June TTRPG Crowdfunding Retrospective

Incredibly, this post is actually coming out shortly after the month it's covering has ended (primarily because I want to make a big half-year retrospective later this month and I'm leaving for vacation in a few days). But since we're halfway through 2024, I want to take a moment to review my methodology (such as it is) for this project.

1. Looking across Kickstarter, Backerkit, and Crowdfundr, I'm collating successful crowdfunding campaigns that have ended in a given month.
2. I'm ignoring dice and miniature campaigns since I'm personally less interested in those things.
3. Non-USD currencies are converted to USD on the day that I collect the information of a successful campaign.
4. I'm tracking if (Kickstarter) campaigns use AI at any point of the process, although this is self-reported and therefore somewhat unreliable.

All that said, take a look at what we got for June.

• 160 campaigns
• 20 Backerkit
• 1 Crowdfundr
• 139 Kickstarter
• $5,199,419.59 raised
• $1,411,365.078 on Backerkit
• $1,362.21 on Crowdfundr
• $3,786,692.31 on Kickstarter
• Types of campaigns
• 11 accessories
• 42 adventures
• 1 advice
• 1 audiobook
• 6 campaign settings
• 1 fundraising
• 56 supplements
• 42 systems
• 66 distinct systems used (27 original)
• 69 campaigns (43.13%) used D&D 5E and raised $1,893,054.82 (36.41% of all money raised in June)
• 34 campaigns used AI in some form (21.25% of total)
• These campaigns raised $215,853.36 (4.15% of all money raised in June)
• 28 of these were D&D 5E campaigns, accounting for 40.58% of all 5E crowdfunding campaigns

Backerkit's June

The top 5 crowdfunding campaigns on Backerkit in June were:

1. Outgunned Adventure by Two Little Mice ($517,371.40 from 3,490 backers)
2. HOLLOWS - TTRPG Boss Fights Done Right by Rowan, Rook and Decard ($319,492.24 from 2,843 backers)
3. Ashes - A Souls Like GM-Less RPG Gamebook by Crossed Paths Press ($116,651.10 from 1,229 backers)
4. The Oracle Monster Generator for Fantasy RPGs by Nord Games ($103,096 from 1,454 backers)
5. Big Bad Con 2024 by Big Bad Con ($80,710 from 547 backers)

This month marks the first time that an explicitly fundraising campaign (as opposed to campaigns that create a product of some sort) has cracked the top 5 in a month. These are, admittedly, relatively rare campaigns in the TTRPG space and they're almost always to fund the operations of conventions. Big Bad Con is the definite leader in the space, comfortably outpacing last year's fundraising total of $58,870. While not a particularly large con when compared to your PAXes or GenCons (GensCon?), the community support they receive and COVID safety protocols they have in place make them particularly notable among their peers. Full disclosure, Big Bad Con 2023 was my first (and thus far only) con attended, I intend to return this coming year, and I have not been asked in any way to talk them up here (I'm just a fan).

Crowdfundr's June

Cezar Capacle is practically keeping Crowdfundr's TTRPG page going all by himself, with his Wraithhound campaign not only the sole successful project in June, but the only successful project on the platform since the end of March.

I'm going to get into this more in a few weeks with the half-year wrap-up, but I think it's time to call it a wrap on Crowdfundr for TTRPG projects. Based on what I've seen, projects just don't do very well there. It's probably a combination of lack of audience and platform visibility, but campaigns just don't seem to make much more than their base funding (if that). I like Crowdfundr a lot, their staff were very helpful during Tabletop Nonstop, but I cannot in good conscience recommend that any TTRPG creators use the platform moving forward.

Kickstarter's June

The top 5 crowdfunding campaigns on Kickstarter in June were:

1. Erevan's Guide to Death and Beyond - A 5e Tome by Archvillain Games ($1,223,471 from 6,953 backers)
2. Blade Runner RPG: Replicant Rebellion & Asset Pack by Free League ($438,693.01 from 5,283 backers)
3. 13th Age Second Edition | Storytelling Action Fantasy by Pelgrane Press ($374,268 from 3,172 backers)
4. Advanced Player's Guide 2 and Bestiary 2 by Shane Hensley ($151,020 from 1,572 backers)
5. An Adventure Double Feature by The Merry Mushmen! by Olivier Revenu ($137,202.89 from 1,965 backers)

As is often the case, the top earners on Kickstarter this month provided support for many large pre-existing systems (5e, Blade Runner RPG, 13th Age, Savage Worlds, and Old School Essentials, in order). This is expected: companies and systems with large built-in audiences are going to do the best when it's all about how many eyes you can get your product in front of. There's not much to say here except for the perennial question: do relatively large companies like Free League and Pelgrane Press actually need to do crowdfunding campaigns? I don't pretend to have intimate knowledge of their finances, and obviously the profit incentive encourages them to do splashy campaigns with stretch goals that get their audience's attention, but as always I wish that things were different. I wish that crowdfunding platforms could be used primarily by and for people who truly couldn't make their project happen without the money raised. But we live in this world. And at a bare minimum, thank god that none of these large indie companies (featured here at least) have ever flirted with AI.

The thinnest of silver linings, but I'll take it nonetheless.