Rascal's got big plans, but we need your help
Support Rascal during our first pledge drive as we aim for sustainability and a steady freelance budget.
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This deal is only good through Gen Con (August 5th), so get in while the getting is good. Tell your friends, give us your nerds and freaks yearning to read independent tabletop news!
When Rascal was first pushed out of the nest in February of this year, none of us knew what to expect. The three co-bosses had a few months to dedicate to the project, along with a lot of heart, and big ideas. Now, five months later, we’re stunned by the reception we’ve received, the encouragement we’ve gotten, and, if you’ll excuse the self flattery, the work we’ve been able to do. There is no site out there like Rascal. And we need your help to keep going.
Rascal doesn’t sell ads, data, or accept sponsorships. We are completely and totally reader-funded. This is a massive gamble, but so far we’re extremely pleased with how our audience has already shown up. To be specific, here are some numbers:
4,150 - The total number of Rascal memberships.
3,100 - Our non-paying, but still delightful, Lurkers.
1,050 - Paying members, including NPCs, Party Members, and Paragon supporters.
455 - The number of posts (blogs and announcements) we’ve published on Rascal to date.
360 - Number of single-pay article purchases.
126 - Days since Rascal launched.
$1,000 - the amount of money each co-boss takes home every month
If you’re looking at all this work and that very small paycheck, well… so are we. We need more money to keep doing this, and to do it better—more of us, more of other people, and more projects. All this requires more subscribers, which is why we’ve decided to run a subscription drive through the month of July.
(If you’re already a paying subscriber and want to help us out further, scroll to the bottom of this post to read all the ways you can support Rascal.)
We have two big goals for this pledge drive. The first is that Lin, Rowan, and Chase want to be able to write for Rascal full time, for a decent living wage, without the need for survival jobs. The second is that we want to raise enough money to be able to commission freelance writers regularly. We have other, smaller goals noted below, but ultimately this pledge drive is in service to these two pillars. Everything else is gravy.
Our pledge drive will run from July 1 to August 3—we intend to officially end the drive at noon CDT, during our Meet the Rascals panel at Gen Con. Here’s a breakdown of what will happen when we reach certain paying subscriber numbers. All this is a ballpark range, but honestly, we’re very good at playing games.
Subscriber Goals
1,050 - Where we started. All of the administrative overheads are paid and we have some wiggle room for a small salary (consistently, about $1,000/month) and a small number of contributors (about 2/month). - UNLOCKED
1,200 - The rascals get a raise! - UNLOCKED
UP NEXT:
1,500 - More contributors, likely 4 per month
1,750 - The rascals get another raise! Our freelance rates go up!
2,000 - Rascals go to PAX Unplugged. More contributors, likely 6 per month.
2,250 - All rascal bills paid. Also, a Rascal Podcast! Our third most-asked-for thing.
2,500 - More contributors, likely 8 per month.
2,750 - The rascals attend another convention, likely GAMA or Big Bad Con.
3,000 - The rascals can do this full time, and be less poor!
5,000 - Linda will run a game of Dungeons & Dragons on stream, with special guests. Linda will even act like they are having a good time and are enjoying the game, and they will play with the actual rules rather than the horrible homebrew amalgam that they whip out whenever someone asks to play D&D with them. (Or, they will play a game they actually enjoy, but we’ll have a vote when we get there.)
100,000 - Rascal buys the D&D museum. Do it cowards.
Calendar
We also have a calendar of events to support the pledge drive! We will be updating this as we book more events and find more things to do. At least once a week we’ll be on Twitch to support the drive!
July 1-5
- July 4 - Screenshot blog. A blog full of screenshots from the rascal’s editorial discord. Full of dogs shitting, light natured ribbing, and autism reveals.
- UPDATE! July 5 3-4 PM - A live Q&A on Twitch about the Pledge Drive and our goals! We’ll discuss the pledge drive survey, upcoming contributors, and the Peer Association.
July 8-12
- July 11, Actual Play Watch Party with Rowan for the premiere for the new Exandria Unlimited: Downfall limited series. Watch how Rowan takes notes for her reviews in real time!
July 15-19
- Expect our first contributors to go up on the site!
- Chill with Chase as he plays Outliers and Dead Air, complete with music and guest appearances from his cats.
July 17-21
- More contributors!
July 22-26
- Even more contributors!
- What’s a Pitch? Learn how to pitch Rascal, and, more generally, how to pitch your freelance writing to magazines, newspapers, and blogs. We will also go over some basics of freelancing, including how to find places to pitch, tax pitfalls, and developing relationships with editors.
- July 26, 7 EST, Linda designs a game! With some audience input and only a thread of an idea prepared in advance, Linda will design a game on stream.
July 29 - Aug 3
August 3, 12pm CDT; The Rascal team will officially end the drive at Gen Con, during our panel, Meet the Rascals. We’ll go over where we succeeded, where we failed, and what we’re doing next. We might also have some exclusive Rascal goodies.
Bonus!
How to support Rascal
Subscribe! With money!
After that, if you want to support us during our pledge drive you can do a few things:
- On the social media site of your choosing, share one of your favorite articles.
- Share a Rascal blog on a forum like Reddit. We are not allowed to self-promote on Reddit, so while it’s a great place to find a new audience, getting discovered is still tough.
- Put a rascal on your Podcast or Stream! We’re charming enough and can talk at length on a variety of TTRPG subjects.
- Share a link to Rascal on your newsletter.
- Send us a one-time donation!
Feel free to email us for any reason - a tip, to send feedback, to give us advice, or even tell us to play a really cool game. Our catch-all is info@rascal.news. Go nuts.
Lastly… Thank you! If you’re reading this far, you must like us, at least a little bit. We appreciate it, and we’re so excited to keep Rascal going as the alternative, independent, roguelike outlet that you appreciate.
