Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
TSR settings sales numbers from Ben Riggs, starting with Lankmar, Maztica, Al-Qadim and Planescape!
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="darjr" data-source="post: 8693336" data-attributes="member: 52905"><p>Ben is releasing quite a few settings today so I thought I’d do a mega thread for those. I’ll update when things are posted.</p><p></p><p>Lankhmar is one of my favorite things. In fact after The Hobbit it was among the first fantasy I read.</p><p></p><p>[callout]In 1985, TSR produced Lankhmar: City of Adventure based on the works of Fritz Leiber.</p><p></p><p>The chart below shows that it had pretty low sales compared to other setting releases in the 80s, not breaking even 100,000 copies in its first year.[/callout]</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]253883[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>And now we have Maztica. Another I never owned or got into.</p><p></p><p>[callout]In 1991, the Forgotten Realms got a major expansion with a boxed set bringing Mesoamerican cultures into Faerun with Maztica. Apparently, TSR kept records for Maztica as though it was its own setting, which is why I have sales numbers for it. It repeats the pattern we’ve seen of a product's first year being its best year, and like so many other products we’ll look at today, that first year wasn’t so good from a historical perspective. [/callout]</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]253889[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>And now Al-Qadim.</p><p></p><p>[callout]</p><p>In 1992, TSR put out a middle eastern AD&D setting in Al Qadim. It broke up the release of the setting into Al-Qadim: Arabian Adventures which was essentially all rules, and then a boxed set, Land of Fate, which truly detailed the setting.[/callout]</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]253932[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>[callout]Because real life has interfered, I am stopping my posts for today. I'll start up again on Monday with TSR's less-famous settings: Red Steel, Planescape, Birthright, and Karameikos.</p><p>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 four days, so take advantage of it now! [/callout]</p><p></p><p>[callout]</p><p>Behold! Below are sales for the Planescape Boxed Set between 1994 and 1999. Despite being a work of genius, the setting did not sell like prior TSR settings did.</p><p></p><p>Next, I’ll post numbers for Karameikos, Red Steel, and Birthright. Then I’ll post a mammoth chart comparing total sales of all TSR settings from 79 to 98.</p><p></p><p>Have you preordered my book on D&D history, Slaying the Dragon, yet? THIS IS THE LAST DAY TO PREORDER! If you preorder now, you get a free Jeff Easley bookplate! This offer ends IN HOURS, so take advantage of it now!</p><p></p><p>Also, in comments below are snips of the actual data used to generate the charts.[/callout]</p><p>[ATTACH=full]254212[/ATTACH]</p><p>Red Steel</p><p>[callout]</p><p>Behold the lowest sales for any D&D setting published by TSR, Red Steel! (I would take this moment to point out that one of the motifs of late TSR is that the quality of the product had nothing to do with its sales.)</p><p></p><p>But yes, those first-year sales are less than 20,000 units. A mere 17,986 copies sold.</p><p></p><p>Next, we will look at the last of TSR’s minor settings, Birthright![/callout]</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]254222[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>Birthright!</p><p>[callout]Behold, the sales for the last setting to be published by TSR before it was purchased by Wizards of the Coast, Birthright!</p><p></p><p>Next, I will publish a comprehensive graph of TSR setting sales covering totals sold from ‘79 to ‘99[/callout]</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]254228[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>Here is the summary</p><p>[callout]</p><p>Behold the cumulative sales for every AD&D setting from 1979 to 1999! </p><p></p><p>Earlier settings did not just sell better. They sold EXPONENTIALLY better. Not to take anything away from Greyhawk or Forgotten Realms, but it pains me to see the Planescape and Ravenloft numbers. I LOVED those settings, and I’m surprised they didn’t do better.</p><p></p><p>Have you preordered my book on D&D history, Slaying the Dragon, yet? THIS IS THE LAST DAY TO PREORDER! If you preorder now, you get a free Jeff Easley bookplate! This offer ends IN HOURS, so take advantage of it now! Link below![/callout][ATTACH=full]254243[/ATTACH]</p><p>Buy his book! <a href="https://read.macmillan.com/lp/slaying-the-dragon/" target="_blank">Slaying the Dragon - Macmillan</a></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="darjr, post: 8693336, member: 52905"] Ben is releasing quite a few settings today so I thought I’d do a mega thread for those. I’ll update when things are posted. Lankhmar is one of my favorite things. In fact after The Hobbit it was among the first fantasy I read. [callout]In 1985, TSR produced Lankhmar: City of Adventure based on the works of Fritz Leiber. The chart below shows that it had pretty low sales compared to other setting releases in the 80s, not breaking even 100,000 copies in its first year.[/callout] [ATTACH type="full" alt="E6DCA42D-33D2-49A4-9E4D-F49A29DD9ED2.jpeg"]253883[/ATTACH] And now we have Maztica. Another I never owned or got into. [callout]In 1991, the Forgotten Realms got a major expansion with a boxed set bringing Mesoamerican cultures into Faerun with Maztica. Apparently, TSR kept records for Maztica as though it was its own setting, which is why I have sales numbers for it. It repeats the pattern we’ve seen of a product's first year being its best year, and like so many other products we’ll look at today, that first year wasn’t so good from a historical perspective. [/callout] [ATTACH type="full" alt="maztica.jpeg"]253889[/ATTACH] And now Al-Qadim. [callout] In 1992, TSR put out a middle eastern AD&D setting in Al Qadim. It broke up the release of the setting into Al-Qadim: Arabian Adventures which was essentially all rules, and then a boxed set, Land of Fate, which truly detailed the setting.[/callout] [ATTACH type="full" alt="3B6D5F3D-9644-48F7-B4F9-2F67A13DC952.jpeg"]253932[/ATTACH] [callout]Because real life has interfered, I am stopping my posts for today. I'll start up again on Monday with TSR's less-famous settings: Red Steel, Planescape, Birthright, and Karameikos. 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 four days, so take advantage of it now! [/callout] [callout] Behold! Below are sales for the Planescape Boxed Set between 1994 and 1999. Despite being a work of genius, the setting did not sell like prior TSR settings did. Next, I’ll post numbers for Karameikos, Red Steel, and Birthright. Then I’ll post a mammoth chart comparing total sales of all TSR settings from 79 to 98. Have you preordered my book on D&D history, Slaying the Dragon, yet? THIS IS THE LAST DAY TO PREORDER! If you preorder now, you get a free Jeff Easley bookplate! This offer ends IN HOURS, so take advantage of it now! Also, in comments below are snips of the actual data used to generate the charts.[/callout] [ATTACH type="full" alt="19140B6A-EE96-4AB9-96BB-6F6F56F8104D.jpeg"]254212[/ATTACH] Red Steel [callout] Behold the lowest sales for any D&D setting published by TSR, Red Steel! (I would take this moment to point out that one of the motifs of late TSR is that the quality of the product had nothing to do with its sales.) But yes, those first-year sales are less than 20,000 units. A mere 17,986 copies sold. Next, we will look at the last of TSR’s minor settings, Birthright![/callout] [ATTACH type="full" alt="277E8699-6462-4F55-94D1-32A910AD7F24.jpeg"]254222[/ATTACH] Birthright! [callout]Behold, the sales for the last setting to be published by TSR before it was purchased by Wizards of the Coast, Birthright! Next, I will publish a comprehensive graph of TSR setting sales covering totals sold from ‘79 to ‘99[/callout] [ATTACH type="full" alt="CEC705F2-6F19-4E5B-903B-0B2BE09BE5B5.jpeg"]254228[/ATTACH] Here is the summary [callout] Behold the cumulative sales for every AD&D setting from 1979 to 1999! Earlier settings did not just sell better. They sold EXPONENTIALLY better. Not to take anything away from Greyhawk or Forgotten Realms, but it pains me to see the Planescape and Ravenloft numbers. I LOVED those settings, and I’m surprised they didn’t do better. Have you preordered my book on D&D history, Slaying the Dragon, yet? THIS IS THE LAST DAY TO PREORDER! If you preorder now, you get a free Jeff Easley bookplate! This offer ends IN HOURS, so take advantage of it now! Link below![/callout][ATTACH type="full"]254243[/ATTACH] Buy his book! [URL='https://read.macmillan.com/lp/slaying-the-dragon/']Slaying the Dragon - Macmillan[/URL] [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
TSR settings sales numbers from Ben Riggs, starting with Lankmar, Maztica, Al-Qadim and Planescape!
Top