This dedication to his campaigns is probably why he’s already on his third fully-funded Dungeons on Demand campaign. The first two, which raised nearly $20,000 between them, were successful and complete ventures into the world of crowdfunding. At the time of writing this article, Coleman already has over $11,000 backed for the third installment - and that’s a hell of a lot more than his initial $750 goal.
Dungeons on Demand is a series of short adventures for Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition, meant to be dragged and dropped into campaigns by Game Masters when they don’t have time to prepare - or if they just need material on short notice for a one-off session.
Each adventure is for a specific character level and seeks to bring players to a level-up by the end of the session.
Intrigued by the success of the campaigns, we reached out to Dan to ask about his experiences with running a successful Kickstarter presence, iterating on crowdfunding projects, Wizards of the Coast’s reaction to his crowdfunded adventures, and more.
GameSkinny: This is your third successful campaign for Dungeons on Demand - what have you learned from your first two campaigns that you’re now implementing in this third one?
What sort of things have you done to promote your campaign?
I’ve gotten a couple bloggers in the industry to review my adventures, which always helps. Of course, I love doing podcasts and interviews like this one!
I have a Facebook page that I use to share news and previews, and a Twitter handle where I tweet a lot about my campaign and projects (…and football, …and Pokémon, …and, well, life in general). Reddit is a fantastic way to reach the community as well.
I’ve never paid an advertiser or marketing team to promote my campaigns. You can’t make a Kickstarter project without spam from those kind of companies flooding your inbox: I just ignore it.
You’ve made it a point to include maps that are easy to pop into online D&D services like Roll20 - would you say Roll20 (or similar) users are a big source of backers? Or would you say most backers take these dungeons to their physical tables?
Has Wizards of the Coast reached out to you at all? What kind of contact have you had with any higher ups (or legal team members) there?
I design all my maps in layers in Photoshop, so it was simple enough to go back in and turn off layers with GM-only icons to make a “Player Safe” version. Of course, going forward that means I can be a little more creative with the map differences when I’m designing adventures, specifically for secret doors or dynamic terrain. I really like the depth that affords my product, so these maps are now a mainstay.
It’s tough to say how many users actually play online. I think it’d be fair to say “a lot,” but it’s impossible to tell. I’ve had backers email me photos of their gaming tables dressed for one of my adventures, and they’ve come up with some great stuff. I had one backer print out an entire dungeon on paper, and another 3D print terrain for one, and another transpose everything in wet-erase markers on a gridded mat. There are still plenty of people playing at the table.
WOTC just announced their Dungeon Masters Guild platform, what are your thoughts about adding your material to that platform?
With the release of the Open Gaming License, I got to speak with the Wizards team again about the necessary changes required to keep the products nice and legal. Again, the contact I had with them was positive and encouraging. I’ve ran into parts of the team at Gen Con and other outlets, and I can really feel there’s a big push to get behind the community again with this edition of D&D. It’s really encouraging.
A sample from Dungeons on Demand 3’s level 10 adventure, “Eyes on the Prize.”
Follow up: the DM Guild now allows creators to publish content set in the Forgotten Realms. If you were to publish adventures or dungeons set in the Forgotten Realms, where (and what) would you like to explore as settings?
What do you think is the key to a great Kickstarter campaign?
This is a big reason why I encourage people to make the Dungeons on Demand adventures their own thing. I was never big into boxed adventures,* and I’d hate to think any GM out there feels bound to the limits of my modules, much less the Forgotten Realms or other settings.
*With the exception of The Rod of Seven Parts. I loved the heck outta that one.
Give us a hint; do you have any other future Kickstarter plans in mind?
I’d also recommend starting to promote your Kickstarter early, and being as close to finished as possible before you go live. This gives you all the ammo you need to get a buzz around your project, and you’ll be well equipped to post pictures, answer questions, and deliver on time.
Fun question: What’s the funniest thing you can recall happening in one of your home games of D&D
Going forward, I’d like to think there’s always a new set of Dungeons on Demand adventures “around the corner,” - I’m currently averaging once every 5 to 6 months. However, I don’t think I have another one in me until late 2016 at this point. Writing these adventures takes months, and I’ve got a full plate with MajiMonsters at the moment. Hopefully we’ll see a new volume by October or November!
We’d like to thank Dan Coleman for his time! If you are interested in Dungeons on Demand 3, you can find the Kickstarter here or check out Dan’s past Dungeons on Demand projects on DriveThruRPG. If you have further questions, you can reach Dan via his Kickstarter profile, Facebook page Dan Coleman Productions, or Twitter @sketchedOut.
Of the four of them, only Mike voted to fight to the troll.
The other three voted to pass the river by simply swimming across it. One by one, the three jumped into the river and, one by one, all failed their Swim checks. Mike made a dazzling array of checks to save their lives. Once everyone was safely ashore, Mike urged them that crossing the river would be more dangerous than fighting the troll. Still concerned, the other three resisted.
“Mike, there are four of us here, and three of us think fighting the troll is a bad idea,” they said to him. To which he angrily replied:
“Yeah, well, the three of you wanted to jump in the @^%$ing river and drown, was that a good idea?”
Needless to say, I was in stitches. They fought among themselves for a good long while over what to do. I think I got up and made myself a sandwich while they sorted it out. There are some things good planning will never account for, and there are few moments more rewarding to a GM than when your players are so immersed in your game world they’re arguing in character with each other.
Author disclaimer: After this interview, I’m probably buying an adventure, if not backing this project.
