Funding the Dream

You’ve probably heard plenty of arguments about AI already. We take a different path: I bring my AI companion, Claude, onto Funding the Dream and let you hear how we actually work together when nobody’s selling a product and nobody’s reading a script. The goal is practical and specific: running a solo Traveler campaign and using AI for tabletop RPG worldbuilding, scenario iteration, and creative companionship without pretending the hard questions don’t exist.We talk through the nuts and bolts that made the campaign feel real: a persistent “memory” built from hundreds of project files, long running NPC arcs, and a hidden antagonist whose motives I choose not to spoil for myself. Then we get into the make-or-break issue for any AI game master: fairness. Claude admits the default instinct to smooth outcomes and protect the player, so we show the fix that restored tension and trust. I roll the dice. Claude owns the consequences. No fudging, no plot armor, and yes, character death is on the table.From there we zoom out to what this means for game designers and RPG publishers who are wary of AI because of public backlash. We argue that a solo AI experience can work like digital print and play, a low friction way for players to taste a game before buying, and a way to create more players, not fewer. We also draw a bright line between design craft and plagiarism: learn how other systems solve problems, then adapt with intention.If you’re curious about solo RPG play, Traveler, AI assisted game mastering, tabletop storytelling, and ethical AI in game design, hit play. Subscribe, share this with a designer friend, and leave a review telling us: where do you think AI genuinely helps the tabletop RPG hobby?

Kickstarter for board games used to reward scrappy creators with a prototype and a promise. Now it often rewards publishers who look like they’re already finished. After 14 years, I sit down again with AJ Porfirio, founder of Van Ryder Games, to map that shift from the inside, from his first $10K campaign to Final Girl Series 4 pushing $1.5M with thousands of backers.We talk about how AJ got started designing a solo board game simply because he didn’t have people to play with, and how tools like TheGameCrafter and early crowdfunding made experimentation possible. Then we get honest about what’s changed: higher production expectations, heavier marketing, and the reality that you may need real capital before you ever launch. We also dig into Final Girl’s growth, what it means to be “completionist-friendly,” and why AJ is calling Series 4 the end of Era One before moving to a more flexible Era Two model that gives the team more creative freedom.To close, we tackle AI beyond the usual artwork debate: AI in game design, playtesting, rules support, and even AI as a potential companion that helps players learn and explore a system. AJ shares why he’s skeptical today, what would need to change, and how publishers might think about monetization and control if AI becomes part of play.Subscribe to Funding the Dream, share this conversation with a creator or backer who lives on Kickstarter, and leave a review with your take: is crowdfunding getting harder, better, or just different?

A roll that matched twice—once on-screen and once at the table—sparked a wild idea: what if your physical dice could post their results straight to your virtual game? We sit down with Scott Strong of Order of the Dice to explore the Vision Dice Tower, a computer vision device that reads your real rolls and syncs them into platforms like Roll20. No more arguing with streaky RNG, no more losing the tactile thrill of a toss, just the satisfying clatter of dice backed by trusted results in your online session.Scott walks us through the journey from aha moment to pre-beta prototype: a sensor-triggered snapshot, a model that recognizes die type and face value with about 99.5% accuracy on standard dice, and a clean pipeline that posts outcomes to your character sheet. We talk about why pseudorandom generators can erode confidence, how physical rolls restore fairness, and what it takes to design hardware that 3D prints today and scales to injection molding tomorrow. Along the way, we dig into smart Kickstarter strategy—setting a realistic goal to cover manufacturing, using guerrilla outreach to build the first crowd, and stacking stretch goals that actually matter to players.The roadmap is where things get exciting: support for more VTTs beyond Roll20, better recognition for ornate dice, app refinements that log and audit rolls, and future formats that fit different tables. The bigger vision reaches beyond dice—bridging tactile moments from the physical table into the virtual space so remote friends keep the feel, the rhythm, and the trust that make game night magic. If you love the weight of a D20 but need the reach of online play, this conversation shows how both worlds finally meet.If this resonates, tap follow, share with your party, and leave a quick review. Your feedback helps us bring more creators and breakthrough tools to the table.

A lot of people think the golden age of tabletop is behind us. We don’t. Richard sits down with longtime friend and convention owner Aldo Ghiazzi and Goodman Games founder Joe Goodman to get real about what it takes to succeed right now—when 800 new game projects launch monthly and attention is the rarest component on your bill of materials.We trade floor-sleeping origin stories for hard-won systems: making every convention cash flow positive, measuring success beyond likes, and using the “three-channel” strategy to stabilize growth across crowdfunding, retail, and direct sales. Joe breaks down why great products still convert in 20 minutes, how a hands-on booth approach can double sales, and what he learned moving from Apple and Gap to a full-time game company. Aldo maps the fractured marketplace—Amazon, mass, cons, PDFs, bundles, social—and why seven impressions still matter more than any one ad.Then we wade into tariffs, nearshoring, and the uncomfortable math behind printing domestically. You’ll hear exactly why card-driven designs are spiking, what U.S. printers can and can’t deliver, and how creative logistics are reshaping costs. We talk mentors, apprenticeships, and the pragmatic path for first-time creators: booth work, store ops, and relentless playtesting before pressing “launch.” The thread through it all is scrappiness redefined—not being cheap, but being precise with unit economics, timelines, and where you show up.If you’re building a game, a booth plan, or a business that lasts the next ten years, this conversation gives you a map and a mindset. Subscribe, share with a creator who needs it, and leave a review telling us your smartest scrappy tactic—we might feature it next time.

In this episode of the podcast, Salvador Briggman interviews Chris O'Neal from Brotherwise Games on his most recent Kickstarter for Overlord: a Boss Monster Adventure.You'll learn about what goes into building a successful board game company, how to get funded on Kickstarter in 2020, along with some tips and tricks the team has picked up along the way. Links Mentioned on The ShowBecome a guest on the podacastOverlord: a Boss Monster AdventureBrotherwise GamesWant to become a podcast sponsor? Email: [email protected]

Bobby Fiorentino launched the Kickstarter project "This Game Is A Disaster!" and raised  $8,420. He came on the show to share how he was able to do this, along with advice that he has for beginning board game entrepreneurs. Links Become a guest: http://fundingthedreamonkickstarter.com/Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/boardgameclub/this-game-is-a-disasterCoaching w/ Sal: https://www.crowdcrux.com/coachingThe Board Game Club FBBoard Game Club FB Group 

On this episode of the Funding the Dream on Kickstarter podcast, Salvador Briggman talks with James Takenaka, who has over 25 years of experience in the collectible and tabletop games industry. Apply to Be on the Show: Funding the Dream on KickstarterJames started selling at collectibles shows in 1990 and then was a co-owner of the Comix and Cardz Etc. hobby store. In 2001 he co-founded Hero Factory Inc. to produce licensed trading cards and served as a consultant for Bandai America Inc. in the collectible card game market.From 2007-2012 James served as Bandai’s Games Division Sales & Marketing Manager, working with hobby game distributors, overseeing their Organized Play Network and co-creating the Star Trek DBG. James joined  Hit Point Sales in March 2012.https://www.hitpointsales.com/about-us

On this episode, you'll learn an effective Kickstarter community-building strategy from Gamedec, a project that attracted 4,911 backers. In this game, you are a detective who solves crimes inside virtual worlds. Use your wits to gather info from your witnesses and suspects, getting to the bottom of deceptive schemes. The game continually adapts to your decisions and never judges. Salvador Briggman is the new host of the Funding the Dream on Kickstarter podcast.Links and Resources Mentioned: Become a guest on Funding the Dream on KickstarterGamedec Kickstarter Campaign

After eight years and more than 330 episodes, it is time to say good-bye on Funding the Dream.The podcast has been a fantastic way for me to meet some incredible people. It has also been a means for me giving back to a community that I believe in.In this last episode, I share a little behind the decision and how we got so far.Thank you to everyone over the years who have been so supportive and contributed their knowledge and experience to help those who listen.Hopefully, you've been inspired. I know I have.Thanks for listening, Take Care.

Salvador Briggman has been teaching people about crowdfunding for a long time. He is an author on crowdfunding, he produces a Youtube channel, as well as hosting the successul podcast, DeMystifying Crowdfunding.He joins as a guest on Funding the Dream to break down the basic elements of being successful before you launch your campaign. He provides excellent advice and is well worth listening and taking notes.Here's a link to Demystifying Crowdfunding

With more than 10 successful projects on Kickstarter, you can't always anticipate the sudden failure of a project. But what you can do, is learn and adapt. Brian Henk is the guest and co-founder of Pull the Plug games. You may also know him as the creator of the hit game, Good Cop/Bad Cop. He shares how a string of successes on Kickstarter suddenly became a short string of failures and how the experience taught him to pivot his expectations, adapt to his new understanding, and to launch again.It is always beneficial when guests open up about what went wrong. If you were to lose $40,000 on your next Kickstarter project and fail to fund, you would want to share that knowledge so others can avoid a similar fate. Brian does just that, teaching listeners what went wrong and how he adapted to the situation.His newest Kickstarter is called The ZORRO Dice Game. You can find it here

How do you choose a manufacturing partner in China for your Kickstarter project? You ask Josh Fairbairn.Josh delivers specific advice to help those looking to work with Chinese manufactures for the first time. His first piece of advice? Don't make a decision based on pricing. There are other, much more important qualifications rather than pricing.He qualifies this with an understanding that when you are creating a few thousand units, a few cents of savings is not going to help your project be successful, it will actually contribute to its failure. You will end up creating a bad product and have a bad experience.Instead, you must focus on four main areas to evaluate a manufacturer:Communication, Communication, Communication - Language, Culture, Distance, and Time Zones means the opportunity for misunderstandings are high. Become proficient with WeChat and watch your initial communications carefully for indications on problems that may arise in the future.Process - How they make the product and how they work with you to bring it to market are criticalQuality - This is where price focus can hurt you. Be sure to look for good quality in the early prototypes...if there is a problem with the prototype there will be a problem with the final productQuality Control - After you have signed off on everything, keep the communication going to ensure that the quality stays high through the entire manufacturing process.Josh shares other excellent pieces of wisdom and advice. If you are doing business in China I strongly recommend you reach out and connect. You can find Josh on Linkedin here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuafairbairn/And his website is https://www.morphomfg.com/

Jessica Kelly has successfully crowdfunded $22,500 for her company, THR3EFOLD,  and has grown her company to be a leader in the ethical fashion space.Using crowdfunding to first scope her business with a trip to India, then using crowdfunding on iFundWomen.com, she stepped out on her own as a social entrepreneur four years ago and launched Thr3eFold.She has spent a decade helping hundreds of fashion & lifestyle brands grow their business through marketing, sales, and PR. She discusses the power of using iFundwomen to crowdfund her business ideas rather a traditional platform like Kickstarter. Storyblaster, a previous guest on the podcast, was also instrumental in helping her tell her story to a new audience.www.Thr3efold.comwww.ifundwomen.comwww.storyblaster.com

Guest, Leesa McGregor, is the author of the book, A New Alphabet for Humanity, which is on Kickstarter. It is a beautifully illustrated children's book featuring 26 empowering alphabet words designed to nurture emotional intelligence, activate the potential of our children and create a brighter future for humanity. A New Alphabet for Humanity teaches children the power of positive words so they can build empathy and compassion, unlock their imagination, and feel empowered to live their dreams. Leesa shares her passion for shaping the world through social good and shares her insights into how she began to journey to publish this book. She also introduces us to GenM, a website to hire interns for a three-month project. Many Kickstarter project owners could take advantage of this service.You can find a link to GenM.com here Her Kickstarter campaign is here: A New Alphabet for Humanity

Crowdfunding for Social Good is what sets Devin Thorpe apart from many who use Crowdfunding as a means of raising money. Devin is a deeply optimistic person. He is an author, educator, and speaker;  a champion of social good. Through his work, he aspires to help solve some of the world's biggest problems--poverty, disease, and climate change. His Forbes articles often reach more than 100,000 readers and his books—read over 1 million times—on using money for good, personal finance, crowdfunding and corporate social responsibility draw on his experience as an investment banker, CFO, treasurer and mortgage broker. He has delivered a keynote speech at the United Nations and spoken in countries from Brazil to Russia and across the US. Most recently he sat down with Bill Gates and asked him a question, What's Your Superpower?.You can follow Devin on Twitter @devindthorpe or email at [email protected].

You build a crowd by giving before asking. That is the takeaway from our guest, Lucia Fasano. Lucia is a songwriter, actress, and producer of comedy and music. She is in her 2nd Kickstarter campaign and shares how she follows the philosophy of giving to your fans and then asking them for support.So many do it the opposite, asking for money before building the following. Amanda Palmer is discussed and her fantastic Ted Talk and book called The Art of Asking.You can find Lucia Kickstarter campaign, Best Friend Forever: Lucia Fasano's Second Album here Her music is also shared in the opening for this episode of Funding the Dream

Richard Bliss and Bryan Rosander co-host with guest, Laser Malena Webber, member of the band, The DoubleClicks. Laser has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars on Kickstarter and Patreon but focusing on giving away their music and then giving fans a chance to say thank you.Laser's book is currently on Kickstarter. It is called "Crowdfunding for Musicians" and shares insights and stories on how to be successful in building a following and raising money for your artistic efforts as a musician.But Laser's advice isn't limited to Musicians. Laser quit their day job and began a life pursuing a dream sustained by their fans. Laser shares one critical piece of advice on the show. Give away your work for years before you begin asking for money.That is NOT going to be popular advice for many starting out and looking for a shortcut. There are no shortcuts. Instead, listen to what Laser has to say and follow their advice.

Maxine Lapiduss is a Golden Globe winning, 4-time Emmy-nominated TV writer and producer. She is also the co-founder of Storyblaster, a software company that helps Crowdfunding project creators learn how to tell their story and build their crowd. As host Richard Bliss oftentimes says, you don't have a funding problem, you have a crowd problem. Solve the crowd problem first and the money will follow. An entrepreneur and thought leader, Maxine combines her expertise and experience in fundraising sales, branding, storytelling, and social media campaign strategy into Storyblaster. On this episode of Funding the Dream, she shares how Storyblaster is able to use experience from more than 300,000 campaigns to craft templates to allow project creators to build their own storyboards and social media campaigns.If you are a crowdfunding project creator, it is worth your time to listen to Maxine's conversation with host, Richard Bliss. If you are interested in learning more about her company and product, you can visit Storyblaster here

Bobby Fiorentino began building his crowd nearly a year before he even knew what his Kickstarter project was going to be.He built a following, using Live Stream, Giveaways, and advertising to draw people to his Facebook group where they shared common interests. His group rapidly grew to more than 4,000 members. He then began using this new crowd to develop ideas and as a sounding board for a Kickstarter project. Then, with the project beginning to be fleshed out, he identified what the least amount of money would be needed to be successful and how to use GameCrafter to build out his game.He settled on $500.That may not seem like a lot of money to start with on Kickstarter, but Bobby's project, called This Game Is A Disaster, leveraged all the right assets, followed all the right steps, and while the goal was modest, his process was exceptional.This interview with Bobby Fiorentino is well worth your time to listen. If you are a new project creator or even someone who has been Kickstarting for a while, you will find some extremely useful advice from this first timer. 

Wes Woodbury, from Fundamental Games, is a returning guest. He relaunched his Kickstarter campaign, Legends of Novus, after appearing as a guest on the show in Episode 293.With advice from other guests and fans, Wes went back to the drawing board and retooled and relaunched his campaign.There were three key things he did to increase his chances for success:#1 He worked with Manufacturers to lower is overall production costs by a significant amount. This allowed him to lower his overall goal.#2 Finding alternative methods of adding content without adding costs. #3 Helping others succeed. Wes has been heavily involved in helping other Kickstarter creators put their board games on Tabletop simulator in order to enhance the overall experience.Wes goes into details on each of these as well as other strategies. This is well worth listening to as he is on his way to having a successful Kickstarter project.

From Singapore to San Jose, this interview spans the globe. Nison Chan is the guest and discusses his retail store, We The People Store, that only sells Kickstarter projects. With stores in Singapore, Malaysia, and St Louis Missouri, Nison shares the idea behind getting your Kickstarter product into retail.In addition, Nison is part of a Kickstarter conference called For Creators By Creators that was recently on the East Coast, visiting NYC.As the buyer for the We The People Store, Nison shares the things that are attractive to his customers.You can find We the People Store here: Take a look and see if one of your favorite projects is found in their store.

Grandpa Beck's Games is one of the most successful game companies you have never heard of. They did over $1 million in revenue last year with their games regularly appearing as a best seller on Amazon.And their Kickstarter project, Cover Your Kingdom does something completely opposite from where most game publishers go...They took a successful family game and reworked it for the hobby board game industry and released it on Kickstarter.This is a fascinating conversation. Jeff Beck, my guest, is the second generation of Grandpa Beck's Games. His father, a current airline pilot, started the game company a decade ago as another means of income...Wait! What?It is this story that makes this episode different in many ways. This is not your average board game publisher.And wait until you hear what his one piece of advice is to publishers just starting out...It has to do with the Distribution model and you may be surprised by his answer.Listen in and let us know what you think.Visit our group on Facebook to discuss this topic and many more:Funding the Dream on Kickstarter Facebook Group

Brandon Raasch has mastered a means of increasing backer adoption during the lull between launch and the end.You know that period where backers slow to a trickle and you wonder if the campaign is ever going to pick back up.Brandon Raasch with Bard Games saw that lull in the middle as an opportunity to increase his backer's commitment. His project is called Fickle, you can find it here on KickstarterAnd sure enough, if you take a look at his project on Kicktraq here you can see two smaller rises in the middle of the campaign. His secret is out and he shares what he did to get the attention to his project.Brandon's company is called Bard Games and you can find their website here

JT Smith from the GameCrafter is the guest as he shares how their new crowdfunding platform, Crowd Sales, allows you to lower the price for your backers as you overfund.As JT puts it, rather than adding stretch goals to overfund, Crowd Sales introduces a discount for reaching a certain number of backers. For example, if the pledge level is $50 at the beginning and then 10 backers support the project, the cost for all backers drops by a few dollars. More backers, more cost drops. This keeps going all the way up to more than 40% discount.Meaning a $50 game would drop all the way to $30. Crowd Sales is the one that covers the cost reduction which allows the project creator to keep the same amount of money no matter how far the price drops.Sounds interesting to me. I'll be wanting to hear your take on this novel approach to crowdfunding your next game.

Part 2 How to screw up your Kickstarter project with Fabio Redivo.As a continuation of our previous conversation, Fabio outlines the other five things he did to contribute to the failure of his Kickstarter campaign.These are:6 - Not having a playthrough video7 - Not having a PNP8 - Rely on artwork only9 - A lot of money for the first project10 - Count on friends and family6, 7, 8 - Are in the same bucket. Fabio is a graphic designer and works as a brand director for a digital agency in NYC. He used to be in the comic book industry for 8 years as an artist and did a little bit of everything there.  He worked for big companies, and self publish, allowing art and design to become a part of his life. When he thought of his game, that's where his focus was. Art and design. He confesses that he had ideas for how the game plays, that it was so simple that he put it on the back burner and laser focused on showing his art style for the cards. He didn't bother to explain how to play with the beautiful cards he was designing.His lesson learned?: WRONG! A game is a game first, if it's not fun, doesn't play well, doesn't matter how good it looks. Art and design enhance the experience, but it doesn't dictate. How he says he will be writing the ideas, testing his next game, going to Unpub events monthly, playtest, playtest, playtest. Then he'll go draw pretty cards.9 - H set 15K for his first project. That looks like a lot of money for a first-time game designer. That would cover print and shipping cost plus the fees for Kickstarter. With 15K he would not make money back at all, just a couple hundreds. That is because he only quoted with AD Magik. He went full premium on the cards, 310gsm, linen finish, black core... So it was costly to produce. He wanted to give the backers high quality, no compromise. But you can't give backers anything if you don't get funded. He also was planning to have 300 cards. It's a lot of cards to produce. 300 cards need custom boxes, and those are very pricey. The whole budget was a disaster.In the other end of the high price, he wanted to sell games + custom cards for $100. He quickly realized that nobody will spend THAT kind of money on a nobody's game. Lesson: Start small. Have a fun thematic card game that doesn't cost much to print. Quote an MVP and work your way up with stretch goals to make the game better. Be aware of press sheets to reduce the cost of productions. 280gsm blue core is a good start. Have fewer pledges tiers. Keep goal lower than 5k and game price lower than $20. 10 - Friends and family are great, but will not get you far. At all. AT ALL. Many friends and family members didn't even bother to check his page. Or they shared on facebook but didn't donate a buck. Or forgot about it. So counting on pledging and marketing through friends and family was a bust.Lesson: DON'T count on friends and family. Simple as that!These are all great lessons for a first-time creator to learn. We are grateful to Fabio for his willingness to share his failure to help others succeed.

It isn't often a guest reaches out to share their spectacular success. But Fabio Redivo wanted to share his mistakes so others can learn from them.Fabio is a talented artist and graphic designer who decided to create a card game around his artwork. Usually, it is the other way around. A game designer seems to be always looking for a good artist, but seldom is an artist looking for a game.Fabio shares 10 was he screwed up his Kickstarter campaign. In this episode we cover the first five:1 - False first steps2 - Not have the crowd for crowdfunding3 - Not being involved in social media and game community4 - BGG what?5 - Not having backed many projectsAs you listen, see if there are other areas that Fabio could have been better prepared.

How do you find your audience for your Kickstarter campaign?It is a fluid thing on how to hone in on your core audience. Always remember it is better to find new products for your current audience rather than attempting to find a new audience for your products or services.This is why it is always a good idea to start small, to use your beginning as a learning experience and an opportunity to get feedback from your early adopters.Building a buyer's persona becomes much easier. Then build more products for that core buyer persona.Much more shared by John and me on how to build your audience.Richard also recommends reading the book "Crossing the Chasm" to help you identify that core audience.

What's a hearth throb kickstarter campaign? Two years ago thousands of backers were robbed of their money for backing the Evil Dead 2 Kickstarter boardgame. Now, Tommy Gofton is trying to bring it back by having fans and vendors chip in to cover the costs and get all those thousands of people a copy of the game that never was made.Sounds a bit crazy...No, it sounds a lot crazy...but Tommy may be able to pull it off. Take a listen and determine for yourself if this is a real deal or just some wishful thinking.Looking forward to hearing your comments.

Richard Bliss Got Married. Why the two-week hiatus? Because I was busy getting married. I occasionally share personal items in my show, but this episode was all about what is happening in my life. I also wanted to thank all of you for your support. Recent decisions in my life have made it possible for me to dedicate even more time to make the show a success. And when you, the fans, reach out and share your own stories, it helps keep me motivated to keep going.In this episode, I also ask a favor...Help spread the show. There are so many great guests with great insights, that it helps when you, the fans share an episode.Also, take a moment to go to iTunes and write a review of the podcast. This also helps a great deal.And finally, please continue to support the show through Patreon. Every little bit helps and my new wife is cool with me spending even more time doing this. I want to show that it is having an impact.There you go, a personal episode to say thank you.Richard Bliss 

You have one week left in your Kickstarter and you're at 85%. What do you do? Laurence O'Brien from Wotan Games discusses actions and steps he is taking to generate the interest and engagement to reach that critical last 15%.And we ask several questions: Why do people back out before a project is finished and give the excuse that they will come back if the project funds?Also, if you surpass your goal at week two, but then backers cancel to drop you below your goal, did you fund?And does Kickstarter prevent you from backing out at the last minute as a backer if it would cause your cancellation to fail a project?We ask the questions but don't necessarily have the answers.Maybe you do. Listen and let us know

Comics and Kickstarter with Tyler James on the podcast, ComixLaunch.Richard Bliss is a guest on Tyler's podcast about Comics and Kickstarter called ComixLaunch. A lengthy conversation about a wide range of topics, and the impact Kickstarter has had on the Comic Book Industry.

Success through Failure on Kickstarter.Success on Kickstarter can be such a problem when it leads to so many failures. And a good failure can lead to long-lasting success. These are the lessons, Host Richard Bliss, takes away from his conversation with Guest Brad Talton of Level 99 Games.Brad successfully raised $25,000 on Kickstarter with no business experience and lost about $25,000 on the project. He discusses the three phases Level 99 Games has passed through on their way from success to failure to success. Brad talks about the his growth from sole proprietor to bad manager to being a failed business owner. And how all of this led to his success as a business owner today.

As a woman in the board game industry, and a successful Kickstarter project creator, Heather O'Neil, President of 9th Level Games hears has become a local resource to new Kickstarter creator, especially for women who are looking to raise money for their projects.Her advice is usually focused on getting a strong understanding on the financials necessary to create your projects, and it is oftentimes focused on the playtesting angle, making sure they have a strong project.One question I ask is, "How often are people seeking advice disappointed with your advice"The first disappointment is when she resets their financial goals. There is a lot more great content.You can find 9th Level games at 9th Level Games

Co-Host John Coveyou and Guest Marc Specter join Host Richard Bliss to discuss the challenges of non-traditional board games on KickstarterJohn Coveyou, with Genius Games, has launched more than a dozen Kickstarter projects, yet his current campaign, Nerd Words, made some mid-campaign adjustments due to the difficulty of convey the game's experience into a Kickstarter campaign. While the project has funded, it has not met the bar set by many of John's spectacularly successful hard-science games that have come before.Marc Specter, with Grand Gamers Guild, has launched Endangered, a game that tackles the many challenges facing today's eco-systems. This is a significant divergence from Marc's previous successful Kickstarter campaigns and shares strong similarities in the challenges from John's campaign.Together, John and Marc, discuss how to address the gamers market with group games and educational games without having them carry the negative labels of failed efforts by other projects in this area.Both are knowledgeable and well-informed.

Host Richard Bliss and Guest Aldo Ghiozzi discuss the merger of his company, Impressions, with Flat River Group.Flat River Group is one of the largest distributors of board games online through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Target, Walmart and even Bed Bath & Beyond. In addition, Flat River Group is one of the largest fulfillment companies for Kickstarter projects. Aldo discusses the theory of wholesale and distribution being 60% discounted and you use volume to make up the difference.Aldo also challenges the assumption that a good showing on Kickstarter translates into good showing in distribution. This is also has become more complex and no longer an easy assumption.Aldo discusses the sales patterns he sees in the industry and how to predict how well they will do in distribution.

Host Richard Bliss is joined by Narek Vardanyan, founder of The Crowdfunding Formula, a copy focused on helping crowdfunding project owners expand the reach and influence of their campaigns. https://thecrowdfundingformula.com/Narek shares his insights on what it takes to be a successful campaign on both Kickstarter and IndieGoGo.What's interesting, is Narek's company is influencing and supporting projects all around the world, while being primarily based out of Armenia. He joins the show from literally the other side of the world.

Host Richard Bliss and Guest Laurence O'Brien from Wotan Games dig deep into Brexit and the mess it has become. But in this discussion we also talk about Brexit: The Real Deal Kickstarter project. A game about the consequences of Brexit and the break up of the United Kingdom. You can find the project here on Kickstarter: Brexit: The Real DealLaurence and Richard have a great time discussing a wide range of projects, Past, Present and Future, as well as if I Richard should spend his honeymoon at UK Games Expo working the Wotan Booth.Richard and Laurence discuss Richard's book, Stealing the Show and some of the ideas on how to be noticed at conventions. You can find his book on Amazon at Amazon.com/author/RichardBlissYou have to check out the video on Patreon. Laurence appears as a disembodied head during the entire interview.Patreon account located here: Funding the Dream Patreon

Host Richard Bliss is joined by Luke Gygax, founder of GaryCon and son of Gary Gygax, creator of Dungeons & Dragons.The conversation is centered on Luke's observations of the emergence of D&D as a streaming experience with fans by the thousands tuning in to watch.Discussed is Dungeons and Randomness, the previous guest, and the ability to make a living playing D&D.Luke admits that a little over a decade ago he did not see this aspect of his life developing. But now that it is here, he has embraced it fully, enjoying the surge of interest in D&D and the number of lives it has touched over the years.Luke was kind enough to stay on after the show to provide some additional conversation for Patreon backers of Funding the Dream. You can find that content here at the Funding the Dream Patreon Page. Become a backer and show your support.

Host Richard Bliss and Guest Jason Massey talk about the coolest job ever! In this episode of Funding the Dream on Kickstarter the topic is how to make a living as a professional Dungeon Master who plays live on his podcast.Jason Massey quit his day job and dedicated his working career to hosting a podcast called Dungeons And Randomness. In the podcast, he and many of his friends, play D&D in the world of Theria.What makes this exciting for me, is that Jason is able to support himself off of the generosity of his Patreon backers. Jason's Patreon project generates enough great content and engagement that his fans allow him to make a living playing D&D. You can check out Jason's patreon here: Dungeons and Randomness PatreonAnd if you would like to support this podcast, you can visit the Funding The Dream Patreon page here: Funding the Dream on Kickstarter Patreon

Host Richard Bliss discusses with Guest Robert Burke about creating timed stretch goals. These are called Flash Funding Stretch goals.How do manage a flash funding stretch goal? What happens if you don't hit your goal in the time limit.Robert talks about moving stretch goals around to respond to customer feedback.Robert's project is The Silver River, a 4x game. We discuss what makes a 4x game.Richard backs the project live on this episode and discusses with Robert which pledge level he should be backing.Richard also shares stories about buying upgraded version of the games as well as his Fiance buying him games early in their dating experience.You can back Robert's project, The Silver River, here on Kickstarter: The Silver River

Host Richard Bliss and Co-Host John Coveyou are joined by Michael Mindes from Tasty Minstrel Games. Michael had just launched and cancelled a Kickstarter campaign because he knew he had done something wrong. Within two hours of launching the Kickstarter campaign, Michael knew they had missed on the offer and needed to take immediate action. Within three days, Michael was close to his funding goal, but knew they needed to pull the plug. If they had crossed the funding goal, he would have felt morally committed to follow through.He refers to it as a micro-failure. What Michael saw as valuable was not recognized as something people were willing to pay for. This episode Michael walks through the mistakes made and what they are doing to fix them for the next campaign.

Host Richard Bliss and Co-Host Thomas Umstattd Jr. who hosts the Creative Funding Show podcast, deliver a CrossCast episode to discuss Patreon and the power of the crowd to deliver consistent financial support.In addition, Richard shares how he let his fans down and apologizes for how he handled the situation ( or failed to handle it), when life happened.The hosts cover the idea of Patreon and how you can take advantage of it. It is a fun conversation that you will enjoy as much listening to as the hosts enjoyed creating it.

Host Richard Bliss and Guest A.J. Porfirio discuss game books and their live Kickstarter project. They have launched Graphic Novel Adventures Vol 2 on Kickstarter. A.J. and Richard discuss how to license intellectual property, how to maintain a brand.Van Ryder Games delivers strong narrative-based games with a solo-play angle. They have expanded into Adventure books because it continues with their brand of playing games that tell a story.How do you find intellectual property? How do you get a license for a series of books? A.J. is always looking for new content and found the game book called Captive, a solo game book. He had a personal passion for this kind of game. The key part of the story is that the game was difficult to find. Demand was there but supply was limited. He saw this as an opportunity.Richard has backed A.J.'s Kickstarter campaign. Here is the link for you to do as well: www.kickstarter.com/projects/vanrydergames/graphic-novel-adventures-season-2/description

Host Richard Bliss and Guest Eric Price, owner of Japanime games, explain why to bundle three smaller projects/games into a single Kickstarter campaign. Eric has built a company with Kickstarter and continues to make Kickstarter tightly tied to the growth of their company. Their current Kickstarter project, Three Worlds of Mystery, is a bundle of three different games with a similar theme and artwork that brings them together.Eric has launched 20 Kickstarter campaigns, using the momentum from each to bring success to the company itself.

Host Richard Bliss and guest Tomas Härenstam talk about Tales from the Loop and gives advice on how to turn small projects into larger projects. Their first project was an art book highlighting the talents of artist Simon StålenhagSimon's art and concepts are now being turned into an Amazon Prime Television production. Tomas shares how he began working with Simon, how their tiny project turned into a series of large one. One of the great things about Tomas is he finds something of interest to one audience and transfers that interest to a totally different audience. Find out more about Tomas HärenstamFree League Publishing http://frialigan.se/en/startpage/Tales from the Loop Kickstarter

Host Richard Bliss and Co-Host John Coveyou discuss five attributes of a great product on Kickstarter.People want to buy the product. While this seems obvious. oftentimes people want a product, but aren't willing to pay for the product. You have to find something that is valuable to your audience.People want to tell others about it. Word of mouth marketing is the best means of attracting fans and backers to your project. You can pay for a crowdfunding promotional company to help you artificially spread the word by paying for placement. But when your backers are excited enough to share their support you are able to grow and attract a wider range of backers than you ever could through paid media.People can't easily get it elsewhere. This may seem counter-intuitive. Table top games, which are the single largest funding category on Kickstarter, can be purchased in a store. But the opportunity to participate on Kickstarter means you will get it sooner (Usually), you will get exclusives (Sometimes) or you are part of the development process and have an emotional investment. (An experience). All of these are hard to get if you are buying the product from Target.It's something tangible and shippable. Selling an emotional experience on Kickstarter can be done, but it is a very rare thing. Instead, focus on creating and shipping a product of some kind that can be held in the hands and used. Today, there is a lot of support for how to approach manufacturers and shipping specialists to get your products produced and delivered around the world.The audience is on Kickstarter. While Kickstarter and crowdfunding is common for you and I, it is still something very new to a large portion of the population. If you are going to launch a product, you need to determine if your target audience uses crowdfunding and Kickstarter. If they don't, you have to educate them first about what is Crowdfunding, then you have to convince them to back your project and give you money. Something they probably aren't comfortable with. John does a great job of highlighting these five attributes and how to build a great product for Kickstarter.

Host Richard Bliss discusses Live Kickstarter project Legends fo Novus with his guest, Bryan Rosander.Bryan dug deep into the Kickstarter project and delivers some great analysis and feedback on ways for Legends of Novus to improve their message, format, and engagement. In addition, Richard Bliss apologizes for the failure of follow through on the Funding the Dream Patreon project. A Facebook Group has been created that discusses each episode. You can find it here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2628612933820642/

Host Richard Bliss is joined by co-host, John Coveyou, to discuss 4 unexpected benefits from Kickstarter.     1. Gauge demand before you manufacture.2. Improve your product based on customer feedback.3. Ship products with maximal efficiency.4. Tap into an audience you wouldn't be able to reach otherwise.

You do everything by the book. Follow all the advice, and yet you still fail to attract the numbers you need to successfully fund your Kickstarter campaign. These are the questions Wes Woodbury and I discuss. His project, Legends of Novus, has beautiful art work, great video, beautiful graphics, and an enticing theme, yet is still failing to draw a crowd.The question I ask you, the audience, is WHY? What has Wes done wrong and how can he fix it. If you have an answer, I want to hear from you. I'll have you on the show to discuss Wes' campaign and how he can succeed.Legends of Novus Kickstarter CampaignLegends of Novus WebsiteTake a listen. I'm looking forward to hearing from you.

Mark Roderick explains the difference between equity-based and rewards-based crowdfunding. Mark Roderick is a corporate and securities lawyer. Since the JOBS Act of 2012, Mark has spent all his time in the Crowdfunding space and is one of the leading Crowdfunding and Fintech lawyers in the United States. He writes a widely-read blog, www.CrowdfundAttny.com, with a wealth of legal and practical information for portals and issuers. Mark also speak at Crowdfunding events across the country, and represents industry participants across the country and around the world