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.

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 If you're reading this in the future, they're probably outdated!

Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarter Club

Moved to thread:

www.enworld.org

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

*converted to USD​

 

[Morrus]

Don't forget also the various late backer options, either, via Backerkit... which is likely to pull even more.

Well, we can only measure what's on Kickstarter. We don't know what they did in game stores, or their own online store, or on DTRPG, or on Backerkit, or at conventions. This chart is about Kickstarter only.

Companies like Modiphius who do a lot of licensed stuff can't use Kickstarter for much of it (Star Trek for example, or Cubicle 7's Doctor Who, or FFG and Star Wars... or non-licensed stuff not on KS like D&D). This is just a list of Kickstarter totals.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

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.

View attachment 135494

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!

Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarter Club

Moved to thread:

www.enworld.org

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	Total Funded
Free League	25​	Tales from the Loop, The One Ring	$7,839,651
Monte Cook Games	19​	Numenera, Cypher System	$6,671,520
Richard Thomas (Onyx Path)	43​	World/Chronicles of Darkness	$4,800,696
Hit Point Press	7​	Humblewood	$3,865,801
Shane Hensley (PEG)	25​	Savage Worlds	$3,569,108
Matt Colville	2​	Strongholds & Streaming	$3,494,150
Kobold Press	18​	Midgard, 5E hardcovers	$2,867,580
Jim Searcy (Studio Agate)	11​	Esteren	$2,254,420
Eldermancy	2​	The Seeker's Guide to Twisted Taverns	$1,990,428
Evil Hat Productions	16​	Fate	$1,969,348
Frog God Games	28​	Swords & Wizardy, Tome of Horrors	$1,906,713
Goodman Games	30​	Dungeon Crawl Classics	$1,756,612
John Wick	8​	7th Sea	$1,640,153
Ulisses Spiel	14​	Fading Suns, Dark Eye	$1,621,113
Modiphius Entertainment	7​	Conan, Star Trek, many other licensed 2d20 games	$1,618,550
RiotMinds	12​	Trudvang	$1,461,447
Russ Charles	3​	Animal Adventures (5E setting)	$1,413,286
Connor Alexander	1​	Coyote & Crow	$1,073,453
Morrus (EN Publishing)	20​	5E products, Judge Dredd, WOIN	$1,001,449

Added a column: Average per kickstarter. (sorry @Morrus still in last place)

Projects		Known For	Total Funded	Average per KS
Matt Colville	2	Strongholds & Streaming	$ 3,494,150.00	$1,747,075.00​
Connor Alexander	1	Coyote & Crow	$ 1,073,453.00	$1,073,453.00​
Eldermancy	2	The Seeker's Guide to Twisted Taverns	$ 1,990,428.00	$995,214.00​
Hit Point Press	7	Humblewood	$ 3,865,801.00	$552,257.29​
Russ Charles	3	Animal Adventures (5E setting)	$ 1,413,286.00	$471,095.33​
Monte Cook Games	19	Numenera, Cypher System	$ 6,671,520.00	$351,132.63​
Free League	25	Tales from the Loop, The One Ring	$ 7,839,651.00	$313,586.04​
Modiphius Entertainment	7	Conan, Star Trek, many other licensed 2d20 games	$ 1,618,550.00	$231,221.43​
John Wick	8	7th Sea	$ 1,640,153.00	$205,019.13​
Jim Searcy (Studio Agate)	11	Esteren	$ 2,254,420.00	$204,947.27​
Kobold Press	18	Midgard, 5E hardcovers	$ 2,867,580.00	$159,310.00​
Shane Hensley (PEG)	25	Savage Worlds	$ 3,569,108.00	$142,764.32​
Evil Hat Productions	16	Fate	$ 1,969,348.00	$123,084.25​
RiotMinds	12	Trudvang	$ 1,461,447.00	$121,787.25​
Ulisses Spiel	14	Fading Suns, Dark Eye	$ 1,621,113.00	$115,793.79​
Richard Thomas (Onyx Path)	43	World/Chronicles of Darkness	$ 4,800,696.00	$111,644.09​
Frog God Games	28	Swords & Wizardy, Tome of Horrors	$ 1,906,713.00	$68,096.89​
Goodman Games	30	Dungeon Crawl Classics	$ 1,756,612.00	$58,553.73​
Morrus (EN Publishing)	20	5E products, Judge Dredd, WOIN	$ 1,001,449.00	$50,072.45​

 

[Jaeger]

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.

Wick’s other problem was that his customer’s wanted a cleaned up and mechanically fixed version of the 7th sea they fell in love with.

And he went and made the game he wanted to play.

However artistically fulfilling that decision might have been, the financial endgame showed how out of touch with the core 7th sea fan base that he needed to attract he had become.

 

[imagineGod]

Wick’s other problem was that his customer’s wanted a cleaned up and mechanically fixed version of the 7th sea they fell in love with.

And he went and made the game he wanted to play.

However artistically fulfilling that decision might have been, the financial endgame showed how out of touch with the core 7th sea fan base that he needed to attract he had become.

So 7th Sea 2nd Edition needs a Snyder fan cut, is that the fix to re-invigorate the IP?

 

[Morrus]

Added a column: Average per kickstarter. (sorry @Morrus still in last place)

​

Yeah, lots of mini-quick starters will do that. And I will expect my average to go down as I do more of them.

 

[eyeheartawk]

So 7th Sea 2nd Edition needs a Snyder fan cut, is that the fix to re-invigorate the IP?

I think we'll see that. Chaosium bought it all up, after all. Once Wick releases all the things he owes from his two Kickstarters (which will take awhile), my expectation is that we'll see a third edition, with you know, real rules. This is Chaosium after all, I expect them to make a real version that people want that sells. Not some "narrative" game that is about 30 years out of touch with how those games actually function nowadays. Why else buy the property with all these outstanding obligations?

 

[Ulfgeir]

I do find it interesting that Onyx Path hasn't earned more money from their kickstarters.

 

[Jaeger]

So 7th Sea 2nd Edition needs a Snyder fan cut, is that the fix to re-invigorate the IP?

At this point yes. Wick read his market wrong.

The problem here is that there are people who actually like 2nd edition who are still owed stuff from the kickstarter...

I think we'll see that. Chaosium bought it all up, after all. Once Wick releases all the things he owes from his two Kickstarters (which will take awhile), my expectation is that we'll see a third edition, with you know, real rules. This is Chaosium after all, I expect them to make a real version that people want that sells. Not some "narrative" game that is about 30 years out of touch with how those games actually function nowadays. Why else buy the property with all these outstanding obligations?

If I were Chaosium, I would not wait for Wick.

Go straight to a "3rd edition" is the way to go.

I would try to come to a deal with the Kickstarter people - up to and including refunds...

However, I am not privy to Chaosium financials. Such a move may be utterly impossible.

So 7th sea fans may be in for a long wait...

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Yeah, lots of mini-quick starters will do that. And I will expect my average to go down as I do more of them.

What we don't know and won't even know is the level of effort/cost that goes into each KS. I mean, theoretically Russ you may be getting the most cash out of your KS; while Fria Liga is running deep in the red every month.

 

[Psikosis]

Not a clinker in the bunch! Really excited about Coyote and Crow. It's one of the most original things I've seen in awhile. Free League and MCG just keep churning out good stuff. I've backed a lot of Free League's efforts and never even been a smidgeon disappointed. The have earned that spot!