Return to the Dwarven Halls finished!

Hi everybody,

the bulk of the release is finished! Two more sets join the release:

- The Dwarven Throne Room Tiles - New tiles for any decorated dungeon, with a few of them leaning heavily on Dwarven Stylization. These come with a complete and a split version for playability, they are presupported (when needed) and highly modular. With X and T junctions as well as round and diagonal walls you can basically make any dungeon interior structure. The large endpiece works as a towering Throne Room decoration. Finally, these tiles are compatible with the previously released Dwarven Set (February 2022), although they have new and more detailed textures, which will show a bit of difference.

- Dwarven Statues - These statues come in two fashions: same size as the previously released statue (February 2022) and LARGE. The presupported larger versions are hollowed to save some resin; they are really big, and won't print on small printers, but you can easily scale up the smaller statue at your desired size (the larger one is already scale to match the stone texture better). With these you can decor the sides of a corridor, with arrays banner holding statues, or you can add heroic centerpieces to Dwarven rooms.

That's it! This is probably the most detailed set so far, with a lot of texture work and patterns going on all over the place. I hope you like it! :)

I'll post the poll for September in a couple of days. In the meanwhile, I remind you the changes to the tiers of this page (text copied below).

Thanks for the support and the kind words! I wish you a happy hobby time :D

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[Reminder of the changes to Making Tlon]

Starting from September:

- your  subscriptions will be less expensive, going from 11.50$ to 7$ (6$ for  early subscriptions) both on Patreon and on MMF Tribes. (These subscriptions are exactly identical, so choose the platform you prefer.)

- the release will get a bit smaller, more curated and easier to print.

In theory, this should be good news all around!

Long  story short: smaller releases mean that I will have more time to  experiment with stuff, come up with cooler designs and make models  easier to print and more refined, especially by cutting the more time  consuming (and less frequently printed) parts of a set.

New releases will be structured like this:

- There will always be at least one Objects & Props sets (e.g. this month's Throne Room).

• A second set will either be more Objects & Props (e.g. this month's Dwarven House) or a complete building/dungeon set (e.g. last month's Hunters' Hall).

- A third set will be a stand-alone terrain piece or a small set (e.g. Dwarven Statue, Cannons set, Eldritch Altar, etc...)

In  other words, if we take the current month as an example, for 7$ (6$ for  early subscriptions) you'll get the Dwarven Throne Room Objects &  Props, the Dwarven House Objects & Props, and the incoming Dwarven  Statue. With the current system (August) I am also making a Dwarven  Halls OpenLOCK Tiles set, which would not be present in future releases,  or which would take the place of one of the two Objects & Props  sets.

These sets take approximately the same amount to make, but  test printing and cleaning tiles takes a lot more than doing so for  other STLs. Now that in Making Tlon’s library there are a few complete  and really modular tile sets I want to experiment with new terrain! With  this I am not saying that I won't be making tiles anymore, but that I  will not "force" tiles in all the releases. If the release theme calls  for them, I'll make them: I still want to do that Labirinth that never  gets voted for! XD

Considering that the subscription cost  gets reduced by a third (or almost a half if you are not currently an  early subscriber) while only a quarter of the current volume of a  release is cut, this should mean a better cost-value for you!

Why am I doing this?

I  won't lie: this is the largest change since I started Making Tlon, and  so it is quite scary. Reducing the pledge costs means a big cut on my  income, but I think this is a healthy change for the page right now.

This  does not mean reducing the scope of this page, only its “volume  output". Doing less in volume means having more time to study, practice  and improve my skills and Making Tlon's models. 3D always has new tools  and techniques to try, and by testing new tools and new designs, models  will get better - although it will mean a smaller number of them coming  out each month. You can see how much the quality of the STLs I release  has increased from the very first Boasting Cock Tavern set back in 2020.  I love it, and it is the building I use for all the sudden tavern  brawls that my friends start in our gaming sessions, but training and  experience has improved the details and printability of later models a  lot.

I often get carried away while designing these sets and end  up making titanic buildings (Hunters' Hall, Viking Church, etc...) that  are cool and I think inspiring, but are also very, very large projects.  One of the aims of this change is to make releases that anybody can  actually print and use with two or three printer plates, a luxury that  3D sculptors who make monsters and characters have!

The extra time  will also enable me to go back to previous releases and update them  (e.g. updating the supports, or adding a few quality of life options  that you ask for, such as the extra T wall I made for the Castle set  after receiving your feedback!). In general, this should make for a  better page which is more user friendly and more curated.

The time  I currently put in the expansions to the Welcome Pack Carts will be put  towards new and cooler 3, 6 and 9 month rewards. This is another thing  that I have been postponing for a while because I had absolutely no time  to put into it. With these changes these projects will finally come to  life.

The lower subscription cost should also attract more people,  which, if that works, may enable me to get more help. Right now I'm  doing this alone, but if the page gets a larger following I should be  able to set up a few things that right now I simply don't have time to  manage (e.g. the much requested Discord server).

Finally, this change will happen from September:

Bad news is, Patreon and MMF Tribes don't have a simple way for me to do this change, and you'll have to do it by hand. Here  on Tribes, September will be the transition month: you can delete your  subscription during August and subscribe to the new Early Maker tier -  which is already available - on the 1st of September.

If  for any reason you are unable to do so and are still subscribed at  Azsir level in September, I can always issue a refund. Alternatively, I  can share with you models that sum up to the Azsir tier cost.

People  that join the new Early Maker tier this month will be charged only 6$,  but that means they will not have access to the tiles once they are  ready. I will share them only with those who pledged at the current  Azsir tier. If you are a new subscriber and you want the tiles too, you  can still join the Azsir tier, and change the pledge level in September.

I  have thought about it for a while, and I think this is the easiest and  fairest way to approach the change, although it is a process.

The  First Maker tier - 6$ - is limited to the first 100 who join, while the  “regular” Maker tier - 7$ - will be available for everybody. In  September the current Azsir tiers will be hidden, and then deleted.

Once  again, if you remain in the Azsir tier, you'll be paying more than you  should, and so I'll do my best to refund you via shared models (easiest  way) or the website tools. In case you want to support the page and me  with more bucks, I thank you a lot, but I still have to ask you to  change the pledge to the Maker tier and, in case, choose a higher amount  there. I will be decommissioning the current Azsir tiers to avoid  issues with file sharing and such, and having no people subscribed to  them will help. There is plenty of time to do the change, so take your  time, and thank you!