2021 Free Tools Pledge Drive

I’m thrilled that so many judges and players in the DCC community continue to find great value in the free tools. Whether it's the character generators (nearly 18,000,000 peasants created!), The Crawler's Companion dice-rolling and reference app, our custom spellbook utility, or one of the easy to use demon, dragon, or magic sword generators, each tool has been built with the simple purpose of making it easier for everyone to enjoy the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role-Playing Game!

This year's drive offically begins on July 12th, and ends at midnight on the 17th. (Goodman Games kindly interviewed me previously about the development of the tools: check it out if you want some more background on how this all came to be.)

If you'd like to provide a prize for this year's drive, please contact me before the 12th, and we'll get your generous offering added to the list!

Time Remaining in the 2021 Drive

Why We Have a Yearly Fundraiser

The tools are free, and will always be free. But there are a number of expenses associated with creating, maintaining, testing, publishing, and hosting the free tools, including server costs, development fees, the need for new hardware, mobile devices for testing, and various software expenses. These would be challenging for me to cover, but the incredible generosity that the DCC community demonstrates during our annual drives continues to meet all these needs, and more!

The specific funding and development goals for 2021 remain quite simple, with a little twist: this is the first year where Purple Sorcerer Games is my full-time gig. This year should be the best ever for tools development, and any and all funds raised to support my work will make a huge difference! In a nutshell, Level 1 (raising $1000) will cover basic server costs, fees, and other expenses, Level 2 ($2000) will provide funds for needed hardware/device purchases, Level 3 ($3000) will provide for additional devices and libraries, as well as continuing to beef up the power of the main server. (Year after year I think the current 'device pool' is sufficient, only to be proved wrong by issues on some recently released phone, tablet, or chromebook. Be it 'too hi-res', or 'too low-res', or 'too fast', or 'too slow', or "good grief what's up with this freaky resolution!" there is no replacement for actually testing on the real thing, and each device added to the pool eventually helps out dozens, if not hundreds of users.) Money beyond these levels will help support me in being able to invest as much time as possible on the tools. :)

Giving

To participate in this year's drive, just click on the PayPal button below, and give in any amount you can. You can receive cool rewards! (To get your prizes just provide your preferences in the form at the bottom of the page.)

(As noted below, if you give $10 or more, but less than $40, let me know in the form at the bottom of the page which free adventure you'd like to receive! If you give $40 or more, you'll receive every current Purple Sorcerer title, and you'll be added to the Purple Sorcerer Patron page. If you already have a particular adventure, I'm happy to send codes to a friend's account.)

If you're going to receive a Special Treasure for being a top donor, I'll contact you requesting your list of top choices, as well as your address for mailing physical items. Unless otherwise noted, physical treasures are only available to pledgees in the United States, unless we work out special arrangements. Thanks to all of you who continue to support the free tools!

(To streamline things this year, I'll send out adventure codes and additional personal thanks at the end of the drive in one rush. Thank you!)

Prizes! Prizes! Prizes!

In addition to the amazingly generous folks who give to the drive, there are others in the community who provide stunning, often unique prizes. Many items in this pool of goodies are distributed randomly to lucky winners who donates $10 or more. There are also special treasures that can be claimed by those who are especially generous. (The most generous backer has first choice in this pool, and so on). Each year the prizes are astonishing... details coming soon!

The drive ends on July 19th at midnight. A few straggling donations always coming in until the morning of the next day, so at that time the random prizes will be determined, and I'll begin contacting the most generous donors.

Random Prizes

• In addition to being in the pool to win a random prize, anyone whose donates $10 or more receives a free Purple Sorcerer Games adventure PDF of their choice for themselves or a friend (let me know your adventure choice and DriveThruRPG address in the form below!)
• If you give $10 or more you're also in the running for one of the following random prizes:
  
  • One lucky donor will receive a Purple Ticket!
    (With the Purple Ticket you receive PDF copies of all past and future Purple Sorcerer Adventures for as long as we’re kicking! (Including early-release PDF's unavailable to the general public and at-cost print versions). For Kickstarted adventure titles, Purple Ticket holders receive the PDFs and discounts to upper pledge levels.)
  • Three random supporters will receive the entire current lineup of Purple Sorcerer adventure PDFs!
  • Additional prizes coming soon!
• If you donate $40 or more you'll also:
  • Receive the complete library of PDF Purple Sorcerer Adventures, including our newest offering The Crypt in Cadaver Canyon and the Sullenlands Adventure Omnibus and Guide!
  • Be in the running to win a Purple Ticket!

2021 Development Goals

Development this year is going to be awesome! In addition to the recently released Lankhmar Character Generator, other goals include finishing long-in-development projects like the HTML Version of the Crawler's Companion (eventually with MCC support), Dying Earth Support, the Upper Level MCC character generator, adding Portuguese, German, Spanish, and French labeling to the zero level party generator, integrating the Sorcerer's Grimoire into the Upper Level Generator, and the long percolating Monster Generator, and more! 2021 is going to be incredibly busy.

Last year I invited those who donated to provide a 'small upgrade' suggestion for the generators, and a number of the suggestions made their way into the tools. Features suggested by the community have included:

• Creating 'leveled' character sheets for con play
• Detecting shields in occupation goods, and incorporating them in the character sheet
• Adding shields to the Upper Level Generator
• Making it possible for zero level characters to begin with no items or weapons, so the PC's can begin as prisoners, etc.
• Adding a 'Sanity" or "Fear" circle to a particular character sheet for campaigns with a sanity mechanic
• Adding new dice-rolling methods

Everyone who donates to the pledge drive this year is encouraged to use the form below to send me a "small upgrade" suggestion as part of your pledge. I'll use this list as my to-do tickler when I'm in the mood to make small updates to one of the tools. So think about how you use the tools, and imagine what little enhancement might make your judging life easier. It can be for any of the existing tools: I'm eager to hear from the community to see if patterns emerge!

Your Info

Thank You

The incredible support of the DCC community makes this all possible. Thanks to each and every one of you who supports the free Purple Sorcerer Games tools!

Note: Since the DCC community is so dispersed nowadays, please share the drive in your favorite online haunts to get the word out, and if you’d like to donate something to the prize pool, please let me know: it would be most gratefully welcomed, as I would love to expand this year's pool of prizes!

The Tools in Action

It's always a thrill to see the tools at a table where everyone is having a great time. Last year I whipped together a quick slideshow of images posted in the previous month to the DCC Rocks Facebook group, showing off the tools in action!