TSR Darksun Sales of settings, adventures and novels, year by year. 1991-1992

[darjr]

I think this makes sense. I’m surprised at the magnitude of the difference though.

Behold! Actual Dark Sun sales numbers!

We’re going to try something different here. Since I have EVERYTHING for Dark Sun between 1991 and 1998, we’re going to look at the line first year by year in the hope that it gives us insight into the life of a product line at TSR.

In 1991, TSR released 3 DS products, a boxed set, an adventure (Freedom) and a novel. (Verdant Passage.)

The thing that jumps out at me is that the novel sold significantly more than the boxed set and novel COMBINED!

Now in fairness, the adventure did come out in December, and would sell another 17,383 copies in ‘92.

But if you add that to the total ‘91 gaming sales, THE NOVEL STILL SOLD MORE COPIES! Today, I would say selling 10,000 copies of a fantasy novel is the minimum for a career in the genre, and Verdant Passage sold nearly 80,000 copies in just the LAST 4 MONTHS of 1991.

In the 90s, TSR bragged that it was the largest publisher of fantasy fiction in North America. Clearly, they had some standing for the claim.

If you find me interesting, my book on D&D history, Slaying the Dragon, is out now. Pick it up anywhere books are sold, or use the link below!

I’m doing seminars at Gen Con Friday & Saturday. I would highlight my Saturday 11 AM panel where I will spill the tea on 3rd edition!

Raw data below!

Behold! Dark Sun sales from 1992!
Two observations:
First, by the end of its 2nd year, Dark Sun had FOURTEEN products available for sale. By comparison, 5th edition’s release schedule appears to be glacial. However, I would suggest that perhaps, just perhaps, the 5th ed team is intentionally not repeating this publication schedule…
Second, Dark Sun’s second year again demonstrates the strength of TSR’s fiction releases compared to their games. The best-selling release from the prior year was a novel. The bestselling product released this year is also a novel.
If you find me interesting, my book on D&D history, Slaying the Dragon, is out now. Pick it up anywhere books are sold, or use the link below!
I’m doing seminars at Gen Con Friday & Saturday. I would highlight my Saturday 11 AM panel where I will spill the tea on 3rd edition!

GenCon sale on his book!

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[Reynard]

It is unsurprising that the novel sold more than the setting, but I am surprised that it didn't sell much more. Too heavily branded as very specific game fiction, maybe?

 

[Parmandur]

It's even more stark when you consider how many people would read the novel on loan from the library, while nobody would play in the setting on loan from the library.

Hypothesis: we were all fairly surprised at how poorly some of these cool 90's settings sold versus their reputation, but perhaps the reason is that these Settings didn't really have solid game fanbases, but novel fanbases?

 

[Nikosandros]

Well, it looks like I was in the minority in the '90s... I bought a ton of the gaming materials and none of the novels

 

[darjr]

Just as an aside Teos has sent almost 22 thousand Ashes of Athas adventures.

I wonder if each count is per adventure or the entire arc?

 

[SAVeira]

Confirms something that my high school gaming buddies and I thought; Dark Sun novels were interesting to read, but few people were interested in playing in that setting. None of us were interested in DMing a Dark Sun campaign or playing in one, however we all read the books.

 

[GreyLord]

Well, it looks like I was in the minority in the '90s... I bought a ton of the gaming materials and none of the novels

I bought (and still have) a ton of Forgotten Realms and other TSR branded novels, far more than gaming materials.

 

[overgeeked]

Can confirm. I was the singular outlier in my group of gaming friends. I was the only one buying Dark Sun, Spelljammer, or Al-Qadim settings, supplements, modules, novels, etc. No one else cared. I would have gladly played in or run a game in any of those settings, but no one else was interested. They were happy for Greyhawk or FR or homebrew, but had zero interest in the 2E settings.

 

[darjr]

Just added 1992.

Behold! Dark Sun sales from 1992!

Two observations:

First, by the end of its 2nd year, Dark Sun had FOURTEEN products available for sale. By comparison, 5th edition’s release schedule appears to be glacial. However, I would suggest that perhaps, just perhaps, the 5th ed team is intentionally not repeating this publication schedule…

Second, Dark Sun’s second year again demonstrates the strength of TSR’s fiction releases compared to their games. The best-selling release from the prior year was a novel. The bestselling product released this year is also a novel.

If you find me interesting, my book on D&D history, Slaying the Dragon, is out now. Pick it up anywhere books are sold, or use the link below!

I’m doing seminars at Gen Con Friday & Saturday. I would highlight my Saturday 11 AM panel where I will spill the tea on 3rd edition!

 

[Eltab]

Just as an aside Teos has sent almost 22 thousand Ashes of Athas adventures.

I wonder if each count is per adventure or the entire arc?

When I ordered Ashes of Athas from Teos, I got the whole campaign, not adventure-by-adventure.