Tell your overdue Kickstarter story

We're putting together a potential article on overdue (or failed!) crowdfunding projects.

So, tell us your story. Which crowdfunders are overdue, and by how much? What was the original estimated delivery date? We've set up a survey with which you can provide us information, and we'll be using that survey to put together an article in early 2026.

We have set a 1-year limit on this--to keep this down to a reasonable list, only crowdfunders which are a year or more overdue, please! That's a year or more past the estimated delivery date listed on the crowdfunding page.

Also, please note that this is for tabletop roleplaying game projects only.

Use the link below to fill out the short survey. It should only take a couple of minutes. Please note that if you include anything in the additional comments box, you may be quoted in the article.

Overdue Crowdfunder Survey

Please tell us about your overdue crowdfunder. Note that for the purposes of this survey, a crowdfunder's fulfillment must be at least a full year overdue.

docs.google.com

Note--this thread was originally started in late 2024, but the survey has been created as of 20 December 2025 for an article due to be published in early 2026.

 

[Autumnal]

My one real disappointment is Throne of Night, a six-part adventure path abandoned after two parts and the publisher just disappeared. What they put out was very good.

 

[TheSword]

My one real disappointment is Throne of Night, a six-part adventure path abandoned after two parts and the publisher just disappeared. What they put out was very good.

A crying shame… see my previous post.

 

[RichGreen]

I’ve backed 106 Kickstarters and only had two that haven’t delivered.

Midgard RPG Miniatures funded in 2013 and was my biggest disappointment. I backed it for approx $75 to get various minis based on Kobold Press’s Midgard setting made under license from KP. I’ve received nothing.

The other one was the D&D documentary that ran into legal issues and was never made. Fortunately I only backed this as a digital movie for around $15.

Cheers

 

[Professor Murder]

While It did fulfil after some delay, Call of Cthulhu 7th ed KS was such a mess it nearly sunk Chaosium as I understand it. It took outside intervention which I am grateful for. As far as I can tell, the company is thriving now and the 7e version is probably my favorite.

 

[Matchstick]

The one I'm most upset by is Project: Dark by Will Hindmarch, mainly because it looks like Hindmarch took the money and ran despite the fact that he's continued to work in TTRPGs.

Couldn't agree more. Stealing 75K from backers is bad, but he didn't take the money and disappear! He's still out there working in the TTRPG space for companies who, I can only assume, didn't do their homework before hiring him. If I recall correctly the Kickstarter was from 2014, so it's been over a decade.

 

[MNblockhead]

Rise of the Demigods by Aram Vartian. "The first in a series of adventures for the 5E world of Godsfall", which as based on his world from his live play podcast.
Estimated delivery: May 2019.
Last updated: June 30, 2023
The creator seems to have plenty of time to have worked on other projects over the past 6 years. Perhaps he intends to fill this one some day, but given that he hasn't posted an update in almost 2 years, I don't know why he doesn't just post a final update to acknowledge that the project will not be completed and is effectively canceled or failed.

Not sure if the scope of this includes TTRPG-adjacent Kickstarters, like terrain and game aids, but another one is:

Saga World Builder
Estimated delivery Oct 2017
Final update where announced that they had to cancel: October 27, 2021

 

[Koloth]

In stuff used for TTRPGs, there is this one: https://www.kickstarter.com/project...e-handmade-from-bulletproof-glass/description

Some folks did get some dice. I wasn't one of those. Reading between the lines, seems the creator took too many orders and when she tried to bring in others to help, discovered that training someone to make a custom item can be a very long expensive process. Eventually, after many delays, the project has faded to dark.

 

[cbwjm]

I guess dolmenwood is overdue since it was expected in, I think, March (this might have been when they were expecting to have delivery to their warehouse) but thanks to Trump's tariffs necrotic gnome had to delay a little while they sorted things out, but it should be sent out in a few weeks so nothing too major and I already have the PDFs so I can play it now if I wanted.

I've only supported a few kickstarters and most of them from people I trust (Kobold Press, MCDM, I think Penny Arcade) so I haven't had any issues. Even small OSR kickstarters came through without a hitch but they were only something like 20-30$ and I wasn't too worried if it disappeared into the ether.

 

[chuckdee]

Then there was the N.R.G. Core Rulebook by Game Smiths LLC. In their last update, they sent out their Sinbad setting to everyone, but then went silent (and deleted their creator account).
First Update: 7/21/13
Estimated Delivery: 4/14
Last Update: 2/19/15

They canceled this and made good on refunds - at least as far as I got my money back. They announced that it wasn't happening and contacted me for a refund.

 

[Volund]

From oldest to most recent (original delivery estimate):
Mothership 1e (11/2022) delivered the physical game 4/2024 but the digital stretch goals drag on. Just last week fulfilled a chunk of outstanding stretch goals, with 2 more yet to be delivered that are basically on the "We'll get to that soon" timeline. No updates for months at a time. A regular pattern of overpromising and underdelivering on timelines. Example:
9/2022: "As an apology for missing the deadline, we’ll also be releasing a free PDF adventure, tentatively called ORPHANS. The adventure has been written and will be moving to layout soon."
11/2023: "On the Orphans front, things are going well and we hope to have that book wrapped in December and released in January!"
11/2024: "We're hoping to get all of [the stretch goals] done, except the actual play, by the end of November."
12/2024: "Orphans is now in proofreading."
2/2025: "Orphans got stuck for a minute with a map issue, but it's almost through proofreading and should be out this Month."
6/2025 "Orphans is available to download."
Since it was first announced, it took over 2 years to produce a 20 page A5 pdf. I have plenty of Mothership content and like the game overall, but I'm unlikely to back another project from TKG.

Still waiting on the aforementioned Black God's Kiss (9/2023). We have pdfs, but this is the one I feel is most at risk of not being delivered. Shipping was charged 2/2024, long before there was anything to ship.

Yoon-Suin 2e (9/2023) is way behind schedule but on the home stretch. Pdf went out last year, the project is at the printer, and shipping was charged this week. Not worried about this one, but the shipping cost from the UK is now equal to 2/3 of the cost of the book, so we're paying substantially more to get it than if it had been delivered close to on time.

Dolmenwood and King Beowulf (9/2024) are both late, but both publishers have a good track record and make great products. I'll be satisfied if they show up by the end of 2025.

Overall, I think I'm done backing crowdfunding projects for now. Three to four months late used to be typical, even during the pandemic in 2021, but now 1-2 years late seems more likely. Unless it's already written and they just need $ to publish a book, I'm not interested.