Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarter Club

Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere RPG leads the pack in an exclusive club -- crowdfunders for tabletop roleplaying game products which have broken the $1M barrier! It is currently the most successful TTRPG crowdfunder in history with a funding total of over $10M, and over 30,000 backers (and also the third biggest crowdfunded of any kind!)

[Update--Kickstarter integrated 'late pledges' in May 2024. The totals on this table are the totals at the time the campaign officially ended.]

This list comprises crowdfunders specifically for tabletop roleplaying games or supplements which have exceeded $1M. It does not include crowdfunders which are primarily for miniatures, software, dice, or other accessories.

• The first TTRPG crowdfunder to break $1M was 7th Sea: Second Edition (2016) by John Wick.
• The first to break $2M was Strongholds & Streaming (2018) by Matt Colville.
• The first to break $9M was Avatar Legends (2021) from Magpie Games.
• The first to break $10M was Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere RPG (2024) from Brotherwise Games.
• The first to break $1M on its first day was Avatar Legends (2021) from Magpie Games with a first-day total of $1,150,566.
• The highest ever first-day total was Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere RPG (2024) from Brotherwise Games, with a first-day total of $4,380,024.
• The first to break $1M without physical merch addons (minis, dice, shirts, pins, etc.) is Coyote & Crow the Roleplaying Game (2021) from Connor Alexander. The only other campaign to do this so far is Shadowdark (2023).
• The average pledge level for a million-dollar campaign is about $100. This is usually reached by including add-ons and merchandizing. The lowest average pledge level is $66 (Coyote & Crow with just the game itself) and the highest is $294 (Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere RPG).
• Gloomhaven Grand Festival included an RPG, but was also a Kickstarter for a boardgame and 600+ miniatures.

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$1M+ TTRPG Crowdfunders: The Official TTRPG $1M Crowdfunder Club

#​	Project	Platform​	D&D 5E​	Additions**​	Creator​	Date Ended	Backers	Amount	First Day***	Average Pledge
1​	Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere RPG​		-​		Brotherwise Games	August 2024	52,652	$14,557,439	$4,380,024 (30%)	$276
2​	Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game		-​		Magpie Games​	September 2021	81,549	$9,533,258	$1,150,566 (12%)	$117
3​	Gloomhaven Grand Festival		-​		Cephalofair​	July 2023	34,691	$5,053,380	$1,339,942 (27%)	$146
4​	The MCDM RPG		-​		MCDM Productions (Matt Colville)​	January 2024	30,177	$4,600,529	$1,985,398 (43%)	)$152
5​	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
6​	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
7​	Steinhardt's Guide to the Eldritch Hunt: A 5e Supplement				MonkeyDM (Loot Tavern)	August 2022	19,723	$2,692,698	$411,135 (15%)	$137
8​	Obojima Tales From The Tall Grass: A 5E Campaign Setting				1985 Games	August 2023	23,416	$2,610,869	$380,679 (15%)	$111
9​	Fool's Gold: Into the Bellowing Wilds				Hit Point Press	November 2021	16,929	$2,479,888	$349,884 (14%)	$147
10​	DC20		-​		The Dungeon Coach	July 2024	20,685	$2,245,231	$415,127 (19%)	$108
11​	Strongholds & Streaming				Matt Colville	March 2018	28,918	$2,121,465	$591,556 (28%)	$73
12​	Tanares RPG - 5e				Dragori Games	October 2021	9,403	$2,100,242	$993,228 (47%)	$223
13​	Old Gods of Appalachia Roleplaying Game		-​		Monte Cook Games​	May 2022	15,061	$2,097,715	$679,748 (32%)	$679,748 (32%)
14​	"Flee, Mortals!" - The MCDM Monster Book for 5e				Matt Colville	May 2022	27,009	$2,084,117	$788,976 (38%)	$77
15​	The Magnus Archives Roleplaying Game		-​		Monte Cook Games​	September 2023	11,622	$2,027,997	$794,798 (39%)	$174
16​	The One Ring Roleplaying Game, Second Edition		-​		Free League​	March 2021	16,591	$2,025,288	$521,908 (26%)	$122
17​	Monty Python's Cocurricular Mediaeval Reenactment Programme		-​		Exalted Funeral​	November 2022	15,018	$1,933,426	$792,724 (41%)	$129
18​	Heliana's Guide to Monster Hunting				Loot Tavern (Hit Point Press)	July 2021	18,082	$1,845,422	$259,382 (14%)	$102
19​	BLADE RUNNER - The Roleplaying Game		-​		Free League​	May 2022	15,323	$1,673,567	$833,263 (49%)	$109
20​	The Seeker's Guide to Twisted Taverns				Eldermancy (Ghostfire Gaming)	March 2021	17,921	$1,650,076	$211,563 (13%)	$92
21​	Adventure Time: The Roleplaying Game				Cryptozoic Entertainment​	May 2024	7,334	$1,568,387	$238,556 (15%)	$214
22​	Mothership Sci-Fi Horror RPG 1st Edition Boxed Set		-​		Alan Gerding	December 2021	15,699	$1,405,569	$529,134 (38%)	$90
23​	Dolmenwood Tabletop RPG		-​		Exalted Funeral	September 2023	10,862	$1,389,313	$639,002 (46%)	$128
24​	Kingdoms, Warfare & More Minis!				Matt Colville	November 2019	19,033	$1,372,685	$594,330 (43%)	$72
25	Shadowdark RPG: Old School Gaming, Modernized		-​	-​	The Arcane Library	March 2023	13,249	$1,365,923	$299,898 (22%)	$103
26	Grim Hollow: The Monster Grimoire				Ghostfire Gaming	May 2021	15,530	$1,348,160	$258,640 (19%)	$87
27​	7th Sea: Second Edition				John Wick (Chaosium)	March 2016	11,483	$1,316,813	$286,290 (22%)	$115
28	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
29	Dungeons of Drakkenheim				Dungeon Dudes (Ghostfire Gaming)	August 2021	13,376	$1,279,240	$370,638 (29%)	$96
30​	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness		-​		Palladium Books	November 2023	8,383	$1,277,498	$359,895 (28%)	$152
31	Auroboros: Coils of the Serpent				Warchief Gaming	May 2021	10,218	$1,260,863	$493,947 (39%)	$123
32	The Griffon's Saddlebag: Book 2				Griffin Macaulay (Hit Point Press)	April 2022	11,710	$1,237,197	$297,192 (24%)	$106
33	Erevan's Guide to Death and Beyond - A 5e Tome				Archvillain Games	June 2024	6,826	$1,236,738	$336,253 (27%)	$181
34​	Moria - Through the Doors of Durin for The One Ring RPG				Free League​	September 2023	13,009	$1,198,575	$619,890 (52%)	$92
35​	Tales of the Valiant RPG: Launching Black Flag Roleplaying				Kobold Press	June 2023	10,057	$1,151,914	$487,329 (42%)	$115
36​	The Field Guide to Floral Dragons				Hit Point Press	May 2024	12,532	$1,110,056	$297,687 (27%)	$89
37​	Coyote & Crow the Roleplaying Game		-​	-​	Connor Alexander	April 2021	16,269	$1,073,453	$106,515 (10%)	$66
38	Monsters of Drakkenheim - 5E Monsters with Lores Lairs & Loot				Dungeon Dudes (Ghostfire Gaming)	April 2024	8,078	$1,065,710	$459,295 (43%)	$132
39​	Sebastian Crowe's Guide to Drakkenheim				Dungeon Dudes (Ghostfire Gaming)	September 2022	8,963	$1,025,330	$422,376 (41%)	$114
40	Humblewood Campaign Setting for 5e				Hit Point Press	April 2019	14,604	$1,001,085	$58,985 (6%)	$69

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Miniatures |

Merchandise |

Dice |

Kickstarter |

Backerkit |

D&D 5E​

*Licensed or based on an existing IP (movie, novel, video game, board game, comic book, previous game edition, etc.)
**Merch means pins, shirts, dice trays, etc. Stuff which isn't the actual game.
***First day figures represent first calendar day, not first 24 hours, and are taken from Kicktraq's daily funding stats for Kickstarter or Backer Tracker for Backerkit.
​

Some unusual patterns can be seen above. Most crowdfunders follow the traditional 'U' shaped curved, with a large portion of the funding taking place in the first few and last few days of the campaign, and comparatively slower progress in the middle.

• Tanares RPG did nearly $1M in its first day, but then support dropped off for the remaining month. This was due to a high-value giveaway to first-day backers.​
• Humblewood started off slow and then got a big boost in the last 4 days. It's not clear what caused that, but an aggressive final marketing push is a good candidate--they have multiple marketing entries in their collaborators list.​

A crowdfunder which does well will tend to mean later campaigns also do well, as those backers are notified when new crowdfunders by the same creator are launched.

What Does A Million Dollar Campaign Look Like?
Look at the above campaigns, we can paint a picture of a million dollar TTRPG campaign.

• 22/40 include minis
• 36/40 include merchandise (pins, t-shirts, dice trays, etc.)
• 31/40 include dice
• 25/40 are D&D 5E related--but the top 4 are all non-D&D.
• 12/40 are based on an existing IP (movie, book, older game edition, etc.)
• The average pledge level is in the region of $115
• The average campaign does 26% of its funding in the first day unless there are early bird rewards in which case it can be in the mid-40%s
• The average campaign has 18.5K backers, with the lowest about 9K backers

Multiple Entries
The following creators have two or more entries in the chart. These 6 creators comprise nearly 50% of the chart with a total of 18 entries.

Creator	Entries​
MCDM Productions / Matt Colville	4​
Hit Point Press	4​
Dungeon Dudes	3​
Free League	3​
Monte Cook Games	2​
Exalted Funeral	2​

Some creators are also listed as contributors to other projects.

• Loot Tavern (1 entry) is also listed as contributor to DnD Shorts and MonkeyDM.
• Hit Point Press (4 entries) is also listed as contributor to Loot Tavern and Griffin Macaulay.
• Ghostfire Gaming (1 entry) is also listed as contributor to Eldermancy and Dungeon Dudes (x3).

 

[Eilathen]

Colville's KS was more than a book. It was actually only a small portion of it.

Oh? Please do tell, in that case. This might get more perspective to the whole thing.

@Morrus - I do think that this is a bit of simplistic view, though. Of course other KS, especially those that are very successful (and in the same-ish direction of what you are doing) kind of do take away money from you. So while I think it is indeed not a good look to be overly jealous, I do think that those things are not as independently as you make it sound. And therefore i can understand if some creators are a bit frustrated by the way "things work" sometimes.
You could have the exact same product, possibly even the better product, if your "opponent" is some RPG "celebrity", you're kind of screwed. Then again, that is how the rest of the world works as well...so i guess in the end, your stance is the only sane one for creators.

 

[aramis erak]

Yea, 5e Adventures in Middle Earth. Can’t wait.

Given the implication that it will be done via a later kickstarter, it will be very interesting to see how it fares financially...

 

[darjr]

Also the Moria box set. Is it still going to be a Kickstarter under the new management? Anyone know?

 

[Morrus]

Also the Moria box set. Is it still going to be a Kickstarter under the new management? Anyone know?

I dunno, but I need it!

 

[Aldarc]

Also the Moria box set. Is it still going to be a Kickstarter under the new management? Anyone know?

The rumor is that one reason why the first wave focuses on Eriador is so that following sets can essentially follow the path of the Fellowship: Eriador -> Moria -> Lothlorien -> Rohan -> Gondor.

 

[Skywalker]

Oh? Please do tell, in that case. This might get more perspective to the whole thing.

The KS was called Stronghold and Streaming. It covered the book Strongholds and Followers as well as funding for a filming studio for his live stream. It also ended up funding a line of dragon miniatures as well by its end by way of stretch goals.

 

[Eilathen]

Oh alright! Clever! And now it also makes much more sense to me how this went so high. Of course a lot of his fans from the YT channel would want to support the streaming part of the deal.

Thx, Skywalker.

 

[ART!]

I can almost guarantee that I'll back the D&D 5E version of TOR 2E at a printed books level, and it's extemely rare that I do that. So, if I'm going to take that leap then there are a whole bunch of people who are much more likely to make that leap. It'll be interesting to see how it does.

 

[Laurefindel]

I backed Humblewood and never realized it was part of this exclusive club.

Well, who could say no to that little owl fighter? They had us with "cute". Which is absolutely disloyal!

 

[sword3274]

Talking with a friend about this, an interesting point was made. Considering TOR 2e was only 22 days (as opposed to S&F being a full 30), it could be considered the #1 RPG KS of all time. A minor point, for certain, but I thought it was something.