May Monthly Update! (Patreon)

As we head into summer, let's check on how this month went!

Songs of the Spellbound Sea: Work continues on physical samples - that takes a bit of time. We did straighten out a couple of issues with dielines and sizing, and one very small text issue. Work's started on the VTT modules, but still early stages - very rough ETA is delivery around when books arrive. Work should kick off relatively soon on the digital art book. And if you never got in on the book, you can still grab it through Backerkit. I'll be aiming to get it up on proper stores (my website, patreon, DTRPG) next month, too.

Patreon: Pretty decent growth! A steady flow of free followers and a few paid. Last month supporters got access to our first Design Notes post, and (when I finish it in a few days, I'm late, don't @ me) May's supporter-exclusive.

Discord:  Pretty flat - discord growth seems mostly driven by reddit posts, which I need to get back on top of.

Social Media: Some decent growth on Bluesky.

Press: In cool things, RPGBOT did a writeup on the Buccaneer from Songs of the Spellbound Sea! And I was interviewed pretty extensively for a piece on TTRPG Insider discussing the SRD 5.2 and the split between 5E and 2024E.

Troubadour, Swashbuckler, Bloodrager: Tiny change from last month: I've made a little progress on the free releases for these, but only a little. Still WIP.

Necromancer: The Necromancer is available in a weird early Alpha! I released three different versions to start, with different spellcasting progressions (1/2, 3/4, and full). Next week I'll decide which one moves forward. So far the people's-preference polls are somewhat inconclusive.

Subclasses: I released the College of Pyrotechnics bard (renamed from last month's poll-winner, the College of Flashpowder).

Species: May saw the arrival of the Awakened Tree species! My first foray into a Large species, and attempting to figure out the baseline for Large rules to use going forward.

Equipment and Items: I cut a new release for So Much Miscellany, which is sort of a grab-bag document. This one added the magic items from last month, as well as several new mundane weapons: atlatls, claws, dueling shields, katars, kusari-gamas, mambeles, poleaxes, and urumis.

Onward to May!

Kickstarter: I should receive the physical samples this month, at which point we'll kick off the production run.

On the tariff front: the news is mostly "unpredictability". The administration temporarily relaxed tariff rates (from "comical" to merely "devastating"), then the tariff program was ruled illegal anyway. The only thing we can be certain of is that this'll keep changing.

Classes: The Necromancer will settle on a casting model and move forward! We've already got out first subclass poll running.

Polls: May's polls are up for one more day! Our subclass poll currently has the Order of Tenebration wizard leading (but stalled while some others have been catching up), while the supporter-only necromancer subclass poll has the Reanimator in the lead! And the initial necromancer post has a poll (nonbinding) about whether you'd prefer to see the 1/2, 3/4, or full caster move forward.