Monday, October 31, 2016

The Danger of Stuff Pt. 2 - Losing My Way




Yeah...so...

I have become too wrapped up in stuff. I've been making maps, tiles, and painting figures. I've been collecting, even after I swore I wouldn't fall into that trap. Worst of all, I had brainwashed myself into thinking that maps and minis were just the way you played RPGs.

What I haven't been doing is gaming. I'm so caught up in prepping for eventualities when I start running games that I haven't been running games. Honestly I was so glad to have my artistic drive back that I was willing to drown myself in it.

And I was deluding myself into thinking that I could make a supplemental income with my maps on DrivethruRPG. I'm not knocking DrivethruRPG, I love their services, but when my Forest Tiles were going for $.50 they received maybe a purchase a month. Since they went "pay what you want" they have been downloaded over 50 times this month with only a couple of people tossing me some coin. I'm flattered that people like my stuff, but it is obvious that this is not a source of revenue I should depend on.

So I had to do some soul searching this weekend.

I remembered playing WEG's D6 Star Wars back in college. I had no minis, no maps, and there were epic adventures to be had. My players weren't thinking tactically about body positions, they were think tactically about supporting each other and completing the mission.

That said, I still get players that prefer minis and maps. And if I can't get them to switch over, I will have to adapt. But what I need to stop doing is making maps in a vacuum, and painting minis that I may never use.

What I should focus on is creating some One Sheet adventures, and any extras that I make (such as NPC cards, map designs, figure flats) should go towards that specifically.

So...time to prep things I will actually use, and get back to sharing stuff for free because I can.