# The Biggest TTRPG Kickstarter Creators: Free League Is King!



## Fenris-77 (Apr 13, 2021)

Good to see you on that list good sir.


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## Morrus (Apr 13, 2021)

Fenris-77 said:


> Good to see you on that list good sir.



Literally just squeezed on! I guess I'm a tortoise rather than a hare!


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## univoxs (Apr 14, 2021)

It is good to see that many of these are small publishers in the grand scheme of things.


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## Dungeonosophy (Apr 14, 2021)

These guys and other non-Hasbro entities ought to team up for "fusion Kickstarters", like how Paizo and Shane Hensley did with the Savage Worlds+Golarion kickstarter. Where the house setting is fully converted to the house rules of another publisher. Mutual boosting of player networks. Synergy. Big kickstarters.

For example:
Golarion+WOIN? (Wouldn't that be an awesome Kickstarter?)


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## LegendaryGames (Apr 14, 2021)

Legendary Games is halfway there - 13 projects, $511,563.59! We'll see if we can crack the list by the end of the year. We do have some terrific projects coming up!


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## imagineGod (Apr 14, 2021)

The name Free League appeals to Americans, I bet the biggest market in the world. Originally, the company was Fria Ligan in Sweden, and the Symbaroum IP  Kickstarter was via acquisition Jaringen (though it was called a merger, the brand name says otherwise)


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## imagineGod (Apr 14, 2021)

Conor Alexander is a genius, from relatively unknown before this year, to right here taking seat with Matt Colville's millions of streaming fans.


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## Morrus (Apr 14, 2021)

imagineGod said:


> Originally, the company was Fria Ligan in Sweden



It still is.


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## TheSword (Apr 14, 2021)

A million sales just through crowdfunding is pretty amazing stuff.

I wonder how much roughly converts to profit? Particularly if kickstarters, while giving volume, have higher cost of sale because of the extras.


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## imagineGod (Apr 14, 2021)

TheSword said:


> A million sales just through crowdfunding is pretty amazing stuff.
> 
> I wonder how much roughly converts to profit? Particularly if kickstarters, while giving volume, have higher cost of sale because of the extras.



Not enough, the collapse of the indepdent publishing brand, John Wick Presents was a sad reality of this. 

Hopefully, Coyote and Crow creator, Connor Alexander, manages his finances better. One smart thing he did was the focus on supplying printed books on Native Lands first, and international backers not a target of the print and shipping run. That is wise for a fresh Kickstarter creator without partnerships  with international logistics and shipping companies. Also, stretch goals can ruin profits, with too many successful Kickstarters having been drained by unrealistic stretch goals that required new manufacturing.


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## CapnZapp (Apr 14, 2021)

imagineGod said:


> The name Free League appeals to Americans, I bet the biggest market in the world. Originally, the company was Fria Ligan in Sweden, and the Symbaroum IP Kickstarter was via acquisition Jaringen (though it was called a merger, the brand name says otherwise)



Free League is literally "Fria Ligan" translated from Swedish. That name was chosen long before the considerations of international markets became an issue. It was picked from an organization in the Coriolis sci-fi game back when the Free League people were just fans.

Specifically, fans of Järnringen's games. Järnringen created the edition of Mutant that's held in high regard still - I myself consider their campaign the Swedish equivalent of GWs Enemy Within or Chaosium's Masks of Nyarlathotep!  (Coriolis was an original creation of Järnringen with a unique ruleset. When Järnringen folded FL picked up the rights and issued a new edition based on their ubiquitous Year Zero game engine.)

Much later Järnringen was recreated and published Symbaroum. But by then FL was successful and much bigger, so when a merger was considered, it would have made no sense to go with anything else than "Free League envelops Jarnringen". 

I bet the FL people felt satisfaction from being able to incorporate their old idols, the ones that came up with the organization they used to name their company no less, though!


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## imagineGod (Apr 14, 2021)

CapnZapp said:


> Free League is literally "Fria Ligan" translated from Swedish. That name was chosen long before the considerations of international markets became an issue. It was picked from an organization in the Coriolis sci-fi game back when the Free League people were just fans.
> 
> Specifically, fans of Järnringen's games. Järnringen created the edition of Mutant that's held in high regard still - I myself consider their campaign the Swedish equivalent of GWs Enemy Within or Chaosium's Masks of Nyarlathotep!  (Coriolis was an original creation of Järnringen with a unique ruleset. When Järnringen folded FL picked up the rights and issued a new edition based on their ubiquitous Year Zero game engine.)
> 
> ...



Thanks for this, I saw mention of an old Coriolis RPG but I think it was Swedish only. And thanks for correcting the misconception on my part that  at first considered the faction name Free League was shoehorned into the Coriolis RPG as a vanity project.


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## CapnZapp (Apr 14, 2021)

Cheers.

PS. Trust me, the fact Coriolis 1E is Swedish only doesn't mean you're missing out. (The atmosphere and imagery of the game is the draw here, while the rules were just poor)


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## eyeheartawk (Apr 14, 2021)

imagineGod said:


> Not enough, the collapse of the indepdent publishing brand, John Wick Presents was a sad reality of this.
> 
> Hopefully, Coyote and Crow creator, Connor Alexander, manages his finances better. One smart thing he did was the focus on supplying printed books on Native Lands first, and international backers not a target of the print and shipping run. That is wise for a fresh Kickstarter creator without partnerships  with international logistics and shipping companies. Also, stretch goals can ruin profits, with too many successful Kickstarters having been drained by unrealistic stretch goals that required new manufacturing.



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.


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## babi_gog (Apr 14, 2021)

Just thinking that some of the publishers above have used other crowdfunding platforms as well as Kickstarter. I know that Ulisses Spiel have done a few using Game On Tabletop. So that may change some of the totals if other funding platforms are included.


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## Morrus (Apr 14, 2021)

babi_gog said:


> Just thinking that some of the publishers above have used other crowdfunding platforms as well as Kickstarter. I know that Ulisses Spiel have done a few using Game On Tabletop. So that may change some of the totals if other funding platforms are included.



I mentioned that in the article. But it took me hours as it was, so I'm just going to stick with the one platform. If anybody else wants to do the research, I'd be happy to include it.


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## WisdomOfWombats (Apr 14, 2021)

An interesting metric would also be the timeframe in which the Kickstarters have been run. For example, OPP started back in 2010 or 2011, I think. While Fria Ligan has been using Kickstarter for a much shorter timeframe (and managed to raise more money for less projects in a shorter time).


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## darjr (Apr 14, 2021)

Another interesting breakdown would be licensed properties vs original


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## Ruin Explorer (Apr 14, 2021)

darjr said:


> Another interesting breakdown would be licensed properties vs original



Yeah I'd be interested to know that. I mean, it's asking a lot, but ideally, if we went for a full deconstruction what I'd like to see would be both licenced/merchandised vs original, and, separately original rules-sets vs stuff for existing rules-sets. Coyote and Crow was surprisingly/awesome because it's an original setting with original rules, and just blew past $1m. As others, glad to see ENworld in on here!


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## Zehnseiter (Apr 14, 2021)

Morrus said:


> I mentioned that in the article. But it took me hours as it was, so I'm just going to stick with the one platform. If anybody else wants to do the research, I'd be happy to include it.



Probably true as kickstarter is by far the biggest platform for this. 

Although Ulisses Spiele might be the exception that makes a look at gameontabletop worth it just because of the high numbers involved.  They use the platform as a pledge manager for most of the games that are already on your list so the are included in the gameontabletop numbers. And they do a lot of German language crowdfunding projects (and some of the later Torg Eternity ones) on gameontabletop only. 

I did a quick count and ended up with 50 projects worth roughly 5,6M Us dollars. That puts them in the top rankings of your list.


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## Toriel (Apr 14, 2021)

Morrus said:


> Literally just squeezed on! I guess I'm a tortoise rather than a hare!




It's not because you're at the end of this list that you're behind. How many companies are there that have not yet reached the million? I'd say you're part of the peloton at the front.


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## univoxs (Apr 14, 2021)

imagineGod said:


> The name Free League appeals to Americans, I bet the biggest market in the world. Originally, the company was Fria Ligan in Sweden, and the Symbaroum IP  Kickstarter was via acquisition Jaringen (though it was called a merger, the brand name says otherwise)



Thats silly. I don't care what the companies name is.


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## babi_gog (Apr 14, 2021)

Morrus said:


> I mentioned that in the article. But it took me hours as it was, so I'm just going to stick with the one platform. If anybody else wants to do the research, I'd be happy to include it.



Yep can understand the sanity issue, and trying to get more info leads to lots of rabbit holes. I know from looking at the Ulisses Spiel info they have some that are funding for translations into languages other than English for existing things. So again makes the figures more complex.

Though this does make interesting reading, and to see how many different firms are making the list.


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## Morrus (Apr 14, 2021)

Since I'm at almost exactly $1M, I propose that be used as a unit for Kickstarter success henceforth. Monte Cook Games are 6.7 Morrus's. Matt Colville is 3.5 Morrus's.


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## darjr (Apr 14, 2021)

Morrus said:


> Since I'm at almost exactly $1M, I propose that be used as a unit for Kickstarter success henceforth. Monte Cook Games are 6.7 Morrus's. Matt Colville is 3.5 Morrus's.



Ha! Tweet that at them!!!


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## Ethawyn (Apr 14, 2021)

Wow._ The One Ring_ was a $2M Kickstarter and Free League has had a total of $7.8M, so _TOR _was over 25% of their total earned from 25 projects. Though even without it they would still have been #2.


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## Morrus (Apr 14, 2021)

Ethawyn said:


> Wow._ The One Ring_ was a $2M Kickstarter and Free League has had a total of $7.8M, so _TOR _was over 25% of their total earned from 25 projects. Though even without it they would still have been #2.



It was a whopper, to be sure.


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## aramis erak (Apr 14, 2021)

eyeheartawk said:


> 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.



John's used at least 3 different names, each now essentially defunct, for his own works. John Wick Presents, Wicked Press, and, jointly with Jared Sorenson, Wicked Dead Brewing Company.

John's games are on the edges of the design envelope.... Houses of the Blooded was brilliant, as was its samurai flavor, Blood and Honor... but they are very hard for some players, as they're very untraditional. If I hadn't run B&H, I'd have had no idea how 7th Sea was supposed to work -- John needs an editor with an iron fist, or he forgets to include key details. John needs a layout guy paid by the needed iron-fisted editor rather than John.

I, and a few friends of mine, hopped on the KS not for 7th Sea 2e, but the complete collection of 1E PDFs. I'm not likely to run 2E, and cannot actually read it in the PDF; I am unwilling to suffer through my tablet reading it to me.


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## aramis erak (Apr 15, 2021)

Ethawyn said:


> Wow._ The One Ring_ was a $2M Kickstarter and Free League has had a total of $7.8M, so _TOR _was over 25% of their total earned from 25 projects. Though even without it they would still have been #2.



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

Hell, Twilight 2K had a significant backerkit bump, coming in at 5.5M SEK, over $600K. For a largely dead game set in what is now a past that (thankfully) didn't happen the way it was envisaged as Sci-Fi in the 80's.


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## Morrus (Apr 15, 2021)

aramis erak said:


> 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 lik_e D&D_). This is just a list of Kickstarter totals.


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## Eyes of Nine (Apr 15, 2021)

Morrus said:


> 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.
> 
> ...




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

ProjectsKnown ForTotal FundedAverage per KSMatt Colville2Strongholds & Streaming$ 3,494,150.00$1,747,075.00​Connor Alexander1Coyote & Crow$ 1,073,453.00$1,073,453.00​Eldermancy2The Seeker's Guide to Twisted Taverns$ 1,990,428.00$995,214.00​Hit Point Press7Humblewood$ 3,865,801.00$552,257.29​Russ Charles3Animal Adventures (5E setting)$ 1,413,286.00$471,095.33​Monte Cook Games19Numenera, Cypher System$ 6,671,520.00$351,132.63​Free League25Tales from the Loop, The One Ring$ 7,839,651.00$313,586.04​Modiphius Entertainment7Conan, Star Trek, many other licensed 2d20 games$ 1,618,550.00$231,221.43​John Wick87th Sea$ 1,640,153.00$205,019.13​Jim Searcy (Studio Agate)11Esteren$ 2,254,420.00$204,947.27​Kobold Press18Midgard, 5E hardcovers$ 2,867,580.00$159,310.00​Shane Hensley (PEG)25Savage Worlds$ 3,569,108.00$142,764.32​Evil Hat Productions16Fate$ 1,969,348.00$123,084.25​RiotMinds12Trudvang$ 1,461,447.00$121,787.25​Ulisses Spiel14Fading Suns, Dark Eye$ 1,621,113.00$115,793.79​Richard Thomas (Onyx Path)43World/Chronicles of Darkness$ 4,800,696.00$111,644.09​Frog God Games28Swords & Wizardy, Tome of Horrors$ 1,906,713.00$68,096.89​Goodman Games30Dungeon Crawl Classics$ 1,756,612.00$58,553.73​Morrus (EN Publishing)205E products, Judge Dredd, WOIN$ 1,001,449.00$50,072.45​


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## Jaeger (Apr 15, 2021)

eyeheartawk said:


> 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.


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## imagineGod (Apr 15, 2021)

Jaeger said:


> 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?


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## Morrus (Apr 15, 2021)

Eyes of Nine said:


> 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.


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## eyeheartawk (Apr 15, 2021)

imagineGod said:


> 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?


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## Ulfgeir (Apr 15, 2021)

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


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## Jaeger (Apr 16, 2021)

imagineGod said:


> 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...



eyeheartawk said:


> 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...


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## Eyes of Nine (Apr 16, 2021)

Morrus said:


> 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.


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## Psikosis (Apr 17, 2021)

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!


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## aramis erak (Apr 17, 2021)

Jaeger said:


> 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 pretty much agree. 

I've got all these PDFs for 2E that I cannot read, which don't work well with the computer reading it to me, and which are based upon a game engine I'm not going to play, because there was no provision to only get the 1E PDFs. I got my money's worth, in terms of over 20 hours reading of 1E stuff....


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## imagineGod (Apr 17, 2021)

Free Leagues latest Kickstarter "*Ruins of Symbaroum for 5e*" is trending towards a million Dollars according to Kicktraq.. That will create a healthy lead on the leaderboard. 









						Ruins of Symbaroum for 5E
					

The acclaimed dark fantasy world of Symbaroum adapted for 5E, introducing custom rules, origins, classes, creatures and more




					www.kicktraq.com


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## Morrus (Apr 17, 2021)

imagineGod said:


> Free Leagues latest Kickstarter "*Ruins of Symbaroum for 5e*" is trending towards a million Dollars according to Kicktraq.. That will create a healthy lead on the leaderboard.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Kicktraq’s predictions are nonsense, and early in a campaign frequently predict totals 3-4 times the actual end result.


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## jerryrice4949 (Apr 18, 2021)

A disproportionate amount of pledges are in the first 48 hours and last 48 hours.  So early in a campaign Kicktraq is often very inaccurate.  My educated guess is between 550,000 and 600,000 total.


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## jerryrice4949 (Apr 18, 2021)

But I believe they are also planing a 5E version of the one ring or whatever it is called, later in the year and that may well hit a million.


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## Jaeger (Apr 18, 2021)

aramis erak said:


> I've got all these PDFs for 2E that I cannot read, which don't work well with the computer reading it to me, and which are based upon a game engine I'm not going to play, because there was no provision to only get the 1E PDFs.* I got my money's worth, in terms of over 20 hours reading of 1E stuff....*




This was one of the things that in 20/20 hindsight caused Wick to read his market wrong. 

The kickstarter for 2e 7th Sea _was a screaming deal for 1e fans._

Even after his pledges got the rules and many were turned off by the new system; so many stayed in just for the 1e pdf's that he probably thought his new rules set was more accepted than it actually was.

He most likely gave criticism over his 2e rules short shift because he looked at his numbers and thought to himself: _"So many have stayed in for 2e - these 1e rules grognards are just a vocal minority!"_

Sorry Mr. Wick, but the people who actually liked the new 2e rules were the real minority... Everyone else was there for the 1e pdf's and any new lore they could mine from the setting updates.

Which due to the big numbers that the kickstarter did, that was a _Very easy_ mistake for Wick to make.


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## Fenris-77 (Apr 18, 2021)

Oh dear, so they might make something between a lot of money and a whole lot of money.  Lets fight about the details we can't control!  Or, you know, admit that Sybaroum is a great setting that deserves a great KS for a 5E version. YMMV if you suck.


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## Morrus (Apr 18, 2021)

Fenris-77 said:


> Oh dear, so they might make something between a lot of money and a whole lot of money.  Lets fight about the details we can't control!  Or, you know, admit that Sybaroum is a great setting that deserves a great KS for a 5E version. YMMV if you suck.



What on earth was that for?


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## CapnZapp (Apr 18, 2021)

jerryrice4949 said:


> But I believe they are also planing a 5E version of the one ring or whatever it is called, later in the year and that may well hit a million.



You're talking about a second edition of Adventures in Middle-Earth.

While it does make sense to issue a second edition to match the second edition of The One Ring, the existing edition of AiME is already for 5E.

_Edit:_ Or are you... Turns out, all we have for official news is this: "Takaichi also confirmed that a version of the game compatible with Dungeons & Dragons 5E would follow the release of The One Ring." This can be read as them planning an entirely new 5E-compatible game, just as you say. That is, we might get a "TOR 5E" rather than a 2nd edition of the existing (but Cubicle 7 produced) AiME.


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## aramis erak (Apr 18, 2021)

Jaeger said:


> This was one of the things that in 20/20 hindsight caused Wick to read his market wrong.
> 
> The kickstarter for 2e 7th Sea _was a screaming deal for 1e fans._
> 
> ...



The PDFs of 1E weren't delivered until after the KS. If you wanted the PDFs, you HAD to stay in for getting 2E as well. No option for just 1E.  But plenty commented about 1e being why they were there. Still, a lot of us had hopes that 2E would be good.

The concept is good: Att + Skill d10's, make totals of 10+ on the dice for "raises" (equivalent to successes in Shadowrun, YZE, BW, or WoD). But raises can be one action each, rather than improved
outcome on a single action. (this is similar to how the wagers in _Houses of the Blooded_ and _Blood and Honor_ work). When everyone's out of raises, reframe the situation and make another pass... or exit the situation as fast as you can.

It sounds great on paper... but d10's for 10's are simply too hard with the low number of dice. 

To be honest, if he'd used the Houses of the Blooded engine for 7th sea 2E, it would have been a much stronger game.

Chaosium seems to be sticking with it, tho'...


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## eyeheartawk (Apr 18, 2021)

Jaeger said:


> Sorry Mr. Wick, but the people who actually liked the new 2e rules were the real minority... Everyone else was there for the 1e pdf's and any new lore they could mine from the setting updates.



Even that was disappointing. Look at what they did to my boy Eisen. Instead of being a ruined country after a 30 years war equivalent with a cool set of armor instead of a national magic it got turned into Ravenloft with crap, usless magic. I still mourn. 

Also, the 2E combat engine is the most boring thing in the world. I spend a raise, okay I do one wound. Repeat. What joyous fun!


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## CapnZapp (Apr 20, 2021)

> Kicktraq’s predictions are nonsense, and early in a campaign frequently predict totals 3-4 times the actual end result.



You would think they'd update their algorithm to improve accuracy.

To not assume the first or last couple of days is a good indicator of the average day, for instance.


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## Fenris-77 (Apr 20, 2021)

Yes, lets kvetch about 7th Sea 2E. What that has do with the OP I'm not sure. That said, I didn't buy in. I love 1E, I own a lot of stuff for it, and I haven't run it in years. I think I'm ok. As much as I *LOVE* most of Wick's stuff. _Houses of the Blooded_ is bloody genius.


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## aramis erak (Apr 20, 2021)

Fenris-77 said:


> Yes, lets kvetch about 7th Sea 2E. What that has do with the OP I'm not sure. That said, I didn't buy in. I love 1E, I own a lot of stuff for it, and I haven't run it in years. I think I'm ok. As much as I *LOVE* most of Wick's stuff. _Houses of the Blooded_ is bloody genius.



It was (AFAIK) John's biggest KS, and John is on the list in the OP.

Understanding why people bought it, and why they bought, is of potential use to other creators, and to those looking at the figures trying to figure out why they worked.


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## evilhat (Apr 20, 2021)

May also want to look at backer counts. For example, while the Dresden Files card game is our most successful campaign by dollars, its buy-in for the core product was higher than Fate Core's or Thirsty Sword Lesbians, so that might be expected. TSL had 8152 backers, which DFCO exceeded by only a few hundred at 8616; but Fate Core over 10k backers. Dollars don't paint the whole picture, just like page count doesn't paint the whole picture of whether an RPG book is good or complete or whatever your qualitative metric of preference is.


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## evilhat (Apr 20, 2021)

[duplicate]


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## Morrus (Apr 21, 2021)

Keeping an eye on Free League and Richard Thomas as both of those have current Kickstarters which means the list will need updating. And Warchief's Auroboros is almost certain to join the list in a couple of weeks (or days....)!


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## Morrus (Apr 21, 2021)

evilhat said:


> May also want to look at backer counts. For example, while the Dresden Files card game is our most successful campaign by dollars, its buy-in for the core product was higher than Fate Core's or Thirsty Sword Lesbians, so that might be expected. TSL had 8152 backers, which DFCO exceeded by only a few hundred at 8616; but Fate Core over 10k backers. Dollars don't paint the whole picture, just like page count doesn't paint the whole picture of whether an RPG book is good or complete or whatever your qualitative metric of preference is.



Yeah, I might do that at some point -- it takes bloody ages though! I'll need a rest before doing this again.


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## Ulfgeir (Apr 21, 2021)

Morrus said:


> Yeah, I might do that at some point -- it takes bloody ages though! I'll need a rest before doing this again.



Sounds like you need some automated tools to gather all the data and dump in a conveniant file.  
Of course given how f****d up some of the laws are in some places, you would risk getting labeled a hacker,  and sentenced accordingly.


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## Egg Embry (Apr 24, 2021)

I don't believe this has been lifted up yet, but Ghostfire Gaming has a million plus on its own. That said, they appear to be a part of Eldermancy (possibly) which is listed above.


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## Hakdov (May 12, 2021)

hmm... Troll Lords just miss making this list.  They have 31 backed campaigns totaling over $900,000.


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## Morrus (May 23, 2021)

Ghostfire and Warchief have been added to the list!


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## Morrus (Jun 18, 2021)

Woohoo! I just gained a rank! I'm no longer at the bottom!


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## HumperdinkTheWarlock (Jul 6, 2021)

I think Heliana's Guide to Monster Hunting (by Loot Tavern) needs to be added to the list!


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## HumperdinkTheWarlock (Jul 6, 2021)

I think Heliana's Guide to Monster Hunting (by Loot Tavern) needs to be added to the list!









						Heliana's Guide To Monster Hunting: A 5e Supplement
					

Level up your game with epic monster hunts, tracking, harvesting, and crafting.




					www.kickstarter.com


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## TwoSix (Jul 6, 2021)

HumperdinkTheWarlock said:


> I think Heliana's Guide to Monster Hunting (by Loot Tavern) needs to be added to the list!
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I saw this kicking around a few of the homebrew places I frequent, but I didn't realize how successful it was.  1.8M is a big number.


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