As One Million Dollar Kickstarter Ends, Another Appears!

As you may know, I started keeping track of the Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarter Club a while back. What I've noticed is the increasing frequency of these Kickstarters which gross a million dollars or more -- we've gone from a position where we'd have one every few years to where they're coming in at a clip of about one every three weeks right now.

Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarter Club

Avatar Legends leads the pack in an exclusive club -- Kickstarters for tabletop roleplaying game products which have broken the $1M barrier! It is currently the most successful TTRPG Kickstarter in history with a funding total of nearly $10M, and over 80,000 backers. 24 TTRPG campaigns have...

www.enworld.org

When John Wick made a million dollars with his 7th Sea Kickstarter way back in 2016, it was the biggest news ever. That Kickstarter was the most successful TTRPG Kickstarter campaign in history (at the time) and that million dollars was jaw-dropping. It wasn't until two years later in 2018 that Matt Colville became the second million dollar Kickstarter creator with Strongholds & Streaming, which nearly doubled Wick's success.

Avatar Legends (the biggest TTRPG Kickstarter in history) ended today on nearly $10M with over 80,000 backers. And just two days ago, the Tanares RPG 5e project hit a million in its first day. Dungeons of Drakkenheim ended just a few weeks ago on $1.2M, and Heliana's Guide to Monster Hunting made $1.8M just a few weeks before that. We've reached a point where million dollar tabletop RPG Kickstarter are so common that they're starting to overlap.

The 9 million+dollar Kickstarters so far this year are:

• The One Ring Roleplaying Game, Second Edition (March)
• The Seeker's Guide to Twisted Taverns (March)
• Coyote & Crow the Roleplaying Game (April)
• Grim Hollow: The Monster Grimoire (May)
• Auroborous: Coils of the Serpent (May)
• Heliana's Guide to Monster Hunting (July)
• Dungeons of Drakkenheim (August)
• Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game (September)
• Tanares RPG - 5e (current)

Note that that represents a span of just 6 months. In the 12 years since Kickstarter's creation in 2009 until the start of 2021, 4 TTRPG projects beat the $1M mark. In the six months since March 2021, until the time of writing, a further 9 projects have done so. That's about one every 3 weeks. It's almost becoming not-news!

Of course, this is great news for the hobby. But what do you think the cause of this year's explosion of massive TTRPG Kickstarters is?

 

[CleverNickName]

Woah. Out of the 9 Kickstarters on that list, I've backed 6 of them.

 

[Blue Orange]

Woah. Out of the 9 Kickstarters on that list, I've backed 6 of them.

Statistically likely since a high-earning Kickstarter has many supporters, no?

Kind of like the way you poll Americans where they'd prefer to live, and the winner is usually New York; sounds weird until you realize a certain number of people are always going to list their hometown, and that's the biggest city in the country, so...

 

[CleverNickName]

And also: to be fair, I back TONS of Kickstarters. I think I might have a problem.

 

[TrippyHippy]

All power to them for being successful and the numbers are incredible. One hopes they can deliver to backers in a timely fashion though, as it could be catastrophic if there are problems.

 

[humble minion]

And also: to be fair, I back TONS of Kickstarters. I think I might have a problem.

I don't back THAT many, but still ... backing RPG kickstarters has been a pandemic thing for me, since all the money I'd saved to go travelling overseas this year is just sitting around doing nothing and it looks like that won't be changing for a while. So I've got a few pending. Pretty soon, they're going to start delivering all these pretty hardbacks, and I'm going to need to buy a new bookcase.

 

[Fallen star]

and I hear another million dollar kickstarter is coming in October!

 

[Henry]

I’d love to know what the change in trends has been, myself. I’ve only seen like 4 Kickstarters/crowdfunds I’ve EVER been enticed to join, (not just RPGs), and I’d be curious to know what inspired the purchases (Other than just, “cool idea”.)

 

[Umbran]

Of course, this is great news for the hobby. But what do you think the cause of this year's explosion of massive TTRPG Kickstarters is?

Well, this has been the the Year of Covid. Loads of people more or less locking down - not spending their money going to movies, restaurants, concerts, conventions or vacations. Boredom and unspent cash and even more time spent online interact and, voila?

Other path - creators are locked down, looking for an avenue of expression in a year of anxiety, and thus greater impetus to put forth ambitious offerings?

 

[Umbran]

I’d love to know what the change in trends has been, myself. I’ve only seen like 4 Kickstarters/crowdfunds I’ve EVER been enticed to join, (not just RPGs), and I’d be curious to know what inspired the purchases (Other than just, “cool idea”.)

I've backed two of these very large RPG kickstarters, both because I was specifically interested in the settings in question.

This past year, with my own employment situation secure, I have been a bit more free with my money for small businesses.