The Biggest TTRPG Kickstarter Creators: Free League Is King!

They say you can't make a million in tabletop RPGs. With 26 successful campaigns totaling nearly $8,000,000, Swedish company Free League is one of the big heavyweights of tabletop roleplaying Kickstarters. Their latest offering, Ruins of Symbaroum, has already joined that streak of killer Kickstarter campaigns with over three weeks still to go.

Free League currently tops the chart (boosted by its recent $2M The One Ring campaign), but Monte Cook Games is right behind them.

As of November 2022.

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Everybody has heard of the giant $1M+ Kickstarter successes (Matt Colville, John Wick's 7th Sea, The One Ring, Coyote & Crow, Twisted Taverns, and Humblewood). I've already compiled that list. This list, on the other hand, is a look at the totals raised by various Kickstarter creators over all their projects which add up to $1M or more. These totals were correct at the time of posting. If you're reading this in the future, they're probably outdated!


It's a work in progress, so if I've missed any obvious contenders, let me know. I only included creators who were primarily doing tabletop RPGs on the platform, but I didn't audit every project, so the totals will include any other things they've done. I also stuck to Kickstarter for the sake of my own sanity; several other crowdfunding platforms are available!

Company/Creator​
Projects​
Known For​
Biggest Campaign
Total Funded​
1Free League
27​
Tales from the Loop, The One RingTHE ONE RING Roleplaying Game, Second Edition$7,839,651*
2Richard Thomas (Onyx Path)
46​
World/Chronicles of DarknessDeluxe Exalted 3rd Edition$7,264,672
3Monte Cook Games
22​
Numenera, Cypher SystemNumenera 2: Discovery and Destiny$6,671,520
4Hit Point Press
9​
HumblewoodThe Deck of Many Animated Spells, Tarot, and More for 5E$3,865,801
5Shane Hensley (PEG)
27​
Savage WorldsDeadlands: the Weird West$3,569,108
6Matt Colville
2​
Strongholds & StreamingStrongholds & Streaming$3,494,150
7Kobold Press
22​
Midgard, 5E hardcoversVault of Magic for 5th Edition$2,867,580
8Jim Searcy (Studio Agate)
11​
EsterenEncyclopedia: Lore Books & Toolbox for your 5E Campaign$2,254,420
9Morrus (EN Publishing)
28​
Level Up: Advanced 5th EditionLevel Up: Advanced 5th Edition$2,092,648*
10Eldermancy
2​
The Seeker's Guide to Twisted TavernsThe Seeker's Guide to Twisted Taverns$1,990,428
11Evil Hat Productions
16​
FateThe Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game$1,969,348
12Frog God Games
29​
Swords & Wizardy, Tome of HorrorsRappan Athuk$1,906,713
13Ghostfire Gaming
3​
Grim Hollow (5E setting)Grim Hollow: The Monster Grimoire$2,373,990*
14Loot Tavern
3​
Heliana's Guide to Monster HuntingHeliana's Guide to Monster Hunting$1,874.061
15Goodman Games
33​
Dungeon Crawl ClassicsDCC RPG 4th Printing$1,756,612
16John Wick
10​
7th Sea7th Sea: 2nd Edition$1,640,153
17Ulisses Spiel
15​
Fading Suns, Dark EyeTorg Eternity$1,621,113
18Modiphius Entertainment
7​
Conan, Star Trek, many other licensed 2d20 gamesRobert E. Howard's Conan Roleplaying Game$1,618,550*
19RiotMinds
13​
TrudvangTrudvang Chronicles$1,461,447*
20Russ Charles
4​
Animal Adventures (5E setting)Animal Adventures: Tales of Dungeons and Doggies$1,413,286
21Warchief Gaming
1​
Auroborous (5E setting)Auroborous: Coils of the Serpent$1,260,863
22Connor Alexander
1​
Coyote & CrowCoyote & Crow the Role Playing Game$1,073,453

*converted to USD
 
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Zehnseiter

Adventurer
I mentioned that in the article. But it took me hours as it was, so I'm just going to stick with the one platform. If anybody else wants to do the research, I'd be happy to include it.
Probably true as kickstarter is by far the biggest platform for this.

Although Ulisses Spiele might be the exception that makes a look at gameontabletop worth it just because of the high numbers involved. They use the platform as a pledge manager for most of the games that are already on your list so the are included in the gameontabletop numbers. And they do a lot of German language crowdfunding projects (and some of the later Torg Eternity ones) on gameontabletop only.

I did a quick count and ended up with 50 projects worth roughly 5,6M Us dollars. That puts them in the top rankings of your list.
 

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Toriel

Explorer
Literally just squeezed on! I guess I'm a tortoise rather than a hare! :)

It's not because you're at the end of this list that you're behind. How many companies are there that have not yet reached the million? I'd say you're part of the peloton at the front.
 

univoxs

That's my dog, Walter
Supporter
The name Free League appeals to Americans, I bet the biggest market in the world. Originally, the company was Fria Ligan in Sweden, and the Symbaroum IP Kickstarter was via acquisition Jaringen (though it was called a merger, the brand name says otherwise)
Thats silly. I don't care what the companies name is.
 

babi_gog

Explorer
I mentioned that in the article. But it took me hours as it was, so I'm just going to stick with the one platform. If anybody else wants to do the research, I'd be happy to include it.
Yep can understand the sanity issue, and trying to get more info leads to lots of rabbit holes. I know from looking at the Ulisses Spiel info they have some that are funding for translations into languages other than English for existing things. So again makes the figures more complex.

Though this does make interesting reading, and to see how many different firms are making the list.
 



Ethawyn

Explorer
Wow. The One Ring was a $2M Kickstarter and Free League has had a total of $7.8M, so TOR was over 25% of their total earned from 25 projects. Though even without it they would still have been #2.
 


aramis erak

Legend
John Wick's other problem is that his game just wasn't very good. The interest in his new games plummeted after people read the final version of the second edition of 7th Sea. The reception, was uhm, mixed. The Khitai Kickstarter after did a fraction of the business and he couldn't get his 7th Sea board game crowdfunded even after two tries.
John's used at least 3 different names, each now essentially defunct, for his own works. John Wick Presents, Wicked Press, and, jointly with Jared Sorenson, Wicked Dead Brewing Company.

John's games are on the edges of the design envelope.... Houses of the Blooded was brilliant, as was its samurai flavor, Blood and Honor... but they are very hard for some players, as they're very untraditional. If I hadn't run B&H, I'd have had no idea how 7th Sea was supposed to work -- John needs an editor with an iron fist, or he forgets to include key details. John needs a layout guy paid by the needed iron-fisted editor rather than John.

I, and a few friends of mine, hopped on the KS not for 7th Sea 2e, but the complete collection of 1E PDFs. I'm not likely to run 2E, and cannot actually read it in the PDF; I am unwilling to suffer through my tablet reading it to me.
 

aramis erak

Legend
Wow. The One Ring was a $2M Kickstarter and Free League has had a total of $7.8M, so TOR was over 25% of their total earned from 25 projects. Though even without it they would still have been #2.
Don't forget also the various late backer options, either, via Backerkit... which is likely to pull even more.

Hell, Twilight 2K had a significant backerkit bump, coming in at 5.5M SEK, over $600K. For a largely dead game set in what is now a past that (thankfully) didn't happen the way it was envisaged as Sci-Fi in the 80's.
 

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