Latest ICv2 Stats Sees Free League's 'Alien' RPG Sneak Into Top 5!

ICv2's top hobby channel roleplaying games chart is in (this reflects Fall 2019). The top spots are the same as usual, while the bottom as always features the flavor of the day -- in this case, it's Free League's awesome Alien RPG, knocking Vampire 5E off the list.

I'm not totally clear on the dates covered here, as Alien didn't come out until December or so. It had a pre-launch at Dragonmeet in London, followed up by a full launch a week or two later.

They also report that 2019 was the 11th consecutive year of hobby game growth, up 5% from 2018.

The chart is as follows:

1. Dungeons & Dragons (WotC)
2. Pathfinder (Paizo)
3. Shadowrun 6E (Catalyst Game Labs)
4. Star Wars (FFG)
5. Alien (Free League)

Free League, of course, also announced they'd picked up the Middle Earth license today.

See the top charts going back to 2004 here.

 

[Arilyn]

Well that's interesting. Good for them!

 

[Jester David]

I’m hard on licensed RPGs and had super low expectations of Alien RPG and it blew me away. I want to play it and run it, and it just became my go-to October one-shot RPG, supplanting Dread. Even if you want to drop the Xenomorphs and do Event Horizon or even Predator it would work.

If you haven’t checked out Alien, you need to get the PDF.

 

[BrockBallingdark]

I was part of the original pre-order and ran "The Chariot of the Gods" module for my normal game players. They absolutely loved it and I also loved how the game rules ran and how it really made you feel like you were on a space ship of terror. Love that it's #5, it deserves it!

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I'm looking forward to how they crossover Aliens with the One Ring.

 

[Mistwell]

I'm looking forward to how they crossover Aliens with the One Ring.

The Witch-King of Angmar is gonna find better help than some elephant riding easterners this time!

 

[Skywalker]

I'm looking forward to how they crossover Aliens with the One Ring.

That mithral shirt only serves to keep the chestbuster in

 

[TrippyHippy]

Not sure how long Alien will last, to be honest, and Star Wars will need a new home soon or it’s going to drop down too I’d imagine. Big mover this last quarter was Shadowrun. V5 needs to get more supplements out - although there have been a couple out this last couple of weeks.

 

[Fredrix]

I reckon Star Wars will stay with Asmodee, oven if FFG are shuttering their RPG lines

 

[TrippyHippy]

I reckon Star Wars will stay with Asmodee, oven if FFG are shuttering their RPG lines

Maybe. My understanding is that Asmodee are a distribution company though - do they have staff to write more books?

Beyond that, I do wonder whether the movies finishing for the time-being might slow down sales in Star Wars gaming products? Personally, I’m just happy they did the 30th Anniversary of the D6 (WEG) version of the game.