Coco's Homebrew Two Year Anniversary

A few days ago (oops) it was the two year anniversary of when I started this patreon! Let's talk about last year and the future.

2020

Well I'm sure you don't need me to tell you this, but last year was crazy. Not only were we all affected by the pandemic, I also had to complete my final year at University during all this craziness, which meant I had to slow my usual upload schedule between February and May while I wrote my dissertation. I graduated in June with a 2:1 Bachelor's Degree with Honours in English Studies. Thanks to covid, I've not been able to do anything with it yet, but at least that has meant I've had plenty of time to work on my homebrew. Despite the pause I had to take, I think I've managed to drastically improve the quality of my homebrew since my last anniversary, both in terms of presentation and design. Here are some of the highlights:

2020 Community Favourite

Last month, I put out a poll to see which of my homebrews from 2020 was your guys' favourite. I only let people vote once, meaning the winner would be the homebrew with the most people who chose it as their #1 favourite from the whole year. I'm pleased to announce that the winner with 25% of the vote was Variant Background Features. Thanks to everyone who voted!

Variant Background Features was an important milestone for me, as it was my first real step towards branching out what kind of content I put out on my patreon. It therefore means a lot to me that you guys had such a positive reaction to it, and has made me a lot more confident about making even more different content in 2021.

While these variant features themselves don't have a huge impact on how you play the game, I think they're more interesting than most of the PhB background features, and (if you use them right) they can often be a lot more useful too. They also give options for types of characters that were difficult to build before, such as artists and students. I'm really happy with them, and I'm glad you guys are as well!

2020 Personal Favourite

There was one thing that kept me sane while I was doing my dissertation and dealing with lockdown last year, and that was designing my first ever full class: the Lycanthrope. Between doing writing, research, reading and having mental breakdowns because of University, this project was a welcome distraction.

With mechanics most comparable to the barbarian, the intention of the lycanthrope was to create a class that allows you to play as an ordinary person who can transform into a terrifying monster in battle. It's a little rough around the edges, but it taught me a lot about designing classes, and I want to once again thank Clockwork Dragon for helping me polish it. I'm hoping to tackle making another class at some point in the future, although given how time consuming this one was I'm definitely going to take a long break before I dive back in!

2021

So, with the future in mind, what's in store for 2021? Well, I'm obviously going to try and continue to further improve the quality of my content, but a more specific goal of mine is to further branch out what kind of content I make this year. In December, I put out a poll asking what kind of homebrews you guys wanted more of this year, and while most voted for subclasses (the thing I already create most frequently), a surprising number of you also expressed interest in more miscellaneous content for players. I've taken that feedback on board and this year I'm determined to release more content that can be used by players than just subclasses and races, so look out for that.

Thank You

Finally, I just want to round this post off by sincerely saying thank you, firstly to my patrons whose financial support is the main reason I'm able to invest so much time into this hobby. Regardless of how much you give me, the mere fact that you're willing to put a single penny towards this patreon is mind-blowing to me, and can't overstate how much I appreciate it. I can never repay your generosity fully, but at the very least you can expect more exclusive content this year which will hopefully begin to show you my gratitude.

I also want to quickly say thank you to those of you who follow me on patreon, tumblr and reddit, and to those of you who share and like my content. Since last year, my following on patreon has doubled, and my tumblr account has reached almost 2,500 followers. That's insane. I remember the battle I had to go through 2 years ago to even get a single like on one of my posts, so I'm immensely relieved things are so much easier now. If it wasn't for you guys and your support, I probably would have given up hope on this long ago, so, with all my heart, thank you.

Love you guys!