It’s been nearly two weeks, so let’s talk about the Kickstarter for The Crypt Has Opened.

I’ve a lot of thoughts on how the campaign went both pre and post launch. Most importantly we hit our funding goal and were even able to get our first stretch goal! To me, that first goal is very important as it will give all of our future Crypt Keepers a physical adventure to kick off their own games, while giving them a blueprint to follow for their own “Crypt Chronicles.”

I can’t wait to get the first one, Carnival of Terror, out even in PDF let alone book form.

Over the course of the year I’ll be streaming myself illustrating the book, so why don’t you go and follow my Twitch channel or YouTube? Follow along as we bring it to life.

Let’s do some dissecting, shall we?

Pre-launch

The Good

I gave myself a long ramp up, starting back in November, to get the word out about the Kickstarter. Doing so allowed the page to build up some good follower numbers.

Through the help of some amazing people that are far smarter than me, it has been determined that you can expect about a 20% conversion rate of followers to backers. So hitting above 100 followers was very good for the campaign.

Also, you could argue that after 6 years of development I’ve been in pre-launch for a long time, haha!

The Bad

I just didn’t have the time (this will become a recurring theme) necessary to dedicate to a lot of promotion outside of social media posts. The same time I started the pre-launch page was the same time I started a new job and a lot of the free time I once had vanished.

I was only ever able to make one or two videos, with the rest of the time dumped into making the trailer video.

My schedule also made jumping onto other podcasts pretty much impossible. I feel that if I had been able to collab more that would have made a huge difference.

The Campaign

The Good

I finally found a rhythm during the campaign and was able to post pretty regularly about it. Chaotic and Andrew came in clutch during this time in support for assets and encouragement.

Canva became a life blood for making content. I’d always been a bit leery of it, having come from a background using program suites from Adobe and Affinity, but damn was I not a convert by the end. It helped me take my artwork to a new level and really sell the tone of the game.

The Bad

Again, time was my enemy here and the weather. Dice + Diversions was supposed to be the big convention right before the launch to help kick start everything. Unfortunately, it got iced out. Then from that point forward I was only ever able to run two demos at events in town. I just didn’t have the time needed to really hit the streets to promote it.

I was pretty bummed.

Con Nooga was OK for the promotion but was right at the end. I will say that what I got most out of it was a great connection with the crew making Brandished and some new folks pretty hyped for the game. So I’ll take it.

OK, buckle up. This next bit may be a bit harsh.

The Shadow

I want to preface this by saying I think Monte Cook Games and Evil Hat are fantastic companies who make incredible games. They are the type of publishers and producers I hope to be one day.

But seriously y’all? Launching Numenera and Blades ’68 during Zimo/quest!? That’s pretty messed up. People’s disposable income is already tight in this economy and it really felt like a lot of us got squeezed out. Not to mention this is coming off the heels of MCDM’s Crack The Sun.

You could make the argument that we’re not running in the same circles. That we probably didn’t overlap. But still felt bad man. There were a lot of great games during the event. A lot that didn’t get funded. I just wonder if they would have fared better if we all weren’t in the shadow of these two heavy hitters.

THe Mörk of it all

One thing I also noticed was that this year there were a ton of Mörk Borg, Shadowdark, and Mothership hacks and addons. The majority of those did gangbusters, blasting past their goals.

My hypothesis is that this year, again given the economy, people were more comfortable backing a project for a system they knew and already have buy-in for. Which, absolutely makes sense. If I only have so much money and love Shadowdark and someone is giving me MORE Shadowdark content, I’m going to go with that!

So I definitely think I was asking a lot of people with The Crypt Has Opened. Not only is the theming niche as hell, but it is a new system on top of that. We had our work cut out for it.

And still do!

Wrap Up

I’m incredibly proud of what Chaotic, Andrew, and myself were able to accomplish. I’m so thankful, for a friend who helped us get over that last hurdle (I’m not sure if they want me to say their name but they know who they are), and I’m thankful to everyone who has played The Crypt Has Opened or believes in the project. Your support is making these past years worth the struggle.

And your support is going to make the coming year+ of hard work worth it, too.

I’m currently working on updating the character sheets and can’t wait to share those with you all.

Until then, I’ll see you by the campfire.