TSR settings sales numbers from Ben Riggs, starting with Lankmar, Maztica, Al-Qadim and Planescape!

[Jer]

Dragon Dice! Oh, wow--I had completely forgotten about that. Yeah, I don't know anyone who actually bought that thing.

I did! It was actually a fun little dice game. But it was never going to be the MtG killer that TSR committed a whole bunch of money into trying to make.

BTW - it's still being sold. The company that bought the rights (and all of the excess dice that TSR had made) from Wizards is still selling it. I have no idea if they're still selling the original dice that TSR overmanufactured or if they've actually had to go back to press on it - I know they added new factions to the game over time. They've had a booth at Origins for a number of years and it was there again this year. Their website is here: SFR Inc.

 

[Guest 7034872]

I did! It was actually a fun little dice game. But it was never going to be the MtG killer that TSR committed a whole bunch of money into trying to make.

No kidding?! Wild. I've never met anyone who played it before.

BTW - it's still being sold. The company that bought the rights (and all of the excess dice that TSR had made) from Wizards is still selling it. I have no idea if they're still selling the original dice that TSR overmanufactured or if they've actually had to go back to press on it - I know they added new factions to the game over time. They've had a booth at Origins for a number of years and it was there again this year. Their website is here: SFR Inc.

Dude, wow. Now you've got me intrigued...

 

[Jer]

No kidding?! Wild. I've never met anyone who played it before.

Dude, wow. Now you've got me intrigued...

I wouldn't spend too much money on it unless you're really into dice games. It's still a collectable dice game after all, and it's a 25 year old one at this point to boot

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Dragon Dice! Oh, wow--I had completely forgotten about that. Yeah, I don't know anyone who actually bought that thing.

It was like the other TSR stuff, it sold pretty well right out of the gate I guess. Honestly, by the mid '90s I really wasn't much interested in most TSR stuff anyway. We played quite a bit of 2e, but really bought very little product.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

No kidding?! Wild. I've never met anyone who played it before.

Dude, wow. Now you've got me intrigued...

Huh, yeah, looks like they made one other game, Daemon Dice, which I'd assume is basically a variant of the original game.

I never did really understand what TSR was thinking. I mean, a dice game is kind of nice, but didn't they understand there's only so many dice you can really make, the possibilities for cards, as M:tG has proven, seem to be limitless.

 

[Guest 7034872]

I never did really understand what TSR was thinking. I mean, a dice game is kind of nice, but didn't they understand there's only so many dice you can really make, the possibilities for cards, as M:tG has proven, seem to be limitless.

Yeah, there was no way they were going to compete with M:tG. Just no way.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Yeah, the The Land of the Eight Cities sourcebook is a fascinating read, since it's based on an unpublished manuscript from the Fritz Leiber archives.

I'm very curious what their 5e monster book is going to be like. I hope it's very, very weird.

The author of the Goodman Games edition is a Fritz Leiber scholar and visited his personal museum and archives as part of his job to write it.

Note a D&D 5e Kickstarter is coming, mostly a monster book but I’ll bet it’ll have some setting info too. I’m going to back that and use it to support that boxed set in a campaign.

 

[Jer]

I never did really understand what TSR was thinking. I mean, a dice game is kind of nice, but didn't they understand there's only so many dice you can really make, the possibilities for cards, as M:tG has proven, seem to be limitless.

They did try to make their own card game - a couple of them in fact. Spellfire was their first attempt and it was ... fine. The gameplay was okay 2 player but they used recycled artwork and the theme of the game was kind of muddled. Later they made a Planescape themed game Blood Wars which I can't comment on because by the time it came out there was such a glut of CCGs on the market I was tired of even trying new ones.

 

[R_J_K75]

Oh wow. Media Play. That takes me back.

I didn't remember them being around until 2006, they might have closed in my area sooner. In 2000, I just by happenstance drove about 45 minutes to one in Niagara Falls and found a whole bookshelf of Star Wars WEG books at between 50%-75% off. Over the next month or two I cleaned it all out.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

They did try to make their own card game - a couple of them in fact. Spellfire was their first attempt and it was ... fine. The gameplay was okay 2 player but they used recycled artwork and the theme of the game was kind of muddled. Later they made a Planescape themed game Blood Wars which I can't comment on because by the time it came out there was such a glut of CCGs on the market I was tired of even trying new ones.

Yeah, I remember. I think the thing with the whole CCG market was that M:tG was and is SO GOOD that it really just sucked the air right out of the fantasy-themed CCG space. You could make other good games, like Spellfire, but M:tG's network effects were just too strong, few of them survived long enough to really put out much material. I honestly cannot say that any other CCG has really got the excellent game play, the community, etc. Even when I was playing in the early days of the game it was clear this was IT, the one and only dominant game in its category. Poor TSR just missed the boat and WotC caught lightning in a bottle.