability, either. That is, we want to be accepted as we are, neither expecting us to be someone else nor treating us as inspirations.
When things get inconvenient for you, but you roll with it like you would any other friend’s needs, then we start to trust, but we all move at a different rate on that scale.
Conjuring Community
So you have a welcoming and inclusive environment, but we’re still sitting at home, reluctant to put ourselves out there. We may never know about you, and we’re probably not looking, because you’re a unicorn.
Join local online communities, and mention inclusion and representation. Demonstrate that you’re an ally.
If you play at an FLGS, put a copy of Limitless Heroics on the corner of the table.
Post flyers on LFG boards at your FLGS. Include a note that you’re accessible.
Friendship Necromancy
We may believe that the idea of social connections or even friendships is dead, that it would truly take some magic to change that. But by creating inclusive and welcoming spaces, we can create environments that truly communicate that D&D is for everyone.
How to Succeed in Tabletop Roleplaying Game Publishing
April 21, 2024
In September 2020, I left my 22-year career with no prospects. I picked up a temporary day job to pay the bills and provide health insurance, but in July 2021, I left that job to focus on roleplaying game development full-time. I didn’t have much to lose, since my day job wasn’t paying enough to sustain my family, but it was still a risk — something is better than nothing. I stepped into uncharted territory with a plan to launch a Kickstarter to get the business off the ground, but as an Enneagram Type 3 personality, I’m terrified of failure, so I was plagued by the question, “Will I succeed?” And not only do I consider myself already successful, but I believe I’ve learned how to do that, and in an industry where every challenge seems to be mythic, where the monster, once slain, rises again stronger than ever, it might be helpful to share my insights, as my road has been unlike most in this field.
Note: I’m presenting these observations and tips as a publisher, not a freelancer. It’s important that you decide which you want to be as you start out. If you start as a freelancer and don’t start building an audience right away, you’ll have some makeup work to do if you decide you want more control over your work. But publishing requires a lot of work that’s not just creating.
Choose Your Class
The three pillars of any RPGs are exploration, social, and combat. In TTRPG publishing, the tiers follow a similar pattern.
Exploration. Search yourself. What are your passions? What is your niche? What do you love creating? What mark do you want to leave on the hobby? What niche would you love to spend the next few years learning about, exploring, and working on?
Social. Find your audience. What niche is underserved? What are people requesting that isn’t available? It could be a topic, a unique combination of topics, or a new product. Maybe people want jellyfish-themed subclasses or feather dusters that look like phoenixes or cockatrices.
Combat. Where’s your proficiency? When you get to work, what are you good at? What do you have a knack for? Are you a wordsmith, an artist, a crafter, a speaker…what rolls do you have bonuses on?
Now find where all three of those overlap. You need the skill to make something valuable, or you won’t get compensated for your work. You need an audience that wants what you’re creating, even if they don’t know it yet, but it’s definitely easier if they know and are looking for it already. And you need passion, or it’ll get boring fast, and you don’t want to turn your hobby into a business only to get bored.
Find Your Allies
Thanks to recent events, my belief about this industry has been solidly confirmed that, just as TTRPGs are cooperative games, not competitive, the same is true of the TTRPG publishing industry. “A rising tide raises all ships.” Consequently, the most effective form of marketing in the TTRPG industry is cross-promotion.
So make friends. Find people who share your passions and your niche. But don’t stop there. Gamers often have eclectic tastes, so don’t limit your social circles. At the same time, by making friends whose lives and interests are different, you’ll expand your awareness, empathy, and creativity.
As you expand your social circle, start talking to your friends about cross-promotion. Or just promote their stuff without expectation of reciprocation. Just be a good friend. Over time, each of you will help each other, you’ll expose your audience to new products, and your audience will grow at the same time.
Start Your Quest
When I started, I thought I needed Twitter to build my audience. I met some cool people there before I moved to Mastodon, but the return on the time investment would have been better spent elsewhere. Here’s how to get started without Twitter:
Learn the Craft. Publishing a supplement is more detailed than creating an adventure or homebrew for your home game. Each game system requires certain standard syntax. Learn those phrases. Get involved in an online community like /r/UnearthedArcana/. Take the Write Your First Encounter course from the Storytelling Collective — it’s worth the cost.
Put some small free creations on DriveThruRPG. This is the easiest way to build an audience. If you start with free, people will try your work, and you’ll be able to email about half of them with future announcements. If writing is your specialty, not layout, find a template for Word or use GM Binder or Homebrewery for design, and use public domain art.
Create some slightly larger projects, and charge for them. (Don’t make them Pay What You Want. There’s no benefit to that.)
Meanwhile, start thinking about a Kickstarter, a project big enough to make it worth the platform, but it doesn’t need to be huge. A 30-page adventure, collection, or other supplement using stock art will get you started, and a low price tier for the digital format will encourage people to try your work with minimal risk. The goal of this project is less about income and more about number of backers. Use DriveThruRPG to fulfill at least the digital product, and they will allow you two emails to your customer list. And then when your backers get their finished product, they’ll be added to your email list there. Meanwhile, when you send out surveys at the end of your project, offer the opportunity to join an external email list, like Mailchimp’s free email tier. (Note: Mailchimp recently drastically reduced their free tier subscriber limit. You can start there, but you’ll need to move to something else quickly, so shop around.)
By the time you finish your first Kickstarter, you’ll have three ways to contact your audience: DriveThruRPG, Kickstarter backer updates, and your email list. Each has a different focus, so be careful how you use each one, and respect each group.
Repeat the process, adding collaborators to build larger products (or keep doing small ones if you want!), and you’re well on your way.
Keep Leveling Up
Part of the benefit of collaborating means learning. Use editors and sensitivity readers. They will help you learn how to make a better product. Hire extra writers, and learn from their styles. Get on Discords with other creators to improve your craft. Ask your peers to look at your works in progress, and invite feedback.
Don’t Forget Downtime
Merging hobby with career is wonderful, but you still have to account for exhaustion. Running a business doesn’t typically have “office hours,” since the to-do list grows faster than you can check items off, and I typically find myself working 50+ hours/week, and my mind is often on work when it should be on family.
Find another hobby. I set goals to read a certain number of comic books via my Marvel Unlimited subscription each week. It allows me to relax and feed my creativity with a different medium and genre than high fantasy TTRPG.
Invest in your values. Think about what’s most important to you. For me, it’s my Christian faith and my family. If I want both of those to grow stronger, I need to invest time in them. For me, that means blocking out time on my calendar for those priorities and sticking with them. Thankfully, my wife loves me dearly and won’t let me neglect those values. If your time use doesn’t reflect your values, consider asking someone to hold you accountable to your own goals. I use RescueTime to set productivity goals, but it also helps me limit my work.
It’s a Game. If it’s not fun, you’re doing it wrong.
Tying back to the first point, TTRPGs are amazing, but publishing has major challenges. It won’t always be fun, but check with yourself — when it’s time to start your work, are you excited or dreading it? That can change depending on the day’s plans, but how do you feel about it overall? If you start to dread it, you may want to consider a different field or at least a different approach. Maybe you need to hire people to take some of the drudgery from you. As I often tell my children, “Make choices that give you what you want.”
What I wish I knew before I started
Finally, here’s a few tips I learned along the way that might be helpful to someone:
VAT: If you use DriveThruRPG for fulfillment, they handle VAT and other international details. If you don’t live in the EU, it’s almost impossible to ship physical products there due to VAT unless you work through a distributor. Especially when you’re just starting out, using their Print on Demand service is invaluable.
Proofread your updates: You can edit updates for up to 30 minutes after you post them, but most backers read it in their email, so they won’t see the typos you fixed. I sent out 2 updates with subject lines that said our pre-order store was open when it wasn’t yet, because I thought it would be when I started the message, but then plans changed, and I forgot to edit the subject.
Figure out how you’re going to handle pledge management in advance. Contact the company you’re planning to use. Get it set up and ready to launch as soon as possible, preferably shortly after you launch your campaign. Know how to import your backers into it. I tried importing my backers into Gamefound, and while adding people was easy, I gave up trying to import their pledges in a form that worked with our campaign.
Marketing isn’t evil. It’s just letting people know about the cool stuff you’re making so they don’t miss it. Even though Limitless Heroics had 2300 backers, more people keep finding it. Our website continues to get significant traffic from Kickstarter, even though the campaign ended a year ago. The more we get the word out, the more people who want this will know it exists. Just be honest.
Twitter is lousy for marketing. I can count on one hand the number of people in this industry who have built a publishing business using Twitter as their primary marketing platform, and they all spent thousands of hours there interacting, and even then, the number of paying customers to followers is minuscule. Twitter is useful for freelancers, because it’s about building relationships, not topics, and the algorithm demotes offsite links. But no matter what social media platforms you use, email is still king and the most effective way to connect with those interested in your work..
DriveThruRPG’s 2 PoD options have significant pros and cons. When I launched the Limitless Heroics Kickstarter, I had no idea how it would be received, whether anyone would want it, so I chose their voucher system that didn’t include the print cost in the backer tier. It was the lowest risk, but it led to a lot of confusion. I still get frustrated backer comments and messages about it. If you’re not sure about your project’s popularity or plan to allow for a lot of backer-submitted content or stretch goals that could increase the page count, this insures that print costs don’t outweigh backer tier amounts, but be prepared to answer a lot of questions after the campaign when it’s time for fulfillment, and be very clear about how this works in advance, repeating it frequently. Also, the boilerplate messaging that OneBookShelf offers for this process is confusing. Here’s my suggestion to reword it, but IANAL.
This campaign offers a digital copy as the main reward. However, backers can also pay extra after the campaign to get a discounted physical printed version of the book or cards through OneBookShelf’s Print-On-Demand (POD) service. The POD version will become available to order after the digital version has been completed. Backers will receive a link to purchase the discounted POD version from OneBookShelf.
So, what’s your TTRPG publishing journey like? Share your thoughts in the comments below!