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Emergency Upload Tomorrow or Monday... (Patreon)

Published:
2023-03-25 15:20:54
Imported:
2026-06

Content

Shadowdark broke $1 million on Kickstarter, and it's game-changer. I'll analyze why & how. This will be YouTube release this Tuesday, but of course you'll get it first. Stay tuned!

--PDM

Comments

Bagel-Man

Glad to hear it, can’t wait to get a copy of it.

MrGunn

Kelsey did a FANTASTIC job of marketing, well done!

Fergus Exile

Because it's awesome? (and well-timed)

Jay
>>104869279

Again, lets not forget all the independent creators who spread the word in support of Kelsey. Shadowdark was reviewed by numerous YouTube and Patreon creators to include PDM, Questing Beast, Runehammer, to name a few and their subscribers further spread the word. Being someone who backs tons of games on Kickstarter, some how this one would have slipped past me if it weren't for PDM's video supporting Arcane Library a few months ago. Anyway, looking forward to receiving my pledge when it's ready. This one may be a game changer for OSR in my opinion. Guess we shall see.

MrGunn
>>104869279

Agree with you Jay, hence my comment, great marketing campaign.

Gregory Helding

I’m playing a game with Kelsey at Gary Con right now. Everyone here loves it!

Michael Penkas

I loved how the initial goal was $10,000.

Masterhit
>>104869217

For whatever reason that makes me think of that Long Long Man commercial from Japan... lol

Masterhit

I don't need this book at all.. but I am almost certainly going to buy it before the end of the campaign... I mean I have every book she based or borrowed all her rulesets on I think... and then like 25 more. I have bookshelves of RPG books, modules, companions, guides, tools, box sets... I need an intervention, not a beautiful hardbound RPG ruleset! (... right??? ... RIGHT????)

Scott Spears

I backed it and am looking forward to the whole package. I want to compare it to Five Torches Deep.

Daniel Gray Webb

I saw, I read, I pledged. Thanks for keeping me in the loop.

Glumer Games LLC

I would love to have our game reviewed by so many great content creators. Mystic Days anyone? We already had a successful Kickstarter and the books are available now.

Ron F.
>>104869279

I don't think even all of those guys can carry a KS to $1M+. This KS did better with the help, and other marketing, for sure. For a small publisher's game to get to $1M, some other factors are at play. The OGL fallout is part of this, with jaded 5e players looking for something. I think it struck a chord with a portion of the OSR community. The situation was in part very lucky timing. Edit: Also, her own community! She's been writing 5e adventures for years and has a successful newsletter.

Jay
>>104869279

So we are in agreement. I never stated all of those guys carried anything. My point is simply what I stated, that the community also contributed to the success of the KS and helped spread the word not that they were solely responsible. There were clearly many factors to consider and anyone who has been paying attention can clearly see that. Sure you stated some other solid reasons for success. No argument from me on that. Many people deserve credit where it is due and like many others I'm happy the Kickstarter was so successful. The last one I backed that did so well was Eric July's Rippaverse Comic - Isom #1 which made more that $ 3 Million. His comics receive a lot of media and influencer attention and that contributed to his success especially for those who never heard of him. As I never heard of Kelsey before PDM mentioned her. Always happy to see good products from independent creators making money. Also my way of thanking those who helped get the word out or I might not have known. Credit where I believe it is due. Just my two cents anyway.

James C

I got the email from her regarding hitting one million. I also mentioned your channel as the reason where I learned about her game. After learning about her game, I also pledged. Good word of mouth like the good ole days.

MaxH

Shadowdark, a game so vapid that it needed to be called Shoots and Ladders D&D edition. Its not a bad game for the truly green but its a simple game loop, has a boring leveling system, brings nothing new to the OSR genre and is 90% empty calories and windy whimsical random charts for $109 for the basic all in, are you kidding me? I could condense the rules required to run this game into 3-6 standard pages, less if I printed it double sided, I read it twice and I never need to even open the rules again its that simplistic. I mean her word count per page rivals a bad 3rd party Mork Borg pamphlet. It's fine, it's tight if you want a beer and pretzels RPG game but I read it and well I couldn't disagree with your take more if I tried.. This is gonna be a great dust collector on a lot of people shelves in the coming year. I'm heading back to Shadows of the Demon Lord, now there is a great game, not some smokey vapid game with a huge community marketing push to polish this shallow skeleton of a game amounting to someones house ruled game half of which we already saw between Five Torches Deep and various other systems. I'm not buying into this hype train lol

MrGunn
>>104869279

Marketing is not a bad thing. I never meant for my words to say Kelsey did it alone or that there were no prevailing market factors that contributed to her success or that she is schilling a mediocre product. To the contrary, the community helped her, I am merely stating her community engagement and public outreach has been fantastic and a case study for successful Indy marketing.

MrGunn
>>104883337

Will, admitting you are powerless over all those precious precious RPG books is the first step. 🚫💉🐉📚🤣🤣🤣

MrGunn
>>104918200

Good points thank you for sharing an opposing point of view. I appreciate you sharing your perspective. 👍

Jay
>>104869279

Think there might be a miscommunication here. I know your statement was overarching and my statement wasn't a contradiction or an attack on you or anyone else of any kind. I just wanted to add to it a specific plug for the community. I have only rarely seen so many rally around a single project. However, I'm glad they did. This Kickstarter even had me excited to see what goodies were in it. Anyway, no need to defend my friend. I enjoy your comments just as much as I enjoy most everyone's on here. Happy Sunday.

Skyhammer
>>104884404

Agreed, there does seem to be a lot of similarities with Five Torches Deep, a game that I do like. I think Shadowdark would have more content support and marketing reach than the latter though.

Scott Spears
>>104884404

I agree. FTD did well but Shadowdark has blown up!!! Because of the OSR nature of both, they can share monsters and modules well.

Jay
>>104918200

I once again find myself agreeing with MrGunn in that is important to hear opposing points of view. Agree or disagree isn't the point. If people can put aside their own bias and look at your points objectively it at least gives them food for thought. I supported Shadowdark for both for reasons of what WoTC was doing to independent creators livelihoods as well as supporting what many who I find credible creators who enjoyed Kelseys RPG the game. I also like OSR and the seemingly rules light nature of this game. Something I can pick up and get going with very quickly. To be clear, I won't disagree with your opinion as that is how you see things and you may not be wrong on the points you make. One thing is for sure though, I do have a ton of RPG games already sitting in the dust bin of history. Ahh...If only I had the time. I would enjoy playing Shadow of the Demon Lord as I have paged through it. Just haven't gotten around to it. Seems I like to collect RPG games mostly for the system differences. I likely need to cool it on that. Anyway, interesting perspective. Time will tell.

Gregory Helding
>>104918200

Nothing succeeds like success. I saw the people playing at Gary Con. I witnessed Grognards and noobs alike playing the game and giving it high marks. I met a guy day one who was all in on Castles and Crusades. He had not heard of Shadowdark. He played it, loved it, and became a backer. You may not like the game, but it’s not hype. It’s real.

Cee-Jay

PDM, Questing Beast, Rune Hammer and others are part of a vast WizBro conspiracy aimed at furthering their dominance of the RPG industry. The OGL fiasco was PLANNED, to drive folks towards faux underground RPG systems THAT ARE ALSO OWNED BY WIZBRO!!! Kelsey is not a real human being, but the most important "asset" developed by the ONE D&D programmers using the top secret, still unreleased Unreal Engine Project X. That's right people, SKYNET has dropped and every single one of you is unknowingly participating in THE SYSTEM. Oh no, Jeremy Crawford is walking up to my front door. He's got an owlbear with him. They are breaking down the door. Ahhhh! Ahhhhh! Ahhhhh!

Cee-Jay
>>104918200

Personally, I find Shadows of the Demon Lord to be a bit clunky and too crunchy/filled out in some respects. Boons/Banes < Advantage/Disadvantage, initiative system isn't great, I'm not a fan of the path system. I don't think it's a crap game, it's just not my preferred style. We should make room for different opinions... and when we share our opinions, we should try not be a-holes about it. I appreciate that PDM is always careful to share what he likes, while noting that you are free to like whatever you like. He's never nasty, he doesn't call people names, etc.

jnlsn family

You know what's cool about the DC patreon? That somebody can blast a game or product and then NOT be brigaded. I don't agree with you guys on all things, but I respect that you still value dissent. *Tips Fedora*