Happy 5-Year Anniversary!

Hey folks! 5 years ago to the day I posted my first ever homebrew creation for the masses to enjoy (or ruthlessly tear apart), a little brew I lovingly called The Goo of Primordial Chaos. It would be fitting to have gone and reworked it for such an occasion (it certainly needs it), but alas, I haven't. I could have, and I've tried a few times, but honestly I don't really know what to do with it. So, I'm just not going to, and it shall remain a relic of the past and a reminder of humble beginnings.

Other than that, I have nothing special planned to celebrate, at all. So instead, I'd just like to take a moment to look back at my time here and take a trip down memory lane.

2018-2019

When I first got started doing homebrew for the Foundry, I hadn't been doing it for very long. Hell, I hadn't been playing 5e for long either. But inexperience didn't stop me from taking a stab at it. At the time, I had boundless creative energy and all the time in the world. I committed to doing one brew a month and that came pretty easy. Most of what I was making were conversions of other things, so they were easy to churn out at a regular pace. But I did quite a bit of original stuff too. The Medic was my first ever released class, and my Hellraiser supplement kicked off my now yearly tradition of doing a big project for spooktober. Around that time, I started a Patreon and got my first commission in the Awakener class. The first version of my Mourner was also released. I also hit 2k followers, which is insane to me still. Oh yeah, and I totally tried to jump to another platform when Tumblr became a dumpster fire for a bit. Forgot about that. Other than that, pretty good for my first year!

2019-2020

Kicking off my second year, my Corpseweaver class was released for Halloween, which is still one of my favorite things I've made. For much of the year I was still going strong with monthly releases and even putting out some pretty big projects. But the biggest project I put out that year, or at least the one that took the most effort, was a commission for John Carpenter’s The Thing. It was around this time that I started kicking around the idea of opening up commission to the public, not just my patrons. Spoiler alert, I shouldn't have. I also hit 4k followers that year. Still wild.

2020-2021

This was a huge year, but things did not begin well for me. The year began with Flesh and Bone, my Necromorph supplement, which was an utter train wreck. That monstrosity came together in a panicked 3 weeks after October blindsided me and was the first time I had ever tried to make a custom style for the Homebrewery. The mad dash to meet a frankly arbitrary deadline yielding a worse brew started to show the cracks in my process and was an ill omen for things to come. I kept up the monthly releases for a while longer, and put out some great stuff in that time if I do say so myself, but in July I hit a wall and just couldn't do it anymore. Since then, I've had a “post it when it's done” policy, and I don't intend to change that. I also stopped taking commissions from patrons after getting super overwhelmed and not handling it as well as I should have, BUT then proceeded to start taking commissions from the public. Other notable events included changing my name from 5e Foundry to Foundry Fabrications in an effort to expand into other games, not just 5e, I updated my logo to fit the rebranding, and I started a Discord server that burned hot, died fast, and is a desolate wasteland now. Otherwise, it was pretty much business as usual.

2021-2022

Year 4 began innocently enough, aside from the cultural faux pas regarding a certain Native America spirit that shall not be named that I later had to apologize for. Other than that, it was pretty much business as usual. But then in April came my crowning achievement. After 6 years of development, I finally released my Engineer class! I still can’t believe that this thing I've been wrestling with for years is finally real and for all the world to see. Kind of hard to top that

2022-2023

Another year, another spooky project, this time a much-needed rework of my Corpseweaver. And all was great, for a time. But then January rolled around and WotC dropped the shitstorm of the century on us with the whole OGL debacle. I, like a lot of people, did not take very well and went so far to abandon everything D&D, a rash decision I still regret making, even if I did come back to the game I love so much. But I bounced back pretty easy and jumped right back into making stuff, not that I’ve released much this year. But that’s future talk! We’re here to reminisce!

So yeah, that’s my history here in a nutshell. If you’re still here, thanks for listening to me ramble. What a wild ride it’s been, and I’m so glad I could have you all at my side and along for the journey. Thanks for sticking with me for 5 years, and here’s to 5 more! As always, stay safe, don’t forget to love each other, and I’ll see you all again soon.

Oh, one more thing, I’d love to hear from y’all in the replies! How long have you been with me, and what’s your favorite piece of content I’ve produced?

Labyrinth Chase

You have arrived to the heart of the labyrinth. Everyone knows the game - try to find the minotaur and slay it before it finds you.

However, there is a twist. The creature that resides in this labyrinth is too large to sneak up on you. It will charge through doors and knock over walls to get to you...welcome to the chase!

This map comes with 8 phases that depict walls being knocked over as the monster chases the players around the labyrinth.

You can download this map and all 8 phases here.

Want free maps mailed to you every month? Sign up for my newsletter here.

Foundry VTT Modules

Good news everyone,

I released the first modules for Foundry VTT including

70 creatures,

5 huge creatures

and 10 potions

Many more are in the making, so stay tuned! You can find the modules over at my Patreon Page. If you enjoy my work, I would highly appreciate your support! In addition to the modules, you'll gain access to over 200 creatures, 25 huge monster, 90 potions as well as 15 items<3

Hope you have a great time!

A little preview for the VTT tokens available for the Ocular Swarms minis, perfect for those who play in a more digital tabletop style environment. Like their printer friendly counterparts, all of these correspond and match with the Ocular Anomaly VTT tokens already available.

Each of the color options and background options are available to mix and match, with each other, and two versions of each VTT token exist, a portrait style and a 3/4 to full body style.

If you like what you see and want to support me and get a whole bunch more printable minis like these, check out my Patreon page! All of them come in, pre-scaled easy to print PDFs / PNG files and work great with a myriad of ttrpg games, including DnD, Pathfinder, Daggerheart, Blades in the Dark, Call of Cthulhu and more. The front view for most minis is FREE and supporters get access to a whole lot more including unique back views, color options, alternative poses & variant designs, VTT tokens and so much more. With dozens of minis to choose from, and more uploading every month, you will always have a new option for your table. ❤

4 new fantasy battlemaps!

I released 4 new battlemaps!

These are ones I created for Guild of Icons: Emerald Heart, and are great single-room maps for intrigue settings.

Engage in an action movie trope and have a fight with some thugs in the busy tavern kitchen. https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/462517/10x8-Battlemap--Tavern-Kitchen

Dance the night away under the sparkling chandeliers of the ballroom. https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/462515/26x17-Battlemap--Enchanting-Ballroom

Serve the rich, kill the rich, eat the rich, in the lavish dining room. https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/462518/18x8-Battlemap--Lavish-Dining-Room

Meet for a secret rendezvous in the moonlit rose garden. https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/462516/18x14-Battlemap--Moonlit-Rosegarden

All of these come in lit and unlit, gridded and ungridded, and 70dpi and 300 dpi variants, perfect for printing or online VTTs like Foundry, Roll20, or Owlbear.

Reminder: If you're a monthly Ko-Fi supporter, you get 50% off all of them. There's a Ko-Fi post over there with your discount links, but I'll also make a new post with updated links so it's easier to find.

Hey all!

This is the first of the Creature packs to follow a more random selection of monsters from the CR range! I absoluty love the Banshee and the face of the Dire Wolf on this pack :D While making this pack you might be very pleased to hear that I spent extra time making sure these were "customizable" by that I mean for tokens like the skeleton and the gnoll they can be given any number of different weapon, helmets and armour options.

This pack is available for free over on Patreon!

If you play D&D or any role playing game the new OGL (open game license) for D&D has been leaked. If put out as described it is going to be disastrous for any content creator, virtual table top, and RPGs that use the existing license.

If you value these games, systems, and those who create content for them, please consider signing the open letter. It also contains more details of the specifics within.

Let's band together as a gaming community to stand up to a monopolistic attempt to crush any competition and unfairly profit off of the hard work of others.

Please sign the open letter.

Leonin Struggles

Making a mini for your Leonin: HeroForge (HF) vs Eldritch Foundry (EF) HF only has a "house cat" face so you have to use the Bear ears to get something close. Side View reads as "house cat" and not "big cat". EF Has the big cat head. no painting option for creator. Thoughts?

No virtual tabletop is complete without some tokens. By becoming a GMG Patron, you unlock THIRTEEN different Condition token frames which you can use in all your VTT programs!

Become a GMG Patreon supporter today!

https://buff.ly/3KEmNx9

Landing Screen for my current D&D 5e campaign that I’m mastering and playing in Roll20.net. It’s amazing to see that what we thought it would be a short story is now a 4 years old campaign.

From out of the ground sprang a curse in the shape of a monster. No one has survived an encounter with this creature. It. Must. Be. Put. Down.

This is a variation of my Fort Ruins battlemap. I hope this serves useful to you in one way or another!

If you enjoy my work, consider supporting me on Patreon.

Tonight’s session ended on a cliffhanger as the purple worm reared its massive form and started running down the party.  Hopefully Wynnie rolls high for initiative when we return.  If she dashes, she’ll get just far enough away to survive another minute.

Another preview for the Ocular Anomaly! This time its a sampling of the available VTT tokens that come with Copper Tier+ Pledge levels. These are just a few of the options, and both portrait/ half body options (shown above) and full body options are available to patrons.❤

If you like what you see and want to support me and get a whole bunch more printable minis like these, check out my Patreon page! All of them come in, pre-scaled easy to print PDFs / PNG files and work great with a myriad of ttrpg games, including DnD, Pathfinder, Daggerheart, Blades in the Dark, Call of Cthulhu and more. The front view for most minis is FREE and supporters get access to a whole lot more including unique back views, color options, alternative poses & variant designs, VTT tokens and so much more. With dozens of minis to choose from, and more uploading every month, you will always have a new option for your table. ❤

if you've never considered playing anything other than D&D 5e, now might be the time to start.

as you may have heard, Wizards of the Coast wrote up a new Open Game License that was leaked and it's really, really bad. (i linked to the article about it yesterday but here's a twitter thread of the author of that article summarizing it.)

i'll attempt my own breakdown of what this means here:

the new OGL revokes the previous OGL. this is bad for so many reasons, and will affect all kinds of TTRPGs like Pathfinder, and third-party publishers like Kobold's Press.

it also means that character sheets wouldn't be able to be used in unauthorized virtual table tops anymore, including Roll20, Foundry, etc.

the new OGL grants WotC a perpetual, irrevocable license to all third-party content produced and published under the old OGL, as well as future content. for example, if WotC hypothetically liked Dimension 20's Unsleeping City setting enough, it could sell products related to that setting, without needing D20's permission.

the new OGL can be updated, changed or revoked with only 30 days' notice. truly wild.

anybody who makes more than $750k revenue (not profit, but revenue) has to pay 20-25% over that amount in royalties to WotC. this will affect so many kickstarters raising funds for indie TTRPG systems that used to fall under the original OGL. $750k sounds like a lot but keep in mind publishing books is expensive.

this is really, really bad. WotC will probably go back on some of this based on public response, and a lawsuit may make them go back on even more. (some of what they're trying to do here is illegal? i think?) but they'll likely still push forward with some of it.

it seems WotC's goal is to 1) appease shareholders (which in late-stage capitalism means "exponential growth forever") and 2) create a closed ecosystem for d&d that's completely under WotC's financial control. think: D&D Beyond being the only place you can access any D&D content, character sheets, etc. and i mean, in general, they've shown a pattern of greed and weighing corporate interests more heavily than their customers or employees.

now would be a great time to move away from d&d if you've ever considered doing so, or to consider it if you haven't.

if you want something similar to d&d 5e mechanically but a bit crunchier, try pathfinder 2e. if you want narrative-focused storytelling games, try Powered by the Apocalypse or FATE systems. if you want a mechanics-forward episodic style of play, try Forged in the Dark systems. if you want a cross-genre game with freeform character creation, try Savage Worlds. and this is an extreme short list of the great TTRPGs out there! a lot of systems that, IMO, people would have more fun playing than d&d, just based on preferred style of play. try them out and please don't give WotC anymore money lol.

Actually fucking nuts. Capitalism ruins everything.

Push back against this. Be loud. Use #OpenDnD liberally.

Staying in 5e and ignoring 6e/"OneDnD" is not an option. I'll try to summarize below the cut, but I'm not an expert, so please seek out resources that aren't me for full info. This link is a good start. This is the full deep-dive I read up on a few days ago. Listening to the community is also worthwhile to understand from the voices of those affected most. To be more involved in the discussion yourself, a lawyer has set up a Discord server for the community to gather and converse in regarding this issue.

Again, for full context and information from more knowledgeable sources than me (including actual professionals), please go to the links I included above. If you don't have the time/patience/spoons to read those articles, scroll a twitter feed, or poke around a Discord server though, here are the things that made the most potent impression on me and why you should care about this issue.

As mentioned, staying in 5e and ignoring 6e/"OneDnD" is not an option. While OGL1.1 was made for 6e, the extensive parts of the document that have been leaked make it clear that with OGL1.1 going into effect, OGL1.0a (which has been the OGL for the past decade) will no longer be functional. 3rd party creators must choose to either sign the OGL1.1 and comply with it's insanely restrictive and predatory terms, or face legal repercussions for publishing the content they have made their livelihoods off of the past decade.

Per the leaked document, all 3rd party creators must register themselves and their creations with WotC. - 3rd party creators making over $50,000 USD per year must also report their earnings to WotC. - 3rd party creators making over $750,000 USD gross per year must also pay WotC a 25% royalty. This means it is not 750k in profits, it is 750k before any expenses that they are taking the royalties from. Anyone whose profit margin was 25% or less would be financially invalidated by this royalty, and can even end up losing money. Furthermore, the nature of Kickstarters for example is that there is no upper ceiling on earnings, so a KS for a 3rd party sourcebook will suddenly be facing a massive expense they may not have planned for if their campaign exceeds the 750k mark, potentially destroying their ability to deliver on the rewards when they otherwise could have. While currently only a small number of creators are known to make over 750k/year (gross, not net), that does not mean this will not affect you. It creates a very dire argument for why 3rd party creators should not even make the effort in the first place, especially with crowdfunding where too much success can suddenly ruin them.

Remember how those who make over 50k have to report their earnings? Well, the 750k threshold is one WotC says they have the right to change at any time in OGL1.1. This means they can see what people are making when creators are forced to report their earnings over 50k, and use that data to lower the threshold of income for their royalty fee, and they can do this at any time, however much they want. Per OGL1.1, they are telling you that they can decide on a whim that actually, anyone making over $5,000 USD gross a year has to pay the 25% royalty.

D&DBeyond / OneDnD are working towards creating a VTT to host OneDnD/6e. While Roll20 is licensed by WotC if I'm not mistaken, virtually no other VTT is. Platforms like Foundry VTT (my personal favorite and most beloved VTT) will not be able to host the D&D system on them under OGL1.1. What does that mean? Hard to say. But it will objectively become much harder to play D&D outside of WotC-approved spaces in the near future, and that is by design. They want to monopolize how this game is played, and that means making it difficult, inconvenient, or even illegal to play the game outside of their personal playground.

Under OGL1.1, WotC claims full and complete ownership over any and all 3rd party content created for D&D, and the rights to use it however, whenever, and wherever they want without paying you royalties. You made this? Hasbro made this.

I've only ever played 5e. But this link I put up above was very informative about prior editions and the drama surrounding them. 3e had an OGL, and the community began to flourish with 3rd party content. WotC didn't like that people who weren't them were making money off a passion for D&D, and they regretted the OGL--but that OGL was irrevocable, and could not be cancelled, removed, or in any way undone. So they put together 3.5e. They promised 3.5e would be backwards compatible, and all your resources for 3e would still work for it. So people jumped to 3.5e, only to find all their 3e content was now worthless, because that hadn't been true. And 3.5e, of course, did away with that open and welcoming OGL from 3e. Sound familiar? "OneDnD" is touted to be backwards compatible. And yet also comes with crushing restrictions in their OGL1.1 that make it impossible for the D&D community to exist as it has been. It is transparently clear that for WotC/Hasbro, an ideal world would be one where all the money people have spent on flourishing this community over the last decade would have gone exclusively into their pockets. D&D makes hundreds of millions every year, but it's "under monetized" according to their new CEO. It doesn't matter if "Honor Among Thieves" flops at the box office, WotC has already green-lit the production of multiple D&D movies. It's not about fanservice, it's about fan exploitation. Because they can't fucking stand that the game they made can be played obsessively and passionately for decades with only the one-time purchases of the DMG and PHB. And instead of fixing the apparent "under-monetization" problem by publishing more official content, they choose to poach 3rd party creators. The very lifeblood that has caused D&D's success. Because capitalist greed is a soulless poison to whatever it fixes its attention on.

The only way the community has any shot in hell to fight this is if the pushback is intense and loud. WotC has released statements mentioning an openness to listening to the community and revising their choices based on feedback; whether that proves to be lip service or not remains to be seen, but either way: the only thing they seem to care about is money. Fine, let your money do the talking, then. Wholeheartedly support the boycott. Proclaim your support of it loudly. Let Hasbro know that their attempts to milk more profits out of this franchise will be the very thing that kills it if they don't ease the fuck back and allow OGL1.0a to persist. They apparently didn't learn shit when this happened in 3e/3.5e. They can either wise up now before they fuck up beyond repair, or they can be fully destroyed by their own greed. Time will tell.

Edit:

Good catch, thanks! You're right, I must have had some wires crossed when writing that bit. They couldn't revoke it, but they did publish new content for 3.5e that made 3.0e content feel worthless; this is not something I personally lived through, but is based on the reporting from this second article I linked. Likewise, that article explains how 4e did not have an OGL and was consequentially a bit of a wasteland, presumably prompting WotC to bring the OGL back for 5e. Which flourished. And now we're here.

Edit II:

I'm Super not the best source of information for this because I'm absolutely all over the place, but 2 things.

Please check out OpenDnD.games for full, proper info and a place to give your signature in support of the community's pushback.

Something else I failed to mention above: OGL1.1 has a "poison pill" clause. Anyone who signs it permanently forfeits their right to publish under prior versions of the OGL, even if they are unable to take down those prior versions. DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING FOR OGL1.1. Even if the community pushback yields results, you may have trapped yourself. "Predatory" does not even begin to cover it.