Kobold Press Launch Patreon For 5th Edition Booklets

Wolfgang Bauer and Kobold Press have just launched a Patreon to support a series of 5^th Edition Warlock booklets for their Midgard Campaign Setting. Each Warlock booklet will e 16 to 20 pages long, with a black & white cover and interior artwork by artists such as Karl Walter and Gabriel Cassata.

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The Patreon will mean more new material for the Midgard setting for 5^th Edition on a regular ongoing basis. Expanding Midgard with new maps, lore, locations, rules, monsters, character options and more. As a backer you’ll get them long before they are made available elsewhere.

A preview of the first Table of Contents can be seen below…

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[Matthan]

Here's a link to the patreon.

I'll admit to being interested, but it feels like a waste of resources to have all those goals built towards mailing out physical pamphlets. I would much rather those resources go towards producing more material with the goal of kickstarting (or similar) a compilation volume annually. The compilation is already a goal of theirs to be fair. I just think mailing bimonthly pamphlets around the world is a waste of resources that could go towards better page rates or funding more articles.

I'm a happy EN5ider patron and I've happily backed several Kobold Press kickstarters. I'm just not sure I'm on board with the overall vision of this one.

 

[Matthan]

More thoughts:

For a print booklet in the USA, you need to pledge $5/month. If it ships bimonthly, that means $10 for a 20 page pamphlet. That doesn't strike me as a great deal.

I recently purchased Kobold's latest book (Demon Cults & Secret Societies). It's a fantastic book. Fun to read and full of inspiration for the game. It's 176 pages. Let's round up to 180 to make the math simple (what's 4 pages between friends). 180/20 = 9 Warlock pamphlets (1 Warlock pamphlet = 20 pages). To pay for 9 Warlock pamphlets, it would cost the consumer $90 which includes shipping. The cost for the hardback, full color Demon Cults & Secret Societies is $40. I bought a scratch and dent copy from their webstore a few weeks back for a couple dollars off, but that gave me a shipping cost of $5.12 (round down to $5). $45 for a hardback full color book vs. $90 for 9 loose B+W pamphlets. You're paying twice as much to get your game content in these pamphlets. I can't get behind that model.

The numbers look better for a PDF. The book's PDF is $18 for 180 full color pages. The Warlock pamphlet is $2/each ($1/month). 9 Warlock PDFs = $18 which is right in line with their other material. I can support that.

I have no idea on costs for printing such a small pamphlet. I was about to run down numbers for printing/shipping and realized that was insulting to the professionals who are putting this together. I'm sure they've ran their numbers and have set sustainable goals. This just strikes me as a nostalgic 'zine, and I just don't have the nostalgia for that. I'm intrigued by the content so I'll toss $1/month their way to see the pdf, but it sure seems that EN5ider has a better model for its producers and better bargain for its customers.

I want to end with a disclaimer because this came out awfully negative. I have signed up for the patreon at the lowest level. I want to see the creators involved to succeed and flourish. I happily contribute to EN5ider both for their content and their commitment to pay their talent the best they can. EN5ider produces content suitable for printing, but does not incur that cost themselves to better sustain their product and its producers. I want Kobold Press to succeed and do not understand their decision to take on the costs of printing and shipping pamphlets.

 

[Shasarak]

I wonder if they would do a Pathfinder version?

 

[MNblockhead]

Seems like Kickstarter would be the better venue for this project. I love Kobold press material, but I think I'll skip on this Patreon.

A much better idea for a Kobold Press patreon—one I would jump on immediately—would be to have a Neverending Lairs patreon based on their Book of Lairs. Each month publish a different lair PDF with with same production values as the lairs in their Book of Lairs, including a well designed map PDF already configured to print at battlemap scale.

 

[Monkey King]

Going to politely disagree with MNblockhead here; this won't work as a Kickstarter. I've seen Kickstarters for ongoing support material, but they always look weird, like "Support the next 3 issues for $30" or the like. I think Patreon is the *perfect* way to generate additional material for 5E and Midgard, and of course the page count is set up to grow over time. They're expansions and supplements that just aren't big enough to do as a giant hardcover, but they do add to living campaign and they make the setting richer.

Today, the PDF element is funded, and the print version will happen if there's sufficient interest. We won't spent any resources on physical booklets until there's enough resources available.

And of course, monsters, lairs, and magic are all part of the package here. Might be time to poll Lairs Vs Monsters Vs Magic Vs Lore, to make sure the balance is right going forward.

It's an experiment, and I appreciate the feedback!

 

[Matthan]

Patreon is the right system. It's essentially a tiny magazine. A kickstarter to compile the material annually or every two years makes sense. The Patreon provides a reliable revenue stream to produce a wide variety of material that would not necessarily be made otherwise.

My concern is that the goal of publishing each pamphlet entry is a money sink. Kobold Press and Mr. Bauer have a love of magazines like classic Dragon and Dungeon. I understand that love and respect it. I respect what they accomplished with Kobold Quarterly several years back. I just see the majority of the Patreon goals focused on printing these pamphlets and I feel like it's an error driven by the nostalgia of those magazines. Again, I would point to EN5ider. Every one of their funding goals dealt with the creation of material by either providing more of it or providing a better pay scale for its creators. I fully believe that Kobold Press has ran their numbers to make sure each publishing/shipping schedule is sustainable. I just think it's wasted funds.

I recognize the train has left the station on this, but I would prefer more material (articles, art, maps, etc...) created than published pamphlets shipped around the world. Let the publishing happen through a compilation Kickstarter.

I flogged this dead horse enough. I do wish them success and count myself a patron. I look forward to reading the PDFs.

 

[DM Howard]

I think what I find strange is that this Patreon is going on for Midgard, for 5th Edition D&D when there isn't even a 5th Edition Midgard Campaign Setting.

 

[Matthan]

I think what I find strange is that this Patreon is going on for Midgard, for 5th Edition D&D when there isn't even a 5th Edition Midgard Campaign Setting.

That's coming soon though. I can't remember the last Kickstarter update on it, but I kickstarted the thing. All of their 5e content has made reference to Midgard. The Kobolds seem to be big supporters of the system.

 

[Shasarak]

It's an experiment, and I appreciate the feedback!

Any thoughts on doing a Pathfinder version?