Small Commerical Use (Patreon)

Another post today but this one is a little boring and not directly related to any new maps or new content. Instead I'm going to talk about freely giving away content here on patreon. I started working full time on maps and Blue Sword Games in Sep 2017. While I do not make much from doing this compared to a full time job, on the bright side, every month more people support me here on patreon. I recieve more recognition and commissions and I can see my income going up and up. I think this is because of two main reasons. The first is the content itself, which people seem to really enjoy and find useful and the second is that I don't have any content locked behind patreon supporter reward tiers and just put everything out there for people to use. 

However, I was watching a stream by Devon Rue yesterday and the question of commercial licences and free maps came up, which sparked me to make these changes. First of all, nothing is changing in general. Maps, tokens, etc are still free to use for personal and commercial projects but things are going to be a little bit more specific and there are now exceptions. 

Previously I had no terms and conditions per say regarding my maps and you could use them regardless of the project. However I realised that by doing this someone could take my artwork, put it on redbubble or some other site and sell t-shirts, bags or mugs and receive all of the profit. This hasn't happened yet as far as I'm aware but it would be pretty heartbreaking to see someone making money in that way without any extra effort on their part from my work. 

So from now on, all my work is available under a small commercial use licence. What does this mean exactly? “Small commercial use” in this sense is considered anything made in small quantities by an individual or small business (i.e. websites, online articles, modules, adventures, campaigns, etc). You are not authorized to use these files for redistribution in part or whole for free or for sale as art or part of an art collection, for print-on-demand designs, or mass distribution/production.

I might receive quite a few questions regarding this so here’s a couple I can think of now: 

You can use my work in almost all projects related to tabletop RPGs this includes for modules, adventures, campaigns etc sold on DM’s guild or DrivethruRPG. There are currently no projects that I'm aware of that are violating this so odds are nothing changes for any of my current patrons. 

If you are running a large business or kickstarter, and intend to mass produce books that include my art you will have to discuss this with me to work out either a paid license to do so, or my permission. This is very dependant on the project and its best to email me at blueswordgames@gmail.com for stuff like that. 

Part of my commision prices include an exclusive license that allows you to use the artwork in any way you see fit, that artwork is yours once its paid for and delivered. That artwork does not come under small commercial use. However you can ask about a discount depending on the project so that I can also release here on patreon for the public to use which will then come under small commercial use. 

I will be updating the main page on patreon plus the FAQ with all this new information after I post this. Hopefully this makes sense to people and you can understand why I had to make the change! If you are a current supporter and want to talk about anything in more detail head over to the discord server or send me a msg here on patreon! 

Thank you so much to all the recent supporters that have found and followed me recently and have a great weekend everyone! :)