Patreon and Tabletop Gamers Roll Big—Very Big—With Ginormous D20 Die

It's 6 feet tall, weighs 200 pounds and doesn't rely on AI

If you’re big into roleplaying games, this stunt is for you.

Patreon made a humongous D20 die that’s 6 feet tall and weighs 200 pounds. Then the brand invited 10 leading tabletop gaming creators to roll the thing down a hill in the middle of nowhere. Whichever number landed face-up would determine their next creation.

Tabletop creators earned more than $51 million last year directly from their fans through Patreon. Against that backdrop, this initiative doubles down on the platform’s ability to help vibrant niche communities grow (and ensure that makers get paid).

As for the D20 scenario, developed in-house, it’s a bit of a crapshoot. The central prop, achieved sans AI, should keep eyeballs glued to screens. What happens isn’t super compelling. But it’s fun and laid back in a way that reflects the camaraderie and good-natured competition inherent in participatory fandom.

Below, Mike McGarry, CMO at Patreon, explains how it all came together.

What was the ideation process here?

The most passionate and loyal communities online today are no longer gathering around the mainstream—they’re connecting over niche interests. This year, we’ve been focused on creating memorable experiences for the creators and fans within the specific subcultures that are thriving on Patreon. But despite the popularity of the tabletop gaming (TTRPG) genre, we noticed that creators are often underserved by brands. Partnerships have gotten more and more popular, but many times TTRPG is still left out. That’s why every aspect of “The Big Roll” was designed to bring joy to that community.

And you did it without AI.

With the growing backlash around AI-driven creative, we knew we wanted to lean into an in-person activation designed to celebrate human creativity and creators’ unique personalities and styles. “The Big Roll” is a life-sized expression of what being a part of a high-stakes D&D game can feel like, with a shared love of the plot and only fate deciding the outcomes.

Talk about making the die. What was involved?

Patreon worked with an L.A.-based prop manufacturer to create the die from a dense foam that was hard-coated and painted after it was assembled. It was a unique challenge to create something big enough to look amazing while also being strong enough to roll down a giant hill and not fall apart. The total timeline of production was about two months from start to finish.

How’d you choose the creators?

All creators involved—which included Worlds Beyond Number, Ginny Di, Tales from the Stinky Dragon, Legends of Avantris, PrintableHeroes, and Amy Vorpahl—had already built highly engaged communities on Patreon. But many had never had the chance to bring their fandoms together, and we wanted to find a way to change that. Each creator brings a distinct style, like PrintableHereos’ printed TTRPG miniatures or Ginny Di’s original cosplay characters. And we knew they’d embrace the challenges in a way that was authentic to them. The results exceeded even our highest expectations.

At the shoot, what were the key challenges?

As you can hear in the documentary, we knew it was going to be hot on the shoot day. We took a lot of care ensuring everyone would be comfortable, with plenty of tents to protect from the sun, a trailer with AC, and of course lots of water. On the day-of, most of the team and creators were so excited about the massive die, that the heat didn’t end up being much of a factor.

Anything unexpected crop up?

One of my favorite fun facts about the shoot is that we needed to have a snake wrangler on set, who walked around the hillside all day looking through the grass to make sure we didn’t have any unexpected visitors. Luckily, the team didn’t end up running into any!

How will you share the video? Who is the target audience?

The short will be free and publicly available for all fans to enjoy across Patreon and YouTube. The project was designed specifically for the TTRPG fandom, and we hope both the existing community and curious fans, who may be newer to the genre, enjoy watching the levels of creativity and passion from the creators.

Talk about who won the roll.

The die ultimately landed on 14. Each creator had pre-determined a set of personalized, unique challenges assigned to each of the 20 number outcomes that they knew their fans would love. Since it hit 14, Tales from the Stinky Dragon fulfilled their promise to their audience that they’d film a vlog riding a rollercoaster at a theme park, in costume, with a stomach full of junk food. Legends of Avantris introduced fans to a new monster, Hector Mancrab, that fans could download and use in their own games. Ginny Di’s own cosplay character, Penelope, ‘took over’ her Patreon for a week. All creators released their documented challenges on their Patreon, in the weeks following the shoot.

Related: Patreon’s Profane Wiseguy Santa Kicks Tail for Xmas