YouTuber, animator, and fictional worldbuilder Luke Humphris has raised nearly $400,000 on Kickstarter in just two days thanks to 2,200+ fans gathering to support his first TTRPG.
Called When Society Collapsed: Dam Nation, Humphris’ homebrewed world is designed to be a cozy post-apocalyptic journey that’s light on rules and heavy on team exploration and bonding. Folks who join in the Kickstarter get a 150+ page book explaining the world’s lore, class system (among the choices are Archivist, Librarian, Scavenger, Feral, and “Animal Dude”), and guidelines. Also included on higher tiers ($99+) are props like regional and encounter maps, wooden minifigures, and a pop-up “battle van” that serves as player characters’ mobile hub.
To put all this together, Humphris–who has 557K subscribers on YouTube and is known for his animated shorts and animated series Space Station Weird–partied up with Dungeon in a Box, a subscription company that sends out new Dungeons & Dragons oneshots every month, similarly complete with maps and minis.
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DIAB’s minis, in fact, are its hallmark: where most TTRPG minifigures are 3-D and made of PVC, its figures are drawn and printed on sheets of flat acrylic or wood, which cuts manufacturing and shipping costs dramatically. Prior to partnering with Humphris, DIAB ran five successful Kickstarter campaigns, including one for its “Skinny Minis” figures that raised over $1 million.
With Humphris, it’s looking to push further into co-developing projects with TTRPG enthusiast content creators.
“Content is so important in the ongoing TTRPG renaissance,” Hunter Ausfahl, DIAB’s Head of Marketing, tells Tubefilter. “Lots of fans have discovered Dungeons & Dragons through content creators. We initially approached Luke for a smaller project, one of our oneshots. We met with him and completely set it up. But then our founders and I were talking over coffee and decided we loved Luke’s worldbuilding abilities so much we wanted to work with him in a much bigger capacity.”
Ausfahl adds that DIAB recognized “truly genius worldbuilding” in Humphris, “especially given the limitations of YouTube and Instagram Reels. He’s created such incredible stuff and vertical animation that got me and everyone else so excited.”
DIAB decided it would give Humphris free rein to build an entire TTRPG from scratch. This was new ground, as DIAB’s oneshots (even those not set in a fantasy world) run on Dungeons & Dragons‘ 5e system. That means its writers have a foundation to build on, and that subscribers/players can come into a oneshot generally understanding the rules, character classes, character attributes, and dice-rolling procedures.
Humphris, by contrast, had nothing but his own imagination. He’d have to design the world and the gameplay system, and would have to draw all the supporting material. But the tradeoff was that DIAB agreed to handle everything else.
“When they first floated the Kickstarter, my first reaction was, ‘I can contact manufacturers, I can build a Kickstarter page,'” Humphris laughs. “I’ve done that in the past, and I know how much work it is. But being able to focus on nothing but the creative stage was amazing. I just told them my ideas and they were able to source it. I’ve been able to focus on the art, focus on the creative stuff. That’s the dream.”
Those familiar with Humphris’ creative approach probably aren’t surprised by that answer. He’s been uploading his art to YouTube since 2021, and says he originally launched his channel because he was caught in the cycle of trying to pitch an animated TV show to traditional networks.
“I was getting frustrated. I was learning to sell myself better, but not learning how to make things better,” he says. “I got on YouTube as a way to record what I’m doing. I have all these things I want to make, but I don’t have enough time, so I started YouTube out of spite.”
Now, he’s a full-time artist whose YouTube and Patreon revenue is enough to support him–and the whole ‘making art out of spite’ attitude carries over into the bones of Dam Nation.
Humphris describes his TTRPG as “a big sandbox,” kind of equivalent to an open-world video game. “The original animations [for the Dam Nation universe] were my own little power fantasies of sharing media, cooking food, collecting things,” he says. (Dam Nation‘s trailer follows a guy whose response to the apocalypse is to start burning CDs and movies for his neighbors.) “As the game opened up, I just wanted people to be able to explore, find things, and have the power to do what they want. That was the main throughline while I was designing.”
That means Dam Nation‘s story can go in limitless directions, driven by individual dungeon masters and players. The provided plot catalyst that kicks off each instance, however, is the same: Your local river dries up without explanation. What will you do?
Ausfahl says this is just the beginning of DIAB doing longer projects with creators like Humphris. The company partnered with YouTuber Roll for Sandwich on a oneshot last year, and has several upcoming 5e oneshots that were co-developed with other creators.
He credits creator groups like Critical Role and Dimension 20 for the aforementioned TTRPG renaissance we’re in the midst of.
“They have helped spawn a lot of really talented and creative people in the TTRPG content creation space, and being able to find them and meet them and work with them and bring their ideas to life feels like it’s helping build on this community,” he says. “Content creators, whether they’re big or small, have been what’s kept D&D and other RPGs alive. Being able to make these worlds and these adventures, it really is because of them.”
Dam Nation is scheduled to ship out to backers around May 2027. Humphris says now that the writing and artwork is done, he’s “just excited for everyone to see it.”
“I’m used to posting things on the day I make it,” he says. “It’s hard to wait!”
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