Dev-Talk 006: Launching A Kickstarter is Wild (And What’s Next)
Earlier this month I launched a Kickstarter for Ardenfell and the Coming Storm Adventure Path we’ve been working on for the last year, and let me tell you something:
I was not ready. But it was worth it.
Drinking from a firehose is an understatement
If you’ve been following this journey either because you know me, or because you found the Kickstarter yourself (which is awesome btw) then you’ve already seen my post their talking about the pause we’re taking to shift and get some things in order. The good news is, a lot of the changes needed are NOT content related, meaning that while we’re working on some of our branding and marketing preparation, the product will only have more time to be edited and fine tuned (though not too much I promise!). I’m really proud of what we’ve made and since stepping back I can honestly say that the quality will continue to speak for itself. But you can’t start with good news without a foreboding sense of dread as you wait for the bad news shoe to drop, and here it is… I’m pretty terrible at marketing.
I know, it’s a shocker. Give yourself a moment to take it in.
Okay jokes aside, I spent the last 1-2 months before launch learning everything I could about advertising, lead generation, promoting products, all of that fun stuff. I’m sure it’s no surprise to everyone that it’s rather involved, but if you’ve never done any kind of promotion/ad work, it’s even more complicated than you would guess. I read several guides on Meta ads, then watched several videos to understand the guides, and then had to have someone still help me build everything out so I could see it for myself and only then did the guides and videos begin to make any kind of sense.
Now for all my whining, I will admit… There is definitely some interesting elements to the promotion and advertising side to launching a Kickstarter, and things I actually want to try out now that I know a bit more about the process. On top of that, there were a lot of things I feel like I wasn’t properly highlighting for this project, specifically the things that I think make this book so useful for new & seasoned GMs. So what can you expect to see in the coming days/weeks while we’re back in the lab preparing for a proper relaunch?
WEBSITE CHANGES: An overhaul of the website, which is mostly done by the time this post will go up! The past layout was a bit busy and unfocused (past me now feels called out) so I’ve trimmed it down a bit to focus on the big things to know, and the stuff that I want to share, which leads to the second item…
TRY BEFORE YOU BUY: More modular stuff! The big draw of this project at it’s core is modularity. We’ve spent a lot of time making a system that is easy to read, port over, and modify for any game you might want to play. It’s easy to say that though, and much more useful to show it! So keep an eye out for more freebies of the content, showing off teasers for each neighborhood, and conversions of locales and encounters into D&D 5th Edition, Pathfinder2e, and even Blades in the Dark!
SOCIAL MEDIA: Coordination between the site and social media! I’ve never been a big social media guy, but mostly because working in the cybersecurity field has left me a far more paranoid person. I’ve mostly used TikTok for funny memes and to occasionally try my hand at different video types because I enjoy photography and video editing now (thanks Kickstarter announcement vid!). Moving forward I’ll be getting a bit more structure to our social posts, and some more videos talking about the products, the process, and really anything else that’s interesting to you all!
And that’s everything I’ve got! Like I said above, while there was a lot I didn’t know to get this process started on the right foot, I don’t regret the path we’ve taken so far. Because we launched how we did, I got to meet, and get guidance and advice from a number of larger and more knowledgeable creators in the advertising and TTRPG space. It’s genuinely given me so much inspiration seeing all the help people are willing to give if you’re new and just trying your best. It sounds cheesy, and maybe it is, but it’s no less true.
Our mistakes are our best teachers, and I’m excited as hell to learn more and make this relaunch even better! So keep following us and checking out our testable content, dev-talk posts, and everything else while we prepare to bring Ardenfell & the Coming Storm Adventure Path to life!
