Patreon for Battlemaps and FoundryVTT Modules: Funding TTRPG Content

Patreon fits battlemaps and FoundryVTT modules when you can keep a paid monthly release rhythm and supporters expect gated extras. A project-funding alternative fits better when one named production step needs money before it exists. The honest limit is that support funding does not replace licences, distribution, or delivery. A Goal is one named goal with a progress bar: followers make one-time contributions and every contribution is yours whether or not the goal is reached — no deadline unless you set one, and nothing to ship.

Use Patreon when you can keep publishing paid battlemaps or FoundryVTT extras on a reliable schedule; use Goals when one exact production job needs funding before it exists. A follower pays once for one question, one commission or one video, and nothing is owed afterwards — so the people who were never going to subscribe can still pay you, beside the Patreon you already run.

How do battlemap creators make money today?

Four routes cover most battlemap income: monthly membership, marketplace sales, storefront downloads, and direct project funding, as the platform comparisons below show. The choice between them is mechanical, not moral. Ask whether you have finished files to sell, a reliable release rhythm, a rights-safe archive, or one future production task that needs money before it is worth doing.

Patreon's Help Center says creators can set prices for one or more paid membership tiers (Patreon Help Center). Check its current billing rules before planning around per-creation billing. That is why Patreon battle maps work best when you can keep the archive and the next drop feeling current.

Patreon's Help Center says creator pages published after its plan change are on a standard 10% pricing plan, plus applicable taxes and payment processing fees, for paid memberships and one-time purchases (Patreon fees overview). For a Patreon map creator, that model is clear: make a tier, maintain the value of the tier, and decide what is free versus paid.

Roll20's partner page says Marketplace creators keep 70% of every sale, and funds are released at the start of each month through PayPal (Roll20 Partner page). That works best when the pack already exists and is polished enough to list: tokens, battlemap packs, adventures, or ready-to-use VTT content. By contrast, a custom request on Brillay arrives already paid, because the follower pays upfront as a guest when they send the brief — no monthly marketplace payout cycle to wait on.

For the broader map of paid GM work, including paid tables and adventure services, see how Dungeon Masters get paid.

A fifth route sits beside those four: a named goal for the one production step none of them price cleanly. Goals can fund one Foundry module build or art pass while your base maps stay free.

Does paywalling maps cost you more than it earns?

Treat paywalling as a distribution trade-off, not a universal mistake. It earns when the paid archive is the product: high-resolution files, variants, scene packs, commercial-use versions, or early access that your supporters knowingly pay for. It costs you when the useful public version disappears and fewer GMs can discover, test, share, or cite the work.

The first decision is whether the map depends on a public workflow. A free JPG, preview scene, or system-neutral version can travel through session prep, screenshots, Discord recommendations, and forum posts. A paid archive can still hold extras. For many TTRPG battlemaps, the practical split is free table utility plus paid production support, not free everything versus locked everything. A Brillay link carries every offer, with nothing to moderate and no community to keep warm, so when GMs see it in a map post or Discord recommendation, it opens your own page—not a marketplace catalogue where another creator can be shown first.

The hard boundary is rights. Wizards of the Coast's Supporter Content Policy says supporter content using Wizards IP must be free to access and cannot require payments, subscriptions, surveys, downloads, or email registration to access (Wizards of the Coast Fan Content Policy). That is not legal advice about your specific project; it is the rights holder's own policy, and it matters if your D&D homebrew Patreon, map post, or adventure uses Wizards IP.

"Free means FREE" — Wizards of the Coast, Supporter Content Policy

That quote is not a rule about all fantasy maps. Original setting-neutral battlemaps, PF2e one-shots, third-party-licensed material, and marketplace-specific programs can have different constraints. Read the rights holder's own policy before assuming that a support link, paid tier, or module bundle is allowed.

What can a TTRPG goal pay for?

A TTRPG goal should pay for one concrete upgrade. Good targets are specific enough that a GM understands what changes at the table: convert ten maps into Foundry scenes, add walls and lighting to a dungeon, commission a ruined-temple variant, pay for PF2e stat-block checking, or fund layout for a one-shot PDF.

On Brillay, Goals let supporters make one-time contributions toward a named target; each contribution moves only that goal's progress bar. Several goals can be open at once. There is no all-or-nothing cutoff and a deadline is optional rather than required. No follower account needed. You still publish the map pack, manifest, PDF, or VTT content through your own channel.

Foundry Virtual Tabletop's Publisher Handbook says creators may create, publish, and sell a game system, add-on module, or pre-built world designed for Foundry VTT without additional agreements, contracts, or fees from Foundry under the self-publishing route (Foundry Virtual Tabletop Publisher Handbook). That makes the goal wording important: fund the production work, then distribute the finished module through the channel your rights and workflow allow.

A strong goal title is production-shaped: "Wall and light the swamp fortress for Foundry" or "Commission winter variants for the mountain-pass pack." A vague "support my maps" ask can feel like begging; name the exact job and a reachable target instead, so even a small audience can see what a $1, $5, or $10 contribution helps fund. A production-shaped title gives a $5 supporter a reason to care because it connects their contribution to prep time saved at a real table.

Foundry's purchase page lists a Foundry Virtual Tabletop software licence at $50.00 USD and describes it as a perpetual licence with access to future updates (Foundry Virtual Tabletop purchase page). That price is a useful scale check: many VTT users understand one-time tool purchases, so a small contribution toward usable scenes can feel different from another indefinite subscription.

How do you price a one-shot or a module?

Price a goal from the work it unlocks, not from what each supporter receives. For a product sale, a GM pays a price and receives a file. For a goal, supporters chip in toward a total production target, and the finished thing may still be released free, sold elsewhere, or distributed through a marketplace depending on your rights and plan.

Dungeon Masters Guild's help center lists successful fixed PDF price points from historic DriveThruRPG data as $1.00, $2.00, $2.95, $3.95, $4.99, $7.95, $10.00, $14.95, and $19.99 (Dungeon Masters Guild Help Center). Those are product prices, not funding-goal amounts, but they show the single-digit-dollar scale that many GMs are used to seeing for small TTRPG PDFs.

Use a worksheet before you publish the goal. For example, if your internal assumptions are a $150 map commission, a $100 layout pass, and $50 of editing time, label the target as a $300 production goal rather than implying the one-shot costs $300 to buy. Those numbers are illustrative assumptions, not market-rate data.

The same Dungeon Masters Guild help page says all payments and transactions for DMsGuild titles must take place on DMsGuild, and its products may not be used as rewards for patrons, backers, or other crowdfunding supporters. That is a marketplace constraint, so do not promise DMsGuild files as the thing a funding supporter receives unless the marketplace rules allow your exact setup.

itch.io's creator payments documentation says itch.io takes the percentage configured in the creator's revenue sharing settings, and its example describes the default as 10% of a $10 purchase (itch.io creator payments documentation). That makes itch.io a reasonable home for a finished pay-what-you-want file, while a separate goal can sit upstream of the work.

If you sell custom adventure writing, Custom Work lets you offer commissions and small custom work with the price, scope and delivery time written down. Supporters pay before you do the work; you deliver on your own time. There's no revision round built in, so state what is included before they buy. See selling custom D&D adventure writing.

Where do you put the link so GMs actually see it?

Put the goal link where the map is already useful. That usually means the free map post, module roadmap, GitHub readme, itch.io page, VTT package notes, forum comment, Discord announcement, or pinned social post where GMs already ask for variants. A detached support page is easy to miss.

The sentence around the link should name the job. "If this reaches the target, I will wall and light the full dungeon for Foundry" is clearer than "support me." GMs are practical readers. They need to know what prep pain disappears: walls are done, lights are placed, tokens are aligned, boxed text is cleaned, or the PF2e stat blocks are checked.

You do not need a follower minimum or platform approval, and one Brillay link can hold your Goals alongside your other offers while your maps and modules stay on their usual public channels. Creators are the merchant of record, and Brillay supports Stripe payouts in 41 countries as described in how it works.

Repeat the same goal language everywhere. Do not make one post say "module fund," another say "map support," and another say "tip jar." The goal should read like a named production task because that is what makes a $1, $5, or $10 contribution feel connected to a table outcome rather than to a vague support bucket.

Frequently asked questions

Is Patreon still the best option for battlemap creators?

Patreon is strong when you can release battlemaps regularly and give paying members a reason to stay. It is weaker when your work happens in uneven bursts, because the subscription promise keeps running while a specific map pack or Foundry module needs a longer build.

Can I use a Brillay goal to deliver FoundryVTT modules?

No. A Brillay Goal funds one named target, while your chosen channel handles file hosting, module delivery, reward tiers, and pre-orders. You can fund a FoundryVTT module build with a goal, but you still publish and deliver the finished content through your own chosen channel.

What is a good goal for TTRPG battlemaps?

A good goal names one production step: walling and lighting a map pack, commissioning a variant, proofreading a one-shot, converting scenes, or paying for layout. Avoid vague goals like "support my maps" because GMs need to understand exactly what improves when they chip in.

Can I fund D&D homebrew if Wizards says supporter content must be free?

Wizards of the Coast's Supporter Content Policy says covered Supporter Content must be free to access, while sponsorships, ad revenue, and donations may be allowed if they do not interfere with access. That is different from selling or paywalling the content, and it is not a substitute for checking the policy for your exact use.

Should I set one big goal or several small goals?

Use several small goals when the work breaks into visible pieces, such as art, Foundry conversion, layout, and proofreading. Several open goals also let different GMs support the part they care about, while only contributions to a specific goal move that goal's progress bar.

Ask which sentence describes your next release: "I post something new every month" points to Patreon; "this exact thing needs money before it exists" points to a named goal instead.

Create your free Brillay page for a named battlemap, Foundry conversion, or TTRPG one-shot goal.