July 2026 TTRPG Crowdfunding Retrospective

 

This month finds me in a significantly better place personally, but a similarly late posting of this retrospective. At some point, you have to admit that it's just part of who you are - and I'm at peace with that. Check out the raw data, and let's dive in!

July 2026 featured:

145 campaigns

• 42 on Backerkit
• 4  on Gamefound
• 99 on Kickstarter

$2,813,534.77 raised

• $847,104.03 on Backerkit
• $391,780.37 on Gamefound
• $1,574,650.37 on Kickstarter

Types of campaigns

• 18 accessories
• 38 adventures
• 7 campaign settings
• 1 platform
• 21 reprints
• 32 supplements
• 27 systems
• 1 zine

60 distinct systems used (17 original)

• 47 campaigns (32.41%) used D&D 5E and raised $1,163,531.67 (41.35% of all money raised in July)

43 campaigns used AI in some form (29.66% of total) and raised $519,917.17 (18.48% of all money raised in July)

• 27 of these were D&D 5E campaigns, accounting for 57.45% of all 5E crowdfunding campaigns

Campaigns were based in 19 different countries

• Top 3: 80 in USA, 23 in UK, 7 in Italy
• Singleton countries: Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Philippines

The top 5 campaigns on Backerkit in July were:

1. Mouseborn RPG by Mouseborn ($171,143 from 1,194 backers)
2. Darkenhaven — ENNIE Award-Winning City of Intrigue by Gooey Cube ($105,484 from 268 backers)
3. MedievAlien – Knights vs. Aliens TTRPG by Mana Project Studio ($94,742.17 from 1,225 backers)
4. Exalted Funeral 2025 ENNIES Awards Winners and Nominees! by Exalted Funeral ($79,627 from 623 backers)
5. Force of Extinction: A Post-Apocalyptic Action TTRPG by 12 Sided Studios ($50,854 from 270 backers)

The 4 campaigns on Gamefound in July were:

1. Das Schwarze Auge – Maraskan by Ulisses Spiele ($379,237.83 from 1,770 backers)
2. Gates of Krystalia TTRPG: Stop Watching Isekai. Start Living One by Top Notch International LTD ($11,240.24 from 54 backers) - uses AI
3. Underfoot: An Itty-Bitty Fey RPG - Reprint! by Ella Carter Art ($722.64 from 20 backers)
4. Mythic Realms – 1800 Fantasy Battle Maps by Agnesagraphic ($579.66 from 10 backers) - uses AI

The top 5 campaigns on Kickstarter in July were:

1. The Adventure Guide: Secrets of Enduril by Magen Elizabeth Dean Bain ($335,525 from 2,606 backers)
2. Strigovia - A Slavic Darkfolk RPG by Dark Orb ($190,986 from 1,733 backers) - uses AI
3. Ereb Altor - a setting for Dragonbane by Helmgast ($155,168 from 1,066 backers)
4. Machines of Bone & Blood: Necroindustrial Adventures in 5E! by somanyrobots ($140,259 from 1,647 backers)
5. So You Died. A 5e Undead Player's Handbook by The RPG Professor ($66,056 from 925 backers) - uses AI

July 2024 vs 2025 vs 2026

	2024	2025	2026
Campaign count
Backerkit	14	17	42
Kickstarter	143	126	99
Money pledged
Backerkit total	$978,983.04	$445,168.07	$847,104.03
Backerkit average	$69,927.36	$26,186.36	$20,169.14
Backerkit median	$12,716.00	$10,395.00	$5,231.50
Kickstarter total	$4,472,629.89	$1,555,182.28	$1,574,650.37
Kickstarter average	$31,277.13	$12,342.72	$15,905.56
Kickstarter median	$4,435.00	$3,126.00	$3,530.15
AI
Campaign count	41	50	43
Money pledged	$157,621.97	$244,932.90	$519,917.17
D&D 5E
Campaign count	76	59	47
Money pledged	$1,544,866.12	$553,001.66	$1,163,531.67

I couldn't say exactly why, but it looks like big campaigns are getting less spread out over the course of the year and instead tending to coincide more often with each other. My evidence for this is the increasing boom and bust cycle of crowdfunding, where the number of campaigns and the money pledged goes down in 2026 compared to previous years for a month or two, only to spike hugely.

This, of course, goes exactly counter to common sense, which would dictate that big campaigns are competing with each other for people's money (especially when they have whale tiers that seem to drive the profit through accessories rather than the actual game itself). I can't imagine this is due to any sort of collusion (as again, those creators would have a somewhat vested interest in not being in direct competition/comparison), but rather a collective response to market trends that identify certain times of year as being optimal for launching a big project. This is, of course, a self-fulfilling prophecy, as it is not exactly difficult to tell when a project is likely to make $100,000+ dollars (again, based on all the accessories on offer and whether they've done it before) and therefore said projects being launched and doing well make that time of year a 'good' time by the various metrics.

One of these days I will in fact get around to testing some of these hypotheses with the data I have, but I'm not sure when.