D&D 5E How Important is Stranger Things to the Success of 5e

[Charlaquin]

Sure, YMMV but I'd call a million people significant regardless of total-number, myself.

There are about 2x10^23 water molecules in a teaspoon of water, but I wouldn’t call that a significant amount of water. Proportion is key.

 

[Vaalingrade]

I always kind of wonder at the palpable disappointment ST fans are in for when Demogorgon is not some chump Ogre that could be dealt with with conventional weaponry if not for genre restrictions, the Mindflayer is some dude with a squid for a face, and Vecna... okay, so Vecna tracks pretty well.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Stranger Things is a giant hit. Millions of people that have never played a game of D&D know the names Demogorgon, Mind Flayer, Vecna. I wouldn't call it the most important factor, but I think it's in the top five, to be sure.

I just don't buy it, because knowing those names has absolutely no bearing on wanting to be involved with a fairly wild hobby. The vast majority of D&D players have never played games directly involving Demogorgon or Vecna, I daresay. Perhaps not even indirectly. I know huge numbers of Strange Fans things in my friend group and through work, and let's be real, they don't even see those as D&D names for the most part. They see them as Stranger Things names, and they're kind of right to. Cuts the other way even - one of my friends who has played D&D for 30+ years didn't know Vecna was a D&D name until the most recent season of ST came out! We've never played Greyhawk or run any of the adventures where Vecna might turn up so...

I very much doubt it's top 10, let alone top 5.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I feel like mentioning Stranger Things is pretty different from it being the cause. I think if you look at things in your life, you often the pop-culture touchstone that's associated with something, not the actual thing that got you interested. But as you say, we can't know for sure.

That's obviously illogical/irrational in this context, though. This isn't like "deaths caused by" or something, where that would make sense. This is looking at the factors involved. And those are relative, and if 0.02% if "significant" then virtually everything is "significant", which means the term is meaningless.

Ah. Let's change tactics, then. Forget the million people out of 50 million (admitted nonsense).

The number of people who have bought D&D is objectively significant TO ME. Because I feed my children by selling comic books and D&D, and I've been selling Starter Sets (and Core books, to a lesser extent) to a not-insignificant number of people who SAY that they are there due to ST.

How that translates to the rest of the world? Who knows for sure, but I usually find (when talking to other retailers places like ComicsPRO meetings) that my experience is usually repeated in my across the world.

So it's significant to ME, and I can say confidently to US (when referring to other game retailers). We are the very definition of "small", of course. But not insignificant, I hope you'll agree.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

There are about 2x10^23 water molecules in a teaspoon of water, but I wouldn’t call that a significant amount of water. Proportion is key.

Yeah, but we're talking about people and I have a very Doctor Who view of the significance of each individual person.

 

[Parmandur]

Ah. Let's change tactics, then. Forget the million people out of 50 million (admitted nonsense).

The number of people who have bought D&D is objectively significant TO ME. Because I feed my children by selling comic books and D&D, and I've been selling Starter Sets (and Core books, to a lesser extent) to a not-insignificant number of people who SAY that they are there due to ST.

How that translates to the rest of the world? Who knows for sure, but I usually find (when talking to other retailers places like ComicsPRO meetings) that my experience is usually repeated in my across the world.

So it's significant to ME, and I can say confidently to US (when referring to other game retailers). We are the very definition of "small", of course. But not insignificant, I hope you'll agree.

Hiw well does the IDW Stranger Things comic do, or the D&D/Stranger Things crossover comic?

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Yeah, but we're talking about people and I have a very Doctor Who view of the significance of each individual person.

Let's not start on Doctor Who's incredibly hypocritical and inconsistent morality, where every individual is super-significant if they're say, a human, but y'know, stuff 'em if they're a Gallifreyan or indeed most non-humans!

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Hiw well does the IDW Stranger Things comic do, or the D&D/Stranger Things crossover comic?

The comic sells terribly for me, but it sells decently when crossed over with D&D.

 

[Umbran]

Lacking the ability to check sales data over time with respect to the show's releases, I can at best guess it had a minor, but positive, impact.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Let's not start on Doctor Who's incredibly hypocritical and inconsistent morality, where every individual is super-significant if they're say, a human, but y'know, stuff 'em if they're a Gallifreyan or indeed most non-humans!

Good point. Let's not! (I was being somewhat tongue-in-cheek anyway. I do not actually subscribe to any morality described by entertainment media).