D&D 5E PHB is #3 right now on "Amazon's Hot New Releases"

[Sailor Moon]

Maybe there is some confusion between the internet vs BBS's? True, few people were on the internet in 1982, but I can remember occasionally dialing up to BBS's from 1984 onward, and I wasn't especially ahead of the curve as far as I know. I think there were definitely BBS based rpg discussions going on in the early 80s.

Even if he was on a BBS, they were generally local so it would be people in your local community. Not much difference in meeting up the road or chatting on the phone.

 

[Mistwell]

Even if he was on a BBS, they were generally local so it would be people in your local community. Not much difference in meeting up the road or chatting on the phone.

You really have no friggen clue what you are talking about. Around 1984 FidoNet spread, to make BBSes nationally usable. Sure, we had to wait for the nightly download, so discussions were slower than they are now. But it was national. We had national messaging as well, which also did nightly downloads. I live in Los Angeles, we had several huge BBSes here. Thousands of people. Hundreds on at one time. My friend was running so many phone lines in his apartment building that the phone company thought he was re-selling lines.

 

[Mistwell]

Mistwell said he was on the internet in 1982.

No, I did not. I said

I was actively talking D&D on BBS's in 1982 using my Commodore 64 (and thanks to FidoNet, it was national discussion by the mid 80s, with national email too thanks to EchoMail). By 1991 a lot of us were already on university internet access playing Nethack, MUDs, and emailing using PINE while discussing D&D on Usenet.

Does nobody understand what a BBS and FidoNet were?

 

[Iosue]

No, I did not. I said

Does nobody understand what a BBS and FidoNet were?

Fair enough, I was using "internet" as a catch-all term for "communicating with people via computer", including BBSes, Usenet, and email mailing lists, even though technically those might not be considered "internet". I assumed that's why you brought it up in this discussion. It's no biggie.

 

[Doc_Klueless]

Sure, we had to wait for the nightly download, so discussions were slower than they are now. But it was national. We had national messaging as well, which also did nightly downloads.

Wow. Flashback! I remember going over to my friend's house and watching a movie until just after midnight, then catching up on the new downloads to his BBS. Wild ride on the memory express! Toot! Toot!

That was before I left permanently for the Army between AIT and Permanent Station, sooo 1988(?) maybe?

 

[Umbran]

I would call it BS to be honest.

You would, except that wouldn't be particularly civil of you to repeatedly suggest someone was lying. And EN World's Rule #1 is "Keep it civil."

So you would, but you'll refrain from doing so, right? (Rhetorical question)

If you think someone is saying something that isn't accurate, there are loads of more diplomatic ways to put it. Please find one of them, in the future.

 

[TerraDave]

Back to Amazon rankings, still two D&D books in overall top 50, and two in top 100 for new releases.

Top D&D books in Fantasy Gaming

#1 MM: 22 overall, 13 in hot new releases
#2 PHB: 33 overall, 17 in most wished for
#3 Starter Set: 208 overall, a dip, but not much since I started tracking Aug 6
#4 DMG: 281 overall, 77 in hot new releases
#6 HotDQ: 597 overall, finally over taken by the Zelda book.

For some perspective on the overall sales rank, that Zelda book, which is the #1 "strategy guide" for games, is 412th overall.

 

[Parmandur]

That Zelda book, incidentally, is amazing; good company to be keeping!

 

[aramis erak]

Mistwell said he was on the internet in 1982.

Look up ARPANet and Milnet. If he/she/it was in the military in 1982, and was in intel, administration, or environmental programs, the odds are pretty damned good they were on what would eventually become known as the internet.

ARPANet was the original backbone
DARPANet was a rename for it, when ARPA became DARPA.
MilNet was a spur network starting in about 1983

Many FidoNet gateways existed connecting to the civilian side by the late 80's.

 

[TerraDave]

We are at the 2 month point for the thread, lets see where things stand with the top books in fantasy gaming:

#1 MM 24 overall, 16 in new releases, 25/28 5 star reviews
#2 PHB 39 overall, 28 most wished for, 269/334 5 star reviews
#3 Starter Set 302 overall (released July 15)
# 4 DMG 311 overall, 83 in new releases
#6 HotDQ 663 overall

Still pretty strong. The starter set is going on 3 months. Compared to, say, the 4E red box, well, there is no comparing, with the 5E ranking much much higher. (Same for PFBB, though , as we know, that is going to be less amazon dependent).

One interesting comparison is Keep on the Shadowfell. This actually did pretty well in its first month, when it was the only product available to play 4E. Sales rank went from 152 to 183, so comparable to the 5E starter set. (and better then HotDQ). Unfortunately we do not have any other sample until Oct, when it plummets down to 9000 or so. And its early reviews, well those were also a little different than the ones for the starter set, or any 5E product.

OK, that’s probably the last of these I do for a while, but I will probably do an update at some point.