AD&D Settings Sales Comparison 79-98

I know there have been a lot of these threads, and I'm holding off on any kind of overarching summary/compilation article until they're all in, but this one in particular jumped out at me. Again, this is from Ben Riggs, author of Slaying the Dragon, a history of TSR-era D&D, going out next month.

Slaying the Dragon - Macmillan

The secret and untold story of how TSR, the company that created Dungeons & Dragons, was driven into ruin by disastrous management decisions, then ...

read.macmillan.com

This graph shows a number of legacy settings and the total sales of their core setting product. Forgotten Realms is, of course, the top one. Interestingly, the other two settings that WotC has revisited in 5E -- Ravenloft and Spelljammer -- are near the bottom of the chart.

Ben says he will be providing the remaining settings tomorrow, and I'll update this post with those when he does.

1. Forgotten Realms
2. Greyhawk
3. Dragonlance
4. Ravenloft
5. Dark Sun
6. Spelljammer

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

#GreyhawkCONFIRMED!

 

[RuinousPowers]

For the most part, as I would have thought, other than I would have guessed Dark Sun was over Ravenloft. Guess "powercreep" and psionics limited it's appeal.

 

[Hussar]

Will be very interesting to see a comparison with all settings.

 

[Reynard]

It occurs to me that the fact that Spelljammer and presumably Dark Sun -- less settings, as far as sales are concerned -- are getting reboots suggests we are in fact in the late stages of an edition cycle.

 

[Mezuka]

Technically, Ghost of Saltmarsh is Greyhawk.

 

[Morrus]

Technically, Ghost of Saltmarsh is Greyhawk.

You are technically correct. And as we all know, technically is the best kind of correct!

 

[Jer]

Guess "powercreep" and psionics limited it's appeal.

Given the trends in core book sales I suspect it has more correlation with year of release than anything about the product specifically. Sales overall decrease pretty precipitously from the late 80s through to the bankruptcy.

 

[Mezuka]

It occurs to me that the fact that Spelljammer and presumably Dark Sun -- less settings, as far as sales are concerned -- are getting reboots suggests we are in fact in the late stages of an edition cycle.

We've known this for years. We all know 6e is coming in 2024.

Spelljammer is simply the cap stone to unite all the other settings they have published so far.

 

[Jer]

We've known this for years. We all know 6e is coming in 2024

Welp, this thread is done now.

Can I beg people not to turn this thread into an argument over whether the 2024 release is or is not going to be 6e? Pretty please? We already have other threads with this argument in them