Today, MonkeyDM and Loot Tavern Publishing concluded their Kickstarter campaign for Steinhardt's Guide to the Eldritch Hunt. This was a crowdfunding campaign for a third-party Dungeons & Dragons supplement, similar to Monte Cook Games' Path of the Planebreaker. However, this particular project has now made history by becoming the most funded D&D-related project on Kickstarter of all time.
What is Steinhardt's Guide to the Eldritch Hunt?
According to the official Kickstarter Page, Steinhardt's Guide to the Eldritch Hunt is a gothic cosmic-horror supplement for D&D 5e. Heavily inspired by Lovecraftian cosmic horror as well as From Software's visceral action RPG Bloodborne, the campaign was to fund a 350+ page book containing brand new rules, mechanics, and creatures for your adventuring party to fight and overcome. These include new subclasses like the Osteomancy Wizard or Eldritch Hunt Paladin, inhuman player races like the Marionette, brand new Trick Weapons such as a pistol with a Hookshot attached, a sanity system where fighting against horrors slowly eats away at your mind, an Eldritch Moon system where various phases lead to different bonuses and drawbacks. and four prewritten adventures. There were even Kickstarter stretch goals and backer tiers that included artbooks, custom dice, VTT support, as well as cloth maps, character sheets, and reference cards.
The Kickstarter campaign for Steinhardt's Guide to the Eldritch Hunt concluded today with $2,692,698 raised, more than exceeding its $24,999 goal. This wasn't just a successful Kickstarter campaign, however. According to a campaign update, the developers had confirmed that they had made Kickstarter history, stating the following:
As of a few hours ago, we officially became the most funded DnD Kickstarter of all time.
Thank you all for being here on this incredible journey.
I am in complete shock, I can't quite comprehend it,
Thank you.
Let's make this the best book possible.
How did Steinhardt's Guide to the Eldritch Hunt raise so much money?
As for what contributed to the success of Steinhardt's Guide to the Eldritch Hunt, there are a number of factors. First, it must be noted that Loot Tavern Publishing has had experience with marketing and promoting D&D supplements in the past. This is illustrated by their wildly successful Heliana's Guide To Monster Hunting, which ended its campaign with $1,845,422 raised, more than exceeding its $15,000 goal. Second, TTRPG Kickstarter projects have been slowly growing in popularity according to several studies conducted in 2021, helped in no small part by the rising popularity of the hobby. This can even be seen in the TTRPG adaptation of the award-winning horror anthology podcast, Old Gods of Appalachia, which hit its $50,000 campaign goal within 11 minutes and ended the campaign with $2,097,820 raised. Finally, there is the central appeal of bringing Bloodborne's distinctly fast-paced and unforgiving take on cosmic horror into the world's most popular roleplaying game, buoyed by a deeply passionate fanbase still desperate for a sequel or follow-up long after its 2014 PlayStation 4 release.
The success of Steinhardt's Guide to the Eldritch Hunt does come with a caveat. The project is the most funded campaign for a D&D book supplement, not necessarily the most funded D&D-related campaign ever. A point of comparison is The Legend of Vox Machina series, an animated adaptation of the Critical Role actual play campaign, with over $11 million raised.
If you wish to pledge to Steinhardt's Guide to the Eldritch Hunt, you can still late pledge right here.