Forgotten Realms and Spelljammer TSR sales from Ben Riggs

[darjr]

I’ve been waiting for these numbers. I can’t thank Ben enough for sharing. So I bought his book in Kindle too! Also see Spelljammer! Good timing!

Actual. Forgotten Realms. Sales numbers.

Below is a chart examining the sales of 1st and 2nd ed Forgotten Realms Setting Releases.

There is also a chart on Spelljammer sales, which may be of interest since Wizards is relaunching the setting this year.

Lastly, there is a chart comparing the lifetime sales of the settings we’ve discussed so far.

Tomorrow, let’s talk Ravenloft.

Have you preordered my book on D&D history, Slaying the Dragon, yet? If you preorder now, you get a free Jeff Easley bookplate! This offer ends in a mere six days, so take advantage of it now! Link in the comments below!

Also, in the comments below are snips of the actual data used to generate the charts.

 

[darjr]

If, like me, you appreciate him releasing these numbers, and want mor if the details of the story of late TSR you can buy his book here.
Preorder here! Slaying the Dragon - Macmillan

 

[Parmandur]

I'm actually shocked at low the FR sales were, actually, though I wonder if the supplement rollout helped it overall compared to the other Settings...?

 

[darjr]

I thought for sure the FR sales would be larger.

 

[aco175]

I'm actually shocked at low the FR sales were, actually, though I wonder if the supplement rollout helped it overall compared to the other Settings...?

I though that the FR sales would have been higher compared the Greyhawk and Dragonlance, considering that it is their flagship world.

 

[schneeland]

I had also expected these numbers to be higher. But then, maybe the Realms benefited much more from being in video games and novels in terms of outreach than they did from the actual RPG products.

 

[darjr]

It would be interesting to line these up with the core or other book sales and see if there are any followin sales and to what degree for each.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

I'm actually shocked at low the FR sales were, actually, though I wonder if the supplement rollout helped it overall compared to the other Settings...?

It seems like part of the problem is FR was heavily competing with itself.

Also more then any other setting, FR's popularity is in none TTRPG products, video games, novels, etc..., in the millions of sales.

 

[darjr]

It seems like part of the problem is FR was heavily competing with itself.

Also more then any other setting, FR's popularity is in none TTRPG products, video games, novels, etc..., in the millions of sales.

That’s a good point, I wish we had those.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

That’s a good point, I wish we had those.

This is info is as close as I could find, not sure what the sources are. If true the novels sold orders of magnitude more copies for both DL & FR. This is why they get the movies.