Tag Archives: Kickstarter

Crowdfunding Carnival: October, 2025

Welcome to the Crowdfunding Carnival for October! We’re in spooky season, but more importantly, con season has wound down and the game designers have wound up. Tons of solid campaigns are on Kickstarter and Backerkit, and we have a few majors and some interesting tie-ins as well.

Before we get going here, it’s worth noting that as of today, Kickstarter United, the union representing Kickstarter employees, is going on strike as they have been working without a contract since July. The union is looking to enshrine working hour expectations, especially important as Kickstarter has been working on a four-day workweek for the last three years. Any allowances to ‘revert to normal operations’ by management would effectively constitute a 25% increase in workload with no adjustment in compensation. As seen on their website Kickstarter United is not asking anyone to boycott Kickstarter or withhold support from creators, so our normal monthly review will go on. That said, please visit the union’s website to see what you can do to support. With that news out of the way, let’s look at some campaigns.

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Crowdfunding Carnival: September, 2025

Welcome to the Crowdfunding Carnival for September! We’re seeing the post-GenCon movement begin, and several of the big publishers are starting their engines up again with new campaigns. At the same time, there are a number of good indies out there which are worthy of your attention. Let’s get to it.

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Crowdfunding Carnival: August, 2025

Welcome to the Crowdfunding Carnival for August! We’re still a little bit in the post-GenCon hangover, but there are definitely a lot of things to talk about and games to look into.

Before getting into the games, this seemed like the right place to reiterate the news that Gamefound has acquired Indiegogo, mixing Gamefound’s newer tech stack with Indiegogo’s massive subscriber base. Gamefound has been very successful in board games, though they haven’t broken into RPGs to the same degree. Still, these two companies joining forces means we will likely have a third viable crowdfunding platform after Kickstarter and Backerkit in terms of network effects and value for project developers. Will we see more RPG projects from Gamefound in this list? Possibly. The site still trails in terms of reach and backer-facing quality of life features, like requiring disclosures for projects that use AI art. Still, more competition is generally better in the space, and I look forward to seeing the newest iteration of Gamefound roll out.

And with that, on to the games! We’ve got horror, we’ve got dragons, and yes, we’ve got another attempt at writing a tabletop roguelike. Onward!

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Crowdfunding Carnival: July, 2025

Welcome to the Crowdfunding Carnival for July! Just like every year, July is a lull prior to GenCon really revving everything up. Most larger publishers will hold announcements until the con, making July a little bit sparse in comparison. That said, this month may not have any major publisher campaigns but it does have a number of interesting entries. Interested in archaeology, cosmic horror, or making deals with the devil? Come right this way, we may have something for you.

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Crowdfunding Carnival: June, 2025

Welcome to the Crowdfunding Carnival for June! While the majors are away, the indies will play, and now is a solid rush of projects from some smaller names even as the big guys get ready for the next big con. There were a pretty big number of campaigns to pare down from, but I think the ones I chose are pretty solid. And, despite a lack of new games from those big names, there is one new license to check out and a couple follow-on campaigns. Let’s begin.

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Wandering Blades Review: Old School Tech, Wuxia Style

Highly skilled martial artists roam the lands seeking to redress wrongs, help the downtrodden, and free the innocent from oppression. Heroism, action, melodrama! These are the hallmarks of the wuxia genre, and when they show up in the tabletop sphere they tend to come with a pretty big set of rules and no small amount of actual magic. In this case, though, we have a game trying to use old school renaissance-style mechanics to enable wuxia genre conventions:  Wandering Blades!

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Crowdfunding Carnival: May, 2025

Welcome to the Crowdfunding Carnival for May! It’s spring, and the buds on the trees have burst open into green leaves. Similarly, the post-ZineQuest hangover is over and RPG campaigns are bursting forth all over Kickstarter and BackerKit. Want a game about fishing, or making jam? How about a three-book space opera extravaganza? There’s lot’s to check out this month, so let’s get to it.

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Crowdfunding Carnival: April, 2025

Welcome to the Crowdfunding Carnival for April! The world outside is crazy, so come on in and take a gander at some quality, handpicked RPG campaigns. We’re seeing some solid activity from major players this month, albeit maybe too much activity from some. And then there are of course a number of fantastic indie campaigns, covering the fae, werewolves, kids with weird powers, and more. Check it out!

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Hero Forge Custom Dice Kickstarter Review

Hero Forge did its first Kickstarter more than ten years ago to launch a custom miniature printing business, and launched a second one to bring color to their minis. In between and after the fact the platform has continued to add more and more options to their catalog: new items, species, materials, and so on. Now Hero Forge has a third crowdfunding effort, and it’s focused on what you use to determine your miniature’s fate: the dice.

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