Free Memberships and Trapper Tier Changes

While my warhammer bones say no, as the new way of trapper was basically an u official second soldier tier, I do miss the whole feeling a release had in the early days so I applaud this. I personally love how loot studios in the beginning basically had short campaign runs with the same heroes returning twice but with more epic gear as the adventure progresses. I’d love to see that progression here too although I don’t like the four months of the same from soldier and hope trapper won’t feel like that too. I like the stages of a dragon. Especially the very unique dragons which helps you build a campaign around them also for low level characters.

Jeffrey Ernst

Rather than seasons, I would much prefer to have a fairly short adventure/dungeon that I could drop into my longer campaign. Working in a series or season approach makes me worry that there won't be as much variety. As for characters, I love the idea of a more detailed character with a char sheet that I can use as either a PC or the starting point for an NPC. If I read that right, we'd get 4 per month? That sounds awesome. A variety of race/class combos would be amazing, and I would love to be able to vote or send requests for those!

Jazmyn

As much as I love more models, the old style of releases was great, and I'd happily see something more like that.

Josh Rodell

So I do like returning to form. I do hope to still get a good mix of creatures, not so much some BBEG creature. Looking back at past sets, I would say before October 2021 are where my favorite sets are... the trappers, a lodge here and there, some creatures. October 2021 and onward added a lot more, but it seems it's where the groups of "I don't want terrain" "the lodge is too much extra work" "can you make 30 other poses? (aka, soldiers)" and more things came from and maybe muddled the mix and required some playing around to find a good balance. I'm not a wargaming person but I liked the models from last month and switched to the Veteran tier. As I lean more RPG, I think it's a catch 22 on adventure. I love lore behind a unified set but I'm usually the printer and player, where as I have friends who do the GM-ing. And of them, I'd say 3/4 of the time, they make their own story up with a bit of inspiration from existing adventures/campaigns. The more important thing is the stat blocks. So for me, make a story + lore to be the basis of the set... but the story will almost always be ignored after the point (not to be mean, it's just how it works in my circles). So I'm just hoping it doesn't become a huge amount of effort going into something that isn't the models (like, if a slight reduction in adventure settings nets an extra model at the higher quality, I lean towards that). Poses are less important and if you do really want that, I'd probably suggest modulars. As for the monsters, the lodge, and the creatures... that's what originally drew me to DTL. I saw a different comment saying the lodges would be more loyalty items, which is fine as I currently don't have plans to drop my backing any time soon. As for the seasons... I'm not sure I'm a huge fan. It's too easy to be put in the background for 3-4 months because it's a season I (or someone else is) not interested in. I've seen some do kinda a rolling story, where they have a world and build up each area and through some lore element go "they attacked X" and then the next set go "here's a new culture/group, who happened to be allied with X and rushed to defend them". But then if the backers go "oh, I really liked the prior group" they would do a "ok, part 2 set... the combined forces were too much for them, but then their hero arrives" and it's more individules that would be part of a prior set, and sometimes some updates models from that prior set. If a rolling story is too complex, an easier one is doing further planned schedules... and you're basically already doing this. Do a "here's a theme" with some concepts and then for the next month go "continue the theme or new theme". Perhaps it jumps between themes and people start requesting a prior theme again. Just trying to figure out a way to not end up with a low interest theme for 1/4-1/3 a year, especially since there's always the possibility the following season is also low interest. Easier to do those a month or 2 at a time then over a long period of time. Hope that wasn't too rambly or harsh on some aspects. (wow, this looks a lot bigger when copied into the text box...) Also, big dragon fan here, so nearly every dragon and the idea of "wyrmling, young, and adult (ancient?)" gets all my support.

Vinnie Simonetti

For this reason (how the solider tier works) I don't like the idea of seasons for Trapper Tier. I'm on a yearly subscription and I'm ok if one month theme doesn't convince me. If there will be 3-4 months in a row that are not my gem I would be really disappointed. Otherwise, I'm ok with what DTL proposes. I'm here for over 2 years as well and the uniqueness of the models vs. generic RPG was always something that keeps me in here.

Great changes in Max opinion! Dragon Life cycles sound really neat too. One thing that sometimes bothers me is the fragility of some models. For 28mm I often have to do a rescale with makes thin parts very fragile. Maybe there is a way to make those parts a bit thicker in the future? :)

Tabletop_Blacksmith

Those are mostly reserved for loyalty models

The Dragon Trappers Lodge

For me, the problem is really the soldier tier. As if there's a theme that I don't like for several months, I'll be getting a bunch of minis that I won't be using. The trapper tier I do like it when there was four or five trappers and a bunch of monsters and dragons and maybe a little scatter train. But I do like the number that I'm getting as I'm more of an RPG fan than a one-page rules fan. I've never played that kind of game and don't feel like I ever will. To continue down the road of expanding that and cutting off some of the minis from the RPG, I feel like everything that had me sign up for dragon trappers Lodge and stay here for over 2 years is slowly kind of going away. But I do like the idea of the small wurmlings of all the old dragons that we've had

Michael Abraham

Came here to say this, also that sometimes the model details can be almost microscopic, which makes them very fragile and/harder to paint.

I love the idea of getting all the stages of a dragon or big boss monster.

Darrian Talamantes

Loving this idea. I would love to see the dragon life cycle for your dragons. The 3.5 Edition of the Draconimicon got me into role playing and seeing these magical creatures change and grow is amazing. 1000% down for seeing more of that. As for the seasons, it is 6/half a dozen for me. I love having cohesive story for easy of making mini campaigns. I also like one shots. I am sure I will be happy either way. And it is awesome to head back to lored trappers. The werewolf blacksmith has a special place in my heart for that reason.

Roddy Novogradac

Is the plan to discontinue the lodge aspect entirely, or will we ever get lodges in the future? Some of the larger models, like the shack on the back of the bayou turtle have been favorites at my tablen

Austen Weitzel

Legends. This is exciting!

Dragon Daddy

I really do love all the plans you have coming. I'm OK without a dragon every single month ad long as we still get the stunning ones every now and then. I do like the idea if connected sets. It could be cool to do something like what Loot studios has done where having the full set of a series of adventures has its own mini you get for owning them all, even for people who only buy the sets later through stores like my mini factory. As for the life stage of dragons I would personally love that, as I feel it would give a fun way to add some varying levels of danger with an epic dragon that you could scale to a parties level (and then have them face off against mom/dad later on of they did decide to hunt the wyrmling)

Tsand106

noted!

The Dragon Trappers Lodge

Thank you for the feedback. We don't make nearly as much as you think we do and we sometimes actually do have to make decisions between quantity over quality. We always do our best to maximize value for you guys though. I think all artists everywhere would agree though they're better off not hungry haha. Whatever we decide we're gonna do everything we can to make it worth every penny.

The Dragon Trappers Lodge

That could be fine if you only do one or two 3-4 month season a year and the normal format the rest of the time. Make them more of an event and have more creative freedom out of season.

I like the direction it sounds like you are going. I like less models, more detail. Of course we want more dragons, even at different stages! I am trying to improve my painting, so different materials on a model are something I look for. This month has been my favorite, so many models I want to paint!

Absolutely love the continuous story idea running multiple seasons, that would be very cool. One bit of feedback on the "Dynamic poses and textures" comment: please don't go too crazy on the textures as an insane amount of detail makes the model incredibly tedious to paint. I love beautiful models, but I love to paint them more and when it's more of a chore then it just saps the fun out of it. your models are a joy to paint currently and love the balance you currently have with them.

Jared Gill

Yes to everything please. More detailed, storied models (and less of them) with a model for each age of a dragon. And what ever happened to the dragon by request models that can be found in the welcome box, we got one, a brain eater/illithid dragon from memory then no more…

Sean McInnes

trickier to do but still possible. It would mean that options wouldn't roll over month to month though as it would mean we would have to present options that could realistically follow from the previous set.

The Dragon Trappers Lodge

Yes the overwhelming majority of feedback was that they be separate. It was also confusing for people when they weren't distinct.

The Dragon Trappers Lodge

I’m liking the sound of everything. I personally love the monsters so I’m all for more monsters over NPC or PC type models. I would lean towards one shots but it sounds fun to have a big connected adventure. I would as maybe say don’t have the connected adventure as a a hard set rule. But rather if the two different themes happen to work as a part two of the story go for it. As for baby dragons I find them cute but not really necessary. I tend to not print that many dragons myself. As an idea I wonder if you could have a baby dragon instead of your exclusive glow hopper for the month. That way you are still giving people who want the baby dragon’s but not taking them out of the monthly release or shoehorning them into a dragon into a set that it might not work with. Loving everything you guys do. Keep up the work.

I love your models every single month and I hope you continue to grow and prosper. I wish you the best and I'll try to offer my opinion as follows: 1. Nope, don't reduce the number of models or poses. You're at a great number of each. If anything, you should increase you monthly model count and attract many more Patreon, and Tribers. I think you should increase your staff if necessary. You are continuously growing so your staff should also. I conservatively estimate you're earning well over $60k monthly. A hungry artist is a fantastic artist, while a rich artist is an arrogant and lazy one. I think you are a fantastic group of artists providing beautiful artwork/models and that's why I've been a non-stop supporter for the last 30 month. Please continue as you are or improve by providing us with much more content not less. 2. Quality is always better but let's not use that as an excuse to create less models. Let's grow the group inside and out. 3. Yes, less generic and more unique individual models are wonderful and that will make you stand out even more than you already do, and you're pretty darn good now. 4. Yes, a much more focused story will be excellent, but I would try to add a few existing characters/models that will add to the story and possibly motivate others to purchase some of these pre-existing models and maybe even the entire term. I for one would love to use and reuse models I already have, and I have most of them. The ones I don't have, I'd buy. 5. No, characters with lots of poses are not "bland" they probably provide the most versatility to use in various situations especially RPG adventures of many types. 6. Absolutely not, you should absolutely provide a Dragon every single month. It is called the "The Dragon Trappers Lodge" after all. It's pointless to not have a badass Dragon every single month. It would be false advertising. I would even prefer to have a monthly Dragon with all its life stages i.e., Wyrmling, Young, Adult, and Ancient in multiple poses of each. The gorgeous Dragons are the main reason to support "The Dragon Trappers Lodge". Also, a season sounds like a good idea but consider someone who's not into that series? For example, if someone already has several mushroom terms from other providers then 3 to 4 more terms of the "The Mushroom Bayouone" is way too much to stay for. I truly hope for your growth and success so I can reap the benefits of your wonderful and beautifully designed models. Thank you for your hard work. I appreciate it every month. Ramiro

Ramiro Carrasco Jr.

I love everything you've laid out and think you've nailed the direction. Regarding the last part you're mulling over, maybe a combination of the two but treat it as a "choose your own adventure" each month. During the vote for each month you say "this is where the story left off. Where do you want it to go next?" That way we're not locked in for several months like the Incandriox set, even if the themes will be varied.

Making models for the age of the dragon is actually amazing and I am all in for it. I want to see a wyrmling mimic dragon. I would pay to own a baby mimic dragon

1. Love this change; if given the choice between 5 poses of the same model or 5 different models, I'd choose the latter. I know that doesn't perfectly translate, as I'm sure posing takes less work than sculpting, but you get me. Maybe it'd translate to 2-3 unique models in lieu of 5 poses per, and that's still a win to me. 3. Love it. I love having a story baked into a character, otherwise they're just an NPC (and I have STL Miniatures for that!). 4. One thing I love from Loot Studios is their props, magic items, etc. If you're looking at goodies, this would fit right in with magic items in the adventure or other relevant items, such as a trinket from a missing person that the party is tasked with finding, or masks or other outfit pieces from a group/cult/organization of interest. 5. Would love to have more player-race models from DTL, is that kind of what you're thinking, more or less. I'd like sets kept as separate modules/one-shots that can be built into my own campaign, rather than having continuity. I also love the monthly voting, and I'd hate to see that go away in favor of longer themes that I don't care for. I think it makes more sense in Soldier Tier, but I would like more diversity from Trapper & I think some of that comes from the monthly theme votes. Plus, most Patreons I subscribe to have removed that feeling of involvement in the themes, I like that I have that here and can influence what I want to see from you guys, while trusting that the themes I get to choose from are unique and thoughtful. So that even if I lose the vote, I know you guys will turn it up to 11. I don't so much care about getting a "full" set of a dragon's lineage in each set, it feels like another risk of being pigeon-holed into themes like you said the lodges were starting to turn into. Maybe this would fit better into the loyalty, like maybe some of the loyalty rewards are actually a few models of similar theme/ancestry (2x a year maybe)?

Andrew Boggs

I'm good with what ever you all decide to do regarding the story side of it. I sub as merchant but as far as my personal use goes I mainly sub for the trapper tier. I love your models each and every month any story is a bonus for me be it one shots or a longer one

I would much prefer if the soldier and trapper tiers were no longer treated as completely separate subscriptions but instead worked together. Soldier tier gives the army but trapper tier gives the npcs / named characters / players etc and a module based on it. That way both camps are happy, you stretch yourself less thin and the army's lore is fleshed out a lot more. I thought that was where DTL was heading when we were getting Dragons War lore drops with armies but now it seems that the tiers are completely divided.

David Halstead

I love the idea of connected themes in a season and also evolving minis (both baby monsters growing older, but also maybe monsters being controlled by enemies, getting killed and reanimated later, or getting infused with magic, fungus or crystals for example) Also this would make it possible to get a loyalty model connected to the theme as well. Maybe some epic enemy or other campaign target (epic monster, building, location or artifact?)

Jan Vogelaar

While I am a fan of the seasons, I can see where that wouldn't be preferable to others. I do like the idea that over 3-4 sets we get wyrmling to ancient dragons, whether the story is a season or not.

cadenheadr04

I wouldn’t like to see seasons, but rather month by month one shots. As an annual sub, potentially having 3-4 of the months already paid for not be useful or interesting would suck. That can already happen with the current system, but month-by-month voting means that at the very least you’ll get a good variety. I think that keeping followups to a similar format to the current structure (a pt. 2-x entering the vote when you guys have ideas for it), would be preferable.