Current classic D&D bestsellers

I was browsing the Paizo site, RPGNow & DriveThruRPG (which has a different listing from RPGNow) and noticed their localized top ten lists for the classic D&D downloads. I thought it would be interesting to see what the best sellers are and see if any sort of pattern emerges.

Paizo lists their "Top Sellers," RPGNow lists both "Hot Sellers" and "Vendor Best Sellers" (I don't know the difference between the two categories, presumbably one is long term and one short term) and DriveThruRPG lists "Hottest Items."

Paizo

1. B1-9 In Search of Adventure (Supermodule combining parts of B1-9)
2. Temple of Elemental Evil
3. D&D Rules Cyclopedia
4. Queen of the Spiders (Supermodule combining G1-3, D1-3, Q1)
5. Scourge of the Slavelords (Supermodule combining A1-4)
6. B10 Night's Dark Terror
7. Desert of Desolution (Supermodule combing 3 of the I series)
8. Planescape Campaign Setting
9. B11 King's Festival
10. Planescape: Hellbound

RPGNow - Hot Sellers List

1. D&D Rules Cyclopedia
2. Temple of Elemental Evil
3. Unearthed Arcana
4. AD&D Player's Handbook (2nd edition)
5. AD&D Monstrous Manual (2nd edition)
6. Planescape Campaign Setting
7. AD&D Player's Handbook (1st edition)
8. AD&D Dungeon's Master Guide (2nd edition)
9. Oriental Adventures
10. D&D Basic Set (4th edition)

It continues to list 11-20

RGPNow - Vendor Best Sellers

1. Temple of Elemental Evil
2. Queen of the Spiders (Supermodule combining G1-3, D1-3, Q1)
3. D&D Rules Cyclopedia
4. AD&D Monstrous Manual (2nd edition)
5. AD&D Player's Handbook (1st edition)
6. AD&D Dungeon's Master Guide (1st edition)
7. Planescape Campaign Setting
8. Scourge of the Slavelords (Supermodule combining A1-4)
9. AD&D Player's Handbook (2nd edition)
10. AD&D Monster Manual (1st edition)

Also listed are 11-20

DriveThruRPG Hottest Items

1. Complete Adventurer
2. Complete Warrior
3. Complete Arcane
4. Planescape Campaign Setting
5. D&D Rules Cyclopedia
6. Lords of Madness: The Book of Abberations
7. Queen of the Spiders (Supermodule combining G1-3, D1-3, Q1)
8. d20 Apocalypse
9. The Forge of Fury
10. Arms & Equipment Guide

Red products are post 3E. Also lists 11-15, with only #13 (Temple of Elemental Evil) being a classic product.

Clearly each vendor has their own flavor. DriveThru is the only vendor that had post 3E products, and only recentlly got classic downloads (with their RPGNow merger), so their numbers will have oddities. Paizo doesn't move the core books (except the Rules Cyclopedia) like RPGNow. I assume that's because Paizo's customers are much more likely to be "old school" and already have copies of the old core books.

Clearly the supermodules are popular (why spend $12 on the Slaver's series individually when you can spend $4 to get them all together?), as is the Rules Cyclopedia. The Temple of Elemental Evil is a hard-to-find classic and Planescape is a classic campaign setting that many missed or got rid of.

I admit, I find B10 & B11 oddities in Paizo's list. Any idea why these stand out? Were they particularly hard-to-find?

Any other thoughts?

Very interesting data!

Glyfair said:

I admit, I find B10 & B11 oddities in Paizo's list. Any idea why these stand out? Were they particularly hard-to-find?

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B10 (aka B/X1) isn't that surprising to me because it's a big module with lots of parts (almost super-module length, plus a big 2-sided poster map and a sheet of counters) that's among the harder to find modules of its era, and complete copies (with the maps and the counters) tend to go for a lot on ebay, making $4 for the pdf a very good deal. Plus it's got the reputation among those who've read/played it as a very good module, frequently cited as one of the best of its era/line (written by TSR UK, the same guys who wrote the AD&D UK series modules and later went on to write the classic "Enemy Within" modules for WFRP), which will naturally tend to make people (both newbies and folks who were too busy playing "grown up" AD&D and missed out on this one in its day (1986)) curious.

I agree that B11 is an oddity and have no idea why it's so high on the list (other than the fact that's it's a low level module that a lot of "old school" fans probably never had back in the day, so if they're looking for something "new" to start a campaign with it might be appealing in that regard).

Or perhaps people are just buying the entire B series (B1-9 supermodule, B10, B11) under the mistaken impression that they form a big series together (they don't)...

I've enjoyed purchasing from the pdf library of old TSR modules, having missed out on them when I quit playing D&D in the early 1980s. Several campaign settings like Planescape get mention on these boards when people discuss newer books like the Fiendish Codex and Expedition to Castle Ravenloft.

While some of the items, like Planescape, are quality material, other items often held in high esteem like ToEE (c) 1987, leave me scratching my head. ToEE is one big slog of a dungeon crawl, and if I tried to run it, half way through my players would probably give up because they had forgotten what their motivation was to enter the temple in the first place!

I was also underwhelmed by the Forgotten Realms Campaign box set (c) 1993. Maybe it's because I've never understood the attraction of FR, but the box set doesn't bring a clear, cohesiveness that someone trying it for the first time would say "aha! this is just where I want to play!" Instead it reads like a jumble of ideas and very little themes or plots (except perhaps for the Zhentarim.) Give me Greyhawk for a generic western setting instead!

That's not to say I haven't enjoyed other campaign settings from this time period. It my on-again/off-again OA campaign, I've used the Kara-Tur box set and continue to use it for power groups, places and important people. And the Horde set (which is free on the WoTC site) I believe to be one of the best ever written for that style of campaign.

I'm also reading through the Planescape box sets, having now picked up the big box, the neutral and lawful planes. Not only is it fun to read, I love the art. I think it's great that these "treasure troves" of material are available, and I'm already thinking about dipping into the Dark Sun setting to read what that's all about!

I find it interesting that Rules cyclopedia is on all of the lists. I never saw that one but have seen it mentioned by a number of the posters. Might have to download it and take a look to satisfy my curiousity.

-KenSeg
gaming since 1978

From my understanding, the super modules are modified a bit from the originals. Not much for Temple, Slavers, and Queen, but Egg is sort of forced. I know I prefer the original Hommlett to the one that was published in ToEE, mainly for format reasons.

re: the cyclopedia-
I was never too much a fan of the companion of master rules. I love the B/X though. If only race and class were clearly separate in the BX line, I would be playing that. Come to think of it, I could home brew, but then I would just be playing C&C.

T. Foster said:

I agree that B11 is an oddity and have no idea why it's so high on the list.

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I think it is pretty hard to come by, too. I picked up a copy when it first came out, but I don't think they ever printed it in huge quantities. I know I missed out on Queen's Harvest the first time around, and only recently managed to get a copy of that. So it may just be the completists looking for it, the Mystara-philes who want every last bit of campaign info about their world (as B11 is solidly set in Karameikos).

Or perhaps people are just buying the entire B series (B1-9 supermodule, B10, B11) under the mistaken impression that they form a big series together (they don't)...

Click to expand...

That could be as well. Probably more likely.

If you're going to buy B1-9, doesn't it also make sense that people would then buy B10 and B11 to round out the set?

It does. Unfortunately, B1-9 isn't a reprint of B1, B2... B9. It edits them down significantly. You'd be far better off getting all of the original modules.

Cheers!