Shadowdark Setting Looks Set To Be 2025's First Million Dollar TTRPG Crowdfunder

​

Just launched today, the new Western Reaches setting for the Arcane Library's popular Shadowdark roleplaying game (which itself raised $1.3M in 2023) has flown past half a million dollars in the first few hours, and looks certain to join the Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarter Club imminently!

[[Edit/Update--and it's done it! $1M less than 12 hours into the Kickstarter campaign!]]

2025 has been quiet so far this year on the million-dollar crowdfunding front. This new setting is a sandbox environment with new classes and ancestries, and various areas such as the Gloaming Forest, Djurum Desert, and Myre Swamp. It comes in two 200-page digest-sized hardcovers. Also included are new issues of the game's Cursed Scroll zine. The full core set will cost you $129, or $149 for a premium version, with fulfillment expected in December 2025.

At $670K at the time of writing, just 3 hours into the campaign, The Western Reaches is already the 7th most first-day funded TTRPG ever, having just passed 2024's Terry Pratchett's Discworld RPG: Adventures in Ankh-Morpork. It looks set to pass 6th place very soon, which is 2023's Ryoko's Guide to the Yokai Realms - A 5e Tome. Only five TTRPG crowdfunders (so far!) have ever hit the million-dollar mark on the first day. You can see the full ranking at the Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarter Club.

The Western Reaches are an unexplored land of fragile civilizations, majestic landscapes, and forgotten horrors that lurk in the dark.

In the Reaches, you could play as:

• A painted witch from the steppes hunting for the secrets to deeper magic
• An armored knight from the City of Masks guarding frontier villages from attack
• A silent monk from the mountains searching for the assassin who killed his teacher
• A scarred pit fighter from the desert looking to make her fortune outside the arena
• A quick-witted explorer from the jungle who can find any artifact for the right price
• A seafaring warrior from the northern isles who fights for the glory of the Old Gods

This sandbox setting is fast, elegant, and flexible in the signature Shadowdark style. You don't have to memorize lore; you'll discover it as you go. The world moves and grows with you as you explore it.

 

[Scribe]

Anyway, I bet its a Million USD before I get back from the Gym.

 

[nullzero]

Is that because it’s room description and monster name.

No, its dense in info terse in language. Here's two rooms from the free quick start dungeon. It tells a small story, describes 6 npcs, their potential reactions, 2 rooms and some treasure in 23 lines of a5 text.

 

[Lidgar]

Is that because it’s room description and monster name.

A bit more than that. They typically include a sentence or two regarding the creature’s personality or goals, as well as important room elements.

EDIT: see the post above this one!

A big part of Shadowdark are random tables to handle everything from encounter types to reactions. There’s also a default moral mechanic that kicks in if more than half the opponents go down (dc 15 wisdom check I think).

All that being said, these elements are all optional at my table. I use them sometimes, other times I wing it depending on how the party is doing. I don’t like to be overly harsh as a DM so I go with the “rule of fun” more often than not.

 

[Morrus]

Currently has the 6th most successful launch ever, with a chance of making it to 5th place! It's probably not going to get the $2M needed to overtake MCDM into 4th place though.

Thread 'Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarter Club'

Feb 28, 2021

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.]

...

• Morrus
• Replies: 511
• Forum: *TTRPGs General

• 

 

[der_kluge]

I certainly love seeing 3rd party publishers do well, but am I alone in wondering what all the fuss is about with Shadowdark? I looked at it a while back when I was looking for an alternative RPG for a Ravenloft campaign I was going to run, and all the SD fanboys couldn't resist fawning over it. My take away was that it was overly simplistic to the point of just not giving players very many options, plus I wasn't running a dungeon crawl, and it seems kind of specifically tailored around dungeon play. I also could never force my players into getting random benefits at level-up. They would absolutely hate me for that. So, what am I missing here? Is it just quite simply - simplicity and speed over options and variety?

 

[Knaves Quill]

I certainly love seeing 3rd party publishers do well, but am I alone in wondering what all the fuss is about with Shadowdark? I looked at it a while back when I was looking for an alternative RPG for a Ravenloft campaign I was going to run, and all the SD fanboys couldn't resist fawning over it. My take away was that it was overly simplistic to the point of just not giving players very many options, plus I wasn't running a dungeon crawl, and it seems kind of specifically tailored around dungeon play. I also could never force my players into getting random benefits at level-up. They would absolutely hate me for that. So, what am I missing here? Is it just quite simply - simplicity and speed over options and variety?

Ease of running via digest-formatted rules, a focus on emergent gameplay and reliance on random elements, thus quick, random character elements. It FEELS so smooth to run, and honestly more intimate between everyone at the table, since very little of what you can do is on your character sheet. I'm a 5e fanboy, but SD felt like a very different, freeing kind of fun.

I know that's not a technical breakdown of features, but how I felt after running SD for a few sessions sold me completely on it.

As for the "dungeons only" thing you here about the system, it strongly supports dungeons being run, but the system makes general exploration and other activities easy as well. That's part of the appeal of this new Kickstarter; it throws the SD mechanics headfirst into non-dungeon crawl gameplay.

I hope my mostly emotion-based response gives you at least a bit of understanding.

 

[darjr]

I certainly love seeing 3rd party publishers do well, but am I alone in wondering what all the fuss is about with Shadowdark? I looked at it a while back when I was looking for an alternative RPG for a Ravenloft campaign I was going to run, and all the SD fanboys couldn't resist fawning over it. My take away was that it was overly simplistic to the point of just not giving players very many options, plus I wasn't running a dungeon crawl, and it seems kind of specifically tailored around dungeon play. I also could never force my players into getting random benefits at level-up. They would absolutely hate me for that. So, what am I missing here? Is it just quite simply - simplicity and speed over options and variety?

No shame in staying this one out.

 

[darjr]

 

[mamba]

Anyway, I bet its a Million USD before I get back from the Gym.

are you back? It passed the 1M mark

 

[Scribe]

are you back? It passed the 1M mark

Lol just finished (legs!)