Malachite Idol is a collection of content for tabletop roleplaying games. At the moment, most of the material will be either system-free or specifically for 5th Edition, but some will have conversions into other systems either upon release or later on as I have time to adapt the material.
There will be a variety of content—a lot of it relevant to the furry fandom, a lot of it relevant to games with more “mature” themes (mostly sex, nudity, and other fun), and a little that is neither that I just happened to create and want to share. Initially, the release schedule will be a standalone furry player character species every two weeks and a series of larger collections of thematically linked content on a longer release schedule.
Because of the mature themes in some of the content, I feel it is important to lay out the expectations of what threshold of subject matter will be in the content I produce. In addition to clearly labeling the materials with mature themes, I shall also stick to a generally predictable division of all ages vs. mature releases. As with all tabletop roleplaying products, the game master’s permission should be obtained before using anything new, but for a game with mature themes that range outside of what is usually present in the game in question, extra effort more than usual should be made to ensure that every participant in the game, be they player or game master, is comfortable with the subject matter.
The biweekly furry species will generally be no more than PG-13 in terms of content, so they can be easily incorporated into any conventional game without introducing mature themes. The larger releases will generally be very full of mature material and marked as such, but it is possible there may be all-ages compilations of the furry species or other non-mature content, and that will likewise be prominently labeled.
I strive to make the material I am creating portable enough that it can be incorporated into existing settings or home games without a great deal of effort—smaller pieces of small-scope and portable world building or material that can be easily adapted—but as it accumulates there is a chance it might end up condensing into a setting of its own. I guess we’ll see as things progress. Even if this occurs, I will strive to make it a culmination of the individual pieces rather than a limitation on their use.
Due to unavoidable restrictions on my home gaming group’s time, a lot of the material will initially appear in a form that has had only personal playtesting, but feedback from all of you regarding your use of it will make fine-tuned revisions and re-releases a possibility in the future (Old versions will typically remain available, however, as I know the pain of having to keep track of multiple iterations of errata on options already implemented in an ongoing game).
Finally, we address the business model. The plan at this time is for the produced material to be available for free, with early access for the Patreon supporters whose contributions allow me to dedicate more time and effort to creating the content. The biggest perk of contributing (aside from early previews and special thanks given in the credits for high-tier patrons) is knowing that each dollar means everyone gets more of the fun stuff more often. I like to refer to this as the “public radio” model, although it doesn’t work in quite exactly the same way. For those who prefer to make a non-recurring contribution, a Ko-fi page will be available and eventually I will likely make larger releases such as compilations also available on a Pay-What-You-Think-Its-Worth model (in addition to the component parts still being freely available).
