Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarter Club

Parmandur · Sep 26, 2026

CleverNickName said:
Ah, ok. Thanks for filling me in. There have been several threads here about the "Golden Age" of RPGs, so I was just curious which one they were referring to. The TS&R era? The early CRPGs? The 3e era? 5e? The proliferation of VTTs?

The whole timeline is solid gold, depending on who you listen to.

Ask and ye shall receive. Kind of funny, in retrospect:

Morrus said:
View attachment 342507

Ben Riggs, D&D historian and author of Slaying the Dragon: A Secret History of Dungeons & Dragons has posted an essay widely on social media entitled 'The Golden Age of TTRPGs is Dead'.

Note that Riggs uses the term '6th Edition' in this essay to refer to the 2024 core D&D rulebooks but says that "I am by no means married to the 6E nomenclature. It's just shorter than saying "the new books coming out this year" again and again and again."

We are watching a bright and special time in the TTRPG industry pass away before our eyes.

Around the start of the 2010s, we saw the dawn of a new golden age of tabletop roleplaying games. Since then, huge numbers of new players have found the hobby thanks to Stranger Things and actual plays like Critical Role. These new fans discovered a vibrant and thrumming TTRPG industry. There was the D20 fantasy family of games, dominated by D&D 5E, but rich with other games published under the OGL and the fertile depths of the Old School Renaissance. There were other mainstream publishers with storied brands, such as Call of Cthulhu, Deadlands, and Shadowrun. Lastly, there was a flourishing indie TTRPG scene that revolutionized what a TTRPG was, such as Apocalypse World.

This influx of gamers created a rising tide that lifted all boats. Novice gamers started out playing D&D 5E, yes, but went on to discover other great games. Because of the OGL, countless companies and designers could make money creating for D&D 5E. Because of the increasing number of gamers, even strange, freaky, or weird TTRPG ideas could find an audience. Have you heard of Apollo 47 Technical Manual the RPG?

But recent developments make clear that this radiant golden age is ending, as surely as the steam engine ended the age of sail, or hobbits bearing a ring ended the Third Age of Middle-earth.

The Doom of Our Time Approaches

In the wake of the Open Gaming License scandal of this past winter, a number of companies have successfully launched new TTRPGs intended to move them past the possibility of Wizards of the Coast ever threatening their businesses ever again. Some of the games grossed millions in crowdfunding campaigns. All have been positively reviewed.

Some cite the success of these games, which are intended to replace 5E/OGL content for the companies involved, as signs of the continued health and growth of the TTRPG industry.

They are not.

Rather, they are signs that the industry has peaked, and may be about to enter a decline.

Why?

After the Open Gaming License crisis of 2023, I became pessimistic about the damage the attempt to kill the OGL had done to our hobby. Others told me that the result of the crisis would be the blooming of a thousand flowers. Discouraged from using 5E by Wizards of the Coast’s attempt to kill the OGL, we would all get amazing new TTRPGs.

Maybe every single one of those new TTRPGs is going to be amazing. Maybe every one will be so fun and so captivating that lawns will go unmowed, pets unfed, and diapers unchanged because we are all so busy playing one of those games.

The problem is the TTRPG business is devilishly difficult. Only very rarely does the creation of a phenomenal game actually lead to financial success.

And the death of the OGL and the creation of these games has fundamentally changed the industry in such a way that it will be harder for those companies to make money in the future. A difficult business is about to become more difficult.

Consider the state of the industry a mere eighteen months ago; countless publishers, from MCDM and Kobold Press to Wizards of the Coast, were all making 5E material; it was easy to purchase products from multiple publishers because if you were running 5E, you could use the work of all these companies at your table; this made it easier for companies to share customers.

The new TTRPGs birthed by the OGL crisis are about to make that sort of customer sharing much, much harder. MCDM is publishing a TTRPG where you roll 2D6 to hit. Pathfinder’s 2nd edition remaster has no alignment and changed ability scores. Critical Role has dropped 5E like a dead cockroach and is playtesting its own new fantasy game, Daggerheart, which uses 2D12s, and a horror game named Candela Obscura.

And of course, there is the rising Godzilla that is 6th edition D&D, which scientists say will attack our shores in the spring of 2024. So far, there is no hint of an OGL for whatever that game will be.

The problem is, 5E was not just a game. It was a massive community of players. Countless companies could thrive making products for that community.

These new games are a shattering of that community. Instead of countless companies working to make your 5E game better, they are now asking you to become MCDM, or Darrington Press, or Paizo, or D&D 6E players. We are entering an era of division, faction, and balkanization.

The companies are now asking fans to choose sides. It also means that it is going to become more difficult for them to share customers. How interested will a Pathfinder fan be in an MCDM product? Or 6th edition? History suggests these sorts of barriers depress sales.

All This Has Happened Before

In the 1990s, TSR, the first company to publish Dungeons & Dragons, embarked on publishing setting after setting after setting for the game. By 1997, over a dozen settings were sold by the company. Fans stopped being fans of D&D, and instead became fans of a particular setting, and would only buy products for that setting. In 1997, TSR was near death as setting releases had plummeted from the hundreds of thousands of copies in the 1980s, to a mere 7,152 copies sold for the Birthright campaign setting in its first year of release. D&D was only saved from a terrible fate by Wizards of the Coast and their fat stacks of cash. They purchased TSR in the summer of 1997.

Some might say it is unfair to compare the different settings of the 90s to the different systems of today. Settings and systems are different, after all. And I do agree with the point. Switching systems is a BIGGER ASK than switching settings, therefore this change should have a LARGER IMPACT ON SALES.

And it is all happening again. The TTRPG audience is fracturing at the seams, and it will hurt sales and growth.

To focus only on MCDM, this current BackerKit is likely the most successful campaign the company will ever see. Every campaign after this will struggle to get the same sort of sales numbers as people slowly bleed away to the competition. Paizo will say check out our competing fantasy game. WotC will batter us all with a punishing wave of marketing trying to convince all of us of the newness and hotness of D&D 6th edition. (May it be both new and hot! But I have my doubts…) And fans will bleed away.

Furthermore, what will happen to the YouTube channel that is the foundation of MCDM’s success? Matt Colville is a master communicator and was a major evangelist for D&D in his channel’s heyday. He is passionate, intelligent, and inspiring. If Dungeon Masters could go into the locker room and get a pep talk from their coach in the middle of a game of D&D, that coach would be Matt Colville.

How much time is Colville going to devote to D&D now that it is essentially his competition?

In the past year, he has put out less than 20 videos on his channel. Those videos now range widely in topic, from TV reviews and interviews with language scholars to some D&D content, and a discussion of the creation of his new RPG. Go back five years, and Colville was putting out video after video after video of fantastic advice about running D&D, usually with 5E as the default. He dispensed some of the best advice on TTRPGs I have ever seen.

But it appears his content is fundamentally shifting, and he is asking that his audience go with him somewhere new.

Let’s look at MCDM’s recent efforts from the point of view of Wizards of the Coast. It is all ruin, disaster, and calamity. Master communicator and D&D fanatic Matt Colville has gone from convincing people to try D&D, and explaining how best to play D&D, to instead asking his 439,000 subscribers to stop playing D&D and play his game instead.

Not to mention that Critical Role—a huge reason for the recent surge in popularity of D&D—is likewise stopping their support of D&D, and asking their 2.1 million YouTube subscribers to start playing one of their two new games instead. I will not mention that, lest it further trouble the sleep of the D&D people at Wizards of the Coast… (What if 2.1 million people simply don’t buy 6th edition?)

In summary, all these events are interfering with the developments that created the golden age of TTRPGs. The removal of D&D from Critical Role likely hurts everyone involved. For years, Critical Role’s pitch was “Watch voice actors play D&D!” (A concept even my 80-year-old Aunt Sonja understands.) Now, the pitch is “Watch voice actors play Candela Obscura!”

But what is Candela Obscura? (If asked, Aunt Sonja might guess Candela Obscura was a potpourri scent.) The brand recognition that drove people to Critical Role is gone.

Simultaneously, the splintering of the D&D 5E community will make it harder for new designers to break into the industry, and harder for established companies to attract new customers. Growth in the TTRPG field will slow.

What the Future Might Look Like

And if I’m right, and this is how the golden age of TTRPGs dies, certain things follow naturally from these events. Here are my predictions—Prophecies?—that I may be held accountable for my rashness in writing all this down. I may be wrong, but if I’m right, the following things seem likely to pass:

Sixth edition will not do as well as 5th edition. Even more firings will follow. Wizards, which struggled to know what to do with D&D when it was a success (No Honor Among Thieves Starter Set? Really?) will be flummoxed by what to do with it when it is perceived as a failure.

No MCDM RPG crowdfunding campaign will ever do better than this initial campaign to fund its TTRPG.

Kobold Press’s post-OGL game, Tales of the Valiant, has been criticized for being too similar to 5E. For Kobold Press, I see two futures. Perhaps they will slowly bleed fans in the same way that MCDM will. But if D&D 6th edition is too different, and people really don’t want to move on from 5E, Kobold has positioned themselves to be the next Paizo, and Tales of the Valiant, the next Pathfinder.

The frequency of million-dollar TTRPG Kickstarters will decrease.

Attendance at major gaming conventions will plateau.

TTRPGs will become less interesting. Less exciting. Less creative. And despite all the new systems, it will also grow less diverse as it becomes even harder to make money in a TTRPG community broken into factions.

And so a golden age ends sputters out.

Unless something truly dramatic and game-changing hits the industry.

What could change this grim future? I suppose a group of publishers coalescing around a single system might change matters.

Or something truly inconceivable, something like giving 6th edition D&D an OGL, or putting the rules in the Creative Commons.

And after last month’s blood sacrifices upon the altar of profitability, who is even left at Wizards with the power and experience to advocate for such a thing?

It has been a grand era to be a gamer, one which we have been fortunate to live through.

There are a few inaccuracies in the essay--Critical Role does still play D&D, for example.

Numerous industry professionals have also posted thoughts in response, some agreeing and others disagreeing--you can see their comments on the original Facebook post, which is publicly viewable.

Mike Mearls, who was laid off from WotC a few weeks ago responded "WRONG! The age of fixating on one company and its decisions is dead. Now the audience is in the driver's seat. Let us hope they hit the gas."

Shannon Appelcline, of Designers & Dragons fame, said that he thought "the reports of the OGL's death are greatly exaggerated." He went on to say that fandom has kept WotC "from destroying the Golden Age".

Keith Strohm, D&D brand manager in the early 2000s, and later COO of Paizo, commented that it was "an exceptionally astute analysis" and that it was like "watching history repeat itself". He talked about the intent of the OGL and ended by saying "I don't want to be a prophet of doom, so I'm rooting for all of these companies, many of whom are either founded by or employ my friends and colleagues. However, I wouldn't launch a new system in this current environment."

Marvel Multiverse RPG designer Matt Forbeck said that "It might herald the end of a golden age of D&D, but other games may yet thrive".

Industry veteran Owen KC Stephens remarked "This is a well-considered, well-reasoned analysis. I disagree with almost all of it."

James Lowder, who directed various lines for TSR in the 80s and 90s, feels that "It's a Second Golden Age for game design and variety." He commented on WotC's possible plans for a digital-first edition of D&D--"If Hasbro/WotC tries to make the new edition a subscription-based, highly monetized walled garden, with radically increased direct-to-consumer sales, they will likely blight the market and the hobby--this is likely to happen whether they succeed or fail. This kind of move will roll back the overall audience for everyone and could well remove RPGs from many stores that rely on D&D sales in order to justify devoting the shelf space to RPGs."

darjr · Sep 26, 2026

Ben laughs at it now too.

Parmandur · Sep 26, 2026

darjr said:
Ben laughs at it now too.

I'm sure he is happy his predictions didn't pan out. Is his book about 3E still coming?

humble minion · Sep 26, 2026

ngenius said:
Have you considered therapy with Marie Kondo, who suggests a minimalist lifestyle? Obviously, she also suggests that if all these books spark joy, then you are perfectly fine keeping them too

When I look at my bookshelf, I reflect that Marie Kondo’s advice sparks no joy.

EthanSental · 2026-10-12T22:38:21+0100

Incenjucar said:
Wild Hearth by Pointy Hat is at $1.28m: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wildhearth/wildhearth

its up to 3.1M and almost 15k backers with 6 days to go…5e supplement.

#	Project	IP	Additions*	Creator	Date Ended	Backers	Amount	First Day**	Average Pledge
1	Neon Odyssey: Space Opera in D&D			Legends of Avantris	June 2026	49,115	$16,138,971	$4,808,583 (30%)	$328
2	Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere RPG			Brotherwise Games	August 2024	52,652	$14,557,439	$4,380,024 (30%)	$276
3	Dungeon Crawler Carl RPG + Unstoppable			Renagade Game Studios	May 2026	52,914	$12,641,931	$3,663,981 (29%)	$240
4	Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game			Magpie Games	September 2021	81,549	$9,533,258	$1,150,566 (12%)	$117
5	The MCDM RPG			MCDM Productions (Matt Colville)	January 2024	30,177	$4,600,529	$1,985,398 (43%)	$152
6	Heliana & Ryoko's Guide to Mthozoology			DnD Shorts(Loot Tavern)	April 2026	18,218	$4,360,494	$1,009,627 (23%)	$239
7	The Crooked Moon: Folk Horror in 5E by Legends of Aavantris			Legends of Avantris	November 2023	21,793	$4,020,234	$1,225,460 (30%)	$184
8	Ryoko's Guide to the Yokai Realms - A 5e Tome			DnD Shorts (Loot Tavern)	October 2023	26,376	$3,327,204	$712,290 (21%)	$126
9	Dungeons and Daddies: Not a BDSM Sourcebook			Dungeons and Daddies	August 2026	17,102	$3,111,193	$1,102,167 (35%)	$182
10	Terry Pratchett's Discworld RPG: Adventures in Ankh-Morpork			Modiphius	November 2024	16,177	$2,925,641	$671,187 (23%)	$181
11	Steinhardt's Guide to the Eldritch Hunt: A 5e Supplement			MonkeyDM(Loot Tavern)	August 2022	19,723	$2,692,698	$411,135 (15%)	$137
12	Draw Steel: Crack the Sun			MCDM Productions (Matt Colville)	January 2026	9,590	$2,617,323	$1,117,159 (43%)	$273
13	Obojima Tales From The Tall Grass: A 5E Campaign Setting			1985 Games	August 2023	23,416	$2,610,869	$380,679 (15%)	$111
14	Fool's Gold: Into the Bellowing Wilds			Hit Point Press	November 2021	16,929	$2,479,888	$349,884 (14%)	$147
15	ALIEN RPG – Evolved Edition and Rapture Protocol			Free League	April 2025	11,749	$2,412,117	$1,109,732 (46%)	$205
16	Shadowdark RPG: The Western Reaches Setting	-		The Arcane Library	April 2025	12,795	$2,384,757	$1,099,875 (46%)	$186
17	DC20			The Dungeon Coach	July 2024	20,685	$2,245,231	$415,127 (19%)	$108
18	Strongholds & Streaming			Matt Colville	March 2018	28,918	$2,121,465	$591,556 (28%)	$73
19	Tanares RPG - 5e			Dragori Games	October 2021	9,403	$2,100,242	$993,228 (47%)	$223
20	Old Gods of Appalachia Roleplaying Game			Monte Cook Games	May 2022	15,061	$2,097,715	$679,748 (32%)	$139
21	"Flee, Mortals!" - The MCDM Monster Book for 5e			Matt Colville	May 2022	27,009	$2,084,117	$788,976 (38%)	$77
22	The Magnus Archives Roleplaying Game			Monte Cook Games	September 2023	11,622	$2,027,997	$794,798 (39%)	$174
23	The One Ring Roleplaying Game, Second Edition			Free League	March 2021	16,591	$2,025,288	$521,908 (26%)	$122
24	Monty Python's Cocurricular Mediaeval Reenactment Programme			Exalted Funeral	November 2022	15,018	$1,933,426	$792,724 (41%)	$129
25	Heliana's Guide to Monster Hunting			Loot Tavern(Hit Point Press)	July 2021	18,082	$1,845,422	$259,382 (14%)	$102
26	BLADE RUNNER - The Roleplaying Game			Free League	May 2022	15,323	$1,673,567	$833,263 (49%)	$109
27	The Seeker's Guide to Twisted Taverns			Eldermancy (Ghostfire Gaming)	March 2021	17,921	$1,650,076	$211,563 (13%)	$92
28	Fabula Ultima TTJRPG Celebration Edition + Bestiary Vol. I			Need Games	October 2025	6,473	$1,628,669	$580,245 (35%)	$253
29	Adventure Time: The Roleplaying Game			Cryptozoic Entertainment	May 2024	7,334	$1,568,387	$238,556 (15%)	$214
30	Pumpkin Spice - A Magical Cozy RPG			Acheron Games	March 2026	10,948	$1,526,591	$230,711 (15%)	$139
31	Crows: Fortune or Death			MCDM Productions	September 2026	8,181	$1,423,795	$569,002 (40%)	$174
32	Mothership Sci-Fi Horror RPG 1st Edition Boxed Set			Alan Gerding	December 2021	15,699	$1,405,569	$529,134 (38%)	$90
33	Dolmenwood Tabletop RPG			Exalted Funeral	September 2023	10,862	$1,389,313	$639,002 (46%)	$128
34	Kingdoms, Warfare & More Minis!			Matt Colville	November 2019	19,033	$1,372,685	$594,330 (43%)	$72
35	Shadowdark RPG: Old School Gaming, Modernized		-	The Arcane Library	March 2023	13,249	$1,365,923	$299,898 (22%)	$103
36	Grim Hollow: The Monster Grimoire			Ghostfire Gaming	May 2021	15,530	$1,348,160	$258,640 (19%)	$87
37	Deathbringer TTRPG by Professor DM			Roll for Combat	August 2026	7,737	$1,326,922	$682,556 (51%)	$172
38	7th Sea: Second Edition			John Wick (Chaosium)	March 2016	11,483	$1,316,813	$286,290 (22%)	$115
39	The Deck of Many Animated Spells, Tarot and More for 5e			Hit Point Press	June 2020	9,871	$1,310,509	$218,381 (16%)	$133
40	Dungeons of Drakkenheim			Dungeon Dudes (Ghostfire Gaming)	August 2021	13,376	$1,279,240	$370,638 (29%)	$96
41	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness			Palladium Books	November 2023	8,383	$1,277,498	$359,895 (28%)	$152
42	Auroboros: Coils of the Serpent			Warchief Gaming	May 2021	10,218	$1,260,863	$493,947 (39%)	$123
43	The Griffon's Saddlebag: Book 2			Griffin Macaulay (Hit Point Press)	April 2022	11,710	$1,237,197	$297,192 (24%)	$106
44	Erevan's Guide to Death and Beyond - A 5e Tome			Archvillain Games	June 2024	6,826	$1,236,738	$336,253 (27%)	$181
45	Moria - Through the Doors of Durin for The One Ring RPG			Free League	September 2023	13,009	$1,198,575	$619,890 (52%)	$92
46	Tales of the Valiant RPG: Launching Black Flag Roleplaying			Kobold Press	June 2023	10,057	$1,151,914	$487,329 (42%)	$115
47	The Field Guide to Floral Dragons			Hit Point Press	May 2024	12,532	$1,110,056	$297,687 (27%)	$89
48	Coyote & Crow the Roleplaying Game		-	Connor Alexander	April 2021	16,269	$1,073,453	$106,515 (10%)	$66
49	Seven-Part Pact			Steve Jackson Games	August 2026	5,795	$1,068,197	$302,710 (28%)	$184
50	Monsters of Drakkenheim - 5E Monsters with Lores Lairs & Loot			Dungeon Dudes (Ghostfire Gaming)	April 2024	8,078	$1,065,710	$459,295 (43%)	$132
51	VOIDSEA - Eldritch High Seas 5e D&D Supplement			Voidsea(Loot Tavern)	October 2025	5,075	$1,060,692	$409,017 (39%)	$209
52	Monsters & More! A Nimble TTRPG Reprint & Expansion	-		Nimble Co.	March 2026	6,233	$1,058,403	$199,723 (19%)	$170
53	Fallen London: The Roleplaying Game			Magpie Games	March 2025	8,105	$1,028,103	$419,329 (41%)	$127
54	Sebastian Crowe's Guide to Drakkenheim			Dungeon Dudes (Ghostfire Gaming)	September 2022	8,963	$1,025,330	$422,376 (41%)	$114
55	The World's Largest Dungeon			World's Largest RPGs	June 2025	2,435	$1,021,783	$239,416 (23%)	$420
56	The Magnus Archives RPG: Tangled in the Web			Monte Cook Games	March 2025	6,174	$1,015,475	$244,599 (24%)	$164
57	Humblewood Campaign Setting for 5e			Hit Point Press	April 2019	14,604	$1,001,085	$58,985 (6%)	$69
-	Wild Hearth: Cooking Monsters & Building Towns in D&D			Pointy Hat(Loot Tavern)	October 2026	TBA	TBA	$1,095,619	TBA
-	The One Ring™ RPG: Bestiary, Gondor Campaign & Updated Rules			Free League Publishing	October 2026	TBA	TBA	$1,587,243	TBA
-	The Griffon's Saddlebag: Books Three and Four			Griffin Macaulay	October 2026	TBA	TBA	$392,876	TBA

#	Project	IP	Creator	Date Ended	Backers	Amount	First Day**	Average Pledge
1	The Guild: Ren Faire'd^†		Felicia Day	August 2026	45,711	$6,820,574	$2,450,324 (35%)	$149
2	Gloomhaven Grand Festival†	-	Cephalofair	July 2023	34,691	$5,053,380	$1,339,942 (27%)	$146
3	Zombicide: Dead Men Tales^†	-	Fantasy Flight Games	April 2026	11,058	$4,126,660	-	$373

Creator	Entries
MCDM Productions / Matt Colville	6
Free League	5
Hit Point Press	4
Dungeon Dudes	3
Monte Cook Games	3
Exalted Funeral	2
Magpie Games	2
The Arcane Library	2
DnD Shorts	2
Legends of Avantris	2

Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarter Club

Parmandur

Book-Friend, he/him

darjr

I crit!

Parmandur

Book-Friend, he/him

humble minion

Legend

EthanSental

Legend

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