D&D 5E [Kickstarter - Ending in 24 Hours!] Dragonix's Deadly Denizens Volume II!

[Nixlord]

DDD August 2023 Issue Art Preview #1: Just like last month, I'm starting August's Art Previews with another chromatic wyvern! This round, it's an awesome art piece of the terrifying Black Wyvern!

Later this month, I should have some blackscale kobolds to accompany it.

 

[Nixlord]

DDD August 2023 Issue Art Preview #2: I always have at least one folklore/mythological creature each month, and for the upcoming August issue, it's the Lou Carcohl. This monstrous snail-like predator secretes and leaves a trail of glue-like mucus that can last for hours. Anyone that unwittingly steps on it is hopelessly stuck. Once a victim has been snared, the lou carcohl homes in on it, like a spider to its trapped prey. The lou carcohl then latches on to the victim with its mouth tentacle-like appendages. Worse, each appendage is riddled with needle-like hooks that inject potent venom. Once a victim is within a lou carcohl's grasp, it is swallowed whole.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Based on the name, I assume this is a creature from mythology, but holy moley.

 

[RoughCoronet0]

So this is the snail all those medieval knights were fighting.

 

[Nixlord]

DDD August 2023 Issue Art Preview #3: I wasn't able to bring new elementals to Volume I, so it's only fair that we'll have some coming to Volume II. And this time, I'm creating a few Quasi-Elementals. First up for the next issue is the Nether Elemental, a negative elemental being of force energy. A creature reduced to 0 hit points by the nether elemental is disintegrated!

 

[dave2008]

So @Nixlord, I see that we are just over a month with the DriveThru Deadly Denziens. I was wondering if you could share your thoughts on how it is doing versus your DMsGuild products a month in? Also, is there a reason you didn't use Kickstarter (or similar) to launch this line of monster books?

 

[Nixlord]

So @Nixlord, I see that we are just over a month with the DriveThru Deadly Denziens. I was wondering if you could share your thoughts on how it is doing versus your DMsGuild products a month in? Also, is there a reason you didn't use Kickstarter (or similar) to launch this line of monster books?

It's not selling as much as a like, especially compared to MME III. But it's ok, considering the market trend and this was also already financed by Patreon. Also, it's still just in PDF format so sales can still pick up later on.

I decided to use Patreon instead of Kickstarter because I wasn't planning on investing heavily in Deadly Denizens. It was just supposed to help support the art for MME4. But after the OGL fiasco, I shifted and by then, I decided to just go all the way with Patreon.

I might consider a Patreon + KS combo for DDD Volume II though, with Patreon financing the first half of the book. We'll see.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

When you say market trend, @Nixlord, are you saying sales are slowing across the board for 5E books? If so, what do you attribute that to? Is that an OGL reaction? People holding onto their money as they see how the not-an-edition changeover shakes out? (Infamously, companies got hammered in the 3E/3.5 transition and the 3.5/4E transitions.)

 

[Nixlord]

When you say market trend, @Nixlord, are you saying sales are slowing across the board for 5E books? If so, what do you attribute that to? Is that an OGL reaction? People holding onto their money as they see how the not-an-edition changeover shakes out? (Infamously, companies got hammered in the 3E/3.5 transition and the 3.5/4E transitions.)

For DM's Guild, at least, yes. Before 2023, each title in the top 10 hottest meant it was earning at least $300 a day for the past 60 days. To be in the Top 1-3, your book would be earning at least $600 daily for the past 60 days. For this year, that average has steadily gone down, to just around a third of that. So yeah, it has been trending down.

Yes, it definitely started with the OGL backlash. I think nearly half of the casual DMG consumers have shifted to trying out other systems.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Wow to all of that.

I would hope and assume that once people have a better sense of what the 2024 Monster Manual looks like, your sales will start going back up. But that won't fully happen until after people have bought the new one, I'm guessing.

You're doing great work. I hope your patrons, at a minimum, can continue to make it worth your time and energy to keep on with it during the transition period.