Announcement - New Patreon Tiers (Patreon)

Hey everyone!

I wanted to give this announcement last week to give you all a bit extra time, but the universe had other plans lol.

I'll go right into it, but I'll give an explanation afterward.

Starting next week (on the 31st), I'll be expanding the Patreon tiers. We currently only have the basic tier, and that tier won't change. The number of chapters and the price won't change.

So for next month, we will have 2 new tiers. My goal is to eventually have 4 total tiers, but I'll explain why that isn't happening rn. So here are the new Patreon tiers

Current Tier(base tier): Explorer - No change

More than just the benefits, these two next tiers are ways you have to support me even more with the story. This is currently my main source of income (I'm from Brazil, and with the conversion is enough to survive), but having more money not only my life would get better, but I would be able to use that money to make MAZE better, with artwork, advertisement, maybe classes to help me improve my writing. It's not going to be a situation where every cent goes back to the novel, but still.

New Tier (Tier 3): Legacy Holder (10$), You will have access to everything from the previous tiers, including any side content I publish, and will be able to vote for the side story that I will make for the next month. In addition to all that, you can also have an OC in the world of MAZE. You can set their appearance, their level, and how they will show up in the story. They can be part of a dungeon or a person who is dealing with their own stuff (depending on the situation, it might take a while for them to show up. If Hera is stuck somewhere or in places where no one has ever been before, for instance) I'll have a character sheet on the discord that you guys can take a look at to have a better idea about what you can do with your character.

New Tier (Tier 4): Guide (35$)  You will have access to everything from the previous tiers, including the OC cameo plus something else. The ability to create not just your own room in the MAZE but also its guide. When you make a room, there will be a story spanning at least 4 chapters in your room (that may or may not include dungeons) and another chapter where someone talks to the guide. I'm saying someone will talk with them, but it's more likely that that person is Hera, but if you want, you can ask for it to be a different character. Maybe it's Becca who is traveling through that room, and the guide shows up talking with Peaches or another guide. Maybe it will be Shane or a new explorer character that will talk with them.
As an example of what you might expect, the Abyssal Deep and Lodi was a room created by a pair of good friends of mine as a 'test run' of sorts. They came up with the place, how it looked, and what happened there, and I added some details to make sense in the world of MAZE, all with their permission, of course, and the dungeons to explain what happened. There were some things that were a surprise, like the Anemoray and the underwater temple, but those were more to drive the story forward than anything else. Does that mean that your room may span 50 chapters like that one? It is a possibility, but it may also be something like the Belly of the Beast, where they just pass by, find a couple of things, and leave (the Belly of the Beast wasn't created by someone else, it's just an example) just like the OC cameo I will have a full 'sheet' that you can use as a base to create the room, and the guide, on discord.

Now for the explanation.
Ever since I started Patreon, I wanted to have a setup like this, and you might have noticed that I skipped tier 2. That's the whole reason why it took so long. I wanted to have a tier 2 where you spend 5$ to have a month's worth of advanced chapters (16 chapters), but I was never able to be enough ahead on my writing to get that. Because of that, I never expanded the tiers. But earlier this month, I came to the realization that not having more chapters shouldn't affect the more expensive tiers since they are, by definition, something that only those who want, and more importantly, are able to support the novel in a 'bigger' way.  I'm not saying this to shame anyone or complain, but I understand that each of us has our own situation, and maybe among the readers, there are those who have more money to spare and are willing to use that money to support MAZE or any future novel I have planned. Does that mean I like those who pay more? Of course not. I like all of you equally, and what really warms my heart is seeing you all talk about the story, discuss theories or just yell at me for making the characters forget something obvious.

So that's that. That's the change that will go live on the 31st, and you guys can choose to change your tier or not. Either way, I want to thank every single one of you for your continued support. You are all amazing!

Oh, two last things.
First, I'll have a Q&A channel on discord for anyone who wants to ask a question about all of this, and I'll add those questions to the Patreon as I see and answer them.  As well as add a few questions that I already think some might have.

Second, Tier 2 would be called 'Named Explorer', costs 5$, and have double the amount of advanced chapters that the explorer tier has (so 16 in total for a full month ahead of the free release). This is still very much part of the plan, but I don't know how long it will take for me to get there. Hopefully, it won't take long, but since I've been struggling with this part for a few years already, I'm not going to make any promises.

Q&A:

Q: if I want to change tiers, do I have to cancel and resub?
A: No, Patreon is able to do that for you. If you are currently at one tier and try to change it. All you have to do is check the membership options, and Patreon will update the price you pay every month, charging only the difference for the month you made the change and then full price next month.

Q: If I pay the higher tier for more than one month, can I have more than one character/room?
A:  Character, yes. Room, not really. Adding a character or even a party is easier. It only takes a moment when there are more people around, or for Hera to be in a dungeon for your OC to potentially show up. For a room/guide, that takes a lot more effort and planning. I have to figure out where the room will be, its connections, and how that room will be able to show up in the story. I know it doesn't sound like it very much at times, but there are rules about the connections between two rooms. Not to mention that if a lot of people get this tier, time becomes an issue. 4 people having their own rooms would already cover enough content for an entire month. So if you want to make a second room, you'll have to talk to me before getting the tier, then I can check if that is a possibility. All of this means that if you pay for the guide/legacy holder tier for 1 month, you will get these benefits even if you change your subscription or cancel it later. It's a one-time pay thing, not a mandatory subscription. Of course, I won't complain if you want to continue at the highest tier, but that is entirely up to you.

Q: How long will I have to wait to see my room/Character?
A: For characters, I'll make them appear as soon as I can, and it makes sense. I don't want to shoehorn them and make it unnatural to the story, but I also have no problem with getting a small spotlight for them during some interaction in a city or something. For rooms, it might take a while longer. It will depend on the plans but don't worry. If you get the guide tier for a single month, you will get your room even if you change tiers later. I won't be prickly about that and demand that you stay on the guide tier for however long it takes for your room to appear. The same applies for the characters. Even if you change or cancel your subscription before getting the benefit, you will still get it.

Q: Those are expensive tiers. Aren't you being too greedy?
A: Not really. I mean, one way or another, this is art. And the price of artwork is subjective. I was thinking about how much I would charge people if they wanted me to write fanfic or ghostwrite a few chapters, and I reached those values. I feel comfortable with that and stand by these values.

Q: You mentioned other novels. Do you have something else in the works?
A: I DO! I have a story that is a bit different from MAZE that I'm working on. It will focus on monster hunting instead of exploration and discovery, but I think it will be a lot of fun. It will still have a system, and it's set in a post-apocalyptic world where humanity fought in a war against… something else, and lost. I'll share more about it when I can, and the idea would be to post both stories at the same time having 3 chapters each each week. (so 6 chapters a week in total)  but to do so, I need to be able to do that consistently, which is still not working. But hopefully, soon I can say more about it.

Q: Whats the discord server?
A: You can join through this link: https://discord.gg/eqdmMfm

Q: Where are the sheets you mention?  
A: I'll be adding a new channel on discord for each of them in the next couple of days. i'm just doing this in parts so I can keep up with the novel.

Q: I already give enough every month for one of those tiers, how can I get the benefits?
A: So, this is a bit tricky. I don't know if Patreon will understand right away that you should be in a higher tier. However, if you don't get automatically placed there, you should be able to go change the tier and not get charged by the change, since Patreon will understand that you already pay that amount and give it as a 'discount' on checkout. If that doesn't work let me know. For now, if this won't be much of a problem. If Patreon doesn't update things I can give the benefits manually. But if we end up having things that won't be avaliable for some tiers that might be a problem. Either way, we cross that bridge when we get there. 

Q: I have another question that you didn't answer here. Can I ask it? A: Of course! You can either go to discord and ask it in the 'New-patreon-tier-qa' channel, or ask it here in the comments. I'll answer it and add to the list