Monolith Board Games’ Conan had the most successful board game campaign in Kickstarter’s history.
Update: In the original version of this story I mistakenly said the game would sell for $50 after its release. The actual number is $100. My apologies for the error and any confusion it might have caused.
Original Story: Late last year, the folks at the Las Vegas-based Monolith Board Games launched a Kickstarter aimed at giving the world a new tabletop title based on the Conan the Barbarian stories written by fantasy author Robert E. Howard. Asking for $80,000, the Kickstarter aimed to deliver an in-depth experience complete with custom game boards, tokens, character sheets, dice, cards, miniatures and more. The response from fans of the barbarian was nothing short of titanic. In a little more than two weeks contributors had given more than $1 million, making the game’s original goal look downright paltry by comparison. Even that lofty number would be put to shame however, as the game’s campaign would eventually reach heights likely unimaginable to its creators when it first began.
Wrapping up earlier today, Monolith’s Conan campaign closed with a whopping sum of $3,327,757 given by more than 16,000 backers. More than 41 times Monolith’s original goal, the $3.3 million contributed unlocked 55 stretch goals and 22 planned add-ons. According its creators, it also makes Conan “officially the most successful” board game in the history of Kickstarter. Speaking about the Kickstarter’s impressive results, the company thanked its contributors for the opportunity their generosity has provided. “Thank you for all your support, for all the trust you have placed in us,” said an update. “You guys have blown our expectations out of the water. All bets are now off as they say but one thing is sure, you have given us the means, the encouragement and the determination to take this ball and run with it.”
The game itself will pit a single “overlord” against 1-4 other other players who will take on the role of Conan and other adventurers drawn from Howard’s classic stories. During gameplay, the overlord will direct an army of monsters, much like a pen-and-paper RPG’s GM, against the adventurer’s as they try to accomplish a set of objectives and stop the adventurers from completing theirs. Monolith plans to sell the core Conan game for $100 at retail and currently expects to release the game sometime in October 2015.
Source: Kickstarter
Published: Feb 12, 2015 03:40 am