Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarter Club

Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere RPG leads the pack in an exclusive club -- crowdfunders for tabletop roleplaying game products which have broken the $1M barrier! It is currently the most successful TTRPG crowdfunder in history with a funding total of over $10M, and over 30,000 backers (and also the third biggest crowdfunded of any kind!)

[Update--Kickstarter integrated 'late pledges' in May 2024. The totals on this table are the totals at the time the campaign officially ended and do not include late pledges or additional pledges from pledge managers.]


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This list comprises crowdfunders specifically for tabletop roleplaying games or supplements which have exceeded $1M. It does not include crowdfunders which are primarily for miniatures, software, dice, or other accessories.

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$1M+ TTRPG Crowdfunders: The Official TTRPG $1M Crowdfunder Club

#​
Project
Platform​
D&D 5E​
Additions**​
Creator​
Date EndedBackersAmountFirst Day***Average Pledge
1​
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Brotherwise GamesAugust 202452,652$14,557,439$4,380,024 (30%)$276
2​
Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game
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September 202181,549$9,533,258$1,150,566 (12%)$117
3​
Gloomhaven Grand Festival
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July 202334,691$5,053,380$1,339,942 (27%)$146
4​
The MCDM RPG
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MCDM Productions (Matt Colville)​
January 202430,177$4,600,529$1,985,398 (43%))$152
5​
The Crooked Moon: Folk Horror in 5E by Legends of Aavantris
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Legends of AvantrisNovember 202321,793$4,020,234$1,225,460 (30%)$184
6​
Ryoko's Guide to the Yokai Realms - A 5e Tome
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DnD Shorts (Loot Tavern)October 202326,376$3,327,204$712,290 (21%)$126
7​
Terry Pratchett's Discworld RPG: Adventures in Ankh-Morpork
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ModiphiusNovember 202416,177$2,925,641$671,187 (23%)$181
8​
Steinhardt's Guide to the Eldritch Hunt: A 5e Supplement
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MonkeyDM(Loot Tavern)August 202219,723$2,692,698$411,135 (15%)$137
9​
Obojima Tales From The Tall Grass: A 5E Campaign Setting
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1985 GamesAugust 202323,416$2,610,869$380,679 (15%)$111
10​
Fool's Gold: Into the Bellowing Wilds
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Hit Point PressNovember 202116,929$2,479,888$349,884 (14%)$147
11​
ALIEN RPG – Evolved Edition and Rapture Protocol
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Free LeagueApril 202511,749$2,412,117$1,109,732 (46%)$205
12Shadowdark RPG: The Western Reaches Setting
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The Arcane LibraryApril 202512,795$2,384,757$1,099,875 (46%)$186
13​
DC20
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The Dungeon CoachJuly 202420,685$2,245,231$415,127 (19%)$108
14​
Strongholds & Streaming
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Matt ColvilleMarch 201828,918$2,121,465$591,556 (28%)$73
15​
Tanares RPG - 5e
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Dragori GamesOctober 20219,403$2,100,242$993,228 (47%)$223
16​
Old Gods of Appalachia Roleplaying Game
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May 202215,061$2,097,715$679,748 (32%)$139
17​
"Flee, Mortals!" - The MCDM Monster Book for 5e
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Matt ColvilleMay 202227,009$2,084,117$788,976 (38%)$77
18​
The Magnus Archives Roleplaying Game
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September 202311,622$2,027,997$794,798 (39%)$174
19​
The One Ring Roleplaying Game, Second Edition
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March 202116,591$2,025,288$521,908 (26%)$122
20​
Monty Python's Cocurricular Mediaeval Reenactment Programme
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November 202215,018$1,933,426$792,724 (41%)$129
21​
Heliana's Guide to Monster Hunting
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Loot Tavern(Hit Point Press)July 202118,082$1,845,422$259,382 (14%)$102
22​
BLADE RUNNER - The Roleplaying Game
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May 202215,323$1,673,567$833,263 (49%)$109
23​
The Seeker's Guide to Twisted Taverns
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Eldermancy
(Ghostfire Gaming)
March 202117,921$1,650,076$211,563 (13%)$92
24​
Adventure Time: The Roleplaying Game
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May 20247,334$1,568,387$238,556 (15%)$214
25​
Mothership Sci-Fi Horror RPG 1st Edition Boxed Set
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Alan GerdingDecember 202115,699$1,405,569$529,134 (38%)$90
26​
Dolmenwood Tabletop RPG
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Exalted FuneralSeptember 202310,862$1,389,313$639,002 (46%)$128
27​
Kingdoms, Warfare & More Minis!
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Matt ColvilleNovember 201919,033$1,372,685$594,330 (43%)$72
28​
Shadowdark RPG: Old School Gaming, Modernized
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The Arcane LibraryMarch 202313,249$1,365,923$299,898 (22%)$103
29​
Grim Hollow: The Monster Grimoire
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Ghostfire GamingMay 202115,530$1,348,160$258,640 (19%)$87
30​
7th Sea: Second Edition
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John Wick (Chaosium)March 201611,483$1,316,813$286,290 (22%)$115
31​
The Deck of Many Animated Spells, Tarot and More for 5e
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Hit Point PressJune 20209,871$1,310,509$218,381 (16%)$133
32​
Dungeons of Drakkenheim
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Dungeon Dudes
(Ghostfire Gaming)
August 202113,376$1,279,240$370,638 (29%)$96
33​
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness
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Palladium BooksNovember 20238,383$1,277,498$359,895 (28%)$152
34​
Auroboros: Coils of the Serpent
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Warchief GamingMay 202110,218$1,260,863$493,947 (39%)$123
35​
The Griffon's Saddlebag: Book 2
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Griffin Macaulay
(Hit Point Press)
April 202211,710$1,237,197$297,192 (24%)$106
36​
Erevan's Guide to Death and Beyond - A 5e Tome
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Archvillain GamesJune 20246,826$1,236,738$336,253 (27%)$181
37​
Moria - Through the Doors of Durin for The One Ring RPG
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September 202313,009$1,198,575$619,890 (52%)$92
38​
Tales of the Valiant RPG: Launching Black Flag Roleplaying
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Kobold PressJune 202310,057$1,151,914$487,329 (42%)$115
39​
The Field Guide to Floral Dragons
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Hit Point PressMay 202412,532$1,110,056$297,687 (27%)$89
40​
Coyote & Crow the Roleplaying Game
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Connor AlexanderApril 202116,269$1,073,453$106,515 (10%)$66
41​
Monsters of Drakkenheim - 5E Monsters with Lores Lairs & Loot
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Dungeon Dudes
(Ghostfire Gaming)
April 20248,078$1,065,710$459,295 (43%)$132
42Fallen London: The Roleplaying Game
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Magpie GamesMarch 20258,105$1,028,103$419,329 (41%)$127
43​
Sebastian Crowe's Guide to Drakkenheim
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Dungeon Dudes
(Ghostfire Gaming)
September 20228,963$1,025,330$422,376 (41%)$114
44The Magnus Archives RPG: Tangled in the Web
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Monte Cook GamesMarch 20256,174$1,015,475$244,599 (24%)$164
45​
Humblewood Campaign Setting for 5e
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Hit Point PressApril 201914,604$1,001,085$58,985 (6%)$69
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Miniatures |
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Merchandise |
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Dice |
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Kickstarter |
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Backerkit |
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D&D 5E​

*Licensed or based on an existing IP (movie, novel, video game, board game, comic book, previous game edition, etc.)
**Merch means pins, shirts, dice trays, etc. Stuff which isn't the actual game.
***First day figures represent first calendar day, not first 24 hours, and are taken from Kicktraq's daily funding stats for Kickstarter or Backer Tracker for Backerkit.
Some unusual patterns can be seen above. Most crowdfunders follow the traditional 'U' shaped curved, with a large portion of the funding taking place in the first few and last few days of the campaign, and comparatively slower progress in the middle.
  • Tanares RPG did nearly $1M in its first day, but then support dropped off for the remaining month. This was due to a high-value giveaway to first-day backers.​
  • Humblewood started off slow and then got a big boost in the last 4 days. It's not clear what caused that, but an aggressive final marketing push is a good candidate--they have multiple marketing entries in their collaborators list.​
A crowdfunder which does well will tend to mean later campaigns also do well, as those backers are notified when new crowdfunders by the same creator are launched.

What Does A Million Dollar Campaign Look Like?
Look at the above campaigns, we can paint a picture of a million dollar TTRPG campaign.
  • 25/45 include minis
  • 41/45 include merchandise (pins, t-shirts, dice trays, etc.)
  • 34/45 include dice
  • Only 2/44 do not include minis, dice, or merch
  • 25/45 are D&D 5E related--but the top 4 are all non-D&D.
  • 17/45 are based on an existing IP (movie, book, older game edition, etc.) other than D&D
  • Only 3/45 are original games (neither 5E nor based on existing IP.)
  • The average pledge level is in the region of $115
  • The average campaign does 26% of its funding in the first day unless there are early bird rewards in which case it can be in the mid-40%s
  • The average campaign has 18.5K backers, with the lowest about 9K backers
Multiple Entries
The following creators have two or more entries in the chart. These 6 creators comprise nearly 50% of the chart with a total of 18 entries.

Creator
Entries​
MCDM Productions / Matt Colville
4​
Hit Point Press
4​
Free League
4​
Dungeon Dudes
3​
Monte Cook Games
3​
Exalted Funeral
2​
Magpie Games
2​
The Arcane Library
2​

Some creators are also listed as contributors to other projects.
  • Loot Tavern (1 entry) is also listed as contributor to DnD Shorts and MonkeyDM.
  • Hit Point Press (4 entries) is also listed as contributor to Loot Tavern and Griffin Macaulay.
  • Ghostfire Gaming (1 entry) is also listed as contributor to Eldermancy and Dungeon Dudes (x3).
 

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Even beyond that, I think we're in an era when people have realized that you don't actually need special rules for things to be "anime". Oddly enough POCGamer/Panzer was saying that on his Twitter a day or two ago. You could have special rules to simulate a specific anime setting, sure - but for "anime" in general? You don't need any special rules, it's just about how you describe things, the scenarios you set up, and so on. There might be some ultra-grounded rules-sets to avoid (doubt it though, given the popularity of CoC in Japan), but 5E isn't one of them.

Yeah and it certainly fits with my experience of backing KSes. Usually either I'm instantly excited enough that I slap the money down as soon as I hear about it, or I'm waiting to think about it more and set the reminder thing. So almost every KS I've done would have been first few days or last few. Plus most of the advertising for KSes seems to be when they launch and when they have a little time left. Interestingly I often seen them advertised via Facebook, which nearly never advertises anything of interest apart from them at me.
A lot of what you’re seeing there is massive Backerkit ad spends under their various FB pages — “Tabletop Picks” and “Cardboard Revolution”’and a bunch of others. In the last year these have become increasingly common — Backerkit spends a truckload of money on FB ads for you and takes a 15% commission (and repayment of the ad spend) after the campaign is over. They started doing this a year or so ago by reaching out to KS creators, but now they’re all set up so you can apply online.
 

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A lot of what you’re seeing there is massive Backerkit ad spends under their various FB pages — “Tabletop Picks” and “Cardboard Revolution”’and a bunch of others. In the last year these have become increasingly common — Backerkit spends a truckload of money on FB ads for you and takes a 15% commission (and repayment of the ad spend) after the campaign is over. They started doing this a year or so ago by reaching out to KS creators, but now they’re all set up so you can apply online.
Ah - this explains all the crowdsourced gaming product ads I see on Instagram. I've actually discovered and backed a couple things through those ads that i hadn't heard of elsewhere, so kudos to them, I guess.
 

No clue what you are talking about. I never played BESM, so I know nothing about the creators of it who are also doing this game.
Mark MacKinnon (the creator of Anime 5e), has an unfortunate history of not paying his freelancers. It became a particular problem, according to James Lowder, when he continued to take contracts from freelancers knowing he could never pay them. And then in 2012, Mark was selling products for IP he didn't own or license (GoT). Not quite Ken Whitman levels, but there certainly seem to be a lot of fires with Mark in the past that have people concerned.
 

All that sweet tax return money that a lot of people get in around this time of year lol
And still 2-3 months before end of school year...

The end of the school year reduces a lot of people's spendable incomes. One or more of:
  • college students work-study programs
  • children needing supervision due to no school
  • college town townies having fewer hours due to fewer students needing various services and things
  • traditional vacation time results in less money to spend and spending it on vacation
  • more outdoor time and less gaming time for many gamers.
There are some places that gain a lot from summer (Newport and Waldport, Oregon come to mind), but they seem (on first order analysis) to be the exception.
 

Mark MacKinnon (the creator of Anime 5e), has an unfortunate history of not paying his freelancers. It became a particular problem, according to James Lowder, when he continued to take contracts from freelancers knowing he could never pay them. And then in 2012, Mark was selling products for IP he didn't own or license (GoT). Not quite Ken Whitman levels, but there certainly seem to be a lot of fires with Mark in the past that have people concerned.

People don't seem to mind. In the four days since I posted about it, it has added another $100k.
 


Looks like we might be adding two new projects to this list in the coming weeks --



Q2 2021 is going to have more million dollar TTRPG Kickstarters in it than the preceding 8 years combined!
 



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