More games, and gaming, now than ever before?

[TerraDave]

I have old gaming catalogues, from the late 80’s and early 90’s, and those things have a lot of products and a lot of games. And a lot of companies that seemed able to churn out box sets and hardbacks and other supplements to sustain all these game lines.

So many that I assumed that the number of games out there and being played had fallen sharply, and would never recover.

Now, I am not so sure.

The fantasy mainstream has, in the last few years, seen the launch of 4E, Pathfinder, and the new Warhammer. A Dragon Age box set is to be coming soon.

Hero, Shadowrun, GURPS, WoD, Traveler, CoC, and Runequest all have (or will have soon) newish editions and or some kind of ongoing support.
OGL games like Mutants & Masterminds and Spycraft (and Fantasycraft) remain in print and still have a strong following.

The indigame scene seems to still be thriving; I can get Mousegard at my local bookstore.

The “Old School Renaissance” has maintained support for, and cloned, out of print versions of D&D and some other pre-1985 games and confirmed that many of those games remain popular.

And then there is Savage Worlds, Battlestar Galatica/Serenity, and any number of other games I am forgetting.

Which leads me to wonder: is there more rp-gaming (if not more rpgers) than ever before?

 

[Derren]

Depends. Personally I think not because of the lack of OGL support for 4E.

But if you believe WotC that 4E sells better than every other D&D edition then it is true, because despite that several other RPGs are able to challenge and, for a time, outsell D&D (according to amazon), something which didn't happen in the 3E area.

 

[jdrakeh]

But if you believe WotC that 4E sells better than every other D&D edition then it is true, because despite that several other RPGs are able to challenge and, for a time, outsell D&D (according to amazon), something which didn't happen in the 3E area.

Actually, at one point, I believe that Exalted briefly surpassed D&D 3x in sales, according to a sampling of retail data collected by trade magazine C&GR. Since then, I don't believe that any other game has displaced D&D as the top seller industry wide. Have you link to evidence of other RPGs outselling D&D 4e? I'd provide one to C&GR, but since it's a print mag, that's not possible.

 

[TerraDave]

Hmm. I don't know if 4E is selling better then past versions (as argued to and fro in many threads here).

But plenty of people seem interested in it, and pathfinder, and the new WHFRPG, and the new edition of Shadowrun...which was more my point.

 

[Rykion]

Actually, at one point, I believe that Exalted briefly surpassed D&D 3x in sales, according to a sampling of retail data collected by trade magazine C&GR. Since then, I don't believe that any other game has displaced D&D as the top seller industry wide. Have you link to evidence of other RPGs outselling D&D 4e? I'd provide one to C&GR, but since it's a print mag, that's not possible.

Derren seems to be talking about the Amazon sales lists which only cover Amazon and update hourly. The Pathfinder RPG core book is #1 right now, but 4th ed core book set and the 4th ed PHB collection are #2 and #3.
Amazon.com Books Bestsellers: The most popular items in Gaming. Updated hourly.

 

[Derren]

Derren seems to be talking about the Amazon sales lists which only cover Amazon and update hourly. The Pathfinder RPG core book is #1 right now, but 4th ed core book set and the 4th ed PHB collection are #2 and #3.
Amazon.com Books Bestsellers: The most popular items in Gaming. Updated hourly.

As I said in my post I used the Amazon sales charts for that (assuming that amazon sales are roughly in line with game shops, at least for the big RPGS out there).

And over the past few months Dark Heresy, Pathfinder and Warhammer 3E managed, for a time, to outsell D&D or at least to sell equally well.
If you have more accurate data about RPG sales I would like to hear them.

 

[Obryn]

As far as 4e D&D is concerned, I am running a game, playing in another, and immediately aware of 3 others relatively local to me. This is more than I found with 3e, and I think at least part of it is because several people I know didn't want to (or didn't feel comfortable being the) DM until 4e came around. I'm also aware of a wacky 3.5ish game, and a Shadowrun game somewhere.

This is more gaming than I've seen, personally, since I moved to Central IL. So it looks like a small renaissance here, at least.

-O

 

[TerraDave]

Could we please drop the 4E sales discusion? Its a horse that has been beaten to death over and over in other threads.

 

[maddman75]

As far as 4e D&D is concerned, I am running a game, playing in another, and immediately aware of 3 others relatively local to me. This is more than I found with 3e, and I think at least part of it is because several people I know didn't want to (or didn't feel comfortable being the) DM until 4e came around. I'm also aware of a wacky 3.5ish game, and a Shadowrun game somewhere.

This is more gaming than I've seen, personally, since I moved to Central IL. So it looks like a small renaissance here, at least.

-O

Same in Springfield. I know of or am personally involved in the following

Exalted
Hunter: The Vigil
Savage Worlds
2e D&D
4e D&D
Another 4e D&D

Our meetup group runs all kinds of games, and there are plenty of other gamers about. There's a healthy Warhammer/WHFRP group that seems to be taking to 3e, Pathfinder has some shelf space at the FLGS.

Tons of gaming, and new people interested in gaming. All the doom and gloom threads mean nothing to me.

Hey, maybe its the economy. Gaming's cheap, from a cost/hour perspective.

 

[TerraDave]

so much gaming, I will give this just one bump.