Cosmere Overtakes Avatar Legends To Become Biggest TTRPG Kickstarter Ever!

With a full five days left to go, Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere RPG has passed Avatar Legends' record of $9.5M to become the highest funding tabletop roleplaying game podcast ever! Just its first-day total of $4.3M put it at #4 in the official Million Dollar Kickstarter Club, and it looks set to comfortably set a lead of at least $2M. Backer Tracker currently projects a total of just under $12M, while Kicktraq predicts $12.3M.

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. [UPDATE--Backerkit started...

www.enworld.org

While the backer count is under half that of Avatar, the Cosmere dollar total is currently sitting at nearly $9.8M. Brandon Sanderson already holds the Kickstarter record for the most funded project ever--his novel series made over $40M on Kickstarter in 2023!

Published by Brotherwise Games, the game encompasses Brandon Sanderson's entire universe of novels. It includes a world guide, a rulebook, and an adventure called Stormlight Stonewalkers. It's a new game system, based on a d20 mechanic with talent trees and skill-based magic.

It only remains to be seen how far it can go--but one thing is for sure: Brandon Sanderson has yet another world record to his name!

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[dbm]

They’ve already picked up over $145k in late pledges since funding, too. That feature probably just paid for its own implementation…

 

[Parmandur]

They’ve already picked up over $145k in late pledges since funding, too. That feature probably just paid for its own implementation…

Well, the number 1 Kickstarter, Brandon Sanderson's Four Secret Novels, made $41,754,153 in the campaign. But the final tally with BackerKit additions wqs$45,574,127...so, yeah, Kickstarter is motivated to get in on the action.

 

[Nikosandros]

Well, the number 1 Kickstarter, Brandon Sanderson's Four Secret Novels, made $41,754,153 in the campaign. But the final tally with BackerKit additions wqs$45,574,127...so, yeah, Kickstarter is motivated to get in on the action.

Yes, as mentioned that is extra money that Bakerkit (or whatever platform will be used) won't get instead of Kickstarter. Also, I'm sure there's quite a bit of people who dither too much or learn about a project just too late and are motivated to pledge.

BTW, I wonder why KS doesn't implement their own fully-fledged pledge manager.

 

[mamba]

I don't know...I just think it's a bit unfair to count this (and also the Avatar KS) as a TTRPG Kickstarter. Sure, there is a RPG in there, but no RPG that has not a famous novel author or IP behind it will ever raise that kind of money.

probably

So for me, the most successful pure TTRPG crowdfunder to date is the MCDM one (4.6 Mio, iirc).

and why was Matt’s KS so successful?

What I would really like to see is how much $$ Critical Role could pull in if they did a TTRPG crowdfunder.

And what would push CR’s numbers high (presumably)?

It is all because they are widely known and well liked, whether because of the IP they created or not, so in the end it still is a popularity contest and not a reflection on the finished product, of which you usually have not seen much yet at that point

 

[Parmandur]

They’ve already picked up over $145k in late pledges since funding, too. That feature probably just paid for its own implementation…

Yes, as mentioned that is extra money that Bakerkit (or whatever platform will be used) won't get instead of Kickstarter. Also, I'm sure there's quite a bit of people who dither too much or learn about a project just too late and are motivated to pledge.

BTW, I wonder why KS doesn't implement their own fully-fledged pledge manager.

OK, so, get this: per the Brotherwise community Manager, the Kickstarter late pledge feature, and I quote, "...This launched accidentally earlier than we expected so we're gonna roll with it! Late pledged will be open until September 7th at Midnight!"

So, it sounds like Kickstarter scrambled to implement this feature...just in time for this campaign...

 

[Parmandur]

probably


and why was Matt’s KS so successful?


And what would push CR’s numbers high (presumably)?

It is all because they are widely known and well liked, whether because of the IP they created or not, so in the end it still is a popularity contest and not a reflection on the finished product, of which you usually have not seen much yet at that point

Yeah, MCDM and Critical Role are juat as much a brand as Avatar or Brando-Sando. Heck, Critical Role had a bigger Kickstarter than Avatar, based on their brand.

 

[dbm]

Critical Role just did a cross over with Among Us so that tells me they have some serious brand awareness outside of hardcore TTRPGs.

Probably not Brandon Sanderson levels but still some chops.

 

[Crusadius]

Unfair to whom?

I understand the feeling. Perhaps total funds is not the best indicator of greatness since front loading a campaign can skew the results. For example, e.g. Cosmere is funding for two core games, and Gloomhaven Grand Festival was also funding for second printings of Gloomhaven and Frosthaven and the majority of backers were backing those pledge levels.

Avatar Legends had more backers so you could argue that its a more successful campaign, yet here we are just looking "filthy lucre" as the best indication of success. But I do understand the difficulties of trying to use other indicators since those indicators can be difficult to calculate, and looking at the big dollar sign at the top of the page is easy to use.

 

[Morrus]

What I would really like to see is how much $$ Critical Role could pull in if they did a TTRPG crowdfunder. Unfortunately (or maybe not), so far they have gone via the traditional publishing route. Which honestly, I like. Not putting all the risk on the consumer, but taking it on themselves.

Well they did $10M or so for their TV show, IIRC. And TTRPGs are a much smaller market than TV shows, so I would assume less (in the same way that Sanderson's TTRPG Kickstarter did a quarter of what his novels KS did).

 

[Parmandur]

I understand the feeling. Perhaps total funds is not the best indicator of greatness since front loading a campaign can skew the results. For example, e.g. Cosmere is funding for two core games, and Gloomhaven Grand Festival was also funding for second printings of Gloomhaven and Frosthaven and the majority of backers were backing those pledge levels.

Avatar Legends had more backers so you could argue that its a more successful campaign, yet here we are just looking "filthy lucre" as the best indication of success. But I do understand the difficulties of trying to use other indicators since those indicators can be difficult to calculate, and looking at the big dollar sign at the top of the page is easy to use.

Somebody alert the International RPG Crowdfunding Olympics Committee, the Cosmere be doping.