Just as the title says, I’m working on a fetish content pack for a tabletop rpg rule set. Were I further along, I’d be advertising this in the actual table top section but for now I’m looking to poll some opinions. I’m planning on making a discord server as a main hub from my project but am unsure if it would be better to advertise my project and server now or once I have a true v0.1 ready for release. Right now, I don’t feel like I have enough content ready to tease a release but my own excitement for my module makes me want to share my enthusiasm. Given I have no idea how to properly advertise my project, I want see if there’s any interest on what is effectively a promise of future content with not much to immediately show.
Would you join a discord server for a project with no released content?
I honestly don’t understand the reason to have a separate Discord for a project unless you are using it to actually coordinate development among multiple developers. You’re here, on a forum about designing games within this niche - so why move somewhere else? Every additional step away from where people already are makes people less likely to engage, and so unless this winds up being something truly remarkable (and you currently say there isn’t much to show) you probably aren’t going to have many people opt to follow you.
I actively recommend doing your development on the forum itself, especially if you’re looking to get input and raise interest. It’s made for that purpose too, and you’ll get a wider array of people looking at it/a wider slate of opinions that way.
The main reason for having a server for something like this is to allow people to run their own campaigns or one-shots in a controlled space. It helps any projects or content that people make to tag along with my own feel less sketchy. Additionally, using a discord server to interact with people helps keep feedback or discussion of the system more organized and easier for me to sort through.
What system is it for though? Also, I don’t think putting different fetishes in the same content pack is a good idea. Not everyone will like all the content in the pack. You should split them into a pack for each fetish.
The system is Tales of the Valiant. If you’ve heard of Project Black Flag, it’s the same system. The module is meant to be D&D 5e but improved upon by the one of the biggest 3rd party suppliers for 5e content, ie The Kobold Press. It’s not out yet but they’ve posted a steady stream of alpha builds showing off their major plans for the system. As for the fetish content, I’ve seen surprising success for other modules that mix fetish content together. Adipea’s variant of ED&D has a lot of traction with vore, inflation, weight gain, and lactation bundled all into one system. Most players that don’t want to use certain content will just skim right over it.
Speaking from experience: designing kinky content for D&D-like systems can be a real hassle. More so with each additional kink you add to the mix. The narrower your focus, the better.
As for playtesting, finding DMs is never easy! Until you’ve found some, I wouldn’t count on other people running games through such a server. Especially with someone else’s WIP ruleset.
I recognize the concern you have but this was something I had already considered. My current working philosophy was to start simple with a fullness system and then have everything else branch off of it. Each fetish isn’t going to be some independent system to keep track of but will instead connect back to each other in logical and easy to follow ways. I recognize that me saying this doesn’t mean much with having shown anything. Unfortunately due to the holiday season I havent had enough freedom to expand my bullet points of notes into proper rules yet.
I’d be very interested in seeing more systems based around expansion of any kind. Gone through so many of them I started making more subclasses for ExpanD&D that fit more what I wanted. I’d be curious to read and give feedback once you’ve released some content though as (from some experience) it’s very tough to make a solid system for this kind of content.
That’s good to hear. I’m hoping to have at least the basic rules of the system out around the time Tales of the Valiant actually releases. There probably wouldn’t be new subclasses just yet but I have very (very) many ideas planned for them. Just haven’t be able to write them all the way out yet. Given the responses so far, you’ll probably see me advertise the server and the module at the same time rather than just an empty server.
Welp, got the email last night but Tales of the Valiant has been delayed from late January to May. Looks like I jumped the gun a little about looking to get a server running either way