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Beyond that, Conway did not want to jeopardise the quality of the game itself. That’s the main reason why backers saw the adventures and additional playbooks run dry as the ticker marched past the next few million-dollar goal lines - negotiations with ViacomCBS, printers and partnered manufacturers meant every new addition threatened an already tenuous timeline. More specifically, he said project manager Liz Chaipraditkul shielded them from as much added stress and expectation as possible. Senior designer Brenden Conway spoke about how the runaway success affected him and the design team responsible for creating mechanics and writing the adventures and lore that comprises Avatar Legends’ core book.
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As the money kept pouring in, Magpie felt obliged to offer upgrades, additions and extras that would enrich play, but fast approached the ceiling of what its design team could handle. But when it comes to Avatar, these are giant kaiju-sized toys.”įans and players were initially pleased to see a licensed TRPG that wasn’t just another reskinned D&D 5E - Magpie’s house style favours a Powered by the Apocalypse toolkit based on Meguey and Vincent Baker’s Apocalypse World. “They had a lot of places where we helped them build the world, and they had to answer questions they never thought of before.
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“The bigger the toy is the bigger the responsibility, right? So, we worked with Root and had an approvals process with Leder Games, but they're a small team like us,” Diaz Truman said. It also previously Kickstarted Root: The Tabletop RPG - based on Leder Games’ popular board game - to the tune of $600,000 (£435,000). Its catalogue contains breakaway hits such as Bluebeard’s Bride and Masks: A New Generation alongside more niche titles Cartel and Urban Shadows. Smaller than giants Wizards of the Coast and Paizo, neither is it a scrappy indie outfit living or dying by each release. The New Mexico-based company sits in an interesting position within the tabletop industry.
Avatar rpg kickstarter plus#
Diaz Truman said once the bewilderment settled, the team began reassessing how its ten full-timers, plus contributors, would now handle a project fulfillment ten times larger than Magpie’s previous games. That was shocking for us,” said Mark Diaz Truman, Magpie Games’ CEO.Īs of September 2nd, Avatar Legends had amassed $9,535,317 (around £6.9 million) and set a record for the highest earning tabletop RPG on Kickstarter. “A lot of what has happened since that second day has been trying to readjust our expectations away from what we thought would maybe be a record breaking campaign on day 28 to what has now become a record-breaking campaign on day two. Prior to the crowdfunding campaign’s launch, its employees had been working for six months on more than 25 stretch goals, assuming backers would eventually contribute something close to $3 million by the end. The studio behind the project, Magpie Games, told Dicebreaker in an interview that the still-active popularity of the mid-2000s show, in addition to an official partnership with rights owner ViacomCBS, promised a certain measure of success.
Avatar rpg kickstarter series#
Hardly anyone was surprised when Avatar Legends, the tabletop RPG adaptation of American animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender and Legend of Korra, demolished its initial funding goal and hit six figures within the first day of its month-long Kickstarter campaign.
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