D&D General 40 Million People Have Played D&D [UPDATED!]

doctorbadwolf · Jul 13, 2019

jasper said:
So 40 million since 1974. So under a million per year. BOY WHAT A NICHE HOBBY.

Half of that is from the last decade, basically.

KentDT · Jul 13, 2019

Originally Posted by Parmandur
Other than English, D&D is currently in print in four other languages, with four more rolling out about now:

"GF9 partnered with Wizards of the Coast in 2017 to translate Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition into multiple languages and oversee local market partnerships (see “Parlez-Vous 'D&D'?”). The first editions were for French, German, Italian, and Spanish. A Portuguese edition for Brazil was also in the works, but was delayed due to a licensing dispute (see “GF9 Delays Brazilian Language Release of 'D&D'”).

I can't speak for other countries, but from what I hear, D&D5 is selling quite well in Germany, but the numbers are still negligible when compared to the English version (last thing I hear was that sales had crossed 6000 copies). In general, the number of players seems to be growing again (which is great), but the hobby is still an absolute niche.

The core books and Starter's Kit were all translated and published in Japanese by the end of 2017 (I brought my Japanese version of the Player's handbook to GaryCon X and got it signed by by Mike Mearls, Tracy Hickman and Joe Manganiello- which was all pretty cool). Since then several of the adventures and other rules books have been translated into Japanese although I haven't kept up on buying them all (I have them in English, after all). So it seems to be doing fine in Japan.

schneeland · Jul 13, 2019

KentDT said:
Originally Posted by Parmandur
The core books and Starter's Kit were all translated and published in Japanese by the end of 2017 (I brought my Japanese version of the Player's handbook to GaryCon X and got it signed by by Mike Mearls, Tracy Hickman and Joe Manganiello- which was all pretty cool). Since then several of the adventures and other rules books have been translated into Japanese although I haven't kept up on buying them all (I have them in English, after all). So it seems to be doing fine in Japan.

Just to clarify: with those numbers, D&D5 is still one of the top players in the German market. And similarly to what you describe for Japan, most books from the line have been or will be translated. So yes, D&D seems to be doing quite well. Yet, when we compare it to the 80s and 90s where early editions of The Dark Eye were found in ordinary stores and sold more than 100000 copies/boxes, it feels like the TTRPG resurgence has not quite caught on here.

Jay Verkuilen · Jul 13, 2019

Henry said:
Anecdotal, but it leads me to suspect there’s a LOT of regular players out there who are pretty invested but still haven’t tried both sides of the table, I suspect because there’s always been someone else to step in and DM and save them from the intimidating proposition of running a game.

I've met a number of often quite good players who either won't or can't DM. I know I ended up DMing early because I was the "early adopter" among my friends (due to the Erol Otus cover Red Box) back in the day and so I had it pushed onto me, but I suppose if I hadn't had to step up right away I'd not necessarily know what to do. It's not an easy skill to pick up. I've also met some folks who are better at DMing than playing, for instance not being able to turn off their inner DM.

Jay Verkuilen · Jul 13, 2019

GreyLord said:
Well, it seems they clarified it (responding without having read the rest of the thread yet).

The number is a hype number (no other hard numbers to back it up, such as PHB's sold total...etc.). <...> They want the impression that it is selling well and everyone is buying into it. This is good for marketing in some instances.

Remember the advice of Sage Carlton Douglas Ridenhour: Don't believe the hype!

Scrivener of Doom · Jul 15, 2019

Mistwell said:
This is not good logic. How lazy you are as a person cannot be measured by whether you choose to play or DM for a game.

Um, there's the implied context of my statement: In the context of the RPG hobby, players are lazier.

It's neither a particularly controversial viewpoint nor lacking in logic.

Mistwell · Jul 15, 2019

Scrivener of Doom said:
Um, there's the implied context of my statement: In the context of the RPG hobby, players are lazier.

It's neither a particularly controversial viewpoint nor lacking in logic.

I think within your implied context, my retort stands. It's bad logic. It is controversial, as seen by the fact almost nobody here agreed with your statement and most responses were disagreement. You just assuming it's not controversial because it's what you happen to believe is...well...kinda lazy. Look around - you're not seeing what most people would call an "not controversial" reaction. I don't think laziness can be measured by mere "player vs DM role" choice. I don't think there is a correlation there.

You have some DMs who just open a published adventure and start DMing right from the book without any prep (what you might call lazy). In contrast, you have some players who spend weeks working out a back story and hours outside the game working up after action game reports and journals for the group, handling treasure divving, mapping, trying to work on adventure clues, planning stategy, etc.. The spectrum of DMs an players is broad and not a good topic for generalizations much less firm statements like "one is lazier than the other".

Tony Vargas · Jul 15, 2019

Scrivener of Doom said:
Um, there's the implied context of my statement: In the context of the RPG hobby, players are lazier.

That's an unwarranted generalization.
Playing is less demanding than running, generally speaking. It varies with the game. Chargen can be incredibly involved in some system, for instance. Other systems take a lot of the load of the GM and share it out to the players.

True, in the context of D&D, players have less of a burden, though, again, it varies both in degree and nature. For instance, in the current ed, the DM has a very heavy burden relative to the prior ed, and, while it's perhaps comparable in degree to what it was in 3.x, it's not a matter of time/effort in prepping detailed monsters, NPCs, challenges, & magic items, rather, it's mostly a burden of responsibility.

Finally, a lot of us both play and DM. Our innate laziness or industry does not change when we shift roles.

It's neither a particularly controversial viewpoint nor lacking in logic.

Where you went wrong was in drawing conclusions about people's innate qualities (so, yeah, your logic was flawed), rather than making a point about the game: that players generally have less work to do (acquiring knowledge of the system, prep, attention & energy at the table) and shoulder less responsibility for the success of a session & campaign than the DM.
I suspect /that/ would be a less controversial way of putting it.