Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
The RPG Kickstarters Which Break The Bank: Fame Pays
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Morrus" data-source="post: 6000887" data-attributes="member: 1"><p><span style="font-size: 12px">Amongst the dozens of new RPG Kickstarter projects launching each week, we seem to be getting one major bank-busting multi-hundred-thousand-dollar extravaganza every few weeks. The most recent have been the Reaper minis project which has probably filled your Facebook feed for weeks, and Monte Cook's still-ongoing new RPG, <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1433901524/numenera-a-new-roleplaying-game-from-monte-cook" target="_blank">Numenera</a>. Here's a list of some recent really big successes in RPGs:</span> <ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol"><span style="font-size: 12px">Reaper Miniatures Bones (Reaper Minis) - $3,429,236</span></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol"><span style="font-size: 12px">Order of the Stick Reprint (Rich Burlew) - $1,254,120</span></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol"><span style="font-size: 12px">OGRE Designer's Edition (Steve Jackson Games) - $923,680</span></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol"><span style="font-size: 12px">Pathfinder Online Technology Demo (Goblinworks) - $307,844</span></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol"><span style="font-size: 12px">Traveller5 (Marc Miller) - $294,628</span></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol"><span style="font-size: 12px">Rappan Athuk (Frog God Games) - $246,541</span></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol"><span style="font-size: 12px">Artisan Dice (Charlie Brunfield) - $91,542</span></li> </ol><p><span style="font-size: 12px">In addition, Monte Cook's <em>Numenera</em> is closing in on $200,000 and still has three weeks left to run. I'm sure I've missed some others.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">The oldest of this particular list (of seven, including Monte's) was in February this year, six months ago, so even without any I may have missed we're looking at an average of more than one such blockbuster per month.</span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">In addition I estimate I'm reporting on </span><a href="http://rpgkickstarters.tumblr.com/" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: 12px">RPG Kickstarters</span></a><span style="font-size: 12px"> about a dozen per week, and I'm certainly not getting all of them, and have run two successful (though much smaller scale than the above) Kickstarters myself.</span></p><p> </p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">I don't know what conclusions a potential Kickstarter-starter could draw from the above list. A few data points to start with, though I'm sure others could analyse these in much greater detail and to more accurate effect:</span></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><span style="font-size: 12px">4 of the 7 are reprints or upgrades of old existing material (arguably, I suppose, the Pathfinder MMO is an 'upgrade' of existing material), so it seems that "new" stuff isn't featuring strongly in the list. </span></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><span style="font-size: 12px">The dice and the miniatures seem to be the exception (and Monte's new game will be one, too, when it finishes). </span></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><span style="font-size: 12px">6 of the 7 (including Monte) are from existing companies or already high-profile individuals. Or, to put another way, somehow leverage a large existing brand: only Artisan Dice does not.</span></li> </ul><p><span style="font-size: 12px">It might appear from that list that to have a blockbuster Kickstarter, then, 6 out of 7 need to be capitalizing on existing material, brands, or name recognition. That doesn't take into account the dozens upon dozens of much smaller but still successful RPG Kickstarter projects, of course. You certainly don't have to be famous already to use Kickstarter successfully, as the sheer number of them attests.</span></p><p> </p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">Kickstarter is most definitely a very popular method of funding RPG projects. There's been a lot of talk about how there are just too many of them, that they're dominating the news, and so on - I've even been part of that viewpoint at time as the deluge seems to simply increase. However, I do feel it's important to realise that it's simply a <em>funding source</em> - the cool part is the RPG product. The mistake (from perhaps reporters like myself) is identifying them primarily as "Kickstarters" rather than "Here's a cool new RPG product coming soon!" - rather like if, a few years ago, I'd referred to every new project as "Funded By Bank Loan" or something. I'm looking at it more as "Holy crap, there's a lot of varied and exciting new RPG products around these days" and ignoring the fact that they're funded in the same way.</span> </p><p> </p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">Oh, as a final tip - if you're running a Kickstarter, check out <a href="http://www.kicktraq.com/" target="_blank">kicktraq.com</a> - it very cleverly tracks and projects your project and provides more data than kickstarter.com itself does. I found it invaluable in my own recent Kickstarter. And, of course, don't forget to add your project to <a href="http://rpgkickstarters.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">RPG Kickstarters</a>.</span></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Morrus, post: 6000887, member: 1"] [SIZE=3]Amongst the dozens of new RPG Kickstarter projects launching each week, we seem to be getting one major bank-busting multi-hundred-thousand-dollar extravaganza every few weeks. The most recent have been the Reaper minis project which has probably filled your Facebook feed for weeks, and Monte Cook's still-ongoing new RPG, [URL="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1433901524/numenera-a-new-roleplaying-game-from-monte-cook"]Numenera[/URL]. Here's a list of some recent really big successes in RPGs:[/SIZE][LIST=1] [*][SIZE=3]Reaper Miniatures Bones (Reaper Minis) - $3,429,236[/SIZE] [*][SIZE=3]Order of the Stick Reprint (Rich Burlew) - $1,254,120[/SIZE] [*][SIZE=3]OGRE Designer's Edition (Steve Jackson Games) - $923,680[/SIZE] [*][SIZE=3]Pathfinder Online Technology Demo (Goblinworks) - $307,844[/SIZE] [*][SIZE=3]Traveller5 (Marc Miller) - $294,628[/SIZE] [*][SIZE=3]Rappan Athuk (Frog God Games) - $246,541[/SIZE] [*][SIZE=3]Artisan Dice (Charlie Brunfield) - $91,542[/SIZE] [/LIST][SIZE=3]In addition, Monte Cook's [I]Numenera[/I] is closing in on $200,000 and still has three weeks left to run. I'm sure I've missed some others.[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]The oldest of this particular list (of seven, including Monte's) was in February this year, six months ago, so even without any I may have missed we're looking at an average of more than one such blockbuster per month.[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]In addition I estimate I'm reporting on [/SIZE][URL="http://rpgkickstarters.tumblr.com/"][SIZE=3]RPG Kickstarters[/SIZE][/URL][SIZE=3] about a dozen per week, and I'm certainly not getting all of them, and have run two successful (though much smaller scale than the above) Kickstarters myself.[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]I don't know what conclusions a potential Kickstarter-starter could draw from the above list. A few data points to start with, though I'm sure others could analyse these in much greater detail and to more accurate effect:[/SIZE] [LIST] [*][SIZE=3]4 of the 7 are reprints or upgrades of old existing material (arguably, I suppose, the Pathfinder MMO is an 'upgrade' of existing material), so it seems that "new" stuff isn't featuring strongly in the list. [/SIZE] [*][SIZE=3]The dice and the miniatures seem to be the exception (and Monte's new game will be one, too, when it finishes). [/SIZE] [*][SIZE=3]6 of the 7 (including Monte) are from existing companies or already high-profile individuals. Or, to put another way, somehow leverage a large existing brand: only Artisan Dice does not.[/SIZE] [/LIST][SIZE=3]It might appear from that list that to have a blockbuster Kickstarter, then, 6 out of 7 need to be capitalizing on existing material, brands, or name recognition. That doesn't take into account the dozens upon dozens of much smaller but still successful RPG Kickstarter projects, of course. You certainly don't have to be famous already to use Kickstarter successfully, as the sheer number of them attests.[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]Kickstarter is most definitely a very popular method of funding RPG projects. There's been a lot of talk about how there are just too many of them, that they're dominating the news, and so on - I've even been part of that viewpoint at time as the deluge seems to simply increase. However, I do feel it's important to realise that it's simply a [I]funding source[/I] - the cool part is the RPG product. The mistake (from perhaps reporters like myself) is identifying them primarily as "Kickstarters" rather than "Here's a cool new RPG product coming soon!" - rather like if, a few years ago, I'd referred to every new project as "Funded By Bank Loan" or something. I'm looking at it more as "Holy crap, there's a lot of varied and exciting new RPG products around these days" and ignoring the fact that they're funded in the same way.[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]Oh, as a final tip - if you're running a Kickstarter, check out [URL="http://www.kicktraq.com/"]kicktraq.com[/URL] - it very cleverly tracks and projects your project and provides more data than kickstarter.com itself does. I found it invaluable in my own recent Kickstarter. And, of course, don't forget to add your project to [URL="http://rpgkickstarters.tumblr.com/"]RPG Kickstarters[/URL].[/SIZE] [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
The RPG Kickstarters Which Break The Bank: Fame Pays
Top