Has any game ever made the jump from Kickstarter to mass market?

[Ath-kethin]

Kickstarter is great. It allows niche products to find their audience and be produced in a way that was never really possible before. But I worry a little that such a crowdfundig model is the future of RPGs, and I'm not really happy with that.

Have any Kickstarter products made it to a mass audience, at least in terms of product availability? By amss audience, I mean people who didn't get in on the Kickstarter, and by availability, I mean physical books. I first heard of Primeval Thule by seeing the Pathfinder version of the book in my FLGS. Now it is gone, and if you want the PF version good luck. Your odds are even worse with the 4e and 13th Age versions.

Has anyone heard of a Kickstarter project that was actually successful beyond its first-run backing? How high do sales need to be to justify a second printing of a book? Anyone?

Edit: typos galore. It's a pain posting from a smartphone.

 

[Umbran]

Fate Core ran a kickstarter, and the book is now available otherwise.

 

[Morrus]

Off the top of my head, Fate Core and Numenera. But there are undoubtedly others which aren't on the top of my head right now.

Although if your criteria is simply "physical books", most which don't get a traditional print run end up with print-on-demand versions at DTRPG and the like. I don't know if Thule will or not.

 

[crazy_cat]

From a quick glance at my shelves - Achtung Cthulhu by Modiphius, various Frog God Games books, Reaper Bones miniatures, Exploding Kittens card game.

 

[Umbran]

Exploding Kittens card game.

Is not RPG related. There's any number of non-RPG kickstarters that have since gone into general production.

 

[Atlatl Jones]

Have any Kickstarter products made it to a mass audience, at least in terms of product availability? By amss audience, I mean people who didn't get in on the Kickstarter, and by availability, I mean physical books. I first heard of Primeval Thule by seeing the Pathfinder version of the book in my FLGS. Now it is gone, and if you want the PF version good luck. Your odds are even worse with the 4e and 13th Age versions.

Has anyone heard of a Kickstarter project that was actually successful beyond its first-run backing? How high do sales need to be to justify a second printing of a book? Anyone?

My FLGS has copies of PF Primeval Thule. I've seen Achtung Cthulhu in several places, as well as a few kickstarted RPGs.

I've seen Fate Core, Feng Shui 2, and Numenera all over the place, but I don't know if I'd count new editions of popular games and new games from major publishers/big names as answers to the OP's question.

 

[JeffB]

DungeonWorld, iirc was indiegogo or whatever it is.

 

[M.L. Martin]

I've seen Melior Via's Accursed at a game store and on Amazon, as well as numerous Troll Lord Games products.

 

[innerdude]

I've seen every Savage Worlds campaign setting that's been Kickstarted in the last 24-36 months on the shelf in my FLGS since then.

• Deadlands Noir (bought it at the store)
• East Texas University (haven't bought, but thinking about it)
• Weird Wars Rome (backed the Kickstarter)
• Last Parsec (backed the Kickstarter)
• Revised Savage Worlds Sci-Fi companion (bought at the store)

 

[MatthewJHanson]

I think what you're thinking of is more a small-press phenomenon than a Kickstarter specific thing. Kickstarter just makes it easier for small-press operations to get noticed.