In one day, this RPG visionary’s 2nd Kickstarter raised 2x more than his 1st… Making $227,951 in only 24 hours. Here’s his story.
Meet Grant Mielke – the creator of Veil of the Eternal Night. Grant’s journey began long before his Kickstarter success. As an award-winning marketing expert and founding partner of Vala Marketing, he had developed brands and campaigns for hundreds of clients. But his true passion lay in tabletop gaming and storytelling.
In 2023, Grant founded QuasiReal Publishing and launched MythCraft, a new tabletop RPG system, on Kickstarter. It went on to raise $124,905, but he was just getting started.
He had vision for something even bigger: a massive, dark fantasy vampire-hunting campaign that would push the boundaries of what tabletop RPGs could be. That vision became Veil of the Eternal Night – a 900+ page trilogy offering an extensive campaign set in the gothic horror realm of Norspina. The game would be available for both D&D 5e and MythCraft, featuring new subclasses, monsters, and a unique Fear and Sanity system to intensify the horror experience.
As the product took shape, Grant knew he wanted a launch strategy as big as his game. That’s when he turned to us.
And on January 30, 2024, after months of following the LaunchBoom system, he pressed the launch button on Kickstarter. He raised $227,951 in one day… and by the end of the campaign, he had made $454,638 for his second Kickstarter launch.
But how was he able to raise so much? Well, let’s dive into the marketing strategy.
Veil of the Eternal Night’s pre-launch marketing strategy
Grant made $227,951 in one day. That’s half of his total funding! This was only possible because he understood the importance of pre-launch marketing. And not just any pre-launch marketing, but building an email list of superfans before he launched. Here’s how it worked.
1. Veil of the Eternal Night drove traffic with Meta Ads
Meta ads are the first step to build a pre-launch email list. This is how Veil of the Eternal Night drove traffic. They tested many different variations of copy and imagery, but here was their best performing ad.
2. Veil of the Eternal Night collected email addresses on a landing page
The landing page is where they explained their product and collected email addresses. The landing page looked like this:
By the way, this is a screenshot from our LaunchKit software that all LaunchBoom Creators get access to.
3. Veil of the Eternal Night collected $1 reservations
This is an optional step that creators can take if they want to understand who on their email list is most likely to buy. It requires creating a “VIP Offer” where you give something valuable to the backer in exchange for $1 in the pre-launch. Here was Grant’s VIP offer:
- The Origins Expansion
- The First Death Pin
- VIP Discord Access
The most important thing to know is that people who put down the reservation were way more likely to buy.
Veil of the Eternal Night got funded on day one
Leading into the launch, Grant had 1,454 people who had put down a $1 reservation deposit. We’ve found that “number of reservations” is one of the best predictors of how successful a launch will be. And just as predicted, the campaign took off.
On the first day, they made $227,951. By the end of the campaign, they had driven $454,638 in revenue from 2,803 new customers.
This was all possible because they followed the LaunchBoom system, which is laser focused on getting creators the highest return on their investment. Because at LaunchBoom, our goal is not to launch a successful product, but to launch a successful business.
Do you have a game idea like Grant?
We can help you turn it into a real business (or dramatically grow your existing business). We’ve worked with over a thousand product creators. If you want to be the next one… Click here to talk with a LaunchBoom expert.
