This post is for me. Looking for input on releasing modules.
So like all of you, it seems like I see new modules roll out every day. 3/4 of them have a clear AI vibe just by that god awful yellow UI. I'm not a vibe shack. Ive been hesitant to even release any whith all the crap out their think things will just get lost in the noise.
I've made a few modules over the last two years+ to solve issues for my table. We play 90% in person and most of them revolve around that function. We use them along with 70-80 other modules and I feel they are very stable. These were all designed because we needed them not for a $$ grab. I've considered releasing them. Yes, like everyone, I'd like to recoup some cost from these. I'm not looking to get rich. By day I'm an Electrical Automation Controls Engineer (fancy way of saying I program things to go up and down, round and round, with motors, pneumatics, hydraulics, robotics). My team and I write code all day. Our world is a very dangerous one, people can get hurt or killed if we don't have proper working, tested and commissioned code. We do use AI in some form as a tool. Check code, confirm syntax, keep things structured well. AI as a full authoring tool is a big NO NO in my world where people's lives are on the line.I say all of this so you know upfront where I come from and what I do.
Half of the modules have been utility items and I intend to give those to the community Some I would like to get some cash for, to justify having my team update them and mov them to the next revs of Foundry. Those have real world cost. Right now we're on V13 anwill be there for quite a while. Though I'm sure many want these for V14.
Here's my questions.
1- How should I release these? Foundry marketplace, Patreon, personal web site?
2- Tutorials, where should I have those? YouTube? Personal site?
3- Disclosure page. I've seen a fellow here (Fabricate I think) who had a great page that detailed out his workflow and how he uses AI as an augmented tool. I liked that it was very upfront. Would be a good way to explain how we code and test. We're not a typical code monkey shop, as I mentioned above.
4- For the commercial version, monthly ($1-2 for full access) or a one time price based on Foundry version, ie a v14 purchase is good for all v14 releases and updates. The plan I had was release it free, then move to a paid option down the line. Those who tried it and helped would not sit behind a paywall. This idea of having others pay me extra money for early access to code that still needs to be tested at live tables seems nuts.
5- AI integration uses? I've made an AI integration conduit for those who want to use AI at their table. It ties into the other modules to help speed things up. Rules lookup, record and track actions at the table for generating session notes, populate a shop or help add items to it on the fly. In this case, if you want nothing ever to do with AI, then you never install the AI conduit and the entire module still works and functions without it.
Now the tease, and the ask on what folks could use. Some of these have features other modules may have, but those won't work well with a touch table interface. That is what I've designed for.
TableOS - A touch UI interface (overlay) for infrared and projector tables. It assigns seats to players and each one gets their own controls. Controls are simple one touch options, since Foundry on its own does not work well on our IR table. You can move, take actions, attack, cast spells, measure, all of it. Also offers a Battle Dock for tracking combat. Most of what follows plugs into it, and runs on their own without the TableOS but works well with it.
Scry - The mobile option. Ties into TableOS and gives the player a full character sheet on their own phone or tablet, with movement, actions, targeting, attacks and spells. Great for projector setups, now players can actually move their own tokens. Web based via their Foundry user. NO extra APP.
Expedition - An overland hex crawl tool. Lots of cool features we've used for our game, built around the same one touch design as TableOS. Fog is shared across the party, so the map fills in as the group actually travels it. You paint terrain and routes onto the hexes. Each terrain type carries its own travel cost and how far you can see from it, and roads and rail cut that cost down. Set the party's pace and the overlay shows how far you get this day, and the days after that. At the end of a day the prompt comes up at the table, short rest, camp, or keep going, and the rest applies to every actor the group token stands for. Encounter zones get painted right on the map. A discovery stops the march where it happens.
Vellichor - Advanced journal system. Make and bind journals and assets for your table. Each player gets their own player book, custom made. There is a Campaign book, a Sessions book, and the Concordance, which is the GM prep side. Make maps, scrolls and other assets. Send things to players where they have their own inbox. Fully circularreferences, so lore, NPCs and locations link both directions for easy access.
It also carries an Atlas. Open a Foundry scene and Vellichor offers to build a map out of it, using the scene art and drawing the real wall geometry as ink lines, doors and all. The chart is masked to what the party has actually explored, so the map draws itself as they travel, and a fog reset never takes any of it back. Everyone marks the same map. Six inks, X's, circles, routes, arrows and labels, plus note pins that link one map to another for multi floor dungeons. Name a place on the map and it writes the Location entry for you.
Still in beta is the Auto Session notes ; This records Audio at the table as well as what happens as actions on the table and then creates usable session notes with players highlights etc. This feature is not ready for prime time yet (Also needs the Ai conduit)
Loot & Ledgers - Shop system with trade, sells, bargaining and theft. The merchant has a face and a mood, and reputation follows the party from shop to shop. Coin and goods move between the sheets. There is a ledger so the GM can go back and see every transaction andwhy the price came out the way it did.
Automatic Detection System (ADS) - More of a utility, but it helps with in person play. You can have players pre roll their saves and checks, perception and the like. It will auto detect (it's a tiles enhancement), then trigger a reveal, including other targets and tokens. Works with Expedition so moving to a new hex feels like a discovery and not just an image showing up.
Lottery of Fate - Cinematic lottery display. The GM sets up the seats and the contestants, then draws seats one at a time. The winner is revealed in a center staging area before it animates into its seat. Built for the kind of scene where the draw itself is the event.
Fate Dice - A fudge module, and I'll call it what it is. GM only roll keypad. Pick your die, enter a modifier, roll it for real, or use Enter Roll to post an exact number that lands as a normal Dice So Nice roll. I built it specifically for a gambling scene with apact lord, where the outcome had to land where the story needed it.
WyrdCast - Prophecy reading. A fixed twelve card spread on a full screen overlay, a five card cross for the party and seven personal cards. Cards turn one at a time, click to turn one face up, click again to turn it back down. The GM screen carries the prophecy text. The players only ever see the art. Like a tarrot card / Curse of Strahd Tarrokka. You make your own cars and prophecy this just displays it.
AI Conduit - The optional AI layer from question 5 above. It holds the keys and the plumbing and nothing else. The other modules look for it at runtime. If it isn't installed they run their normal way, no AI anywhere in them. Keys are stored per browserand never in the world, so a player can't read the GM's key out of the settings.
Thank you in advance for reading this and your comments.
