StoryWeaver
StoryWeaver Games is an Australian independent tabletop role-playing game publisher founded by Dr. Joseph Sweeney that designs and sells original sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and satirical spy RPG settings and supplements, primarily built on the Savage Worlds system, distributed via DriveThruRPG, Kickstarter, and game-store retail.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2006
- HeadquartersHornsby, Australia
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingDigital Commerce or Content
What StoryWeaver does
StoryWeaver Games is an Australian independent tabletop role-playing game publisher, founded by Dr. Joseph Sweeney (Doc' Joe) and headquartered in Hornsby, New South Wales. The company designs and publishes RPG settings, supplements, and adventure modules primarily built on Pinnacle Entertainment Group's Savage Worlds rules system, with side products that use bespoke narrative mechanics. Its catalog spans five core settings: High-Space (galaxy-spanning sci-fi space opera, 1st and 2nd Edition with over 240 pages of content and 12+ playable species); Rapture: The End of Days (theological sci-fi horror, with a planned Rapture 2.0 upgrade); Hael (fantasy world where orcs and gnolls won the war); Deniable (collaborative satirical British espionage storytelling for 3-4 players plus a Game Master); and Slaughter: The Horror Movie-Making Game (a hybrid card game / RPG launched via Kickstarter in October 2019). Each setting is extended through adventure modules, character supplements, soundscape audio packs, maps, and figure flats, creating a connected ecosystem around each intellectual property.
Revenue is generated primarily through one-time digital PDF sales (fixed-price and pay-what-you-want tiers) on the DriveThruRPG marketplace and StoryWeaver's own website, supplemented by Kickstarter campaigns for physical boxed sets (Slaughter), print-and-PDF retail releases distributed via Studio 2 Publishing (High-Space 2nd Edition), and free introductory products used as funnel tools. Distribution channels are global via DTRPG and direct website, regionally via brick-and-mortar game stores, and episodically via Kickstarter and language-specific crowdfunding platforms (e.g., a Spanish-language High-Space edition on Verkami). The go-to-market motion is community-led: CanCon (Australia's largest games convention) is used for demos and public betas; the company maintains a YouTube channel, blog, newsletter, and presence across Facebook, Twitter/X, LinkedIn, and Instagram; and it builds grassroots engagement through its Master Mapping tile library and CC3+ tutorials released under Creative Commons. Customer segments are hobbyist tabletop gamers seeking genre-specific, narrative-leaning experiences (sci-fi, horror, fantasy, satirical espionage), with no enterprise or institutional accounts identified in the data.
StoryWeaver firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- StoryWeaver
- Legal name
- StoryWeaver Games
- Website
- https://storyweaver.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2006
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- StoryWeaver Games is an Australian independent tabletop role-playing game publisher founded by Dr. Joseph Sweeney that designs and sells original sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and satirical spy RPG settings and supplements, primarily built on the Savage Worlds system, distributed via DriveThruRPG, Kickstarter, and game-store retail.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
StoryWeaver industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Tabletop Role-Playing Game Publishing
- NAICS
- Book Publishers (51313), Hobby, Toy, and Game Retailers (459120)
- SIC
- Books: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2731), Retail-Hobby, Toy & Game Shops (5945)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Narrative/Adventure & RPG Game Studios (MPAFAAAL)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Hobby Games & Miniatures Retail (Tabletop RPGs, Wargaming) (CRALAFAH), Tabletop RPG Miniatures & Terrain (CRALAKAD)
Keywords
Where StoryWeaver is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Hornsby
- HQ country
- Australia
- HQ region
- Oceania
Offices1 record
Markets served
StoryWeaver business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Digital Commerce or Content
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain, Operations, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Digital PDF Sales: The primary revenue stream comes from selling PDF versions of their RPG products through their website and DriveThruRPG marketplace. Products include core rulebooks, supplements, adventures, and audio soundscapes.
- PDF Downloads at Set Prices: Core products like Deniable are sold as PDF downloads at fixed prices ($10 for Deniable PDF). Some products use 'pay what you want' pricing through DTRPG.
- Physical Boxed Sets: Slaughter: The Horror Movie-Making Game was launched as a Kickstarter campaign for a physical boxed set including card decks for running different horror movie styles.
- Retail Distribution: With High-Space 2nd Edition, the company expanded into mainstream retail distribution, selling physical books through brick-and-mortar game stores.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | Deniable PDF - Single Price Point |
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | Deniable Treatments - Pay What You Want |
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | High-Space Core Rules - Digital Editions |
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | Slaughter Boxed Set - Kickstarter Pre-Launch |
| Freemium | Pay-as-you-go | Free Downloads and Adventures |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels10 records
StoryWeaver product offering
Product offeringCore offering
StoryWeaver Games publishes independent tabletop role-playing games and related digital content across sci-fi, fantasy, and horror genres, built primarily on the Savage Worlds rules system. Its catalog includes core RPG settings (High-Space, Rapture, Hael, Deniable, Slaughter), plus adventures, audio soundscapes, mapping tutorials, and a community CC3+ tile library, sold as digital PDFs and physical products through DriveThruRPG, the company website, Kickstarter, and physical retail stores.
Product overview
StoryWeaver Games is an independent tabletop RPG publisher that produces game settings and supplements, primarily built on the Savage Worlds rules system. The company offers multiple distinct product lines: High-Space (1st and 2nd Edition) is a galaxy-spanning sci-fi space opera setting; Rapture: The End of Days is a theological sci-fi horror RPG now in its 2.0 edition; Hael is a fantasy world where orcs and gnolls won the war; and Deniable is a satirical British spy story game. The Master Mapping program provides CC3+ mapping tutorials and a community tile library for fantasy and sci-fi cartography. Slaughter is a card-based horror movie-making game launched via Kickstarter. The company also produces audio soundscape packs for their games and numerous adventure supplements.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- High-Space 1st Edition A galaxy-spanning, high-tech space opera tabletop RPG setting compatible with Savage Worlds, where players take on the role of genetic wildcards working as renegade heroes protecting the PanDominion utopian future, featuring alien races, starship design and cinematic combat systems.
- High-Space 2nd Edition Expanded far-future space opera setting extending from the Lantern Nebula to three arms of the galaxy, with over a dozen playable alien species, cinematic starship battles, and over 240 pages of content.
- Rapture: The End of Days Theological sci-fi horror tabletop RPG set in 2644, where humanity has migrated to the stars but faces the biblical Rapture, forcing players to navigate a universe where science has been proven false but remains vital for survival, using holistic multi-participant dice mechanics.
- Rapture 2.0 Updated edition of the theological sci-fi horror RPG Rapture, accompanied by the Confucius worldbook and a hardcover print production upgrade.
- Hael High-fantasy setting for Savage Worlds where Orcs (Daeorcs) and Gnolls (Yaena) won the war, with players choosing from Outlaw Humans, Kirene druids, and Halfling outriders living between the Daeorc Dominion and the Yaena Empire.
- Deniable Satirical British-style spy story collaborative storytelling game designed for 3-4 players plus a Director/Game Master, where players portray average people coerced into espionage operations; inspired by shows like Spy and Spooks.
- Slaughter: The Horror Movie-Making Game Card-based horror movie-making tabletop RPG where players collaboratively create horror films using deck cards for scenes, hooks, and character tropes, featuring a Death Point mechanic rewarding creative character deaths, with a base boxed set covering Slasher, Monster, Zombie, and Survival Horror movie styles.
- Master Mapping Class Online tutorial program for creating fantasy and sci-fi tabletop maps using Profantasy Campaign Cartographer CC3+, Photoshop, and other mapping tools, with lessons from beginner to advanced levels, paired with a free community CC3+ tile library.
Companies that use StoryWeaver
Customer profileNamed customers2 records
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
StoryWeaver technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature6 records
StoryWeaver partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- Pinnacle Entertainment GroupcorePinnacle Entertainment Group is the creator of the Savage Worlds system that StoryWeaver Games uses as the foundation for their products. Jodi Black from PEG has supported StoryWeaver's creative ideas and helped build the developer community around Savage Worlds products.
- Studio 2 PublishingcoreJim Searcy from Studio 2 Publishing provided invaluable advice on retail distribution, manufacturing, and business operations as StoryWeaver transitioned from PDF-only to mainstream retail.
- DriveThruRPG / OneBookshelfcoreDriveThruRPG (operated by OneBookshelf) serves as the primary digital distribution marketplace for StoryWeaver's PDF products, handling transaction processing and delivery.
- Gonzalo DuránminorExternal supporter who has championed High-Space and provided ongoing support for StoryWeaver's products in Spanish-speaking markets.
- Sean Patrick FannonminorIndustry figure who provided advice, moral support, and guidance pointing StoryWeaver towards Studio 2 Publishing for retail expansion assistance.
- Andi EwingtoncoreAward-winning comic and game artist who provided stunning movie-poster themed artwork for the Slaughter boxed set, giving the game its authentic cinematic feel.
- Creative Commons CommunityminorCommunity contributors who share tiles under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International Public License for the Master Mapping Tile Library.
Scale indicators5 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights5 records
StoryWeaver competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Chaosium: Long-established tabletop RPG publisher behind Call of Cthulhu, RuneQuest, and other horror/fantasy lines. Comparable in publishing horror and fantasy tabletop RPGs but operates at broader scale and with deeper retail and licensing reach.
- Paizo: Major publisher of Pathfinder and Starfinder tabletop RPGs, distributed globally through retail and digital channels. Comparable in publishing tabletop RPGs for hobby gaming audiences but at materially larger scale and brand recognition.
- Wizards of the Coast: Publisher of Dungeons & Dragons, the dominant tabletop RPG franchise. Sets the competitive context for the entire indie/savage worlds segment and drives the bulk of retail shelf-space allocation that StoryWeaver competes for.
Direct peers
- Evil Hat Productions: Independent publisher of the Fate RPG system and narrative-focused games like 'The Sprawl'. Highly comparable as a narrative-leaning indie RPG publisher with similar Kickstarter and digital distribution approaches.
- Pinnacle Entertainment Group: Creator and publisher of the Savage Worlds system that underpins StoryWeaver's flagship products. Comparable small-to-mid tabletop RPG publisher working in the same Savage Worlds ecosystem, releasing both core rules and third-party-compatible settings.
- Free League Publishing: Swedish tabletop RPG publisher behind Mutant: Year Zero, Tales from the Loop, and The One Ring 2nd Edition. Comparable indie-to-mid publisher producing genre-spanning RPGs with strong art direction, distributed via Kickstarter and retail.
- Cubicle 7: UK-based tabletop RPG publisher behind Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (4th Edition), Age of Sigmar: Soulbound, and Doctor Who RPG. Peer in the indie/mid-tier tabletop RPG publishing space with similar catalog breadth and retail ambitions.
- Modiphius Entertainment: Indie tabletop RPG publisher producing games like Achtung! Cthulhu, Conan, and Star Trek Adventures, distributed via Kickstarter and retail. Closely comparable in distribution strategy (Kickstarter-to-retail) and target customer (hobby gaming audience).
- Onyx Path Publishing: Independent tabletop RPG publisher behind Chronicles of Darkness, Trinity Continuum, and other World of Darkness successor lines. Comparable indie publisher distributing via Kickstarter and the same DriveThruRPG ecosystem.
- Goodman Games: Independent tabletop RPG publisher known for Dungeon Crawl Classics, Original Adventures Reprinted, and other OSR-adjacent lines. Comparable in business model (indie publisher of tabletop RPG books and boxed sets sold through retail and DriveThruRPG) and reliance on community channels.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
StoryWeaver social profiles
Digital presenceStoryWeaver financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
StoryWeaver leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
StoryWeaver funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
StoryWeaver M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about StoryWeaver
What does StoryWeaver do?
StoryWeaver Games publishes independent tabletop role-playing games and related digital content across sci-fi, fantasy, and horror genres, built primarily on the Savage Worlds rules system. Its catalog includes core RPG settings (High-Space, Rapture, Hael, Deniable, Slaughter), plus adventures, audio soundscapes, mapping tutorials, and a community CC3+ tile library, sold as digital PDFs and physical products through DriveThruRPG, the company website, Kickstarter, and physical retail stores.
Is StoryWeaver a public or private company?
StoryWeaver is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was StoryWeaver founded?
StoryWeaver was founded in 2006. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is StoryWeaver based?
StoryWeaver is headquartered in Hornsby, Australia, in the Oceania region.
How does StoryWeaver make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Digital PDF Sales are the primary driver. The others are PDF Downloads at Set Prices, physical Boxed Sets and retail Distribution.
Who are StoryWeaver's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Chaosium, Paizo and Wizards of the Coast. Direct peers are Evil Hat Productions, Pinnacle Entertainment Group, Free League Publishing, Cubicle 7, Modiphius Entertainment, Onyx Path Publishing and Goodman Games.
Does StoryWeaver have an API?
No public API is recorded for StoryWeaver.
What industry is StoryWeaver in?
StoryWeaver's product category is Tabletop Role-Playing Game Publishing. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPAFAAAL, Narrative/Adventure & RPG Game Studios, with a secondary code of CRALAFAH, Hobby Games & Miniatures Retail (Tabletop RPGs, Wargaming). Its NAICS code is 51313 and its SIC code is 2731.