Why we don’t like crowdfunding - Part 1
Some uncomfortable truths about one of the most beloved fundraising methods in RPGs.
Whether you’re a big-name publisher or an indie author, there comes that moment when you ask yourself the dreaded question: “Should I do a crowdfunding campaign like everyone else?” At Oddplan, we asked ourselves that right from the start, and our answer was: “We’re not doing a crowdfunding campaign unless it’s a co-production where we’re just the authors and someone else takes the hits.” Not just because we’ve dealt with that circus before and didn’t like it at all, but also because of the very nature of the business and the relatively sharp shift in market conditions.
Sure, there are also matters of principle. For example, the fact that, as indies, we’re producing books with relatively low costs, and it should be our responsibility to bear the business risk. Other than that, our reasons for avoiding crowdfunding are mostly quite pragmatic.
It’s boring to make a disclaimer before getting into the core topic, but these days it’s better to do it and avoid arguing over nothing.
You are NOT wrong for doing crowdfunding.
We are NOT saying our choice is better.
We do NOT want to convince you that you’re terrible people for using services like Gamefound, Kickstarter, or BackerKit.
To clarify that this is merely our vision and not some sort of dogma, over the next three months, we’ll be featuring a dear friend in this newsletter —a professional who has raised more funds than we’ve collectively earned in our lives. He’ll discuss how to run a successful crowdfunding campaign without crashing and burning.
Back to us: why no crowdfunding?
Margins are nice, because starving sucks.
Over the years, we’ve spoken with many medium-to-large operations, and one impression we’ve consistently had is that they discuss a crowdfunding campaign’s results as if the final number is what ultimately ends up in their pocket.
We’re talking about professionals who, in theory, know how to do the math and handle large-scale projects. Yet, they often seem to underestimate the hidden costs of the business in a dangerous way. When you want to boast about the significant number on your campaign page, you might gloss over the details. Still, examining some of their production decisions, we wonder whether it’s more than just posturing and a dangerous misunderstanding of margins.
That big number? It’s not just gross revenue, it’s more than twice the actual sum you'll end up with to produce the game. “What?!” you ask. Well, let’s play a game, shall we?
Your crowdfunding campaign has now closed, reaching a total of €100,000. You’ve popped the champagne, the good one, because you’re set now, right? Just wait until you calculate the cost of your “success.”
Crowdfunding services are (very) expensive.
First, it’s time to pay the pound of flesh to the platform and its payment partners who enabled you to raise that glorious sum. Then, you’ll need to manage the pledges smoothly, maybe grabbing a few extra coins through late pledges or add-ons.
Surely, these aren’t huge costs, right? Right?!
Platform Fees: Kickstarter, Gamefound, and Backerkit typically charge a 5% fee on the total amount raised, though this can vary.
Payment Processing Fees: The payment processor (e.g., Stripe for Kickstarter) charges a fee of approximately 3%, plus a fixed amount per transaction (e.g., €0.20 or €0.30).
Pledge Manager Costs: BackerKit, for example, charges a tiered fee that can go up to 2% of the campaign funds, plus a 3.5% fee on all additional funds collected through their system. Gamefound has no setup fee but typically has higher commissions.
Even without factoring in the wild card that is the pledge manager, which can add up to 8% on every euro earned via add-ons and late pledges, you’re already losing about €8,000 out of your €100,000. Not awful. €92,000 is still a decent amount, and that Dom Perignon is still chilled… What’s that? We’re not done yet? Oof.
The campaign didn’t make itself.
I assume your hypothetical €100,000 campaign didn’t manifest spontaneously like a weird weather event. You probably invested in key art, videos, illustrations, graphic design, and possibly a hefty quick start, and hired people to handle pre-, mid-, and post-campaign efforts. You likely also spent some money on advertising.
Alright, let’s talk about these costs:
Advertising Costs: A well-known Italian publisher once bragged after a successful campaign that “every euro I spend on ads becomes five on Kickstarter.” That was slightly better than average because for campaigns raising €100,000–€200,000, it’s not uncommon to spend €21,000–€25,000 on multichannel ads.
Collaborators’ Costs: Perhaps you take advantage of individuals who work “for the experience,” but if not, a major campaign requires at least 20 person-months of consistent work, with a variety of skills, from crowdfunding management to art direction. If you’re not exploiting anyone, budget €20,000 here. Don’t assume performance-based compensation is cheaper; it usually isn’t when you’re talking about middle-to-big campaigns.
Production Assets: The campaign’s credibility depends on high-quality materials, including professional video, impactful page graphics, and a polished quick start to send to reviewers and influencers. Even if you do it all in-house, that’s another €3,000–€5,000. If you get it done for free, let’s hope communism arrives and whisks you off somewhere cooler.
So, your successful campaign could easily incur €50,000 in expenses just to exist. Not bad, eh? “But we don’t spend even a quarter of that!” says the person running three campaigns a year, paying collaborators with cake because there’s no bread, and already having a large enough contact list to optimize marketing. Good for you. But even if it’s only €15,000, a very generous lowball, you’re still well below €80,000. And that’s assuming nothing goes wrong.
The Things that Go Wrong
That was the ideal world, where nothing unexpected eats away at your margins. But nothing’s ever perfect. Those €100,000 in Platonic heaven take a few hits on the way down to Earth.
Buffer for Failed Payments & Cancellations: Some people use expired credit cards, can’t pay, or make a mistake, such as “oops, my three-year-old backed the game.” Expect to lose about 2.5% to these phantom pledges. Cancellations usually account for a smaller percentage, but not so small to be insignificant.
Rising Costs: You collect the money in 2025, but production may not occur until mid-2026. Things might look very different (and not in a good way). Paper costs might skyrocket, shipping from China might double, or a Western president might sniff glue and slap a Big Beautiful 199% tariff on RPGs because he can’t bomb them. Some of these increases can be passed on to customers (via shipping or VAT), but not all, unless you want to annihilate your brand.
Taxation: The extent of the hit varies significantly from Country to Country, but if, for some reason, the game isn't produced within the fiscal year, which happens often, you'll have to pay a percentage of taxes on the amount still sitting in your account.
While this cannot be accounted for when you start your crowdfunding via Crucis, we can learn one key lesson: crowdfunding creates split product strategies, with two wildly different phases. You can strategize well until you collect the money, then everything can happen.
Monopoly Money
So, in the end, how much is that €100,000? In the most optimistic projections, for the most fortunate, the real work begins with a net sum of €60,000. That has to cover writing, layout, art, editing, proofreading, printing, and production of various knick-knacks that were included as stretch goals.
It’s a respectable amount for what’s essentially one or more deluxe books plus a few cents a pop worth of merch. Sure. But after months of work, stress, late nights reviewing content and answering feedback… what’s left in your pocket?
At least you’ll have the satisfaction of having produced a professional, well-loved game, right?
Uh. About that…
Reach 40 shares of this post to unlock the Stretch goal: Part 2
There’s still a lot to say. For example, the very mechanisms that make crowdfunding so effective also pose severe limitations for the products themselves. But that would make this article far too long, so we’ll continue in a second part, perhaps after the first newsletter from the Mysterious Man of Mystery™, who will share a more personal (and less blunt) perspective on crowdfunding in role-playing games.
Toybox: Hellsquad Mission Scenario - Way Out of This World!
Alright, Hanks! Listen well to your trusty ol’ S.U.G.A.R.! The Alphakyllers have been advancing dangerously close to the research stations on planet Tekhna, and, most importantly, to the super-secret space station New Prometheus and its experimental, uber-nuclear reactor, orbiting directly above it. We were already expecting the shrimps to assault the station, take it over, and send it crashing down to the planet below any day now. What we didn’t expect was for them to assault the planet instead and send it crashing up above into the station! Even as we speak, wretched crustaceans of evil are installing and activating towering rocket systems on the opposite side of planet Tekhna, slowly but surely pushing it out of its position and straight into New Prometheus! It’s probably too late to save Tekhna itself, but it’s up to you to reach these rocket emplacements and destroy them before the planet crashes into the station with a System-shattering explosion. It’s time to be heroes, it’s time to be Hank!
Way out of this World! is a mission for Hellsquad, the biggest and most satisfying one we’ve written so far. As always, you’ll find new monsters, new traits, new gadgets, and new reasons to hate your dice. To play it, download it by clicking the glorious yellow button below.
Hellsquad is an OSR game with a Starship Troopers-style twist (or Helldivers—same vibe), putting you in the boots of a clone army tasked with defending humanity from an invasion of highly intelligent and ill-intentioned Crustaceans. Although it was released last year, we’re still updating it and adding new free adventures and monsters all the time. To grab your copy, head over to itch.io or DriveThruRPG.
Things we loved (or hated) this month
Why is everything we like gradually turning to poop? Edward Zitron’s long-form article, “The Era Of The Business Idiot,” attempts to answer the question of Enshittification without stopping at the surface level of “corporation = bad.” Yes, Milton Friedman is also to blame. Quelle surprise.
Speaking of Business Idiot, Dan Ayoub, Senior Vice President at Hasbro, gleefully announced that he has become the Head of the Dungeons and Dragons Franchise. This has implications for the most important brand in the industry—questionable implications. Chase Carter discussed it with his usual clarity on Rascal News.
We love jams. They’re one of the best things about itch.io (along with our questionably-colored store), and we’re glad one has been organized by the community for Mythic Bastionland by
. Fifteen days to create your myths and knights to share with everybody. Cool, right?
I agree with most of what’s written here, but I still can’t see a realistic way forward for projects that are not made on the super cheap that doesn’t pass for crowdfunding. We’re planning some experiments going forward to not depend from it entirely, but my expectations are very moderate.