So, Should We Make Some Sci Fi Releases? (Patreon)

Hello dear Patrons,

As the co-founder and creative director of Raging Heroes, as promised I would like to give you some insight about the topic of SciFi models on our Patreon.

This is going to be a long answer, but you'll get all the naked truth about this delicate topic. Please make sure to read to the end to get all the various facets of this complex problem and more than anything HOW YOU CAN HELP TO SOLVE IT !!

We LOVE Sci Fi!

The first thing is that we, the Raging Heroes Team, would LOVE to do more SciFi on Patreon.

And I mean all kinds of SciFi:

Firefly-like western style sci fi, 40k gothic type sci fi, retro steampunk/dieselpunk sci fi, Star Wars space opera style sci fi, anime sci fi with giant robots and super sleek body suits, psychedelic 60s Barbarella sci fi, etc…

Being able to change themes and universe and timeframe every month is a dream because it is so refreshing, creatively speaking.

But It Has Been a Fail...

When we did the Cyberpunk release, we were all so excited because it was so different and so good. And the video we made for that release was so epic with its 80s vibe and the collab we did with the synthwave producer Meteor!

And yet it was somehow a disappointment.

It was our biggest patron dropout ever, we got a lot of negative feedback in the style of "I don't give a shit about that crap" and in the end, very few people showed interest in us developing what we think is an awesome Cyberpunk setting with a very unique twist.

However, we still think this is one of our best releases ever.

When we launched Heroes Infinite, we genuinely thought that we would have a SciFi theme every 3 or 4 releases. But until now, the vast majority of the community has decided otherwise.

What are the numbers?

In the end the reason for the reaction to our Cyberpunk release is simple: in the first 6 months of this Patreon, about 80% of the people on Patreon just want DnD compatible stuff.

This was not a 60 / 40 situation between fantasy and sci fi, this was a crushing majority of people!

The poll we did last month showed much different numbers. It looks like only 26% of you don’t want to hear about SciFi at all. It is a much better number. However, as I explained in the video breakdown of the poll, this number has to be tampered by several additional factors. For the reasons explained in the video, we think the truth is closer to 50%.

This is better but still not great.

But it is true that we could say: "Well, we don't care, this month we are doing whatever pleases us or what some of our hardcore fans have been waiting for for a long time, even if it is not as popular"

So how can you help solving that problem? I'm coming to that in a minute.

This is a tough business and we are not the ones choosing.

You have to keep in mind that even if we are dealing with games and toys and cool stuff, RH is the business each member of the team depends on for a living.

It is the revenue source that pays the bill of about 20 people every month, nearly double that if you add some of our suppliers who work nearly exclusively for us.

For the very first time after 10 years of existence, Raging Heroes has started to be slightly profitable this year. It means that once we've paid all the people in the team, all the company expenses, all the bank loans, taxes and other exciting stuff, for the first time after 10 years, we can go to sleep without being scared about how we will pay what's owed next week!

And boy, we have been VERY scared for a long long time! Yes, even after making super successful Kickstarters!!

The cost of making our beloved little toys (especially with the level of creativity and quality we are committed to) is extremely high compared to the size of our audience.

That is why we are not really the ones choosing what we will create next month. At this time we cannot yet afford this luxury.

We poll you every month because we need to make sure that as many people as possible will get what they want with the next release.

And in a way it is as it should be, it is great that most people can get what they are looking for and it is also a healthy challenge for us: As much as most of the team was excited with the prospect of a Greek release, I personally had very little affinity with it.

And yet we've released two sets back to back! And for me it was a great opportunity to reconnect with these myths and find a way to express them with my personal style.

So does that mean no Sci Fi? Absolutely not!

So does that mean that the dice are cast and the vast majority of DnD players will out vote SciFi forever?

I absolutely don't think so.

(And this is where you can help. Bear with me, I'm nearly there).

You have to keep in mind that the wargaming and RPG 3D printing community is still in its infancy and that Raging Heroes has been part of this for only 1 year!

This is a VERY short period!

Give us a little bit of time to get all our ducks in line and once it is done, I can assure you you'll get some SciFi releases soon. More on that below.

Working extra hard to make our Patreon offer wider and more efficient.

Many of you are suggesting we could run a second Patreon dedicated to SciFi. Of course this is something we want to do!

But let's be honest: the upcoming June release is the first one since the beginning of Heroes Infinite we've been able to finish at the date we had planned.

We are getting closer to being able to launch a second Patreon, but there are only so many hours in the day. At this time it is still very often that we have to work 10-12 hours a day (and for myself, sometimes even more!), 6 days a week.

And it is very hard to find the right artists and management people to make the team grow.

So we are working to make all this better.

If you follow our regular range in our physical shop, you probably have noted we've released very few new items this year and most of them were based on Patreon releases.

This is definitely not our choice, we have tons of ideas we want to work on and release as physical products (and not only miniatures, but also games and all kinds of exciting stuff). But building the team, the workflows and the general infrastructure for the Patreon has left us with very little time for anything else.

We did a single other project outside Patreon, the Wizards Christmas crowdfunding project. It was great, but the additional workload left the team in a concerning level of exhaustion, even if we had a few additional people on board with us for this one.

But… What kind of SciFi?

Another problem with SciFi is the massive amount of styles and subgenres it covers.

We did CyberPunk and it was not a big success. It means that amongst those of you who said “I want SciFi” some were definitely not interested in Cyberpunk.

And we fear this situation might repeat itself with other SciFi subgenres.

It means that even if today it looks like only 26% of you are not interested in SciFi, there is a good chance that when we pick a specific SciFi subgenre, we end up with about half of you being disappointed.

So we are going to run another poll just about that in the next few weeks.

We can’t wait to show you everything we have in our closet!

Long story short, I think the market keeps on evolving and already more and more SciFi fans are doing 3d printing. And on our end, our Patreon pipeline is becoming a better well oiled machine every week.

So yes, there will be SciFi done by Heroes Infinite. I think it should happen before Christmas. Just give us a little bit of time to blow our first candle and get everything in line for the coming months.

If you could see how much stuff we have on the backburner: games, Kickstarter projects, Raging Heroes goodies, tons of Toughest Girls of the Galaxy and so many other things…

You really think we don't want to release all this cool stuff and some SciFi minis on Patreon?!?

You bet we do!

Raging Heroes is at a delicate stage of growth and we don't want to mess it up. We have to be patient for just a little bit longer and soon, you might get even more than you can chew ;)

Why not release the regular Raging Heroes’ range on Patreon? There is a very good reason for that!

Finally, some of you say that we should make our regular range available on Patreon. While it makes sense, you have to take into account a very big concern shared by all the Patreon creators: piracy

We have worked extremely hard for 10 years to develop characters and the full blown universe and massive storylines that go with them.

We literally have invested everything we had in that endeavor and at this time, we cannot put this content at risk of piracy, especially considering all the projects we have with them.

This may very well change soon though, as a lot of people are working on how to secure the 3d printable files and minimize the risk of piracy.

So, how can we make it happen together?

I hope this long message has answered all your questions.

In any case, even your frustrated messages show us how much you care and we cannot thank you enough for that ongoing support.

And so this is where I tell you how YOU can totally transform this situation:

Currently, we think there would be around 50% of you guys who would get excited by a specific Scifi release.

IF EACH ONE OF YOU WOULD ONLY BRING 1 FRIEND to subscribe to Heroes Infinite, suddenly making a SciFi release would totally make sense business wise.

At the moment, there are so many creators on Patreon that it is challenging to make the Heroes Infinite audience grow. By just doing that, you would open a whole new range of possibilities to us.

And imagine what we could do if you were to bring 2 friends…. The sky's the limit.

You’ve got a first taste in July...

While we are polishing Heroes Infinite's pipeline, YOU can bring in the fuel that will make anything possible!

And on our end, we are also setting up new things to make sure you’ll get some SciFi as soon as possible.

We know that many of you would like some traditional Raging Heroes style SciFi. That is why for the July release we created the Martyr’s Reliquary Procession . It is something that works well for the fantasy fans and yet can be used in your favorite Grimdark setting.

Whenever we can, we’ll try to do more stuff like that.

Believe me when I say we work VERY hard to please you and we are sincerely sorry if you are feeling somewhat let down at the moment. I can guarantee you it won't stay like that in the future!!

All the best,

Benoit