Upset by Kickstarter’s decisions, some indie game creators are going their own way
In December, crowdfunding giant Kickstarter announced that in the future it would move its technology to the blockchain. Then, with less than one month of advanced notice, it rescheduled its popular community event called Zine Quest. Those two decisions have caused a rift with one of its most vibrant communities: designers of independently produced tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs). Now a group of more than 100 TTRPG creators, including one-person shops and small teams, are going their own way.
Their new event, called Zine Month, kicks off Feb. 1. Organizers tell Polygon that they’ve had it with Kickstarter. And while Zine Month creators are allowed to use any crowdfunding platform they want in 2022, the plan in 2023 is to eventually phase out using Kickstarter entirely. Ultimately, organizers hope that creating a critical mass of talent will open up new opportunities and attract new audiences, regardless of who’s handling the money.
Zine Quest began in 2019 as a way for Kickstarter to boost the visibility of indie TTRPG creators on its platform. Throughout the last three years — including twice during the global pandemic — Zine Quest helped hundreds of indie TTRPG developers promote and fund their work. More than 800 projects in total have been created, most of them for small, pamphlet-sized games and PDFs.
Hi pals, Anya, Director of Games @ Kickstarter here, excited to announce we’re moving ZineQuest to August to coincide with GenCon 2022! Official dates to come, but if you're still planning a Zine project for Feb, email games@kickstarter.com for a little extra promotion from us. https://t.co/aaVwxEFyx8
The event has always been held in February, but on Jan. 5, director of games Anya Combs made the surprise
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