Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarter Club (2024)

Avatar Legends leads the pack in an exclusive club -- Kickstarters for tabletop roleplaying game products which have broken the $1M barrier! It is currently the most successful TTRPG Kickstarter in history with a funding total of nearly $10M, and over 80,000 backers.

[UPDATE--Backerkit started crowdfunding services in 2022, with their first million dollar campaign in July 2023. Backerkit is now included, so general references to 'Kickstarters' can now be assumed to mean 'Crowdfunders'.]

[Update 2--Kickstarter integrated 'late pledges' in May 2024. The totals on this table are the totals at the time the campaign officially ended.]

This list comprises Kickstarters specifically for tabletop roleplaying games or supplements which have exceeded $1M. It does not include Kickstarters which are primarily for miniatures, software, dice, or other accessories.

• The first TTRPG Kickstarter to break $1M was 7th Sea: Second Edition (2016) by John Wick.
• The first to break $2M was Strongholds & Streaming (2018) by Matt Colville.
• The first to break $9M was Avatar Legends (2021) from Magpie Games.
• The first to break $1M on its first day was Avatar Legends (2021) from Magpie Games with a first-day total of $1,150,566.
• The highest ever first-day total was Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere RPG (2024) from Brotherwise Games, with a first-day total of $4,380,024.
• The first to break $1M without physical merch addons (minis, dice, shirts, pins, etc.) is Coyote & Crow the Roleplaying Game (2021) from Connor Alexander. The only other campaign to do this so far is Shadowdark (2023).
• The average pledge level for a million-dollar campaign is about $100. This is usually reached by including add-ons and merchandizing. The lowest average pledge level is $66 (Coyote & Crow with just the game itself) and the highest is $294 (Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere RPG).
• Gloomhaven Grand Festival included an RPG, but was also a Kickstarter for a boardgame and 600+ miniatures.

$1M+ TTRPG Crowdfunders: The Official TTRPG $1M Crowdfunder Club

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Some unusual patterns can be seen above. Most Kickstarters follow the traditional 'U' shaped curved, with a large portion of the funding taking place in the first few and last few days of the campaign, and comparatively slower progress in the middle.

• Tanares RPG did nearly $1M in its first day, but then support dropped off for the remaining month. This was due to a high-value giveaway to first-day backers.​

• Humblewood started off slow and then got a big boost in the last 4 days. It's not clear what caused that, but an aggressive final marketing push is a good candidate--they have multiple marketing entries in their collaborators list.​

A Kickstarter which does well will tend to mean later campaigns also do well, as those backers are notified when new Kickstarters by the same creator are launched.

What Does A Million Dollar Campaign Look Like?
Look at the above campaigns, we can paint a picture of a million dollar TTRPG campaign.

• 21/39 include minis
• 35/39 include merchandise (pins, t-shirts, dice trays, etc.)
• 30/39 include dice
• 25/39 are D&D 5E related
• 10/37 are based on an existing IP (movie, book, older game edition, etc.)
• The average pledge level is in the region of $115
• The average campaign does 26% of its funding in the first day unless there are early bird rewards in which case it can be in the mid-40%s
• The average campaign has 18.5K backers, with the lowest about 9K backers

Multiple Entries
The following creators have two or more entries in the chart. These 6 creators comprise nearly 50% of the chart with a total of 18 entries.

Some creators are also listed as contributors to other projects.

• Loot Tavern (1 entry) is also listed as contributor to DnD Shorts and MonkeyDM.
• Hit Point Press (4 entries) is also listed as contributor to Loot Tavern and Griffin Macaulay.
• Ghostfire Gaming (1 entry) is also listed as contributor to Eldermancy and Dungeon Dudes (x3).