January 2026 TTRPG Crowdfunding Retrospective

2026 is off to kind of a strange start, in ways both good and bad. Good: solid funding numbers, solid numbers of campaigns. Bad: AI slop, removing Crowdfundr from examination (it hasn't had an actual campaign in months). Check out the raw data if you want, and let's dive in.

• 90 campaigns
• 10 Backerkit
• 1 Gamefound
• 79 Kickstarter
• $4,019,799.97 raised
• $2,956,743.28 on Backerkit
• $28,448.46 on Gamefound
• $1,034,608.23 on Kickstarter
• Types of campaigns
• 15 accessories
• 22 adventures
• 1 audiobook
• 1 campaign setting
• 2 reprints
• 33 supplements
• 14 systems
• 1 translation
• 1 zine
• 26 distinct systems used (8 original)
• 38 campaigns (42.22%) used D&D 5E and raised $657,446.68 (16.36% of all money raised in January)
• 41 campaigns used AI in some form (45.56% of total) and raised $225,000.64 (5.60% of all money raised in January)
• 23 of these were D&D 5E campaigns, accounting for 60.53% of all 5E crowdfunding campaigns
• Campaigns were based in 13 different countries
• Top 3: 42 in USA, 19 in UK, 5 in each of Canada, Italy, and the Netherlands
• Singleton countries: Denmark, France, Norway, Spain, Vietnam

Backerkit's January

The top 5 campaigns on Backerkit in January were:

1. Draw Steel: Crack the Sun by MCDM Productions ($2,617,323 from 9,590 backers)
2. Toon the Cartoon Roleplaying Game Second Edition by Steve Jackson Games ($142,690 from 3,181 backers)
3. Ultimate Toolbox by World's Largest RPGs ($90,475 from 837 backers)
4. Somnus Domina 2025 : Three 5th Edition Splash Books by Nat19 ($55,163.69 from 520 backers)
5. Crush Your Game Nights! AtR goes VTT on Roll20 by Rusted Portal Games ($20,867 from 14 backers)

Gamefound's January

There was only 1 campaign on Gamefound in January: Cthulhu 2050: Whispers Beyond The Stars by OtherWorlds ($28,448.46 from 653 backers)

Kickstarter's January

The top 5 campaigns on Kickstarter in January were:

1. The Thundercats Roleplaying Game is Here! by Dynamite Toys & Games ($307,397 from 2,517 backers)
2. The Wyrmwood Modular Gaming Table: NOW ADJUSTABLE⬆🤯⬇ by Wyrmwood Gaming ($162,066 from 803 backers)
3. 2D6 Void - A Classic Sci-fi Dungeon Crawler - Solo Play by Toby Lancaster ($91,687.10 from 1,241 backers)
4. Enchanted Trinkets Complete: 500+ Magic Items for D&D 5E by Morrus ($38,470.85 from 729 backers)
5. Arathi Sector by Castle Grief ($35,882 from 683 backers)

January 2024 vs 2025 vs 2026

	2024	2025	2026
Campaign count
Backerkit	4	6	10
Kickstarter	71	62	79
Money pledged
Backerkit total	$4,608,855.66	$199,232.66	$2,956,743.28
Backerkit average	$1,152,213.92	$33,205.44	$295,674.33
Backerkit median	$3,777.61	$3,231.00	$18,863.55
Kickstarter total	$801,189.61	$354,795.72	$1,034,608.23
Kickstarter average	$11,284.36	$5,722.51	$13,096.31
Kickstarter median	$4,045.68	$3,294.00	$3,438.50
AI
Campaign count	19	28	41
Money pledged	$113,268.66	$130,553.04	$225,000.64
D&D 5E
Campaign count	32	37	38
Money pledged	$367,344.91	$176,170.54	$657,446.68

January 2026 was an unexpectedly strong showing for both Backerkit and Kickstarter compared to the frankly abysmal numbers from January 2025. Backerkit's success was primarily (but not entirely) fueled by another strong showing from the MCDM team with their first major follow-up to Draw Steel, as the other 9 January 2026 Backerkit campaigns collectively raised more than last year's total ($339,420.28 sans MCDM's campaign).

Kickstarter also saw their strongest January in years, topping even 2024 in both money raised and number of successful campaigns. Unfortunately, January 2026 was the first time when campaigns using AI accounted for more than 50% of the successful TTRPG campaigns on the platform. 41 projects using AI isn't anywhere near a high water mark within a given month, but  51.9% of successful projects is the highest I've seen so far. Money-wise, AI campaigns also raised more than the past 2 years in raw amount, but only accounted for 21.75% of Kickstarter money raised.

This made me think: does anything in particular explain/predict how successful AI campaigns will be on the whole? I looked at a couple of different predictor variables (number of AI campaigns, number of non-AI campaigns, number of total campaigns, total money raised) and largely came up blank. There's no evidence to suggest, for example, that a rising tide (overall money raised) lifts all ships equally. But if you look at the relationship between the percentage of AI campaigns and the percentage of money raised by AI campaigns, something emerges.

Slight positive relationship between % of AI Kickstarter campaigns and % of AI Kickstarter money raised
(y = 0.5436x - 0.0686, R² = 0.3507)

Yes, you're seeing that right: there is a very weak association that AI does better when it occupies more of the market on Kickstarter. This equation explains very little of the variance (only ~35% in fact), but it agrees with what feels true to me: the slop produced by AI can only really compete with real creativity if it is collectively flooding the zone with shit. When everything looks too smooth and shiny, it's easier to ignore it and just accept it as the norm.

Now I'm the first to admit that this is not a strong result. Any statistician will tell you that this R² is, in fact, dogshit and that you can't draw meaningful conclusions from it. Based on these data, AI is far more likely to underperform than anything else, given that ~2/3 of the data points fall beneath the trendline. If there is any particular silver lining to be taken from all this, it's that the presence of AI campaigns seems to overall be independent of the money going to real artists. I have yet to find evidence that it's a zero-sum game, so I wouldn't stress too much over whether there's a bunch of AI campaigns already in the field or not.

December 2025 TTRPG Crowdfunding Retrospective

 

Another year gone, and a rather strange December for TTRPG crowdfunding closes it out. Here's the raw data; let's dive in.

• 178 campaigns
• 63 Backerkit
• 0 Crowdfundr
• 2 Gamefound
• 113 Kickstarter
• $4,021,004.70 raised
• $1,712,583.76 on Backerkit
• $0.00 on Crowdfundr
• $20,154.16 on Gamefound
• $2,288,266.78 on Kickstarter
• Types of campaigns
• 11 accessories
• 43 adventures
• 9 campaign settings
• 28 Holiday Markets
• 1 magazine
• 1 platform
• 1 podcast
• 3 reprints
• 50 supplements
• 29 systems
• 1 translation
• 1 zine
• 60 distinct systems used (14 original)
• 68 campaigns (38.20%) used D&D 5E and raised $795,500.44 (19.78% of all money raised in December)
• 38 campaigns used AI in some form (21.35% of total) and raised $125,773.25 (3.13% of all money raised in December)
• 25 of these were D&D 5E campaigns, accounting for 36.76% of all 5E crowdfunding campaigns
• Campaigns were based in 17 different countries
• Top 3: 89 in USA, 30 in UK, 11 in Canada
• Singleton countries: Japan, New Zealand, Portugal, Singapore
  

Backerkit's December

The top 5 campaigns on Backerkit in December were:

1. Twilight Sword by Two Little Mice ($822,492.30 from 5,189 backers)
2. Infernals: Crowned by Hellfire for the Exalted 3E RPG by Onyx Path ($191,285 from 2,126 backers)
3. Mausritter Junk City by Exalted Funeral Press, Games Omnivorous, and Losing Games ($168,735 from 1,956 backers)
4. DCC+5E Crowdfunding Exclusives & Mystery Gifts! by Goodman Games ($66,155 from 570 backers)
5. Loot Tavern Lighting Sale by Loot Tavern Publishing ($46,756 from 355 backers)

Gamefound's December

The 2 campaigns on Gamefound in December were:

1. Vileborn - Das düster-heroische Rollenspiel by Ulisses Spiele ($19,874.72 from 208 backers)
2. 1130+ Fantasy Battle maps for TTRPG and VTTRPG by Agnesagraphic ($279.44 from 7 backers)

Kickstarter's December

The top 5 campaigns on Kickstarter in December were:

1. Life After Everything: Astro Oceans 🌊 Tarot Tabletop RPG by Gifted Ocean ($363,871 from 2,418 backers)
2. Fighting Fantasy - Solo Adventure Gamebooks - Set 2 by Steve Jackson Games ($278,223 from 3,977 backers)
3. Apocalypse World: Burned Over by Vincent Baker ($215,104 from 3,763 backers)
4. The Dungeon Reignited. Set of 2 Book of Battle Mats for RPG by Loke Battle Maps ($168,212 from 1,569 backers)
5. Tome of Mystical Tattoos III for D&D 5e by Karl Nicolas ($152,837.86 from 1,810 backers)

December 2023 vs 2024 vs 2025

	2023	2024	2025
Campaign count
Backerkit	7	35	63
Kickstarter	112	130	113
Money pledged
Backerkit total	$116,631.00	$1,898,104.11	$1,712,583.76
Backerkit average	$16,661.57	$54,231.55	$27,183.87
Backerkit median	$8,599.00	$13,703.65	$5,091.89
Kickstarter total	$3,062,243.35	$2,213,471.01	$2,288,266.78
Kickstarter average	$27,341.46	$17,026.70	$20,250.15
Kickstarter median	$4,507.04	$3,266.92	$3,602.00
AI
Campaign count	32	37	38
Money pledged	$150,217.33	$145,101.71	$125,773.25
D&D 5E
Campaign count	48	73	68
Money pledged	$999,475.20	$917,977.49	$795,500.44

Backerkit has come a long way since December 2023, but it's really interesting to compare its Dec 2024 vs Dec 2025 considering that both Mausritter Month and their Holiday Market happened in 2025. Let's break down the stats of both:

• Mausritter Month
• $323,197.86 pledged (18.87% of money pledged on Backerkit in December)
• 16 projects (all successfully funded)
• $20,199.87 average
• $9,570.55 median
• Holiday Market (TTRPGs only and limited to projects actually providing something gameable and not just merch)
• $261,890.54 pledged (15.29% of money pledged on Backerkit in December)
• 28 projects (no funding goals)
• $9,353.23 average
• $3,255.65 median

Mausritter Month was clearly a success by any metric (all projects funded, pretty good average, really high median), but it notably raised less money from fewer projects than either Mothership Month. Not only that, but you would think that these kinds of initiatives would boost the overall money pledged on Backerkit, but instead there was a slight decrease from 2024 to 2025. It is definitely too early to say that backers are experiencing Month fatigue the same way I am, but these numbers might explain why Backerkit is ramping up their promotional events: they need them to boost otherwise flagging traffic.

I'm going to be getting into it in a 2025 wrap-up post, but this year was not great money-wise for TTRPG crowdfunding. There are more projects than ever and less money to go around, and nothing from the past 6 months suggests that's going to change anytime soon. These promotional events from Backerkit are relatively easy ways to get users on their platform, entice creators to put their campaigns there, and the money that comes from it will keep the floor from falling out of their bottom line. Obviously I can't speak to how healthy their other types of campaigns look, but I can't imagine they're looking all that much better than TTRPGs right now. A combination of US economic uncertainty and tariffs playing havoc with both international shipping and component production is going to make everyone just feel less than great about putting money down on something that isn't a sure bet.

Which brings me to the Holiday Market. I personally don't like it. It makes complete sense for Backerkit and the creators involved, but any move by a crowdfunding platform towards becoming a sales platform just doesn't make me feel good. Especially because the whole premise was that anything you 'back' will ship within just a few weeks and (theoretically) arrive in time for Christmas. So these aren't even campaigns for reprints! It's just a promotional 'preorder' event, even more so than many 'crowdfunding' campaigns are these days! Again, makes complete sense for creators to participate since it's an easy way to sell some extra inventory you might have lying around, but that just seems like something that doesn't belong on a crowdfunding platform.

There's not really a bigger conclusion to draw from this in the end, at least not yet. My brain is pretty goopy just from general post-holiday post-New-Year post-travel stuff, so I'm really saving up anything particularly relevant for the full year review coming sometime soon.

November 2025 TTRPG Crowdfunding Retrospective

Mothership Month 2025 and RPG Party are officially done, Mausritter Month is nearing its conclusion, and (sigh) OSE Month 2026 is on the distant horizon. On the plus side, I was referenced in a Rascal article! All in all, an interesting two-year anniversary of this whole project. Here's the raw data, let's get into it:

• 242 campaigns
• 46 Backerkit
• 0 Crowdfundr
• 24 Gamefound
• 172 Kickstarter
• $7,740,735.97 raised
• $1,836,907.08 on Backerkit
• $0.00 on Crowdfundr
• $374,321.14 on Gamefound
• $7,1186,728.47 on Kickstarter
• Types of campaigns
• 22 accessories
• 73 adventures
• 2 advice
• 1 anthology
• 1 audiobook
• 1 book
• 18 campaign settings
• 2 platforms
• 5 reprints
• 62 supplements
• 52 systems
• 3 translations
• 88 distinct systems used (34 original)
• 76 campaigns (31.40%) used D&D 5E and raised $3,428,051.25 (36.48% of all money raised in November)
• 51 campaigns used AI in some form (21.07% of total) and raised $419,589.22 (4.46% of all money raised in November)
• 35 of these were D&D 5E campaigns, accounting for 46.05% of all 5E crowdfunding campaigns
• Campaigns were based in 22 different countries
• Top 3: 114 in USA, 39 in UK, 15 in Canada
• Singleton countries: Finland, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and Turkey

Backerkit's November

The top 5 campaigns on Backerkit in November were:

1. Mothership: PROSPERO'S DREAM by Tuesday Knight Games ($445,846 from 5,025 backers)
2. Lodestar: A Spacefarer's Manual | Space Fantasy in 5e! by The Dragons Vault ($331,898.43 from 2,909 backers)
3. Designers & Dragons: Origins by Evil Hat ($249,015 from 1,556 backers)
4. Pathfinder® for Savage Worlds – Carrion Crown by Pinnacle Entertainment Group ($84,631 from 689 backers)
5. WRASTLEVANIA by 9th Level Games ($70,690 from 1,040 backers)

Gamefound's November

The top 5 campaigns on Gamefound in November were:

1. HeXXen 1733 - Jäger des Ewigen Eises by Ulisses Spiele ($73,443.87 from 425 backers)
2. The Wildsea: Tigers on the Wire by Mythworks ($56,189.15 from 990 backers)
3. Ambition by The Press Betwixt ($38,592.03 from 199 backers)
4. The Table of Adventure: The Official Dungeons and Dragons Game Table by Game Theory Tables ($31,571.01 from 9 backers)
5. Trenchcoat Raccoons: A Chaotic, Fail-Forward Heist RPG by OneShot TPK ($30,325.05 from 551 backers)

Kickstarter's November

The top 5 campaigns on Kickstarter in November were:

1. Obojima Tales From Yatamon by 1985 Games ($859,145 from 7,167 backers)
2. Bastions & Guildhalls: A Modular Map Maker by Czepeku ($536,354 from 11,431 backers)
3. GHOST IN THE SHELL ARISE - Tabletop Roleplaying Game by Mana Project Studio ($498,868 from 3,216 backers)
4. Dungeons of Drakkenheim: Daggerheart by Dungeon Dudes ($448,956 from 3,713 backers)
5. Mega Dungeon: The Mines of Silverdeep by Dungeon in a Box ($415,575 from 1,857 backers)

November 2023 vs 2024 vs 2025

	2023	2024	2025
Campaign count
Backerkit	10	29	46
Kickstarter	164	150	172
Money pledged
Backerkit total	$1,256,857.98	$2,601,889.34	$1,836,907.08
Backerkit average	$125,685.80	$89,720.32	$39,932.76
Backerkit median	$58,370.49	$25,602.00	$15,695.93
Kickstarter total	$9,018,619.50	$8,957,845.53	$7,186,728.47
Kickstarter average	$54,991.58	$59,718.97	$41,783.31
Kickstarter median	$6,189.33	$5,382.44	$5,768.63
AI
Campaign count	29	37	51
Money pledged	$375,584.36	$362,118.92	$419,589.22
D&D 5E
Campaign count	67	76	76
Money pledged	$5,824,894.60	$2,343,963.24	$3,428,051.25

Here at the two-year anniversary of this project, we have the first chance to actually compare more than two years' worth of data! Some interesting things that jump out at me:

• Although Kickstarter and Backerkit are obviously competitors for users and money, there is no clear evidence that they are actually taking anything from each other. Backerkit's fortunes have largely risen (both in campaigns and money raised) while Kickstarter's fortunes are mixed (more campaigns, less money)
• "More campaigns, less money" is really the name of the game: from Backerkit to Kickstarter, from AI campaigns to D&D 5E projects, there's more stuff out there than ever and less money to go around. What's important to note, though, is that these are all successful projects. So even though there's less money on the whole (and on average and on median), more people than ever are (in theory) able to make the stuff they want to make.
• Backerkit's average/median money pledged dropping precipitously from 2023 to 2025 strikes me as largely a good thing. It means that more people are using the platform to fund smaller projects, rather than it being primarily for larger companies/creators (which was definitely the case in November 2023).
• AI use in TTRPG crowdfunding projects continues to depress me, but I take some solace that the average money pledged has dropped by over $4k from 2023 to 2025 ($12,951.18 to $8,227.24). I hate that the number of projects has increased by 75%, but at least they're making 36.5% less money on average.

I'll keep making these three-year comparisons up until next November, at which point I'll have to figure out a more efficient way to compare data.

Mothership Month 2025 and RPG Party Debrief

So I talked last month about Month fatigue, and that hasn't changed (especially with the discovery in the interim of Backerkit's Holiday Market and that OSE Month is coming in May 2026). But I have reconsidered a small part of my issues with them, and I'll go over that once I examine the actual outcomes of Mothership Month 2025 and Gamefound's RPG Party.

Mothership Month 2024 featured 21 successful campaigns and raised $1,001,068 (according to the official page, my data show ~$995k for some reason) from 23,116 backers (obviously not all unique, but at least my data and the official page agree).

Mothership Month 2025 featured 27 successful campaigns and raised $858,140 (according to the official page and my data, though mine show slightly more for some reason) from 20,710 backers (again, agreement between data sources).

Using Backerkit's official numbers, that represents not only a nearly $143k decrease in overall money raised but $15,886.94 less per campaign ($47,669.90 average in 2024, $31,782.96 in 2025).

So at the end of all this, the important question to ask is: was it all worth it? For Backerkit? Almost certainly. It drives attention and money their way and gives them great PR for future themed Months. For the creators who participated? Definitely! They get to make what they wanted to make, and for all my complaining about hegemony last month I don't really believe that anyone involved in Mothership Month 2024 or 2025 secretly didn't want to make something for Mothership. (That concern is, again, reserved for the pipeline that initiatives like Mothership Month, Mausritter Month, and now OSE Month create to receiving broader Backerkit resources.) For backers? It's great for the ones who like Mothership, and, though we already knew this, that's clearly a large audience.

The main people I'm concerned about are those who fall outside of the in-group here. Creators who don't make stuff for Backerkit-approved OSR games. People trying to find time to get their smaller projects visible to a wider audience. People who might have, for instance, submitted their project to Gamefound's RPG Party.

This initiative mostly coincided with Mothership Month and Mausritter Month and made some big promises, like free ad money (based on follower count), workshops with industry veterans from Chaosium and Magpie Games, and marketing boosts from DTRPG. In the end, of the 23 featured campaigns, 17 were successful and raised $246,746.54 from $3,788 backers. Most of these projects were fairly modest in scope (with the exception of a project with an outlier goal of $69,000 that did not fund) and had professional-looking pages with videos and a decent amount of art.

Can you attribute the 6 failed campaigns to Mothership/Mausritter Month? No, I'd attribute it more to the lack of visibility both on and outside of Gamefound. But I also can't rule out the attention that the themed Months on another platform received. An end of year goal of mine will be to try to disentangle the effect that initiatives like Pocketopia, RPG Party, Mothership Month, etc. have on projects that are not included in their orbits. Do they reduce the money other projects receive? The backers? Can you even determine this? Do they seem to affect other platforms? Here's to finding out!

I said in the intro to this section that my feelings on these themed Months have changed a little, and they have. What I realized is that I have strayed a bit close to the capitalist event horizon in focusing so much on the money raised by all these projects. And while that unfortunately does matter, I've slightly lost sight of the continued increase in projects that get funded at all, which these Months and Topias and Parties seem to only be helping. I continue to have concerns about the hegemonic positions of crowdfunding platforms and whether smaller creators are getting the attention, money, and support that I truly think they deserve, but the fact remains that there are more games getting made than ever. And to slightly misquote Marge Simpson: I just think that's neat.

Except games that use AI. Fuck you, go to hell, jump in a lake that you drained for your shitty plagiarism machines you fucking vultures.

October 2025 TTRPG Crowdfunding Retrospective

October: big month for Kickstarter, not so much for Backerkit, and Gamefound is around too I guess. Here's the raw data, let's dive in:

• 181 campaigns
• 17 Backerkit
• 0 Crowdfundr
• 7 Gamefound
• 157 Kickstarter
• $7,740,735.97 raised
• $417,015.22 on Backerkit
• $0.00 on Crowdfundr
• $133,721.22 on Gamefound
• $7,189,999.53 on Kickstarter
• Types of campaigns
• 29 accessories
• 30 adventures
• 2 advice
• 1 audiobook
• 15 campaign settings
• 1 platform
• 3 reprints
• 63 supplements
• 34 systems
• 3 translations
• 65 distinct systems used (24 original)
• 79 campaigns (43.65%) used D&D 5E and raised $3,500,523.50 (45.22% of all money raised in October)
• 50 campaigns used AI in some form (27.62% of total) and raised $194,597.15 (2.51% of all money raised in October)
• 29 of these were D&D 5E campaigns, accounting for 36.25% of all 5E crowdfunding campaigns
• Campaigns were based in 16 different countries
• Top 3: 87 in USA, 29 in UK, 13 in Italy
• Singleton countries: none

Backerkit's October

The top 5 campaigns on Backerkit in October were:

1. Black Market Guide to Immortality by Nine Heavens Press ($121,014 from 1,325 backers)
2. Ars Magica Edición Definitiva by Blagdaross Ediciones ($54,915.20 from 254 backers)
3. Art & System: Games for Expanded Play by Central Michigan University Press ($54,382 from 984 backers)
4. Epic RPG Fails, Extra Insulting Insults & Even Dumber Dares! by Loke Battle Mats ($45,237 from 982 backers)
5. Horror Cinema Classics RPG by Wayward Studios ($33,419 from 230 backers)

Gamefound's October

The top 5 campaigns on Gamefound in October were:

1. Zakazane Ziemie by Kensumi ($41,917.03 from 275 backers)
2. VOIDBIRTH by Black Magic Creative Inc. ($37,281.01 from 581 backers)
3. Deadlands - Durch den Unheimlichen Westen by Ulisses Spiele ($25,548.17 from 155 backers)
4. Nomads Unbound by Mind's Vision ($18,057.64 from 107 backers)
5. Blunderbuss RPG by Archmage Arispen ($9,996.36 from 131 backers)

Kickstarter's October

The top 5 campaigns on Kickstarter in October were:

1. Fabula Ultima TTJRPG Celebration Edition + Bestiary Vol. I by Need Games ($1,625,036 from 6,404 backers)
2. VOIDSEA - Eldritch High Seas 5e D&D Supplement by Voidsea ($1,061,941 from 5,090 backers)
3. One-Shot Wonders 2: Over 100 NEW Adventures for DnD 5E by Roll & Play Press ($758,815.92 from 6,214 backers)
4. Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying by Free League ($405,808.19 from 3,513 backers)
5. Daggerheart Class Packs by Darrington Press ($295,138 from 2,036 backers)

October 2024 vs 2025

	2024	2025	Change
Number of campaigns
Backerkit	23	16	-7
Kickstarter	166	157	-9
Money pledged
Backerkit total	$1,262,228.19	$415,479.70	-$846,748.49
Backerkit average	$54,879.49	$25,967.48	-$28,912.01
Backerkit median	$9,853.00	$12,571.00	+$2,718.00
Kickstarter total	$6,519,099.07	$7,189,999.53	+$670,900.46
Kickstarter average	$39,271.68	$45,796.18	+$6,524.50
Kickstarter median	$4,055.38	$3,835.00	-$220.38
AI
Campaign count	41	50	+9
Money pledged	$143,749.67	$194,597.15	+$50,847.48
D&D 5E
Campaign count	82	79	-3
Money pledged	$2,693,794.03	$3,500,523.50	+$806,729.47

Let's talk about promotional Months...

Folks? I might be getting Month fatigue.

We are currently in the middle of Mothership Month and Mausritter Month on Backerkit, and RPG Party on Gamefound. This rounds out a year that featured Zine Quest 2025 on Kickstarter, Zine Month 2025 on non-specific platforms, and Pocketopia on Backerkit. Now I am on record last year saying that I like Mothership Month and my feelings on that haven't changed per se, but I'm starting to question the overall utility of these endeavors, both for the artists hoping to get their work funded and the general public on the receiving end of what increasingly feels to me like a firehose of material.

The main problem I see with these Months is a certain hegemony that they inadvertently enforce. I am not claiming that Mothership or Mausritter are oppressing anyone - that would be silly, they have no institutional power to make that happen - but they are becoming canonical games in the eyes of the platforms that do have institutional power. Consider this: if we were to get Mothership Month and Mausritter Month every year (something that seems fairly likely to happen), that's nearly two calendar months out of the year on Backerkit where the focus is primarily on those two games rather than any others. It's not like Backerkit is preventing other projects from funding at the same time, but why would you want to compete with the projects that have explicit support from Backerkit (a big banner on the platform, bundled shipping, extra rewards for backing more, etc.)? When platform economies are dependent on the ability to attract and maintain attention, it becomes imperative to consider everything that could affect that, including competing projects that could take money away from yours. And yeah, it's not actually a zero-sum game since not everyone's decision-making process boils down to "Which of these two games can I back?", but nobody has an unlimited TTRPG crowdfunding support budget so decisions do have to be made.

On another note, and as further evidence of the hegemony Backerkit is actually actively cultivating, let us examine their promotional page for Zinetopia 2026, Backerkit's contribution to the Zine Quest/Month milieu. If you scroll down to the "Participation Expectations" you'll see this little tidbit about how they're prioritizing applications (in the following order):

1. Previous Topia and/or Group-Collab experience on BackerKit
2. Past crowdfunding success on any platform
3. Referrals from qualifying applicants
4. Open applications

They're building a stable of creators with proven success at both crowdfunding and their previous Months on Backerkit. So if you make a Mausritter or Mothership project that does well, you now have a better chance of getting official support for future projects, which then compounds further and further.

Again I must make it clear, I am not ascribing to the creators of Mothership or Mausritter any sort of conspiracy to oppress or keep down TTRPG creators who don't want to make stuff for their games. But the canonization of those games as ones that Backerkit wants to support has that knock-on effect to some degree. Backerkit wants to help people make art, but they also need to make money. And what's that right below the list of application prioritization? The disclaimer that "BackerKit reserves the right to remove projects that we deem aren’t ready to launch." "Projects that aren't ready to launch" to me reads as "projects we are afraid will fail," which defeats the stated purpose of crowdfunding. How are new creators and artists supposed to get started if the platforms they can use only want to cultivate sure things?

No one wants a project to fail, but failure is going to happen from time to time. Except that's obviously bad business/PR for Backerkit, who are touting in the same article that 100% of their 2025 Topia projects (250 in total) have funded, so they're going to naturally push for safer projects - perhaps projects being made for popular games with institutional backing like Mothership and Mausritter.

What's my overall point here? It's certainly not to boycott Backerkit and cease participation in these Months and Topias. But I want to sound some alarm bells about the influence that these platforms are having on the TTRPG space, and the push toward professionalization that could crowd out smaller artists. Especially considering the current furor around setting low crowdfunding goals and the revelation by one of the creators of Equinox TCG that it was Gamefound itself who told them to set a much lower goal than they truly needed. Just remember: platforms aren't your friends, and their own incentives are unlikely to ever truly align with yours.

September 2025 TTRPG Crowdfunding Retrospective

 

If you're not already aware, the Kickstarter workers' union is currently on strike but have not called for a boycott of the site. To find out what you can do, please check out the corresponding part of their website.

Now on to the TTRPG stuff (which of course wouldn't be possible without the incredible labor of the workers at all of these sites)! As always, raw data is available.

• 140 campaigns
• 14 Backerkit
• 0 Crowdfundr
• 3 Gamefound
• 123 Kickstarter
• $4,085,057.66 raised
• $1,617,387.33 on Backerkit
• $0.00 on Crowdfundr
• $9,174.10 on Gamefound
• $2,458,495.73 on Kickstarter
• Types of campaigns
• 10 accessories
• 3 Actual Plays
• 41 adventures
• 1 advice
• 4 campaign settings
• 2 fundraising
• 3 reprints
• 42 supplements
• 33 systems
• 1 translation
• 59 distinct systems used (14 original)
• 51 campaigns (36.43%) used D&D 5E and raised $815,352.14 (19.96% of all money raised in September)
• 40 campaigns used AI in some form (28.57% of total) and raised $227,946.95 (5.58% of all money raised in September)
• 25 of these were D&D 5E campaigns, accounting for 49.02% of all 5E crowdfunding campaigns
• Campaigns were based in 16 different countries
• Top 3: 73 in USA, 23 in UK, 8 each in Canada and Italy
• Singleton countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Greece, New Zealand, Portugal

Backerkit's September

The top 5 campaigns on Backerkit in September were:

1. Cypher: Faster. Easier. And Even Better! by Monte Cook Games ($1,025,264 from 5,576 backers)
2. Ways and Means: A Heart Sourcebook by Rowan, Rook and Decard ($295,760.49 from 2,795 backers)
3. Nightfell The Witches' Path by Grim Moon Studio ($99,694.52 from 1,088 backers)
4. Deadlands Classic 20th Anniversary Reprint & AudioBook by World's Largest RPGs ($74,142 from 808 backers)
5. Monster Kingdoms by Onyx Path ($43,991 from 766 backers)

When it's not a peak time of year for Backerkit (basically Zine Month through Pocketopia or February to May this year), the platform really operates on something of a feast or famine model. When the big players in the space (Monte Cook Games and Rowan, Rook and Decard, for example) show up, they tend to run up the numbers both for their own projects and everyone else's, to a lesser extent. You can really see this impact in the median amount of money raised within a month, as that statistic is more resilient to outlier data points than averages are. While this is evidence that a rising tide does indeed lift all ships, it's also not the best thing to have the success of your project be somewhat tied to the mere coincidence of a bigger project funding at the same time. Especially when there is no actual guarantee that this will happen, it's just that more eyes tend to be on the platform and therefore more people have the chance to see your project.

Gamefound's September

The 3 campaigns on Gamefound in September were:

1. Kaliban Uniwersum by Wydawnictwo Hengal ($8,599.09 from 97 backers)
2. Modern RPG Battle Maps for Every Scenario – TTRPGs & VTT by Agnesagraphic ($297.94 from 15 backers)
3. 360 Western Battle Maps For TTRPG and VTT by Agnesagraphic ($277.07 from 14 backers)

Not much to talk about for September, but watch this space: there's a big wave of TTRPG campaigns coming on Gamefound in October.

Kickstarter's September

The top 5 campaigns on Kickstarter in September were:

1. Shadowrun: Anarchy 2.0 by Black Book Editions ($285,844.39 from 2,960 backers)
2. Wares Blade by LionWing Publishing ($237,751 from 2,549 backers)
3. Aetherial Expanse: Dreams of the Drowned God by Ghostfire Gaming ($235,321 from 2,250 backers)
4. Skullduggery: The 5E Urban Fantasy Companion by Beadle & Grimm's Pandemonium Warehouse ($231,236 from 2,127 backers)
5. Another Adventure Double Feature! by Olivier Revenu ($144,254.21 from 1,755 backers)

Shadowrun: Anarchy 2.0 is a fascinating project, if only because it just goes to show that there are cottage industries based around 'fixing' ponderous trad games that aren't D&D. I'm sure that this is not news to many people (clearly this particular project has been around long enough to get a second edition), but it's an insight into a side of the TTRPG field that I simply don't normally get. This effort at least makes more sense with a game like Shadowrun, as the world that the game lays out is considerably more idiosyncratic than the broad make-it-yourself fantasy worlds that D&D typically trades in. That is to say, if you find the world of Shadowrun particularly fascinating and dynamic, I completely understand the impulse to make the game system lighter and easier to run (whereas the same impulse for D&D just makes me feel like you'd probably just have a better time running a different game since many people don't exactly use published D&D settings).

September 2024 vs 2025

• Number of campaigns
• Backerkit: 12 (2024) => 14 (2025)
• Kickstarter: 101 (2024) => 123 (2025)
• Money
• Backerkit: $1,454,136.46 (2024) => $1,617,387.83 (2025)
• Average campaign: $121,178.04 (2024) => $115,527.70 (2025)
• Median campaign: $45,192.50 (2024) => $13,990.60 (2025)
• Kickstarter: $2,296,019.12 (2024) =>  $2,458,495.73 (2025)
• Average campaign: $22,732.86 (2024) => $19,987.77 (2025)
• Median campaign: $3,967.00 (2024) => $4,658.00 (2025)
• AI
• Count: 31 (2024) => 40 (2025)
• Money: $215,538.99 (2024) => $227,946.95 (2025)
• D&D 5E
• Count: 50 (2024) => 51 (2025)
• Money: $1,168,288.21 (2024) => $815,352.14 (2025)

We're seeing something of a return to form for everything except the money raised by D&D 5E projects this month. Probably the most interesting stat to hone in on is the median Kickstarter money raised, which is the highest it's been thus far this year. This speaks to a slight slump in the highest-earning campaigns and a slight bump for the lowest-earning ones, which to me seems like a good thing. We should all be hoping for a higher floor for crowdfunding, as that helps more art get made on the whole. Do I think this speaks to any kind of significant trend? Absolutely not. I would need to see evidence of that over the course of months if not years, and the median Kickstarter money raised by this point last year is actually higher than it is this year. Does that feel particularly worrying? I'd say: not really? Given all the economic fuckery over the past 9 months, I'm actually surprised the 2025 numbers aren't lower. Kickstarter is well on its way to undershoot the TTRPG money it made last year, Backerkit looks like it may fall just beneath its 2024 amount, and both platforms have not yet seen smash hits like they got last year (Cosmere RPG and Draw Steel! nee MCDM RPG, respectively). I have no real conclusion to draw here other than to say: everything appears to be leveling off unless you're already a 'big' company. And if you're not? Well, I hope that a couple thousand US dollars is enough to fund your project.

August 2025 TTRPG Crowdfunding Retrospective

 A bit of bad news before I get to the meat of the retrospective: the search function for successful Kickstarter campaigns simply...stopped working this month.

All three of the campaigns picture funded in the last week of May 2024

As such, I have been forced to switch my methods from the more reliable "looking through successful campaigns from the past day or so" to the far less reliable "looking at campaigns about to end and hoping that I don't take too long between checking so I don't miss anything." I've potentially missed a few campaigns here and there this month, but I definitely got most of them. That said, it's deeply frustrating to have to be so "on" (even more so than usual for this project) so if you get anything out of this series I have a small favor to ask of you: go to Kickstarter Support and report a bug about this search function. I've already done so and they've told me that they're working on it, but if more people do so then perhaps they'll make it a bit higher priority. It's certainly not the biggest problem in the world (hell, it's not even the biggest problem with Kickstarter), but I would greatly appreciate the minute or two it would take for you to help get this tool back up and running properly.

That said, here's the raw data for August 2025! Let's get into it:

• 143 campaigns
• 17 Backerkit
• 0 Crowdfundr
• 4 Gamefound
• 122 Kickstarter
• $3,153,588.22 raised
• $1,351,822.34 on Backerkit
• $0.00 on Crowdfundr
• $98,847.93 on Gamefound
• $1,702,917.95 on Kickstarter
• Types of campaigns
• 15 accessories
• 41 adventures
• 1 advice
• 5 campaign settings
• 2 fundraising
• 48 supplements
• 30 systems
• 1 translation
• 54 distinct systems used (16 original)
• 59 campaigns (41.26%) used D&D 5E and raised $875,395.60 (27.76% of all money raised in August)
• 42 campaigns used AI in some form (29.37% of total) and raised $167,835.73 (5.32% of all money raised in August)
• 28 of these were D&D 5E campaigns, accounting for 47.46% of all 5E crowdfunding campaigns
• Campaigns were based in 16 different countries
• Top 3: 69 in USA, 25 in UK, 9 in Australia
• Singleton countries: Belgium, Hong Kong, Norway, Vietnam

Backerkit's August

The top 5 campaigns on Backerkit in August were:

1. Drakonym - A Narrative-First Dragonbonding TTRPG by Crossed Paths Press ($446,418.93 from 2,487 backers)
2. Vaults of Vaarn Second Edition by Vaults of Vaarn ($271,815.81 from 3,371 backers)
3. Monsters of Murka Trilogy: Ratified & Radified by Action Fiction ($269,058 from 1,382 backers)
4. Memento Mori: The Old City by Two Little Mice ($147,390.39 from 1,189 backers)
5. SHIVER Corporate: A Corporate Horror Comedy TTRPG by Parable Games ($86,921.15 from 646 backers)

It's fairly unusual to have new systems be really successful on any of the platforms I look at, so it's nice that in August the most successful campaign was (seemingly) original. Additionally, it's quite heartening to see something like Vaults of Vaarn 2e be so successful on Backerkit. None of the three of these games are exactly 'for' me, but it's nice to know there are thriving subcultures out there that are supporting games that aren't just from WotC, Paizo, or the couple most successful indie publishers. Granted, Crossed Paths Press, Two Little Mice, and Parable Games run some of the most consistently successful Backerkit TTRPG campaigns so it's not like they're exactly scrappy underdogs, but it remains a sign of a healthy (consumer) ecosystem that it's not only people like Exalted Funeral or Brandon Sanderson who can consistently bring out backers.

Gamefound's August

The 4 campaigns on Gamefound in August were:

1. Pendragon - Das Artus-Rollenspiel by Ulisses Spiele ($87,579.50 from 427 backers)
2. Dragons! Dragons! Dragons! for 5e by Deimos Infinitum Publishing ($5,622.35 from 68 backers)
3. The Ronin's Daughter by Brick By Brick Games ($4,994.42 from 117 backers)
4. After the Fall: 700 Post-Apocalyptic Battle Maps by Agnesagraphic ($651.66 from 15 backers)

There's not much to say here other than I have a personal beef with Agnesagraphic (or Agnieszka Polanowska on Kickstarter) for forcing me to log so many AI slop map projects. I really thought I was safe on a new platform but here she is...

Kickstarter's August

The top 5 campaigns on Kickstarter in August were:

1. Dragonbane RPG Miniatures — Northern Beasts by TitanforgeGames ($357,301 from 2,154 backers)
2. Three New Battlezoo Secret Tomes for Shadowdark! by Roll For Combat ($282,772 from 1,953 backers)
3. Pets & Sidekicks: Companions for D&D, Level Up A5E, and ToV by Morrus ($111,744.36 from 1,571 backers)
4. The Ultimate Customizable Adventure Notebook for TTRPGs! by Oddities Chest ($108,574 from 1,007 backers)
5. UNDERISLES: Roleplaying with Sign Language by Hatchlings ($77,800 from 1,015 backers)

Kickstarter money seems to have rebounded from last month's unexpected lull, but it's all looking quite same-y. D&D 5E, Dragonbane, Shadowdark, Tales of the Valiant - it's all just variations on the same theme. Very happy to see UNDERISLES in the top 5 as both a successful game for a small team and just something other than the standard fantasy adventure stuff (even if it's still a fantasy adventure game).

August 2024 vs 2025

• Number of campaigns
• Backerkit: 20 (2024) => 17 (2025)
• Kickstarter: 121 (2024) => 122 (2025)
• Money
• Backerkit: $1,580,419.62 (2024) => $1,351,822.34 (2025)
• Average campaign: $79,020.98 (2024) => $79,518.96 (2025)
• Median campaign: $15,903.00 (2024) => $10,588.00 (2025)
• Kickstarter: $18,711,813.48 (2024) =>  $1,702,917.95 (2025)
• Average campaign: $154,643.09 (2024) => $4,054.74 (2025)
• Median campaign: $4,239.00 (2024) => $2,893.91 (2025)
• AI
• Count: 29 (2024) => 42 (2025)
• Money: $215,538.99 (2024) => $167,835.73 (2025)
• D&D 5E
• Count: 49 (2024) => 59 (2025)
• Money: $1,956,290.32 (2024) => $875,395.60 (2025)

Things look better for the state of crowdfunding now than they did last month: still a drop in money raised but not the 50-66% reduction across the board. It might look really bad for Kickstarter, but you have to remember that August 2025 saw the Cosmere RPG campaign raise $15M, so that money is an outlier among outliers. If you take that one campaign out, you're left with Kickstarter raising ~$3.6M in August 2024. It still represents slightly more than a 50% drop year-to-year, though.

I said last month that July was an outlier for TTRPG crowdfunding, but with this month adding another data point it's looking increasingly like this might be a new normal. Money is simply down across the board for these crowdfunders, even (or perhaps especially) for the previously quite reliable 5E campaigns. We're not cratering out by any means. (The one real benefit of the Kickstarter search function breaking is that I'm getting a much better sense for how many campaigns fail to fund, and it's not all that many.) But the constantly precarious state of crowdfunding feels like it's getting more precarious.

It takes three data points to set a pattern, so who's to say: maybe September will exceed our wildest expectations (and to be perfectly honest there are already a couple very successful campaigns that have either finished or are close to finishing as I'm writing this), but this month and the last have really shown me how unreliable this environment is.