2021 Year in Review
A look back at the many exciting changes and advancements that Shard Tabletop went through over the last year. We couldn’t have done any of these things without the support and feedback of our userbase and community, and for that, we are incredibly grateful.
The Kickstarter that Started it All
Of course, none of what we did this year would have been possible if not for our incredibly successful Kickstarter, which launched in late January. We were able to partner with some amazing content creators, such as Kobold Press, Petersen Games, Sly Flourish, and others. We hit our initial funding goal in the first 12 hours, and in the end, you all helped us raise a total of $56,000. Ginny Di even helped promote the Kickstarter with this awesome promo video. We would go on to partner with many other Kickstarters throughout the year, such as :
Battle of the Bards from Apotheosis Studios
Heliana's Guide to Monster Hunting from Plane Shift Press
Sandbox Adventures from Headless Hydra Press
Isle of the Dreaded Accursed from Mr. Tarrasque and JVC Parry
Southlands, Vault of Magic, Book of Ebon Tides, and Tome of Heroes from Kobold Press
And many more!
Launching the Marketplace
In March, the Shard Tabletop Marketplace officially went live, with hundreds of titles from dozens of creators. The launch of the Marketplace coincied with the roll-out of our three subscription tiers, from Adventurer, to Gamemaster, to Gamemaster Pro. Since then, the Marketplace has grown to almost 400 products, including settings, adventures, battlemaps, character options, and more.
Improved Spellcasting
In April, we rolled out some big enhancements to the character sheet, including a top-bar for improved navigation, as well as some major improvements to the spellcasting section. With this update, players could now see details such as casting time, range, attack modifiers, save DCs, and more. And for creators and gamemasters, this update included enhancements to the back-end process for creating new spells
Shard Tabletop Gives Back
In May, Shard partnered on our first official charity event with The Games Tavern for their Stream for No Kid Hungry, offering a $1,000 donation match and a charity bundle for anyone who donated at least $100. By the end of the event, The Games Tavern had raised more than $8,000, including Shard's $1K match. We would go on to partner with many other amazing charity events throughout the year, supporting such causes as The Trevor Project, Jasper's Game Day, Stand Up To Cancer, Operation Supply Drop, the American Red Cross, among others. All told, these charities raised over $22,000, no small portion of which came directly from members of the Shard Tabletop community.
Expanded Artwork and Improved Extensions
May also saw the roll-out of two new features: our card-based selection model for races, classes, backgrounds, and feats; and an enhancement of the extension system that allowed gamemasters to set content as preferred or disallowed. Then in June, we introduced another series of new features, including expanded artwork options, custom map tokens, variant classes, and a spell point system.
Bigger and Better Content
June was another huge content month for us, with the release of Scarlet Citadel from Kobold Press and the Cthulhu Mythos and Ghoul Island Saga from Petersen Games. Throughout the rest of the year, we released many more titles from these partners, include the Vault of Magic, Midgard Worldbook, Tales of the Old Margreve, and Southlands from Kobold Press, and Yig Snake Granddaddy and the Dark Worlds saga from Petersen Games.
Enhanced Pin Functionality
In July, we rolled out an update enhancing the customization and functionality of our map pin system, allowing you to change the size, shape, and color of pins, and link to additional types of content
Mr. Tarrasque Joins the Party
Beginning in August, our friend Mr. Tarrasque began creating video tutorials for the Shard Tabletop YouTube page. He's created a quick start guide for both gamemasters and players, as well as tutorials for a variety of topics, such as creating new feats, using alternate map images, and shapechanging your characters.
Shard Goes to Space
In September, Esper Genesis arrived at Shard Tabletop, created by our friends at Alligator Alley Entertainment. This sci-fi RPG powered by 5th edition brought along with a host of custom extensions and instructions for how to run an entirely sci-fi themed campaign. The Jumpstart Bundle included the Core Manual, Threats Database and the first two adventures in the Shadow of the Zephyr adventure storyline. Later in the year we released four more episodes in the Shadow storyline.
More Art!
In October, we deployed another large software update, which included some major enhancements to how monsters were handled in Shard. With this update, you could now add multiple pieces of artwork to both monsters and player tokens and customize monsters mid-encounter. We also introduced some enhancements to the way that initiative was handled, allowing it to be rolled automatically and for individual monsters of the same type to each get their own unique roll. That month, we also expanded our Learning section on the Shard Tabletop website with enhanced navigability and more articles.
Tips & Feedback System
November was an exciting month, both in terms of new features and new content. We implemented a new system to allows players to provide feedback to their gamemasters, as well as send them a cash tip to show that extra bit of appreciation, or to chip in towards the next adventure from the Marketplace. We also made gift cards available in the Marketplace. Perhaps most excitingly, we released an update to allow players to share their content library with the campaigns they play in. Lastly in November, we released the Vault of Magic from Kobold Press, with over 900 unique and powerful magic items!
Enhanced Character Sheets & Updated Class Art
To round out the year in December, we released one of our biggest updates yet, with a major enhancement to our character sheets. Our new and improved character sheets allows players to group their features, similar to classic printed character sheets, as well as customize the appearance of theri sheets in a variety of ways. Players can now customize the border style, border color, overall color scheme, and background image. We also updated the class art for all 12 of the base classes included in the Shard Player's Guide, created by artist, Anderson Maia.
A Whole Lot of Character Choices
Over the past year, we published almost 40 entries in our Character Choices blog series, highlighting many of the unique classes and races available in our Core Content Pack. As the year went on, we expanded these entries to include not only roleplaying tips, but also an overview of their abilities, and suggestion for building a character using the various classes and races. We hope you’ve enjoyed them, because we’ve got more to come in 2022!
Whew, that concludes our year in review! Thank you for all of your support and for continuing to help us make Shard the best possible virtual tabletop we can be. Whether you are a new member of the community, someone who backed the Kickstarter, or one of the initial beta users who first used Shard back in 2020, we appreciate you.
