The ENNIE award-winning tabletop roleplaying game Grimwild faces an uncertain future as its designer, J.D. Maxwell, has been uncontactable for nearly two months, leaving the project’s physical fulfilment on indefinite hold.
The cinematic fantasy RPG successfully raised over $87,000 across two BackerKit campaigns in 2024 for digital and hardcover editions of the book. While a free PDF version of the game has been available to backers for months and recently won an ENNIE award, the physical books, scheduled for delivery in July, have not been shipped.
In a statement to the game’s Discord community, a moderator revealed the reason for the delay. “As many of you have noticed, Max has been absent for nearly two months,” the statement reads. “Initially, we weren’t too worried. We knew he needed a break. Launching a successful crowdfunding campaign and a project like this is as rewarding as it is exhausting, and Max had also been going through some real-life changes that we hoped he was taking time to adjust to and enjoy.”
The situation is unusual for a stalled crowdfunding campaign. Typically, delays are due to production issues or inexperience. Here, the game is complete, and the digital version is both released and critically acclaimed. However, the project’s freelancers, Per Janke and Luke Saunders, have no legal access to the funds or accounts required to proceed with manufacturing and shipping.
The manufacturing costs have reportedly been paid, but the printer requires final approval from J.D. Maxwell as the sole legal entity of his publishing company, Oddity Press. The Oddity Press website is currently offline, displaying an “expired” error.
Per Janke, the game’s artist, told Aftermath, “None of us were involved in the actual process of the crowdfunding or order of the printing. So we’re trying to make any effort to figure out the situation around J.D. Maxwell and the current state of the crowdfunding campaign… without a final go from J.D. as the only legal entity from Oddity Press, the printing process can’t be started, unfortunately.”
Similarly, the team cannot post official updates to the BackerKit campaign page, as they lack the necessary permissions. This has left the game’s 1,187 backers in a state of confusion and concern, both for the project and for Maxwell’s well-being.
Luke Saunders, who also worked on the game, explained to Aftermath;
Until a few months ago it looked like everything was on track for the expected delivery of July this year, but Max has been gone for a while now and there’s nothing we can do on our side to help with fulfilment I’m afraid.”
The remaining team has escalated the issue by submitting a detailed report to BackerKit’s Trust & Safety Team, hoping that the platform’s greater legal resources can help resolve the situation. In the meantime, the Grimwild community is asking anyone with information on how to contact J.D. Maxwell to reach out to the Discord moderators privately.
Grimwild is described as a streamlined, cinematic fantasy RPG designed for low-prep play. It uses a custom d6 dice pool system and includes narrative-focused mechanics for its 12 classic classes, reimagined monsters, and a modular, open-licensed ruleset called Moxie.
