Setting Real Boundaries for a Virtual World-building Experiment

This is the second installment in my own creative project in development for the 2024-25 term. In the previous, I examined the context for the project - hemmed firmly within the field of digital media entrepreneurship (DME). In this post, I explore how to build a digital business expanding upon my own research with Nathalie Kachouh (King & Kachouh 2023) and notes kindly shared by Dr. Sven-Ove Horst .

As a reminder for new readers, I am attempting to build a Dungeons and Dragons empire following in the footsteps of the talented teams at Critical Role, Dimension 20, The Adventure Zone, and NADDPod (Not Another D&D Podcast) (list supplied by ChatGPT 4.0). Check my earlier post on LinkedIN or subscribe to The Spill for future research meanderings!

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DEFINING THE BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY

This section is inspired by a slide from one of Dr Sven-Ove's exceptional lectures within the Erasmus University, in which he quotes Chris Guillebeau , the author of "The $100 Startup".

"If you have a group of interested people but nothing to sell, you don’t have a business.?If you have something to sell but no-one willing to buy it, you don’t have a business.?In both cases, without a clear and easy way for customers to pay for what you offer, you don’t have a business" (Guillebeau, 2012, p. 18).

Following Guillebeau's advice, I clearly must go beyond what has been achieved by Arlentric and the Inglorious Larpists who despite having attracted a sizeable audience (118k YouTube subscribers in the case of Arlentric), they have not published any obvious digital services or shared a call to action for payment through the most common platforms e.g. Patreon.

Additionally, before investing time in inventing products and services, I should attempt to size the addressable market. Globally, the Live Action Role Play (LARP) viewing community appears to be quite significant. Critical Role enjoys 2.4million subscribers on its YouTube channel, Dimension 20 has 1million. And even relatively new player Nat Fun Network saw 1,300 views of its first episode which dropped only a month ago. The Dungeons and Dragons section of Twitch also has close to 1million followers. Whilst within the UAE, Back to Games ' WhatsApp community has a more humble 400 active members, many of whom would also be within the 70 or so GamXbit: Boardgaming N RPG Community. Without going into development of a detailed consumer persona, this indicates there is a reasonable sized niche audience here, with a disposable income and a reasonable interest to invest in their hobby.

Activating this audience is a challenge that all prospective Dungeon Masters (DMs) and shops face. And the most successful DME-DMs are employing a variety of different products and services. These include self-published versions of the campaigns screened on the YouTube, as offered by Roll Seekers on Kickstarter; merch such as from Deerstalker Pictures; or subscriptions to exclusive or streamed content through Patreon.

My own research indicates there is a technological formula for successful digital entrepreneurship. King and Kachouh (2023)'s study of 100 TikTok energy healers and tarot readers describes how link aggregators such as Linktree and Snipfeed (now Planoly ) sit at the core of a digital business helping customers navigate a portfolio of ecommerce channels including donation sites such as Patreon, bonafide e-commerce marketplaces such as 亚马逊 and Etsy , and even booking pages such as Calendly , or an official Web site. These are supported by promotional channels such as YouTube and TikTok , and in the mystical realm of LARP, Twitch would appear popular.

So taking all of this into account, and reflecting that the end result of this series of writings is a creative project and does not necessarily need to reflect the pathway that generates the most revenue, I will progress developing content for Output 1) Twitch and Output 2) TikTok as a way of driving traffic to Output 3) Kickstarter page for Output 4) a new D&D 5e module which I will create.?

CASE STUDY - ROLL SEEKERS

The Roll Seekers are a US-based "live actual play web series and podcast on Twitch. The tabletop role-playing campaign streams every other Tuesday" (Roll Seekers, 2025a). They operate a wide variety of social and digital media services (Roll Seekers, 2025b) as predicted by King & Kachouh (2023), and are in the process of launching their first Kickstarter campaign "The Curse of the Dreg'Damor" a level 4 DND adventure (Roll Seekers, 2025c). This particular case review will explore the assets that have been created for this launch.

The most prominent content on Roll Seeker's Website (Roll Seekers, 2025c)and also featured on its Kickstarter page is the trailer video included above (Roll Seekers, 2025d). This includes a to-the-camera narrative overlaid with b-roll footage and with dramatic music. There is also evidence of play-testing and examples of the artwork included within. A master concept image is also prominent.

The twitch stream (Roll Seekers, 2025d) itself is highly produced, using a professional multi-streaming platform - possibly Restream, multiple cameras and microphones and a dedicated studio. Their TikTok channel (Roll Seekers 2025e) is populated with edited shorts from the 4hour main adventure.

The Kickstarter includes four key pieces of content, including the date for launch, plot and videos related to the project.

The creative elements within this Kickstarter campaign from Roll Seekers include two forms of video: (OUTPUT 1) livestream via Twitch and (OUTPUT 2) short-form on TikTok; event management of (OUTPUT 3) a four-hour playtest, and a number of high quality graphics that are used both within the (OUTPUT 4) product and (OUTPUT 5) as a call-to-action.

CONCLUSION

The purpose of this 2-part report was to?inspire the production of a digital media business that builds on the trend of "Actual Play" streamed desktop roleplaying games. These include the phenomenally successful Critical Role and an emerging player, Roll Seekers. It falls within the realm of digital media entrepreneurship (DME) which is a form of business activity that is made possible through the creative use of technology both in the creation of the service but also in its marketing and delivery. The report examines three key criteria - audience, product and payment channel; and also highlights the content creation entrepreneurship digital ecosystem. It concludes with a case study of a similar project as to the one to be attempted.

CREATIVE PROJECT

In support of my own creative project, it is expected that the most resource intensive of the outputs identified above is in the livestream, the production of the adventure manual, and the promotional graphic for the main thumbnail. These will be prioritised in the first three weeks of the production period from March 3-March 21. Following successful completion of these items, additional marketing materials will be attempted: short-form video edits and promotional calls to action for the Kickstarter page. Given it is not possible to create a live Kickstarter page for this project, this will be simulated using artwork developed on Adobe Illustrator and similar professional grade graphic design software.

References

Horst, S., O. (no date) Media Entrepreneurship [Lecture]. CM4503 Media Entrepreneurship, Erasmus University Rotterdam.?

Guillebeau, C. (2012) The $100 Startup. New York: Crown Publishing Group.

King, S. & Kachouh, N. (2023) In search of meaning via TikTok Tarot readings - an exploration of emerging conventions. 1st EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE 2023 (EWBIC2023), 19-22 July. Available at: https://www.canva.com/design/DAGIwYTWEFw/7J74rn7v9eusgCV_fn76aw/view?utm_content=DAGIwYTWEFw&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=uniquelinks&utlId=h14593544ea.

Roll Seekers (2025a) Welcome to Roll Seekers. Available at: https://www.rollseekers.com/. (Accessed: March 1, 2025).?

Roll Seekers (2025b) Roll Seekers [Linktree]. Available at: https://linktr.ee/rollseekers. (Accessed: March 1, 2025).?

Roll Seekers (2025c) The Curse of the Dreg'Damor | A D&D 5e Compatible Module [Kickstarter]. Available at: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rollseekers/curse-of-the-dregdamor-a-dandd-5e-compatible-module. (Accessed: March 1, 2025).

Roll Seekers (2025d) The Curse of the Dreg'Damor | Roll Seekers | A D&D 5e Compatible Module on Kickstarter [YouTube]. Available at: https://youtu.be/7P7wBMD1ZxE?si=mtFZxN5uzfNmQtnh. (Accessed: March 1, 2025).?

Roll Seekers (2025e) Meet the Rollseekers [Twitch]. Available at: https://www.twitch.tv/rollseekers. (Accessed: March 1, 2025).?

Roll Seekers (2025f) roll seekers [TikTok]. Available at: https://www.tiktok.com/@rollseekers. (Accessed: March 1, 2025).?

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