Publishing to the City of Mist Garage
Like any sprawling metropolis, the City of Mist is filled with mysterious people and strange locales that are just waiting to be discovered. And while Son of Oak has released quite a bit of cases, characters, and districts, the community has surprised us again and again with their own incredible creations. Now, with the City of Mist Garage, you too can create and sell your own City of Mist content.
The Garage is already host to some incredible products (including a case by yours truly). But I know the next best case is from someone reading this article. Today, we’re going over the easy process of publishing to the City of Mist Garage so you can get your ideas out of your head and into the wider world!
What is the City of Mist Garage?
The City of Mist Garage is the official community marketplace for the City of Mist TTRPG. Not only is it a place where fans can purchase content created by other fans, but it’s also where you can get the resources you need to turn your case notes on a google doc into a work of art.
After checking out the Community Content Agreement and Content Guidelines, you can use City of Mist settings, characters, and art for your own products. There are also official graphic templates provided by Son of Oak so you can give them that signature noir aesthetic. After writing, editing, and a bit of polishing, you can then post your creations on the Garage, hosted on DriveThruRPG.com.
What Can I Submit to the City of Mist Garage?
The City of Mist Garage is made for many different kinds of fan creations, with templates derived from official City of Mist products. Now you too can sell your own cases, characters, and danger profiles. If you’re feeling really creative, you can even construct your own Districts or reveal your own sinister Avatar Operation.
What if you like the City of Mist game engine, but want to venture outside the game’s genre? With the Garage, you can publish your own hacks of the City of Mist RPG to truly change the game. Want to put your city in a magical world of swords and sorcery? What about a cyberpunk City of Mist? You can post your hack on the Garage, and be sure to let me know when you do because I’d like to play it!
What Can’t I Submit to the City of Mist Garage?
That said, there are still limits to what you can post on the Garage. For starters, you can only post stuff for the game itself, so no novels or fan albums. You also cannot use copyrighted work. As much as we’d love to play a case featuring the Rift of Superman, it’s just not allowed. To avoid this, be sure to keep your Mythoi tied to the public domain, such as fairy tales, mythology, and historical figures.
You can, however, use the City of Mist setting in a Garage product. Do you want to write a case where the crew teams up with Excalibur and Baku? Go for it! You aren’t able to just take pages from a City of Mist book and sell them yourself, but as long as your stuff is about 70% original, you should be good to go. You can also duplicate small entries and rules, but it’s better to refer to their page in their original book instead.
Finally, if you’re getting into heavy content, make sure you have a suitable content warning so people know what they’re in for. This is the City after all, so we understand that things can sometimes get dark. But of course, any racist, homophobic, discrimatory, or hate speech is not allowed on the Garage.
Crafting Your Product
When crafting your product for the City of Mist Garage, you don’t have to start from scratch. First, head on over to the City of Mist Garage page on either the City of Mist website or on DriveThruRPG. From there, click on the FAQ for the tools you need to succeed.
There are multiple graphic templates linked in the FAQ, as well as a library of City of Mist art you can use for your product. The templates are created for Adobe InDesign, but there are other programs like Affinity Designer that will work as well.
Unfortunately, I’m not able to go over the intricacies of graphic design and how to use programs for it in a single video. The templates are made to be easy to use, but you’ll still need some proficiency to get your content looking great. Thankfully, there are a host of free tutorials online to help you get to City of Mist level of quality, as well as support from the City of Mist Discord community. Know that you can also use the Garage to share content that isn’t using the templates or isn’t graphically perfect.
You’re also not limited to what’s in the City of Mist art library. You can use any art you have the rights to, including licensed stock photos, commissioned art, and images in the public domain.
Most importantly, make sure the City of Mist Garage logo is somewhere on your cover to show that it’s not an official Son of Oak product. There’s a few other lines of legal text you need to include such as copyright notices, and these are all pointed out in the FAQ and included in the graphic templates.
Submitting to the Garage
Once your creation is complete, it’s time to upload it to the Garage. Start by creating a DriveThruRPG account if you don’t already have one. Once there, go to your Account page and click “Enter New Community Created Title”
That will take you to a page where you can upload your product and put in all of its information. Be sure to select “City of Mist Garage” for the program you’re submitting for so it will show up in the City of Mist Garage page. When determining your price, you can make one up, set it as pay-what-you-want, or even give your product away for free. If you choose to sell your content, 50% of that sale goes directly in your pocket! Once you start selling, your earnings for each sale will show on your DriveThruRPG account 60 days after the sale. You can then use them to make DriveThruRPG purchases or withdraw them to your PayPal account.
You can also set up which pages you want to be displayed as a preview for your product. Try to pick pages with dynamic art and not a lot of spoilers, especially if you’re submitting a case. The better the preview, the more people are likely to buy it!
And that’s it! From there, just upload your files and (as long as it follows the rules) your product will be on the Garage in no time.
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With the City of Mist Garage, you don’t have to hire a team of lawyers and negotiate over license agreements to publish content for City of Mist. Just follow the FAQ, put the City of Mist Garage logo on top, and that’s it! There’s so much more to be found in City of Mist, and I can’t wait to see what else the community comes up with.
What’s some of your favorite content on the Garage? Do you have a project you’re planning on submitting? Tell us about it in the comments, on social media, or on the City of Mist Discord. Until then, have fun!
