Patreon's 8%

At some point, I lost track of the slow and steady increases in how much Patreon was taking from it's clients, not realising this had risen to 8%.  A supporter asked me this week how else he might donate, as Patreon takes so much, and I mistakenly answered that it was only 3% ... thinking, I suppose, that I was still living in 2015.

A quick look at Paypal (the yellow "donate" button on my side panel) shows that they still take 2.9% — so if someone wants to edge out Patreon a bit and ensure I receive a little more, that's an option.  There may be reasons not to use Paypal.  I have several friends who hate it like poison, who go on and on about what a bunch of miserable rotten thieves they are over there, how they're out to screw people and fuck them over ... yet in 10 years of using Paypal myself I've never had a single issue with it.  I always store a little money there and buy things on Amazon with it.

On the record, though I've given it some thought, I can't think of a good reason why a patron should give so much to Patreon if wishing to support me.  There are reasons.  Patreon lets me organise people into tiers — you know, like cattle.  Or maybe some would prefer the metaphor, like rice.  It gives me another footprint on the internet at no direct cost to me.  It gives me a shelter for money I earn, because my government has no idea what Patreon is — so that when I declare the money I receive from it every year for taxes, I end up in the same conversation about six weeks after where I explain to some civil servant what Patreon is, what it does, where it exists and why people support me.  None of them have ever heard of Patreon, all listen in stunned shock as I explain it, and so far, every one has decided that it's not "work" income, so I don't have to pay taxes on it.

Paypal, on the other hand, they know.  Oh yes, very well.  But as I usually collect less than $50 a year from that little yellow button, it doesn't raise my taxes.  'Course, I could forego declaring either, but that doesn't feel like "me."

In all honesty, I don't know if I'm worth donating to.  It's been explained to me frankly by others, so they're convinced ... and I'm not stupid.  I am thankful for the income.  But the last thing I want is for anyone to feel strained where it comes to giving me anything.  Honest, if we're worrying about 8 cents on the dollar, I waste more money paying for a $10 item on my debit card.  Most of us do.  I don't carry cash; I haven't had more than $5 in my wallet in three years — and that's because I was working as a cook and tips are paid in cash.  Myself, I wouldn't hesitate to throw out 24 cents to pay for a $3 item ... but I'm a spendthrift that way.

I don't mean to mock.  All in all, Patreon has been good to me.  Last month, I asked some question about formatting on the website and got a boilerplate answer from a liaison who clearly hadn't opened my page before answering the question.  I shrugged, didn't respond, decided it wasn't worth going over it again ... and a week later some other entity asked if I was satisfied with the service.  I wrote that I wasn't, named the liaison by name, said she hadn't been to my page and remarked on some of Patreon's choices and policies.

I'm in the top 10% of all Patreon earners, worldwide, so when the somebody I spoke to looked at my page, things happened.  The liaison appeared very rapidly, bowing and scraping and pressing her forehead to the floor to ingratiate herself ... which was worth 8 cents on the dollar, at least for a month or two.  I'm rarely treated like royalty, anywhere.

Well, okay, there was that 2022 trip I took to Montreal, all expenses paid.  That was nice too.

Most of all, I don't ever want to come off as a money-grubbing hack who gives nothing in return.  Looking around at some of the big earners on youtube, some of whom haven't posted anything for 6  months to a year, it makes my blood boil.  Ian Danskin of Innuendo Studios, who once produced some of the most insightful material on the internet (in my not-so-humble opinion) has produced nothing but 27 minutes of masturbatory drivel in the last 14 months, no doubt upon reflection of the self-immolated whinging he produced during covid.  There's a place for insights like this — a restaurant where steak costs $19.99 (USD) and one's surrounded by friends who are patient and forgiving.

I live in fear that someday I might drift into this kind of behaviour.  That I might not stretch myself to do the research and actually build a proper argument, instead of living high on the hog on my Patreon money.  Others obviously are.  CGP Grey is producing intermittent shit to a degree that makes me shudder, remembering how enjoyable he once was.  But somewhere along the path, creators drift into this horrorshow of a place where they think any content is sufficient, as long as it incorporates moving pictures.  I do not want to be that person.  My gawd, ever.

So the subject of money, and Patreon, is fraught with pitfalls and moments where a creator can easily say the wrong thing and the house falls down.  I don't want supporters to feel beholden to me.  I want you, O Reader, to feel treated like royalty.  I hope that's my approach.  I hope that's the sense I put across.  I have my ticklish habits, my pitbullishness, my incendiary passion about things I believe — but on the whole, I trust that those who support me understand that first and foremost, I'm appreciative and deeply touched by every penny that's come my way.  I'm not concerned that it goes past some agency that takes it's cut.  It's not really the money, after all.  It's the thought.  That you good people take minutes out of your lives to think more of me than opening a page and closing a page.

Thank you.  And please, take my reminders about donating to Patreon with a grain of salt.  I put them out there just for those who haven't yet considered the possibility, who wouldn't know that was an option without my saying so occasionally.  Who might be thinking to themselves that they want to do more for me than open my page and close it.  It's for them.  It's not a reminder for those who already give.

I'm not a streaming company trying to get you to buy something you've already bought.

A First Month Behind Me

As you read this, you have me today weighing 234 lbs.  Just a month ago, I could describe my weight at 262 lbs.  Today, I have enough money to pay my rent and cover my bills, buy enough food for my partner Tamara and I, and live fairly comfortably.  Were I to rely upon the wages earned at my day-to-day job, I could not say this.  It is possible only because of the care and concern of 57 patrons, who consider my writing, my philosophy and my diligence in educating others in role-playing to be a sufficient reason to offer support.

I know most of my supporters personally, through the blog's comments, through the online campaign, through facebook and the like.  When I could, I've tried to be here to answer questions, offer direct advice, even speak face-to-face in some cases.  So when I say, thank you, please believe me when I say, "thank-you," I have your faces, your expressions, your smiles and your approving glances in my mind, as well as your names and your words.

I would also like to thank those who have lent a hand in the past, in other ways.  Who have given me the advice I needed, or said the words I needed to hear in my difficult times.  I do not understand, when I hear some people make a distinction between "online" and "the real world."  This is nonsense, borne of an inability to recognize that we do not need to be physically with people to recognize that all these people we know are alive and struggling with their own problems.  They have come home from their jobs and they have strained their strength to the maximum ~ and yet, whether in person or through a convenient media, they have taken the time to give an empathic moment of support, to give of themselves, to remember that I am here, and to speak kindly and warmly to me when I have strained myself.

This is what Patreon has done for me.  Patreon has made it possible for me to live a life as a small, common artist, to express myself as an artist will, without having to sacrifice myself or my singular pleasures for the sake of a world that would have us all in harness, all the time.  That is why I am saying thanks today.  Thank you.  Your dollars are paying for the roof over my head.  Your dollars are paying for the meat and bread on my dinner plate.  And you, with your comments, with your words of support, make me feel cherished and ~ embarrassing as it may be to admit it ~ even loved.

This is why I keep finding reasons to ask, what else can I do?  What else can I provide?  I had a really wonderful year in 2019.  I was able to write freely for many days at a time, because while managing my affairs and finding support where I was able, my Patreon followers were always there, always by my side ... and always reading me.

I feel confident that if there were something else I could do, you would tell me.  October was a strain.  Getting my body back in shape for kitchen work, I have every one of you to thank for my not having to work 40 hours a week.  I frankly don't think I could have managed it.  But I didn't have to.  Four days, and not five, were enough ~ are enough.  My friends, you are saving my body as well as my mind.  Thank you.

November, I expect, will be better.  Trimming down a lot, it's not so hard to stand on my feet all day.  Every muscle in my body is strengthening, tightening ... and as the end of the day comes, I'm less needful to collapse and nap my evenings away, rather than writing on my blog or actually producing new, interesting game designs.  I expect that as my body continues to tone, I'll find my energy with each week.  And that energy is something I want to put towards all the things my readers are used to seeing from me.

You've gotten me through this rough time.  Now, so long as I don't injure myself [fingers crossed], I should be able to get back on my hobby horse and rock for all I'm worth.

And with a cheerful demeanour, because I feel cherished, I can't resist using a couple pictures to express my day.  These are not from my place of work; I have no intention directly posting anything from behind the curtain of my job.  But yet the message is clear.  Kitchen work is messy, and full of fire and sharp objects.  Food, however, is wonderful ~ and an art all its own.  It is why I've frequently drifted back to that industry when I couldn't find work writing or otherwise using my brain.  At least, it brings pleasure to people.

Evasion & Counter-tracking

The following exists because it was paid for by Silberman, who comments here regularly.  He donated $12 to my Patreon for the following content, in accordance with my recent policy.  A cost of about 1.25 cents a word.  I encourage other readers to commission work from me, just remember to communicate with me about what you'd like to see before sending a direct donation or contributing to my Patreon.  Let me just say that this is a great way to buy a gift for your fellow readers and to keep me working.

I'm afraid I don't have proper tracking rules as yet to compliment this work, but who does?  After the research that led me to create the sketch below, I have a better idea now of how I would design those tracking rules.  These are two sage abilities that would be found under the sage study, Scouting.

EVASION (sage ability)

Provides the character with skill at consciously avoiding detection by others who may be actively hunting the character, or in a position to witness traces left by the character. The measures taken will not fool another who has tracking ability, nor monsters with tracking abilities, but it will be sufficient to conceal the character’s movements with other beings, particularly humanoids.

The ability grants no benefits to others associated with the character, who will unavoidably make obvious tracks on trails, stamp vegetation, mark soft wet places as they walk, etcetera, even if counselled to do otherwise. For the possessor of the skill, however, evasion will include actively choosing routes that won’t reveal footprints, bending back grass and vegetation, selecting hard surface entry and exits onto trails, roads and river banks, the wisdom not to sit down upon halts, to listen automatically for movement of others who may be moving in the area, a heightened awareness of wet environments, knowledge not to cross open spaces, how to maintain one’s equipment to leave the least scent, the presence of scent with regards to air movement and wind direction, etc. All of these things provide a negligible chance that the character, acting alone in the wilderness, will leave any track that will be noticed or remotely followed by a creature other than than those gifted in tracking.

The skill does not offer any special benefits to not being seen or improvement in the character’s stealth ability.

See Scouting


COUNTER-TRACKING (sage ability)

An advanced skill similar to evasion, providing the character with techniques that will mislead or delay those with tracking ability, particularly confounding tracking monsters and animals such as dogs or familiars. These measures have the potential for shaking off pursuit by enabling the tracked character to outdistance a tracker; or, in certain conditions, to obscure the trail so that it cannot be followed at all.

The ability will grant some benefit to others associated with the counter-tracking character, in that false tracks can be created so that up to four others besides the skilled character can be potentially shepherded away from trackers. The ability does not allow the number of those in flight to be hidden, but by directing others to take specific actions and movements, the counter-tracker can have the tracker moving in circles that will waste time.

This technique includes laying false trails and backtracking around objects, having a group “jump off” a trail at different points, creating deception tracks, shepherding groups to enter stream banks and exit in ways that will leave confusing evidence of movement, various use of water to break tracks, creating boxes and figure eights with movement both on land and in water, leading trackers to probable spot-points for the best effects from snares and traps, varying direction of march and using vegetation to foul leashed animals and their handlers, forcing them to untangle themselves before continuing pursuit.

Speed of Flight

Laying false tracks requires time and careful effort ~ others with a minimum 13 intelligence and 14 wisdom can give aid. Note that enemy trackers can anticipate counter efforts if a team’s movements are sloppy, allowing them to leapfrog the apparent tracks and close distance with the pursued.

Counter-tracking reduces forward movement for the pursued by 25% and for the pursuers by 30-35% (d6+29). A leashed dog adds +4% movement speed to the pursuers. An unleashed dog will move faster, gaining a +5/6% benefit, depending on the training of the dog. Shepherded characters with less than 13 intelligence should make an intelligence check each hour. Each failure will “speed up” the pursuer by 3%.

The DM should determine the actual distance separating the pursued from their pursuers, then keep track of this distance accordingly.

Pursued characters should decide each hour if they intend to move their best normal movement or if they wish to counter-track. Normal movement, during which the pursued will move at 100% speed in that environment, will leave blatant tracks that can be followed. The delay of the enemy tracker to begin moving at full speed as well may count as distance gained, but that distance will be lost again if the character acts again to counter-track.

Any of the following will add 1-2% to the speed of pursuers who are employing an animal to track:

A pleasant or warm day.

A wind speed of calm or light air.

Flat open ground under a canopy of trees, slowing evaporation and wind dispersal of scent.

Any member of the pursued has less than a 11 constitution, meaning they’ve gained a heavy body odour from sweating while in flight.

Frozen or thawing ground, which retains scent better and longer.

Two hours after sunrise or two hours before sunset.

Items dropped or left on the trail, including pepper and like products, which in fact will not affect a animal trained to track. These items confirm the pursuer’s belief of being on the right track.

Any of the following will allow the tracks of a counter-tracker to eliminate further pursuit:

Rainfall equal to 30 mm over a three-hour period.

Any rainfall followed by a warm or hotter temperature.

A wind force of 6 or greater.

Populated, crowded areas where foot traffic will obscure sign and scent.

Fast running water.

Moving at night.

Sightings

Note that trackers and pursued may, if coming close enough, gain a visual sight of each other, not only across open ground but perhaps for brief moments as elevation allows line of sight into a valley, up at higher ground or potentially across a large body of water. A wisdom check is needed to determine if either group catches sight of the other; the lowest roll against wisdom determines who sees first. If the d20 rolls are equal, both pursued and pursuer see each other at approximately the same time.

See Scouting

Post Script:

Most of the material above was extracted from this linked document on military counter-tracking techniques.  A very interesting read.