Heroic Story Uses Dynamic NFTs to Build a Web3, Free-to-Own MMORPG Fantasy Game
A New Iteration of Fantasy Role-Playing Games
Heroic Story is building Fortunata: a web3, massively multiplayer tabletop RPG fantasy franchise that’s free to own for the players. The company’s vision is to create the most immersive Dungeons & Dragons style game, based on the fantasy world of Fortunata, collaboratively built by a community of thousands of writers & artists and the contributions of two Marvel screenwriters.
Heroic Story launched Fortunata in September 2022, starting with a free mint of the Fortunata World Pass: a collection of 1,049 all-access pass NFTs created on the Ethereum Blockchain. The Fortunata World Pass NFT is the genesis pass to the land of Fortunata, a sword and sorcery realm where the Heroic Story Dungeons & Dragons campaign takes place. Holders of the World Pass NFT have exclusive access to a private Discord server—where they can collaboratively build the Fortunata world—and the ability to partake in the Dungeons & Dragons campaigns.
Launching in Web3 with a Successful NFT Mint
The original mint of the World Pass 1 collection was very popular, launching at #1 on OpenSea its opening weekend. Heroic Story leaned on thirdweb’s easy-to-use NFT solutions to power the free mint of 1,049 NFTs. A few weeks later, the Heroic Story team surprised World Pass holders with a stealth airdrop of the Dice of Good Fortune collection — a set of 1,049 Dice. In time, these Dice will reveal rarity traits and allow holders to interact with the world of Fortunata via dynamic, story-led NFTs with interesting collecting games behind them.
The Heroic Story team knew well-executed NFTs would be critical in launching the Fortunata land as a Web3, community-owned property. They realized that a solid technology partner with deep experience in smart contracts would be critical to the program's success.
thirdweb’s team has some of the best technical minds in the industry, and it became clear early on that a technology partner focused on smart contract SDKs that make it easy to launch NFT products would be a huge advantage to operating in the fast-moving, unpredictable market of web3.
– Jay Rosenkrantz, Co-Founder & CEO of Heroic Story
Building Loyalty with Fortunata’s Contributors Through Surprise Airdrop
Given the runaway success of World Pass 1’s free mint, the team quickly realized they needed to show their community of holders what they could expect from Heroic Story as a web3 company.
A stealth airdrop of the Dice of Good Fortune was the best way to introduce the team‘s design philosophy: dynamic, narrative-led NFTs with interesting collecting games behind them. The Dice provide a variety of ways for holders to interact with Fortunata, even for those who don’t play the TTRPG (Table-Top Role Playing Game) quests directly.
Heroic Story needed to deliver their first airdrop with the kind of excitement that could show what the team is capable of without any technical hiccups, which can cause a brand to lose credibility with its audience. For the Heroic Story team, creating the narrative around the unannounced airdrop was the easy part. They knew that from a story-led company, a surprise new NFT collection would deliver the anticipation and enchantment their World Pass holders and fans expect from the best entertainment products.
The team also knew that the most challenging part was developing a custom contract that could allow them to override the metadata and introduce rarity traits later, at reveal. This NFT complexity is where thirdweb’s ContractKit and pre-built NFT drop contract was so valuable, allowing the airdrop to go live smoothly as the team intended.
Delighting Holders with Immersive Web3 Experiences
The bar was set high with both Fortunata’s initial mint & surprise airdrop—using lore & a little bit of mystery to execute a perfect launch. To keep the enthusiasm going, the team enhanced the narrative around the Dice’s utility in Twitter Spaces following the drop. In anticipation of the reveal, contributors have been sharing their Dice of Good Fortune on Twitter—amplifying their excitement to their audiences & driving community-led growth.
The mystery of how the Dice will play a role in future drops is an intriguing hook to drive community engagement. This storytelling and intrigue make Fortunata uniquely enticing, and NFTs form a critical part of the land’s foundation. thirdweb made it easy for Heroic Story to fully focus on product & game design instead of writing complex smart contracts, allowing fans to be delighted by the storytelling opportunities without being distracted by the technical hurdles that have been so prevalent Web3.