Pay What We Want

Oddplan has been in existence for almost 18 months. During this period, it cannot be denied that our production has been fruitful, with news letters, toyboxes, and games of various kinds available on our Itch.io (Abre numa nova janela) and DrivethruRPG (Abre numa nova janela) stores. Especially considering that it’s a project born out of passion and currently has no interest in going beyond that.

Oddplan remains an experiment, a way to propose projects that would not have found space in the TTRPG publishing market, especially in the one linked to crowdfunding platforms that try in every way to attract the public by filling them with gadgets and exploiting existing IPs.1 (Abre numa nova janela) And so, after months of writing, analysis, reflection, and external problems, we consider our first phase of the project concluded, and we think it’s right to share a few things with you.

First of all, this environment doesn’t work if you have ideals but no money. We will shortly close this Substack and move to a platform that doesn’t offer a space for Nazis to talk, and the only thing we witness is a “well done,” which we know won’t translate into readers in our next project. We may be “good,” but probably not enough to make an extra account on another platform.

Second, let’s show all the cards to our fellow compatriots in this hobby. We listened to the murmurs—people who used less-than-positive words at our backs—and we still have to suffer the irony of having an Italian audience that appreciates us for our values and still gives money to products from ethically questionable people. People who actively made our hobby way harder than it should be. Two years swimming against the current, completely invisible in our own country, ostracized and mocked by wannabe rulers, incredibly scared to be topped by the competition (and there’s no competition in a pond so shallow and small). You will understand why it is challenging to find motivation.

So, to summarize: we can have all the ideals in the world, but if we can’t afford the time to produce our stuff because the public prefers something else, and we can’t network with people from our own country without signing a deal with a (mediocre) devil, there’s not much left to say; maybe the anger lingers for a bit, but that also is going to pass.

Sorry for the rant, but it was important to frame our headspace and to include it as a motivator for our next move: from now on, no Oddplan product will be Pay What You Want, except SRDs, of course. And to explain it better, let’s go in order.

Cost 0 = Priority 0

As you well know, our philosophy at Oddplan has always been to create games that should be played. Despite what we believed, PWYW does not, in any way, incentivize this. Even though we have had thousands of downloads (and I assure you the numbers are not inflated), the feeling is that our games end up forgotten and gathering digital dust. Obviously, we are all guilty of this sin—just ask our libraries on Itch and DrivethruRPG.

The simple truth is that a product you don’t pay for is one you will rarely prioritize. And with PWYW, the amount of “pay 0” we’ve seen is far from small. We have one product with more than 1,000 downloads and low double-digit earnings on both platforms.

On the other hand, the people who follow us through this newsletter appreciate our philosophy, so, knowing well that they would have no problem paying for our games if it means sticking to our principles, the solution is straightforward: those who follow us will receive free access to our production.

We know that you may not have time to play everything, but at least you will open that file to read it, and even if you don’t, you will somehow appreciate our work and share our way of thinking. This is enough for us.

The first game that follows this philosophy is Rise Up! (Abre numa nova janela); subscribers to this space have received a code for a free copy. The others can purchase it or use one of the available community copies if they are unable to do so otherwise. It’s a niche game, yet it’s our most financially successful product in its first month.

Things are not free

Oddplan requires time, energy, and money. In a world where companies use AI for everything and manuals with AI art are sold for the same price as products made by real artists, we have decided to follow our own path.

In Oddplan, we use the little funds we have to pay for services we cannot do ourselves, and this is not a problem in itself. Ultimately, if Oddplan is seen as a creative hobby, it’s no different from investing money in a palette, colors, and canvases or in a racing bike. The problem, however, is that Oddplan lives on a very thin line between work and hobby because it is still a project that requires coordination, commitment, and sometimes a lot of effort.

It’s not like a card game with friends that you can skip for a month in a row, and it’s not a hobby that we can drop without giving explanations and simply disappearing. Furthermore, our structure is very fluid, and over the months, we have received external collaboration proposals and had original team members step back for various reasons, which has obviously increased the workload for the others. The money we get from a digital TTRPG won’t be a turning point in our lives; still, if it can pay for some extra art, a layout, a native-speaking editor, or a translator, you will understand that it could be a way to ease our burden and give you better books.

The constant battle against frustration

Over these months, Oddplan has done very well, especially because we didn’t tie ourselves to the need to make as much money as possible on KS. On the other hand, it is undeniable that frustration has increased over time, specifically with the general audience.

Now, it is clear that blaming the public is always the default solution for any talentless person. However, it is naive to deny that the audience plays an important part and is main drive for success (or, as already said, frustration). Basically, putting products in PWYW greatly expanded our audience in terms of numbers, but it certainly put us in front of some problems.

Let’s take reviews and project ratings on DrivethruRPG as an example:

Now it doesn’t take much to understand that not only is the number of these ridiculously low compared to the downloads (in some cases, we are talking about zero reviews and ratings for products that have had hundreds of downloads), but that in some cases those ratings sound a bit “odd.”

Let’s be clear here, too. No one wants a plethora of 5-star reviews from our readers just because it’s us. On the other hand, it is also true that being so appreciated yet seeing very few ratings and reviews, and in some cases even getting scores like three without a proper criticism, is disheartening.

Putting products up for sale and no longer offering PWYW will clearly reduce our future audience. Still, at least we hope that the audience will be more receptive, and even in the case of criticism, it will be justified by having invested.

Now, over the next few months, there will be some changes that go beyond the platform switch. Nothing will be different for you, outside the place where you’ll find us, but we are trying to refocus on the production levels. As I said, we have pondered on multiple fronts.

Still, it was essential to share this experience with you, because we know that several designers follow us and appreciate us for speaking plainly.

Toybox: Wood

A divisive subject among experts on magical matters, some wizards believe the magical manipulation of wood originated as a combination of the elements of Earth and Water, with minor influences from Air and Fire as well. Some practitioners of Wood Magic, however, insist the practice is actually far older than the modern schools of magic, having been taught by Fairies to Druids and Wild Mages long before the standardized categorization of the natural elements.

Regardless of the truth, the element of Wood is primarily considered the prime element of the natural world, allowing those attuned to it to influence the flora around them to wondrous results.

Our good friend Roberto Luna has written some new Wood-element spells for Blood Engine Essential, giving spellcasters a fresh way to turn the tide of battle.

Blood Engine Essential is a full OSR-inspired ruleset, for which we’ve already released an expansion campaign (Abre numa nova janela) and several Toyboxes available here on this Substack. You can download it on Itch.io (Abre numa nova janela) and DriveThruRPG (Abre numa nova janela), currently still as a PWYW (Pay What You Want) title, though it might become a paid release very soon.

Things we loved (or hated) this month

1. This whole AI thing is getting out of hand, mainly when it’s used to squeeze people’s attention and spread misinformation among those who, for various reasons, don’t have the tools to realize they’re being manipulated. This recap from The Conversation (Abre numa nova janela) moves beyond the meme territory and digs into the real reasons why AI Slop is dangerous.

2. Talking about capitalism always feels a bit odd, as if questioning its mechanisms were some futile exercise for socialists with houses on the LA hills. And yet, these are conversations we still need to have, especially when it comes to the things that make us feel good, like creativity. This article by Raven Cross (Abre numa nova janela) remains relevant three years later, and not by accident.

3. If you’ve enjoyed our friend Max Castellani’s thoughts on crowdfunding (Abre numa nova janela) and want to embarrass him by forcing him to make his next game with Lightfish Games, we recommend checking out CYBERDARK RPG (Abre numa nova janela), an OSR-inspired game based on Shadowdark.