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

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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]

One weird thing that happened is that I did not get a single YouTube ad for this KS until after I finally decided to back it. Coincidence, or a failure of the algorithm?

It got me thinking about how many advertising dollars are wasted when ads are directed at people who already bought or backed the thing.

Yeah I have no clue how that works, but my Youtube algorithm is driven mad with 2 directions. Wax Melts and Home Decoration (wife) or Kickboxing/Muay Thai/MMA (me).

It likely has no clue what is going on

 

[Bill Zebub]

Yeah I have no clue how that works, but my Youtube algorithm is driven mad with 2 directions. Wax Melts and Home Decoration (wife) or Kickboxing/Muay Thai/MMA (me).

It likely has no clue what is going on

Wax on, wax off. Makes perfect sense.

 

[aiouh]

31 hours left!

Kinda crazy how Shadowdark's second Kickstarter launched just after a rather middling Zinequest and ends on the day the U.S.A. hits China with 101% tariffs with a likely recession looming on the horizon. Literally could not have picked a better spot to launch an expensive roleplaying game in 2025.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

31 hours left!

Kinda crazy how Shadowdark's second Kickstarter launched just after a rather middling Zinequest and ends on the day the U.S.A. hits China with 101% tariffs with a likely recession looming on the horizon. Literally could not have picked a better spot to launch an expensive roleplaying game in 2025.

I suspect this will likely be the last big Kickstarter success until the tariff/trade war is over.

 

[Bill Zebub]

I suspect this will likely be the last big Kickstarter success until the tariff/trade war is over.

Unless somebody launches a new RPG called "Taxes & Tariffs". I'm all in on the minis. ("Honey, do you know where my orange paint is?")

 

[Scribe]

I suspect this will likely be the last big Kickstarter success until the tariff/trade war is over.

Could easily hit 2.2 before the end. Super awesome, and we havent seen the Green Knight or Monk!

 

[Reynard]

The more I think about it, the more I feel like counting KS funding as some sort of "score" is weird. Shadowdark would still have been awesome as written if it had raised $15K. Pedastalling KSers because they make a lot doesn't really say anything about their quality, or even really their market influence. Sure, SD is a hit, but I have seen very little impact from Avatar or The One Ring 2E. Hell, finding con games of either of those can be tough, where as you can't throw a rock at a con without hitting SD game.
All I mean is, maybe we are putting too much weight on how much the big KSers are making.

 

[Nightfly]

All I mean is, maybe we are putting too much weight on how much the big KSers are making.

To prove it's still a good game even without the massive dollar total, Kelsey should give half of the two million to me.

 

[The Soloist]

The more I think about it, the more I feel like counting KS funding as some sort of "score" is weird. Shadowdark would still have been awesome as written if it had raised $15K. Pedastalling KSers because they make a lot doesn't really say anything about their quality, or even really their market influence. Sure, SD is a hit, but I have seen very little impact from Avatar or The One Ring 2E. Hell, finding con games of either of those can be tough, where as you can't throw a rock at a con without hitting SD game.
All I mean is, maybe we are putting too much weight on how much the big KSers are making.

Shadowdark is a D&D variant, of course you will find tables for that at Cons. The effort required to learn and play it is minimal for anyone who has played D&D before. It's minimal even for those who have never played an RPG. You can run a Con SD table with the free rules. No monetary effort for the GM.

Cons are not a good metric to judge the market penetration of a game.

 

[Bill Zebub]

I get excited about the $ for two (related) reasons:
a) I love seeing Kelsey get so well rewarded for her excellent work
b) It suggests the game will continue to be supported