Is The One Ring 2E Kickstarter going to break the records?

At over $140K in the first half hour and shooting quickly past the $200K mark before the first hour was up, the numbers on Free League's Kickstarter for the 2nd Edition of The One Ring are whizzing up faster than the eye can see!

THE ONE RING™ Roleplaying Game, Second Edition

A new edition of the roleplaying game set in the world of The Lord of the Rings™ by J.R.R. Tolkien, designed by Francesco Nepitello.

www.kickstarter.com

The record for a TTRPG Kickstarter is Matt Colville, at over $2M for his Strongholds & Followers project (and a followup $1.3M campaign). The next highest was John Wick's 7th Sea at about $1.2M.

There were over 6,000 people who were following the pre-launch page for this Kickstarter, which runs for three weeks.

 

[CubicsRube]

Fair enough. But credit cards are also an option as mentioned above.

 

[cbwjm]

I thought the 1st edition had only been released a couple years back, turns out it was 2011. I recall spending time watching the strongholds and followers kickstarter to see the money keep ticking up. It was pretty crazy.

 

[TheAlkaizer]

That's it. I think running a project for any operation must be hugely time consuming with timely updates, responses to backers and keeping the hype up. Why not try 2 weeks out and see if those mid range orders will get picked up in late pledges anyway? Either way they probably save a lot of resources with 2 weeks less of running the projects that they can put elsewhere.

One thing to consider; I've worked on a few successful kickstarters (nothing related to TTRPGs) and as you mentioned there's a flat part in the middle and a boom at the start and of the campaign. The one at the start is easily understandable. However, the boom at the end is mostly people that trickled in through that middle part and did not pull the trigger, only to receive a notification that the campaign will end. We've seemed to be able to make some correlation between our numbers in the middle part of a campaign and the boom at the end.

No ideas if it's different with the demographic of TTRPGs though.

 

[dalisprime]

Not all Kickstarters use pledge managers. I don't. And I don't allow late pledges, because I think that's disrespectful to the people who supported the campaign.

This honestly baffles me. The mentality of 'i backed it while it ran, so only I deserve it, anything else is disrespectful'. It is elitist and the worst form of entitlement.
Commercially it makes zero sense to cut off late pledges since they offer others the opportunity to invest in your product.
As a backer of multiple projects, not once was I bothered by the prospect that someone may put down a dollar to secure their pledge and I never understood the people who were bothered. If it gives the creator more money to work with - all the better, everyone is a winner in that case.

 

[TheSword]

It’s about to beat all the 7,000,000 SEK second set of stretch goals which is cool. I liked what they put in that second set.

 

[Morrus]

This honestly baffles me. The mentality of 'i backed it while it ran, so only I deserve it, anything else is disrespectful'. It is elitist and the worst form of entitlement.
Commercially it makes zero sense to cut off late pledges since they offer others the opportunity to invest in your product.

There are many forms of entitlement in this world. I'm pretty sure this isn't the worst form! Calm down.

The other aspect is that we've built a reputation over years for fulfilling Kickstarters immediately, and then we move on to the next knowing that nothing is outstanding (which is why we also shy away from stretch goals). There's only a gap of a week in between them, so we find it better for us that we tidy each away as we go.

Different people use Kickstarter in different ways, and people are experimenting more and more with the format and platform as time goes on.

 

[Emirikol]

Good for Fria Ligan!

Ill back it.

 

[Emirikol]

They had me at..
"A set of updated and streamlined rules, developed thanks to years of players’ feedback and raising the game to the standards of quality that have .."

 

[Staffan]

This honestly baffles me. The mentality of 'i backed it while it ran, so only I deserve it, anything else is disrespectful'. It is elitist and the worst form of entitlement.
Commercially it makes zero sense to cut off late pledges since they offer others the opportunity to invest in your product.

It depends, I think. If you offer a product on Kickstarter and say "This'll cost $150 once the Kickstarter is done, but if you support us here you'll get it for $100", and then keep selling it for $100 once the Kickstarter is done, that could be considered false marketing. The situation is, of course, entirely different if that sort of thing has been stated ahead of time ("You can also pay $1 now and get into the pledge manager where you can pay more to get the pledge level you want").

 

[Ilgiallomondadori]

I ran one campaign of TOR 1E and actually helped playtest the rules (back when that was done on forums of all things).

There were some rule elements I did not like. Combat was a little too static and I felt that the roleplaying encounter jumped into the deep end too quick with brand new characters talking to kings.

Both of these rule elements got an overhaul in 2E and I'm maybe in the minority in thinking this was needed. I hope I like the changes and improvements.

2E is supposed to use more unified mechanics as well, which I think will be a big leap forward. I do like the dice pool and d12 die and I'm glad that has been kept.

What I did like was the magic and excitement, as you mention. Because TOR really is a hex crawl your character feels very small in a very big world. You really feel like you're walking leagues in Middle Earth with a backpack and sore feet. It was wonderful.

I like the no spells. The people of Middle Earth had magical abilities but PCs didn't play wizards. I like this element and it is being enhanced in 2E. More special abilities based on who you are and where you are from.

The growing Shadow was also powerful. You could feel Sauron slowly becoming more and more aware of your fellowship. And you felt the weight and pull of your worst impulses and you could give in to them as Boromir did. The world was beautiful but a darkness was growing not only in the world but also in your PC's heart.

The adventures were great. The locations were great. The NPCs were great. The feel was very Middle Earth.

2E is also bringing in landmarks--small pockets of legendary adventure sites. This will pair nicely with the longer adventures of 1E.

I like the 2E art better. Less shiny and clean.

We are also getting the Shire. And get to play secondary characters from the books.

Also, Moria is coming.

So, yeah, I'm all in for a second edition.

Sounds great! Thanks for the detailed overview of what makes it special. Close to pulling the trigger.