Hero Realms Dungeons: A Kickstarter Failure and Warning for Backers

Hero Realms Dungeons raised over one million US dollars on Kickstarter in February 2023 – delivery was planned for February 2024. Two and a half years after the planned date, Wise Wizard Games has not shipped a single copy, and there are three other unfulfilled campaigns as well.

In January 2023, Wise Wizard Games launched a Kickstarter campaign for Hero Realms Dungeons—a new standalone set for the popular deck-building game Hero Realms. The campaign promised a new 80-card market deck, six new characters, and a twelve-part dungeon campaign.

Twenty-three days later, the campaign ended: The publisher from Framingham, Massachusetts, had raised over one million US dollars from several thousand backers, and delivery was announced for February 2024. Today, in July 2026, no one has a single card in their hands.

The chronology of failure

January/February 2023: The Kickstarter campaign for Hero Realms Dungeons runs from January 24th to February 17th, 2023. The funding goal is exceeded many times over. The announced delivery date is February 2024. Rob Dougherty, CEO of Wise Wizard Games and, along with Darwin Kastle, a member of the Magic: The Gathering Hall of Fame, promises something new: The Dungeons content will be tested on a beta server by Hero Realms Digital before printing – thousands of “Legend Backers” will receive access.

2023 to 2024: The first updates report on playtesting and balancing. No concrete production progress is reported. The original delivery date of February 2024 passes without explanation.

2025: Updates become less frequent. Then, in November 2025, comes the shock: Wise Wizard Games lays off several full-time employees. In an open letter, as reported by BoardGameWire, the company admits to struggling with “rising costs and unstable US tariffs.” At this point, four Kickstarter campaigns remain unfulfilled: Hero Realms Dungeons (over $1 million), Robot Quest Arena: Bot Battle ($1.1 million), Star Realms Deluxe Colonial Collection (over $300,000), and Draconis 8. In total, more than $2.5 million in pledged products have not been delivered.

December 2025: The latest update (#42) on Kickstarter. According to the update from Wise Wizard Games on Kickstarter: “Like many game companies, Wise Wizard Games is currently facing financial difficulties.” They are working to reduce costs and increase revenue. There will be no new physical crowdfunding campaigns until all outstanding projects have been delivered. A specific delivery date? Not given.

July 2026: In July, there was indeed another update in which Robert Dougherty, the campaign’s founder, reaffirmed that they were still working hard to meet the promised deliveries. He stated that there was still a lot of work ahead, but they were now financially stable and were reinvesting profits into developing the undelivered games.

What went wrong with the Hero Realms Dungeon campaign?

The Wise Wizard Games case is not a classic fraud, but a cautionary tale of financial miscalculation and poor communication. Three key problems can be identified:

1. Campaign Stacks Without Delivery: Wise Wizard Games launched new campaigns while older ones remained unfulfilled. Hero Realms Dungeons (January 2023) was launched even though its predecessor, Robot Quest Arena (2022), was still in production. This pattern repeated itself with Draconis 8 and Star Realms Deluxe. By the time the financial problems became public in November 2025, four unfulfilled projects were in the pipeline.
2. Diverting funds into app development: On the Change.org petition demanding a refund, backers accuse the publisher of using Kickstarter funds to develop the Hero Realms Digital App—an accusation Wise Wizard Games has not publicly denied. The decision to test Kickstarter content digitally first was ambitious, but you don’t finance a physical product by developing software.
3. Communication Failure: The last Kickstarter update is dated December 2025. Hundreds of frustrated messages are piling up in the comments. A typical comment, according to backer Brian Price on Kickstarter: “Rob has spent three years ignoring the concerns of backers.” Particularly galling: Even in 2025, Wise Wizard Games was still sending employees to Spiel Essen while backers waited at home for their games.

Where is the money?

The exact use of the over $2.5 million is not publicly known. What is clear is that Wise Wizard Games has not filed for bankruptcy, but is fighting for survival. In a November statement, the company said it intended to return to profitability through digital sales and cost reductions. The publisher has approximately 24 full-time employees – after the layoffs in November 2025, this number will be lower. App development, trade show appearances, and ongoing operations are consuming money that was originally intended for production and shipping.

Backers have virtually no recourse. Kickstarter’s terms of service clearly state: A pledge is not a purchase. Refunds are only possible as long as the publisher is solvent – ​​and Wise Wizard Games has repeatedly stated that refunds are “currently not an option”.

The July update from July 27th, 2026

As you may know from previous updates, Wise Wizard Games has been facing significant financial challenges. We’ve implemented extensive changes to reduce costs and increase revenue. Our goal is to make the business profitable and use the funds generated to satisfy all our backers. To that end, we’re focusing on marketing and sales for some of our great games and digital products. We sincerely thank you for your support and understanding during this time.

Although much work remains, we have made good progress in increasing revenue and reducing costs. With these funds, we are creating graphic design work to prepare print files for the sets in this campaign (currently working on “Watery Graves”). We are also currently fulfilling the requests of our US backers of our “Star Realms Deluxe Colonial” campaign.

We will not give up until every supporter has received their reward.

Lessons Learned

The Hero Realms Dungeons case is not an isolated incident, but it illustrates some patterns particularly clearly:

Established publishers are no guarantee. Wise Wizard Games wasn’t an unknown newcomer, but the publisher behind Star Realms – one of the most successful deck-building games ever, winner of the SXSW Tabletop Game of the Year award. CEO Rob Dougherty and Creative Director Darwin Kastle are Magic: The Gathering Hall of Fame members. Anyone who thought this background offered security was sorely disappointed.

Multiple parallel campaigns are a warning sign. A publisher that launches new crowdfunding projects while older ones haven’t yet been delivered is living on borrowed time. The money from the new backers finances the production of the old campaigns—or worse: the ongoing operation. As soon as one campaign falters, the whole house of cards collapses.

“No update” is the worst kind of update. Kickstarter updates stopped in December 2025. Since then: radio silence. The comment sections are filled with speculation and anger. Transparency would be the very least they could do—even if the message is: “We don’t know ourselves when it will continue.”

Kickstarter offers no protection. Those who back a project on Kickstarter aren’t buying a product—they’re betting on a publisher’s ability to produce one. This bet can go wrong, and if it does, there’s no legal recourse for a refund. The FTC can intervene in cases of fraud, but it’s powerless in cases of negligence and mismanagement.

__

(Featured image by Onur Binay via Unsplash)

DISCLAIMER: This article was written by a third party contributor and does not reflect the opinion of Born2Invest, its management, staff or its associates. Please review our disclaimer for more information.

This article may include forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements generally are identified by the words “believe,” “project,” “estimate,” “become,” “plan,” “will,” and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks as well as uncertainties, including those discussed in the following cautionary statements and elsewhere in this article and on this site. Although the Company may believe that its expectations are based on reasonable assumptions, the actual results that the Company may achieve may differ materially from any forward-looking statements, which reflect the opinions of the management of the Company only as of the date hereof. Additionally, please make sure to read these important disclosures.

First published in BRETTSPIEL NEWS. A third-party contributor translated and adapted the article from the original. In case of discrepancy, the original will prevail.

Although we made reasonable efforts to provide accurate translations, some parts may be incorrect. Born2Invest assumes no responsibility for errors, omissions or ambiguities in the translations provided on this website. Any person or entity relying on translated content does so at their own risk. Born2Invest is not responsible for losses caused by such reliance on the accuracy or reliability of translated information. If you wish to report an error or inaccuracy in the translation, we encourage you to contact us.