What Comes Next - A Gargantuan Announcement!

Most illustrious planeswalkers, patrons of our order and keepers of knowledge, I salute you today bearing many and more news regarding the Codex!

Leaving the George R. R. Martin tone behind (I am obsessed with those books), we just wanted to make a big announcement so you, our long-time supporters and lifeblood of this project, are properly updated on the plans for the future of the City of Strings after the end of the Core XII settings, which are now officially all out!

We'd also love to hear your thoughts on these plans, if you have ideas or suggestions. We'll break this announcement down into three parts: the upcoming Curiosity Tickets system, what you can expect for this month for your priceless support, and how voting / entries will work starting next month, in the post Core XII era.

PART I: Curiosity Tickets, AKA Extra Rewards For Continued Support!

As a reward for continued support of the Codex, and in a bid to make long stays within the City of Strings more rewarding, we're giving out Curiosity Tickets to Archivist+ patrons who maintain their pledge for consecutive months. So, every consecutive month you maintain your pledge after the first, you'll gain an amount of Curiosity Tickets (CTs) depending on your Patreon tier. THIS BENEFIT IS RETROACTIVE! If you've been a supporter for some time, each past consecutive month you've supported us will be added to your CT count.

Archivist: 1 CT per consecutive month.

Threadmaster: 3 CTs per consecutive month.

Stringweaver: 6 CTs per consecutive month.

Master of Strings: 15 CTs per consecutive month.

You may be wondering, what are CTs used for? For the time being, you'll be able to redeem CTs for past entries of the Codex. In the future, we plan to make these redeemable for other things, such as Kickstarter rewards, when we try out such a venture. For now, a Core XII Sourcebook (Deluxe Edition) will cost 2 CTs, a Threadmaster Entry 1 CT, and a Codex Entry 1 CT as well. Find below an explanation of what each of these are:

What are the Core XII? The first twelve Sourcebooks of the Codex of Strings (60-90 pages, usually, with some outliers going over 100), which are rooted in settings, and are indeed named after them. From the Ichorous Peninsula to the City of Strings!

What are Threadmaster Entries? Small-ish sourcebooks (25-40 pages), usually focusing on a single subject. Pantry of the Multiverse is a perfect example, an entry devoted to magical dishes, how to prepare them, and a few other things related to it, such as arcane chef monster sheets and feats for your players to become arcane chefs themselves.

What will Codex Entries be? Equal in length to Threadmaster Entries, we are planning on releasing two Codex Entries per month, starting next month. The subject of them is chosen by you, our Patrons, in a similar way to how the Core XII were handled. More on this in Part III of the announcement!

CURIOSITY TICKETS WILL BE AVAILABLE TO REDEEM STARTING THE 20th OF JUNE, WHEN WE'LL POST A LINK TO AN ONLINE FORMULARY YOU CAN COMPLETE TO CLAIM YOUR LOYALTY REWARDS! 

To close Part I, an example: if you've been a Vault Archivist (10 USD tier) for 5 months, you'll have accrued 4 Curiosity Tickets. With that, you could redeem either two Core XII Sourcebooks, or four Threadmaster Entries / Codex Entries!

PART II: What to expect for the month of June.

Having finalized the Core XII with an absolutely gargantuan, 125 pages long Sourcebook (pretty much 2 normal-sized sourcebooks), we are taking June as a month to build a good, solid foundation for what's to come. We are revamping our systems, updating data tables, and doing a lot of other boring stuff... But, in terms of content for you, here's what you can expect!

Middle of June (20th to the 25th): The many-times-teased tarot inspired Threadmaster Entry, Myriel Genra's Deck of Many Fates, coming in with a bunch of unique subclasses, gorgeous formatting and artwork, and a little something extra! As its category states, it will be immediately available for Threadmasters and up, and available to redeem for Curiosity Tokens or to purchase directly in the Patreon / website Codex of Strings store.

End of June (25th to the 30th): We will be releasing the ARIADNE'S SRD for all patrons, something we've been cooking for some time. This document will be the quintessential Codex of Strings sourcebook, containing updated and rebalanced versions of our past content you know and love; additional DM notes to run it in your games; a compilation of our best optional rules; and some brand new monsters, items, feats and spells we feel should exist to improve upon 5e. Here are some other interesting things about the Ariadne's SRD:

• It will be available to all patrons, and come free with any purchase at our website or Patreon store. We want this to be the basis upon which Codex of Strings content is built, so future entries can reference content from the Ariadne's SRD and improve the variety and quality of our whole catalog.

• We will make it the first Codex of Strings Sourcebook with full VTT (Roll20 and Foundry) support. This support will probably not be available as soon as it releases, but it will be our priority going forward. If you are (or know) a specialist in converting D&D content to these VTTs, we'd love to hear from you! We're looking for partners (paid, of course) to help us manage this conversion as quickly and efficiently as possible. 

• Its rules and content will be available for you to build upon! Anyone who's ever paid for any Codex of Strings content, no matter how big or small the purchase, will be legally authorized to reference and build upon its content, commercially or otherwise. Much like the actual 5e SRD (at least, before Hasbro took over), the intent is to make something for the community to build upon, and take much further than we ever could by greedily latching onto our creations. Kim Diaz Holm, who you may recognize as the amazing artist who made the pieces that illustrate our Allfather's Ink Sourcebook, has inspired this ideology in us.

PART III: What to expect beyond June.

Beginning in July, we will take a more varied approach to the content we produce for the Codex of Strings. Instead of doing just settings, we will strive to offer different kinds of content in the Patreon polls each month, in a similar vein to what the Threadmaster Entries provide. Options in coming polls will include compendiums of a particular type of content. For example, a Codex Entry could be called Cousins of Dragonkind, and provide lore, statistics, and related spells and items for draconic creatures distantly related to true dragons, in a similar vein to wyverns or dragon turtles. Another example could be a deep dive into an Order of the City of Strings, or a thematic collection of sea-dwelling monsters, or a specific quest rooted in an established Codex of Strings setting! The possibilities are almost endless for Codex Entries. In terms of length, they'll go between 25-40 pages each.

We will also be doing remastered editions of Core XII Sourcebooks, as we did with the Ichorous Peninsula! Remastered editions will add ~35 pages of new content to these settings, as well as provide a thorough rebalancing of the things that were left a bit clunky because of our lack of expertise back when they were originally made! We will offer many options each month, and the two most voted will be realized, with the first releasing within 15 days of the vote, and the second 15 days after that. Threadmasters will receive extra content in the form of a Threadmaster Entry each month; business as usual in that regard.

And that is all, friends and supporters of the Codex! We hope this post Core XII direction pleases you, but we'd also like to hear you out if it doesn't. Any thoughts are welcome and will be given the consideration due to the amazing patrons that make the whole project possible.

Cheers, and have an amazing day, all; Initiates, Threadseekers, Archivists, Threadmasters, Stringweavers, and Masters of Strings! <3

Alvar & Marcelo, Founders of the Codex