From Hobby to Hundred Titles: Inside Fran Valverde’s Shadowlands Story

When passion for tabletop role-playing games meets entrepreneurial drive, the result can reshape an entire industry. That’s the story behind Shadowlands Games—a Spanish publisher that has grown from a small online shop in 2018 into a thriving studio with nearly a hundred titles on its domestic shelves and an expanding presence abroad.

At the helm is Fran Valverde (CEO, Editor, and the interviewee you’re about to meet) who, together with partners Joaquim M. Marqués and Andrés Sáez “Marlock,” traded established careers for the chance to build something they truly love.

Today Shadowlands Games is a tight-knit team of editors, artists, and managers unafraid to experiment whether that means publishing modern-day Cthulhu adventures, generational sci-fi inspired by Terraforming Mars, or financing projects through crowdfunding.

For Shadowlands, crowdfunding is more than a funding model; it’s a community engine that helps them gauge demand, gather feedback, and plan ever-larger launches—most notably the upcoming Blasphemous TTRPG.

In the interview that follows, Fran pulls back the curtain on their journey: how they choose collaborators, decide between Kickstarter, Gamefound, or BackerKit, juggle multiple campaigns, and stay true to their creative vision while stepping onto the global stage.

Whether you dream of releasing your own RPG or just want an inside look at life in an indie publishing house during the post-pandemic tabletop boom, his insights offer both inspiration and practical advice.

Onwards!

What inspired you to create Shadowlands Games, and how did the company get started?

Shadowlands Games was founded on our shared love for role-playing games. It's what sparked the creation of our company. I have experience in business and the hospitality industry, but I decided to change careers and invest my efforts in something I love. My partner, Joaquim M. Marqués, joined me in this endeavor, and in 2018, we launched an online gaming shop, which became the seed of Shadowlands.

We wanted to stand out from the competition, so we decided to give short role-playing adventures with every purchase. For that, we needed writers and artists, so we reached out to Andrés Sáez, also known as Marlock, who was the spokesperson of an active creative group at the time: Códice.

The three of us started working on those adventures and discovered how much we loved the process. The idea for the shop quickly evolved into what Shadowlands Games is today.

Over the past six years, Andrés, Joaquim, and me have been fortunate to watch our passion project grow and to bring many other collaborators into the Shadowlands family.

What motivated you to choose crowdfunding as your primary funding model?

First of all, crowdfunding is our main funding model for our international projects, but it's backed by our publishing network in Spain, where we have almost 100 titles in standard retail distribution.

Crowdfunding is a powerful marketing tool that helps us reach our target audience and get the attention of the press and community. It also helps us estimate production numbers and costs.

We’ll continue to use crowdfunding for our launches. However, our long-term plan is to continue working to gain our place in the global retail market, step by step, game by game.

How do you decide whether to launch a campaign on Kickstarter, Gamefound, or BackerKit?

In a nutshell, we decide based on how well the target audience for a particular project aligns with the users of a specific crowdfunding site. Additionally, since we’re still learning, we’ll try to diversify our projects and understand the pros and cons of those three platforms.

What are the most important elements of a successful crowdfunding campaign, based on your experience?

The first step is obviously having a feasible idea. Next, you should build a solid community that supports your projects. Advertise and spread the word, and aim your project toward its intended target audience. For example, advertising your horror game to high fantasy fans would be a waste of effort.

What percentage of your budget typically goes into marketing and promotion?

We feel comfortable with an average of 10 to 12 percent.

Where does most of your campaign traffic come from? Organic community support, paid ads, mailing lists, social media?

We try to invest roughly equally in all of those channels. However, if you were to ask me for an order, it would be: community, email, paid ads, and social media.

Do you work with influencers, streamers, or reviewers to promote your campaigns?

We've tried influencer sponsorships with people like Becca Scott and Ginny Di. It's certainly something we want to explore further in the future.

How do you manage backer expectations and communication in the case of production delays?

There are three steps here: first, regular posting and information; second, transparency; and third, never leaving a question unanswered.

How do you prioritize and manage resources when running multiple campaigns at the same time?

Thanks to our team and the great freelancers who collaborate with us, we have the resources to work on several projects simultaneously. For instance, authors can write settings and rule sets while designers work on the layout of another game.

What does the team behind Shadowlands Games look like? Who handles creative, logistics, marketing, etc.?

Our core team looks like this:

Fran Valverde, CEO and Editor.
Joaquim M. Marqués, Editor.
Andrés Sáez ‘Marlock’, Creative Director and Artist.
Marta de la Serna, Project Manager and Editor,
Alberto Martínez ‘Kisama’, Artist.
Claudia Andrade, Layout Artist and Designer.
Laura Faílde, Graphic and Multimedia Designer.
Ángels Soler, Graphic Designer.
Bárbara Butler, Management.
Alvaro Loman, Editor and Writer.
David Martín, Communication and Writer.
Arturo Losada, Community Manager and PR
Fran Navarro, Graphic Designer and Artist

How do you choose which designers, writers, or artists to collaborate with on each project?

Our focus is on style and theme. We try to choose the best author for each project and always work as a team with our editors, directors, and designers.

What inspires your games and settings? Do you follow trends or pursue your own creative vision?

It's difficult to summarize this decision-making process, but it's a combination of experience and intuition. We're aware of trends, but our focus is on developing interesting games that cover niches in the hobby. For example, we have modern-day Cthulhu scenarios and generational science fiction with Terraforming Mars.

What are the challenges of adapting video games or other media into TTRPGs?

There's no doubt about this: the hardest part is maintaining the tone of the original IP in a completely different medium, such as a role-playing game, which has an inherent improvisational component. The challenge lies in finding that sweet spot where you preserve the original flavor but manage to develop something new and interesting to play.

What's the most surprising or impactful feedback you've received from the community?

I should mention the kindness that people are showing us by forgiving our errors and focusing on the quality of our books, art, and scenarios, which is characteristic of us. For a publisher like us, who is still new to the international scene, it is encouraging.

However, we listen to and take good note of every constructive criticism, trying our best to improve.

What's next for Shadowlands Games? Are you working on new systems, partnerships, or international projects?

I can confirm that, in the short term, we are working on the launch of Blasphemous TTRPG, the official adaptation of the award-winning video game.

What have been the challenges and successes of entering non-Spanish-speaking markets?

I won't lie, the language is an obstacle. Although we have people on our team who are fluent in English, it's always harder to communicate in a language that isn't your first. Additionally, the context and gaming culture are quite different, and we're learning to adapt.

For example, our initial scenarios included four pregenerated characters because that's the typical number of players in Spain. However, that's not the case in the US and UK, as the community kindly informed us. Now, we always give you six characters.

We're fortunate to have a strong and welcoming community in Spain, and we're working to recreate that in our English gaming line.

How do you keep your team and yourself motivated and balanced?

This one is easy. We love role-playing games, so working and having fun go together for us.

How much do backer comments, surveys, or messages shape your final products?

Shadowlands has a clear vision and plan. We know what products we want to create and how we want to create them, but we always leave room for input.

How do you see the TTRPG market evolving, especially post-pandemic and with the rise of indie creators?

Role-playing games have never been better than they are now. It's a time of growth and blending our gaming culture with ideas from many countries and creators, which will enrich the hobby in the long term. TTRPGs are thriving!

What would you say to someone considering launching their first TTRPG project via crowdfunding?

Once again, the first step is to have an idea that you love and to carefully study how to develop it. Work hard, and from then on, spread the word. Communicate, advertise, reach out, and spread the word some more. No project can succeed if no one knows about it.

What's your view on using AI tools in the creative process, whether for writing, art, marketing, or playtesting? Have you used any AI tools at Shadowlands Games?

In short, we don't use AI content in our projects. Our successes and mistakes are 100% human.