As of May 11, Kickstarter has updated its policies regarding mature and explicit content. The crowdfunding platform, long favored by tabletop RPG, board game, and comic creators, now says it "not a venue for adult-only or sexually explicit content and such content is prohibited".
Kickstarter has apparently made no public statement about the policy change (though Wargamer has requested comment). It seems, however, that the platform's creators were given private notice.
As early as April 6, comic creators were sharing alleged emails on the subject from Kickstarter. One on Facebook claims that Kickstarter was pulling support for a project because it violated the adult content policy of Kickstarter's payment processor, Stripe. Wargamer asked Kickstarter if its working relationship with Stripe has caused or influenced its policy changes, and we'll update this article when we receive a reply.
Comic creator Ro Salarian also shared screenshots of an alleged Kickstarter email via Bluesky on May 11. "Kickstarter is officially banning adult content now", Salarian writes. "Knew this was coming, but it still sucks to have yet another part of the internet that I've been explicitly evicted from."
The post shows extensive new rules surrounding mature content - many of which are vague. For example, Kickstarter's new rules apparently allow "romance and spicy literature", but they ban "pornographic or explicitly sexual content". The rules do not specify the material difference between "spicy" and "explicitly sexual".
Image credit: Ro Salarian
Additionally, Kickstarter now apparently bans all "projects created specifically for sexual gratification". 'Gratification' is just a fancy word for 'pleasure', at the end of the day. Kickstarter's new rules offer no clues on how it will determine whether a comic, board game, or tabletop RPG featuring mature content was designed specifically to create pleasure.
Beyond vague wording, there's still plenty of worrying statements here. Kickstarter has disallowed "violent, exploitative, or illegal sexual content" as part of these new guidelines. On the surface, this sounds okay - until you remember that being gay wasn't legal in all parts of the US until 2003. Literally last year, President Trump issued an executive order to remove all protection of transgender identity.
LGBTQ+ people have historically been viewed as sexually deviant or dangerous by homophobic and transphobic parties. In the eyes of some, anything these communities do could be considered "exploitative sexual content". Kickstarter has given very little detail on how it will enforce these guidelines, meaning its personal definitions of them open the door to potential exploitation of marginalized people.
This is a huge change from Kickstarter's previous policing of adult content. Before May 10, Kickstarter's rules listed "pornographic content" as a prohibited item, but it did not provide any further detail.
In fact, in September 2025, Kickstarter was actively promoting its mature content creators with a monthly newsletter. "The adult content represents a significant portion of creative expression, and these creators deserve dedicated support and visibility", Kickstarter wrote at the time.
Multiple creatives have critiqued Kickstarter's changes online. In the world of tabletop RPGs, one of the most prominent voices has been Ludic Lemur, the indie creator of Monsterhearts.
A statement from May 11 says: "We urge Kickstarter to roll back these changes and stand with the adult creators who have helped Kickstarter get to where it is today". "We also urge other studios and devs to speak up on this matter."
"Some of the biggest Kickstarters of all time have contained adult content", it adds. "But no matter how big or small, freedom of speech and artistic expression are fundamental to all art." Ludic Lemur has postponed a Kickstarter for a Monstearhearts expansion "while we wait for further clarification, and see if Kickstarter will roll back its changes."
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