D&D General 5E-Powered Adventure Time Joins Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarter Club

The latest entry to the Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarter Club is Adventure Time: The Roleplaying Game from Cryptozoic Entertainment. This is the third million dollar TTRPG Kickstarter in the last month or so (and the 4th so far this year).

Adventure Time is powered by D&D 5E and is based on the popular animated show--which itself was inspired by D&D. You play as a resident of the Land of Ooo with characters like wild berry barbarians, vampire rogues, and penguin warlocks.

The game was originally pitched using a custom system (the Yes/And System), before pivoting to D&D 5E; the custom system version is apparently still coming later.

The Kickstarter ends tomorrow. At the time of writing it had raised $1.25M from nearly 6,000 backers.

 

[Reynard]

I'm not surprised given the cultural touchstone it is for many millenials. I do wonder what would have happened had it maintained its original bespoke system. Obviously, Avatar (perhaps the most important millenial fantasy touchstone outside of Harry Potter) used a PbtA system and made stupid amounts of money.

Speaking of, imagine the numbers if HP ever got a kickstarter for a TTRPG.

 

[aco175]

I like anything with Ray Winninger's name on it.

 

[sevenbastard]

This kickstarter seemed to have a steady build up. I feel like normally kickstarter start really strong out of the gate then funding slows, but when I looked at this one a few weeks ago it was about $400k and I didn't think it was going to hit a million.

 

[Morrus]

This kickstarter seemed to have a steady build up. I feel like normally kickstarter start really strong out of the gate then funding slows, but when I looked at this one a few weeks ago it was about $400k and I didn't think it was going to hit a million.

I think it looks like the fairly standard u-shape.

 

[Ringtail]

Speaking of, imagine the numbers if HP ever got a kickstarter for a TTRPG.

It would definitely do well, but I'm sure would be damn controversial, given how JKR conducts herself these days. I mean, look at Hogwarts Legacy.

That said, if JKR was Hands-off and you had a more considerate team producing the game, I'd be very interested. I was interested in Hogwarts Legacy but then people said it was just okay.

Edit: Also, I can imagine how this game would have exploded among my friends when I was in High School in the early 2010s, I'm sure all of those friends are seeing this game and getting pretty pumped.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

It would definitely do well, but I'm sure would be damn controversial, given how JKR conducts herself these days. I mean, look at Hogwarts Legacy.

That said, if JKR was Hands-off and you had a more considerate team producing the game, I'd be very interested. I was interested in Hogwarts Legacy but then people said it was just okay.

I think it's hard to disagree that Hogwarts-related stuff would be even bigger today if JKR had gone back with Poochie to his home planet the moment she sent Deathly Hallows off to the publisher.

That said, there have been a number of RPGs that have tried to do Harry Potter with the serial numbers filed off, and they've done ... fine. Never amazing numbers, but just fine.

 

[Von Ether]

I'm in the camp of 5e being an odd design choice but understand it's a solid economic decision. At this point, it's like the game plan has to be:

1. Shoehorn setting into 5e*
2. Make money
3. Make the rpg you really want for the setting as a vanity project.
4. Pray the game's popularity lasts long enough to actually make a profit.

*D&D has done this for years. If you take all the rules out to make Dark Sun work in AD&D, you end up with a much smaller book.

 

[DarkCrisis]

It would definitely do well, but I'm sure would be damn controversial, given how JKR conducts herself these days. I mean, look at Hogwarts Legacy.

That said, if JKR was Hands-off and you had a more considerate team producing the game, I'd be very interested. I was interested in Hogwarts Legacy but then people said it was just okay.

Edit: Also, I can imagine how this game would have exploded among my friends when I was in High School in the early 2010s, I'm sure all of those friends are seeing this game and getting pretty pumped.

Legacy is actually really good despite some issues (like using Dark Magic has zero penalties, even in front of teachers)

That being said, JKR sucks. Potter was invented by AI as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Ringtail]

That said, there have been a number of RPGs that have tried to do Harry Potter with the serial numbers filed off, and they've done ... fine. Never amazing numbers, but just fine.

Yeah, well as much as it may not matter to you or I, having the "official" IP matters more to some people. I do think an official HP tie-in would probably sell more than "off-brand" attempts. (No shade intended.)

Legacy is actually really good despite some issues (like using Dark Magic has zero penalties, even in front of teachers)

I didn't hear that it was bad, just okay. Repetitive quest design and such. I've been waiting for the bargain sale, which would probably take another year or two. Visuals are damn impressive from what I've seen though and I think HP's aesthetic is its biggest draw.