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.

 

[Bill Zebub]

Possibly!

First, it's important to clarify what type of "discontented grognard" we're talking about. Although the emphasis in Shadowdark is on dangerous dungeon crawling, it has none of the icky edgelord vibe that marks the worst of the OSR space. It cherishes the style of play of the 70s and 80s, but isn't resentful of how society has changed since then. So it is certainly not a "dark edgy angst fest" in that sense.

As written Shadowdark is dangerous and swingy, and death is always close at hand, especially for low-level characters. But a few house rules will greatly increase the survivability. The game is so simple and free of bloat that it's super easy to mold it however you want. Still, if you really hate 1e style of play, SD might not be your best choice since the game is very much trying to channel that Gygaxian vibe.

I actually found that phrase a little ironic, for my general perception was that an awful lot of discontented grognards treated Kelsey like an interloper into "their" OSR scene when Shadowdark took off.

FWIW, my 8 and 11 year olds love Shadowdark, after playing a lot of 5e.

Also, I've always found the dark/edgy aspects of Shadowdark to be a little bit tongue-in-cheek.

 

[overgeeked]

The default difficulty setting of Shadowdark is "the players will make characters who are mostly inept losers who WILL die at least once during a campaign". That's the championed and advertised experience ("this ain't your modern SOFT D&D game").

That’s not my reading of the game. It might be your assumptions creeping in. A high lethality game does not mean the PCs are “inept losers.” The text suggests the opposite in several places.

As one example: “The characters automatically succeed at what they are trained to do. Only use stat checks when there is time pressure and failure has dire consequences.”

It’s not that the PCs suck by default, it’s that the environment is so overwhelmingly deadly.

 

[Bill Zebub]

That’s not my reading of the game. It might be your assumptions creeping in. A high lethality game does not mean the PCs are “inept losers.” The text suggests the opposite in several places.

As one example: “The characters automatically succeed at what they are trained to do. Only use stat checks when there is time pressure and failure has dire consequences.”

It’s not that the PCs suck by default, it’s that the environment is so overwhelmingly deadly.

I agree with that. PCs are quite competent. They just don't have the over-to-top starting ability scores, carefully arranged in the exact same order of priority as virtually all characters of the same class, that some players are used to.

(P.S. Ever notice that whenever somebody makes a post like, "Hey, guys, I rolled these scores and am thinking about class X or Y. What do you think?" the scores are always at least 3 standard deviations above average.)

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I actually found that phrase a little ironic, for my general perception was that an awful lot of discontented grognards treated Kelsey like an interloper into "their" OSR scene when Shadowdark took off.

It seemed like they mostly either were converted or retreated back into their holes by the time the book fulfilled. I suspect many of them may have -- gasp -- actually read the book and saw that their sniping was unwarranted.

 

[Von Ether]

I actually found that phrase a little ironic, for my general perception was that an awful lot of discontented grognards treated Kelsey like an interloper into "their" OSR scene when Shadowdark took off.

That's sad as I follow OSR youtube tastemakers like Questing Beast and Dungeon Masterpiece and they spoke highly of it. (Including De Ropp standing on his chair during Shadowdark's awards win. )

At this point, I avoid OSR social media, especially as the posts recycle the same four or five different versions of why "5e sucks and OSR is for real GAMARRS." There's no need to tear down one game/playstyle for another.

I'd probably be more attracted to Shadowdark, but I've already found a similar game that's been answering the same sort of questions, Dragonbane. For example, every 15 minutes of game time one rolls for the torch to go out and also for a possible random encounter - with encounters usually enforcing the theme of the location vs random monster. And Dragonbane being a d20 version of BRP/Pendragon/ take care of the flat math.

Both are great games everyone should check out.

 

[overgeeked]

It seemed like they mostly either were converted or retreated back into their holes by the time the book fulfilled. I suspect many of them may have -- gasp -- actually read the book and saw that their sniping was unwarranted.

There’s also quite a few old hands in the OSR space who just don’t get it. They’re not sniping or angry, they just honestly don’t understand why Shadowdark blew up when there are so many other nearly identical OSR/NSR games on the market. Stuff they’ve worked on and championed for years only for a newer product to go stratospheric. I gotta admit I’m in that cohort. I have shelves full of nearly identical books that linger in obscurity. Systems that do things closer to how I like them (the only honest criteria for “better”) with less than 1/100th the love and support Shadowdark gets. I usually buy games, especially in the OSR/NSR space, based on doing something unique and different. I passed on Shadowdark because the only thing I could see it did differently was the torch timer.

 

[darjr]

To me, part is Kelsey is just a nice person. A lot of folks in the scene just are not, especially a lot of the ones grumpy over Shadowdark, for reasons I can't really fathom.

 

[Nightfly]

It seemed like they mostly either were converted or retreated back into their holes by the time the book fulfilled. I suspect many of them may have -- gasp -- actually read the book and saw that their sniping was unwarranted.

Actually, I'm pleasantly surprised by how many people in the troglodyte corner of the OSR world in fact like Shadowdark. By no means all, but a shockingly large number of the He-Man Woman Haters Club cohort are fans. Of course that just enrages the haters even more.

 

[overgeeked]

To me, part is Kelsey is just a nice person. A lot of folks in the scene just are not, especially a lot of the ones grumpy over Shadowdark, for reasons I can't really fathom.

Yep. Absolutely. Kelsey’s worked her butt off doing good work for years. Just like a lot of other people. Kelsey’s an incredibly nice and decent person. Just like a lot of other people. There are lots of nice folks in the OSR who’ve worked their asses off for years but don’t have the success Kelsey does. There are also a lot of d-bags in the scene.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Yeah, once you've found your engine of choice, there's no

There’s also quite a few old hands in the OSR space who just don’t get it. They’re not sniping or angry, they just honestly don’t understand why Shadowdark blew up when there are so many other nearly identical OSR/NSR games on the market. Stuff they’ve worked on and championed for years only for a newer product to go stratospheric. I gotta admit I’m in that cohort. I have shelves full of nearly identical books that linger in obscurity. Systems that do things closer to how I like them (the only honest criteria for “better”) with less than 1/100th the love and support Shadowdark gets. I usually buy games, especially in the OSR/NSR space, based on doing something unique and different. I passed on Shadowdark because the only thing I could see it did differently was the torch timer.

Kelsey addressed this a bit in her livestream yesterday, in the form of advice for people launching their own products:

1. She had a certain degree of prominence -- thanks to her adventure writing -- for years. Although she was a highly successful 5E adventure writer (I first heard about Shadowdark when I went to her site to buy more of her adventures, although I wasn't interested in this pre-release product she was talking about), she'd also been praised by Bryce Lynch in the OSR space, which instantly puts her on a lot of folks' radars.
2. She's on YouTube doing more than ads. She does in-depth adventure design clinics and walkthroughs, etc. So when she does use the channel to say "hey, I've got a product," it doesn't come off as an ad, but instead she's talking to people who are already interested in what she has to say.
3. Likewise, she has a newsletter that she works hard, she says, to make be one that people want to open and read, and which isn't just ads for her stuff. Free adventures and monsters go a long way.
4. And then, just be the nicest person you can within the industry. She specifically called out Sean McCoy of Tuesday Knight Games, who could easily just sit on his throne of Mothership revenue, but instead quietly works to lift up other creators constantly.

As @darjr alludes to, a lot of her critics not only don't do any of the above list, they often do the opposite.

Why is the antisocial jerk's game not taking off? I don't know; it's a mystery!