Indie publisher Melsonia has announced a significant shift in its business model, moving away from established crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter and BackerKit to host campaigns directly on its own website. Citing exhaustion with crowdfunding culture, the publisher is launching its first two independent campaigns for new tabletop roleplaying books.
The move, described as a “DIY crowdfunder,” aims to allow Melsonia to focus on producing books more frequently, without what it calls the “insincere fanfare” and marketing overhead demanded by traditional platforms. The publisher has a backlog of nearly finished projects and sees this new model as a way to release them more efficiently.
In a blog post, the company explained its frustrations, stating, “We wanna make books, basically, and crowdfunding does a great job of stopping us from doing that. It drains our time, energy, sanity, and in many cases money.”
Launching this new era for the publisher are two distinct TTRPG projects. The first is Witch-War to the Vale of Forbiddiction and Beyond, a large, old-school D&D-compatible box set. Written by Ezra Claverie (Crypts of Indormancy) and Andrew Walter (Fronds of Benevolence), the project is described as a huge undertaking, featuring over 80,000 words and 80 pieces of art. The setting is a tropical island and includes a bestiary, a sourcebook, rules for witch-hunts, and three interconnected adventure scenarios. If the project reaches its goal of 1,000 backers in 30 days, Melsonia will also reprint the long-unavailable prequel, Crypts of Indormancy, and include it for free.
The second project is The Perilous Pear & Plum Pies of Pudwick, a 52-page adventure for the popular roleplaying game TROIKA!. Written and illustrated by Josh Blincow, the book sees players shrink to the size of insects to explore a world inside a sapient pear tree. Inspired by media like Hollow Knight and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, the adventure is a pointcrawl with multiple insect factions and a ticking clock.
Melsonia is framing these campaigns as “glorified pre-orders,” acknowledging that the books will be published regardless of whether they hit their funding goals. However, supporters receive a discount on the final price and can help unlock extras, such as NPC cards for Pudwick. Both books are estimated to ship around January 2026.
Alongside the strategic shift, Melsonia has also moved into a new physical warehouse in South London. The space is in the basement of a new bookshop, Iglootree.com, and will be open to the public. The publisher has confirmed plans for events and a grand opening on the 27th of the month at 254 Lee High Road, near Blackheath.
