Gloomhaven RPG Crowdfunder Hits $1M In First Hours

Not that it was a surprise, with nearly 70,000 pre-launch followers, but the crowdfunding campaign for the Gloomhaven RPG, miniatures, and more hit a million dollars in the first few hours. It's billed as the 'Gloomhaven Grand Festival' and is for a new edition of the boardgame, a ton of miniatures, and an RPG.

For $30 you get the RPG core rulebook, for $130 you get the second edition of the boardgame, for $325 you get the full set of miniatures, and for $550 you get everything.

The current record holder for a TTRPG crowdfunding campaign is Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game from Magpie Games. So far, Gloomhaven has had a better first day than that campaign. Could it break Avatar's record of $9.53M?

 

[Ramaster]

If you are starting a collection, it’s great. But the vast majority of those miniatures are identical copies of the same sculpt, which is much less appealing when you already have a large collection. I like a lot of the sculpts and would back if they had a “one of each sculpt” tier.

But for DMs who have no minis whatsoever (my case, for example), it's a great deal!

So, yeah, I guess it's a better deal for some people than others.

 

[Morrus]

At this stage they are ahead of Avatar, the previous record holder.

 

[Zaukrie]

I wonder if they make more on Kickstarter instead.......

 

[Staffan]

Certainly, if I did want to purchase the RPG, the deluxe box makes the most sense.

Then why offer the book alone, if you need the cards?

Probably, they want a low cost tier to draw folks in, but . . . . folks who pledge at that tier, for the book alone, and then can't play the game without the cards . . . are going to be grumpy customers.

Could be useful to have multiple books in a group, but you likely only need one set of cards.

 

[Crusadius]

At this stage they are ahead of Avatar, the previous record holder.

Avatar's top kickstarter pledge was $US200 and total backer count of 81,567, with most popular pledge of $75 (39,266 backers).

This one has top pledge of $US550 and most backers so far are choosing at least a pledge at $130.

So its unsurprising this kickstarter is able to get ahead of Avatar. If they can get the same number of backers then they're looking at a minimum of 10 million.

 

[Zaukrie]

Avatar's top kickstarter pledge was $US200 and total backer count of 81,567, with most popular pledge of $75 (39,266 backers).

This one has top pledge of $US550 and most backers so far are choosing at least a pledge at $130.

So its unsurprising this kickstarter is able to get ahead of Avatar. If they can get the same number of backers then they're looking at a minimum of 10 million.

I'm guessing around 3 million. Too many questions about the RPG, and the timeline on the minis is LOOOOONG.

 

[MichaelSomething]

I imagine a good of pledges are in it for a copy of the boardgames and/or minis.

Maybe they think there are people who just want the book for the art and lore as an extension of board game.

 

[Von Ether]

As I said in the other thread, I think they could have gotten more with:

A shorter timeline
A PDF of the RPG
A LOT more info on the RPG
More than 30+ monsters in the bestiary

I feel, from what tiny bit we can glean from the RPG, that they are doing the minimum (which seems impossible given the list of people working on it).

all that said, sure, they'll hit 2MM easy, IMO.

I know that card-based rpgs are a tough nut to crack but that is a big crew to shepherd the project.

 

[kenmarable]

They basically have. Just a pretty picture.

Anyways, whatever you think about their marketing, being able to shift $1.4M in less than a day is perhaps amazing, but what it is not is amazingly bad.

Exactly! Not sure what kind of world it is where a company in a small industry like this can make well over a million dollars in a single day with name recognition alone is an example of "amazingly bad" marketing??!! Plenty of companies wish their own marketing was that bad!

 

[Zaukrie]

Exactly! Not sure what kind of world it is where a company in a small industry like this can make well over a million dollars in a single day with name recognition alone is an example of "amazingly bad" marketing??!! Plenty of companies wish their own marketing was that bad!

I have an MBA in marketing.... And they are getting by on their name, not anything to do with this campaign. You literally said that.... So I'm not sure what you're arguing?