As a hobby gamer we often look to put our money towards those that we believe have similar ideals and we want to help live the dream.
“What dream is that? “you might ask. Well it is the dream of living off of your work through RPGs. Whether it is making new systems every month (you know who you are out there) or creating exciting art for use of anyone who supports, releasing new adventures to bring your players through each month, or even sometimes there are those that do not have a regular release schedule that are just cool enough to support anyways. Regardless of what you’re looking for there are plenty of people out there that can make your couple bucks worth your while.
I will provide links to those developers as well as a little info about why I feel they are worth plopping your hard earned cash down for. In no particular order…
1. Vaults of Vaarn
Leo, a former novelist (still writing novels, perhaps?) has imagined a beautiful world and occasionally releases small adventures that can be run in Vaarn (or elsewhere).
Vaarn is a science-fantasy setting for tabletop RPGs and speculative fiction. It draws from numerous sources, but primarily the work of Gene Wolfe, Dan Simmons, Frank Herbert, Moebius, and Decadence Comics.
Here is an excerpt from Leo’s blog listing some influences
if any of these whet your appetite then you’ll be happy to support this Patreon for the lore updates, PDFs and updates. There are also two higher tier options which offer physical mailings of the PDFs and exclusive backer only art.
2. Order of the Black Oath
I would never live down not mentioning Alex T’s Patreon for Blackoath Entertainment. Alex releases weekly updates to fill you in on everything he is doing. He writes and releases new games almost monthly, while still working on the bigger games like his soon to be released Across a Thousand Dead Worlds, which was Kickstarted earlier this year.
With a major focus on Solo RPGs anyone looking for a backlog of wonderful games well produced with art from incredible artists around the world, you do not need to look any further. (Also Blackoath has an amazing discord community if you’re interested in learning from and talking with some of the industries leading personalities.)
For additional information on what you can expect check out this post from September of this year.
3. Perplexing Ruins
Whether you are a fledgling RPG designer or an experienced designer looking for easy to use art, you need not look any further than my pal Perplexing Ruins‘ Patreon. A super chill artist and game designer who releases new art frequently, like often multiple times a month. You are free to use the art and all he asks for in return each month is a few measly bucks. When I finally get around to making my first independent RPG product (in a million years or so perhaps?) I know i will have every piece of art I could need from this Patreon alone. And it is all really good too. To see an example of some simple spot art you need not look any further than my homepage banner at the top of the page.
Oh and if you need something specific, Perplexing Ruins often asks for suggestions and you may just get a really good deal on art for your work. Though I’m sure if you asked he would be happy to commission something for you too!
4. Nordic Weasel
Miniatures games with miniature agnostic rules. Written and crafted in an easy to print format with rules that often go can be used as solo games or games with your friends. Ivan Sorensen releases a stream of updates and play test material frequently with access to new games as he writes them. IF you’ve ever wanted to grab some chess pieces and just try out miniature war gaming or if you’ve been playing for years and have a plethora of miniature armies waiting to be played, then Ivan probably has written a game for it, and if he has not yet there is probably one on the way or at least in his brain floating around. With regular updates you can guarantee that there will be a few things each month to make your few bucks worth dropping in Ivan’s pocket!
There are over something like 300 titles at Wargame Vault (and drivethruRPG) under Nordic Weasel’s name. If you would like to be on the forefront of these items as they are being created and be able to give feedback then this is the place for you, you will never want for another wargame again whether your looking for sci fi, fantasy or historical!
5. Bastionland
Chris McDowall’s Patreon offers a behind-the-scenes monthly video where he explains what he has been up to and what he is working on as well as what he plans to be working on in the near future. Aside from this you get the opportunity to playtest anything he is currently working on. You receive early access to his blog posts (usually a week before they are posted publicly). Chris has helped to change and define the face of the RPG landscape with his ground breaking Into the Odd rules. If you are interested in learning more about what he has going on at any given time you cannot go wrong here. Plus he is just a cool dude, so there is that.
6. Questing Beast
If you are here at my blog and have never heard of Questing Beast I will eat my shoe. I’m sure you have heard of or at least seen a video or two. Ben Milton’s empire of QB started as a map making streaming page on YouTube. His empire has extended to a creating RPGs as well as a constant stream (not the twitch kind) of reviews for OSR games, zines, adventures, etc. for the independent RPG game industry. His famous Glatisant newsletter even featured a post from this blog once and received the most views on this blog to date. Supporting Ben in his venture to provide reviews of RPG products will gain you access to early versions of games he is creating (like Knave 2.0 at the time of this writing), early access to most of his videos, and a warm feeling of supporting a middle level educator (much like myself but way more successful in this field we find ourselves in).
7. The Gauntlet
The Gauntlet is more of a lifestyle than just an RPG publisher. We are looking at a community of creators and gamers whose major goal to play in a completely inclusive space where all (except Nazis) are respected and welcomed. Joining this Patreon will give you access to currently released games. The backlog of old Gauntlet Publishing is removed after a certain length of time which helps to keep people from joining for just grabbing all the old stuff and running. This may be controversial for some but i feel it allows the community to protect themselves from people looking to pay once and grab everything then leave. I am totally okay with this as it is okay to expect hat creators should be rewarded for their work and this encourages you to purchase backlogs from DrivethruRPG or their other sources of their games.
As far a material you get from The Gauntlet you will receive updates on ongoing projects, beta releases of certain projects, Codex Magazines that are released occasionally which contain games, scenarios and other playable materials that fall into the story game universe.
Games from the Gauntlet Publishing family include Trophy Dark, Trophy Gold, Brindlewood Bay, The Between, Hearts of Wulin, and Codex Magazine. There is also a calendar that is regularly used for gaming, and joining the Patreon can give you an advantage when signing up for games. If you are looking for a welcoming community that takes their story games seriously (NOTE: a large focus is on story games but definitely not the only focus).
8. Brooklet Games
Jim Hall has a slew of games that have seen play at my house. Monthly adventures, a discount to their own store for physical games, isometric maps, and access to games that have been published in the past. I do not have a lot to say about this one except the value is there for your buck. Jim has some great stuff to offer the RPG community and keeping a few extra bucks in his pocket will help keep him giving us more stuff in the future.
9. Gallant Knight Games
Alan Bahr is a staple in the RPG community. As an award winning publisher of many RPGs you cannot go wrong supporting this man in his quest to publish every game that he has ever wanted to publish. Admittedly he makes the games he wants to play, and you will most likely want them as well. With everything he is constantly writing and creating and drawing, and yeah probably dozens of these each year, try to keep up with everything he is doing! One way to do that is to support his Patreon.
10. WizardThiefFighter
When I think of the current state of independent RPGs and when I was just joining the conversation and getting into games that were beyond the Dragon games, I think of Luka Rejec. Waiting for his work on UVG to come out was one of the things that kept me interested in the new world of Indie RPGs. His work is well known across the multiverse and his art is usually what one will find on my desktop or phone background (though currently it is Perplexing Ruins, just to point out that I am fickle).
Luka is currently putting together a system called SEACAT. This is a rehash of Luka’s rules form Ultra Violet Grasslands. He is currently working on a UVG 2.0, in case you had not heard yet, there are previews that can be gathered on the Patreon. Luka also often posts fresh new art as he makes it.
A note, when the Pandemic hit Luka and I (along with many others in his Patreon) were in touch frequently, and this is one of the reasons that I continue to support WizardThiefFighter, he is just a cool dude and so approachable. In a time when the world felt like it was ending Luka was one of the friends I felt attached to in the world. I’m sure he probably has very little recollection but him providing a place for me to yell into the void about the state of the world.
There is some great art if your into that. Also Luka has great insight and his writing is always fun to read. Just a cool dude out there making what he loves.
Also Art.
BONUS 11. Friends at the Table
Not necessarily a creator of RPGs. Friends at the Table (Faat) is a podcast and community playing cool games in an inclusive way. Totally one of my favorite RPG Podcasts out there. This group of friends sitting around a table (virtually) completely changed my view of how RPGs can (should?) be played. The idea of what a story game was never really hit me until I heard them play. I love them and you will too if you give them a try (hopefully).
Their Patreon will give you access to many hours of extra content in different worlds and behind the scene stuff, but will never keep you from enjoying the main feed. There are stories that move the soul! and there are hilarious goofs that happen on the regular as well. The show has some stories that come and go as the group plays different systems, worlds and times.
Games played throughout the series include many different story games. There are Sci Fi and Fantasy games. You do not need to support them to listen to amazing things, but it never hurts.
Double Secret Bonus 12. Highland Paranormal Society
HPS is a wonderful resource for those seeking royalty free art, one page adventures, mini rules light games, or just some cool maps for turning into your own whatever. If you are not familiar with Nate’s work, well you probably should be. There is no need for further discussion, just go and give them a few bucks each month. You will not be sorry!
The End, For Now
There you have it, my top 10, (nope) 11, now 12 mostly RPG Patreon creators you should support. It is a short list that I feel confident everyone should be able to find something to whet their taste. I started on a focus with looking for the “small guy” but may have given in to some of the relatively bigger names in Indie RPG. I hope you’ll forgive that. I hope you enjoy all the new things you find in each and every Patreon you support now or choose to in the future. As I find more I may choose to make new lists, if you have a favorite Patreon page that you follow feel free to let me know and I’ll give it a look. I’m not opposed to making a new post or eve updating this one in the future.
Derek Bizier, the now broke Halfling Master
Already need to add another Patreon, I only published 10 minutes ago.
13 (My personal Lucky Number) Between Two Cairns
If your a Podcast dork like me you may notice that an interesting duo has popped up in the last few months to give us honest reviews of adventures from the NSR. and immediately after posting this I saw that Yochai just (reluctantly) put out there that there are going to be stickers available. To get one you just need to support their Patreon to help fund the hosting and production of the podcast itself. There will not be a pay wall that hides any content, this is just a kind way to help support a couple of guys doing some good in our community. So here is my Baker’s Dozen Pitch for a patreon you should support!
The Halfling's Hoard 