Though we’ve been speculating about what the new setting recently pre-announced for D&D might or might not be (Icewind Dale being one suggestion), there's some doubt about whether it exists at all!
I think it is working well because they're not flooding the market with tons of supplements, which inevitably are subject to diminishing returns.
But let's look at some numbers. As of this moment, among Gaming books on Amazon, the D&D books rank as follows:
KEY core rulebook starter set splat setting book adventure path accessory
1. PHB
2. DMG
3. MM 5. Xanathar 6. Essentials Kit 7. Volo's 9. Starter Set 10. Gift set 11. Wildemount 12. Mordenkainen's 13. Eberron
16. Sword Coast
18. Theros 23. DM Screen 27. Saltmarsh 31. Spellbook Cards - Arcane 32. Dragon Heist 35. Ravnica 37. Curse of Strahd
42. Tomb of Annihilation
44. Descent in Avernus 45. Character Sheets
50. Magic Item Cards
51. Spellbook Cards - Cleric 53. Dungeon of the Mad Mage
54. Hoard of the Dragon Queen
61. Storm King's Thunder 65. Spellbook Cards - Xanathar
68. Tarokka Deck
69. Spellbook Cards - Paladin
70. Spellbook Cards - Druid
71. Creature & NPC Cards 72. Tales from the Yawning Portal
73. Rise of Tiamat
75. Out of the Abyss 76. Spellbook Cards - Ranger
77. Spellbook Cards - Bard
78. Laeral's Explorer's Kit
86. Monster Cards 0-5 92. Acquisitions Incorporated 97. Spellbook Cards - Martial & Races
Out of top 100: Princes of Apocalypse.
Now this doesn't mean everything, as it is unclear to what degree the sales rank is just today, or if it includes previous days, and to what degree. But I think it does give us some info on on sales relative to each other. Again, with the caveat of uncertainty of time-span.
But let's pretend that the sales rank means something beyond just today, or at least that it is representative of current sales. A few things that we can glean:
- The core three continue to sell very well. The PHB is currently #158 in all books, although I know it occasionally dips into the top 100--which is remarkable, considering it is six years old. The DMG is #279 and MM is #339 in books, so they also sell well. Compare that to the lowest ranking book, Princes of the Apocalypse, which is outside the top 100 in Gaming (my guess is in the 101-120) and #18,842 in all books.
- The starter sets sell really well. Not surprising, as they are essentially connected to the core books. The numbers are also probably higher as they sell a bunch in other stores.
- The splat books sell really well. Volo, Xanathar, and Mordenkainen have all been out for at least two years, and are still the 4th, 5th, and 7th best-selling hardcovers, respectively.
- Setting books seem to sell reasonably well, with Sword Coast maintaining a good ranking five years after being published. Hard to say with Wildemount and Eberron as they're pretty recent. Ravnica has fallen a bit, but seems to be hanging in with the more popular story arcs.
- Older story arcs don't sell all that well. It would seem that unlike splats and settings, after their publication and initial sales spike, they fall.
- Acquisitions Incorporated may be a bit of a dud. It came out less than a year ago and is the second lowest book.
So based on all that, I'd guess the tiers of sales are:
Tier One: Core rulebooks
Tier Two: Starter sets, splat books, new/popular setting books, new story arcs
Tier Three: Older/less popular setting books (?), recent story arcs
Tier Four: Un-popular books, older story arcs, accessories
Meaning, setting books seem to have a higher baseline for continual sales than most story arcs, although it is unclear if initial sales on story arcs is higher. Splat books sell really well at a continued rate, and Sword Coast has done (surprisingly?) well in a long-term sense. One would think that this would increase the impetus to publish a full FR campaign guide.
Nathan Stewart said in early 2019 that Ravnica had huge initial sales, like staggering early sales, enough that he said they would have had more Settings sooner in the pipeline if they had any idea how well it would sell. As such, he implied we might start seeing some more Settings with the light hint of more Magic crossovers. A year and a half later, we're looking at three more Setting books including another Magic product.
I dunno if we can say that AI is a dud as such: the target audience might have picked it up very quickly, and Penny Arcade sells the book on their own web store.
Yeah, I'm referring to novels. And "out of print" specifically means "not printed" which makes ebooks irrelevant for the discussion.
I never made any claim that they were difficult to get access too. There's a million second hand bookshop packed with Dragonlance. I said the novels were out of print for the most part. Which they are. Whether I can get Unsung Heroes on DMsGuild is irrelevant.
I think it is working well because they're not flooding the market with tons of supplements, which inevitably are subject to diminishing returns.
But let's look at some numbers. As of this moment, among Gaming books on Amazon, the D&D books rank as follows:
KEY core rulebook starter set splat setting book adventure path accessory
1. PHB
2. DMG
3. MM 5. Xanathar 6. Essentials Kit 7. Volo's 9. Starter Set 10. Gift set 11. Wildemount 12. Mordenkainen's 13. Eberron
16. Sword Coast
18. Theros 23. DM Screen 27. Saltmarsh 31. Spellbook Cards - Arcane 32. Dragon Heist 35. Ravnica 37. Curse of Strahd
42. Tomb of Annihilation
44. Descent in Avernus 45. Character Sheets
50. Magic Item Cards
51. Spellbook Cards - Cleric 53. Dungeon of the Mad Mage
54. Hoard of the Dragon Queen
61. Storm King's Thunder 65. Spellbook Cards - Xanathar
68. Tarokka Deck
69. Spellbook Cards - Paladin
70. Spellbook Cards - Druid
71. Creature & NPC Cards 72. Tales from the Yawning Portal
73. Rise of Tiamat
75. Out of the Abyss 76. Spellbook Cards - Ranger
77. Spellbook Cards - Bard
78. Laeral's Explorer's Kit
86. Monster Cards 0-5 92. Acquisitions Incorporated 97. Spellbook Cards - Martial & Races
Out of top 100: Princes of Apocalypse.
Now this doesn't mean everything, as it is unclear to what degree the sales rank is just today, or if it includes previous days, and to what degree. But I think it does give us some info on on sales relative to each other. Again, with the caveat of uncertainty of time-span.
But let's pretend that the sales rank means something beyond just today, or at least that it is representative of current sales. A few things that we can glean:
- The core three continue to sell very well. The PHB is currently #158 in all books, although I know it occasionally dips into the top 100--which is remarkable, considering it is six years old. The DMG is #279 and MM is #339 in books, so they also sell well. Compare that to the lowest ranking book, Princes of the Apocalypse, which is outside the top 100 in Gaming (my guess is in the 101-120) and #18,842 in all books.
- The starter sets sell really well. Not surprising, as they are essentially connected to the core books. The numbers are also probably higher as they sell a bunch in other stores.
- The splat books sell really well. Volo, Xanathar, and Mordenkainen have all been out for at least two years, and are still the 4th, 5th, and 7th best-selling hardcovers, respectively.
- Setting books seem to sell reasonably well, with Sword Coast maintaining a good ranking five years after being published. Hard to say with Wildemount and Eberron as they're pretty recent. Ravnica has fallen a bit, but seems to be hanging in with the more popular story arcs.
- Older story arcs don't sell all that well. It would seem that unlike splats and settings, after their publication and initial sales spike, they fall.
- Acquisitions Incorporated may be a bit of a dud. It came out less than a year ago and is the second lowest book.
So based on all that, I'd guess the tiers of sales are:
Tier One: Core rulebooks
Tier Two: Starter sets, splat books, new/popular setting books, new story arcs
Tier Three: Older/less popular setting books (?), recent story arcs
Tier Four: Un-popular books, older story arcs, accessories
Meaning, setting books seem to have a higher baseline for continual sales than most story arcs, although it is unclear if initial sales on story arcs is higher. Splat books sell really well at a continued rate, and Sword Coast has done (surprisingly?) well in a long-term sense. One would think that this would increase the impetus to publish a full FR campaign guide.
I think the 5E splatbooks sell well because there are only 3 of them. Start pumping them out previous edition-style and watch their popularity (and quality) collapse.
Yeah, I'm referring to novels. And "out of print" specifically means "not printed" which makes ebooks irrelevant for the discussion.
I never made any claim that they were difficult to get access too. There's a million second hand bookshop packed with Dragonlance. I said the novels were out of print for the most part. Which they are. Whether I can get Unsung Heroes on DMsGuild is irrelevant.
I feel that Dragonlance suffers from the main story. Who wants to feel subordinate to the “big heroes,” who essentially already predetermine the fate of the world? Middle-earth kind of suffers from the same thing.
The original DL adventures were problematic even when they were published. I doubt we’ll see them published either.
However, there does seem to be a small resurgence of Dragonlance. One of my students reads the series and people online appear interested. And it was very popular when it came out. We’ll see.
However, we might see a Desert of Desolations type adventure. After Theros, we could see more thematic settings. First Greek, then Egyptian.
‘Twill be interesting to see. I’ll probably buy it regardless. I have really liked everything they’ve been putting out the last year or so.
I would like a Desert of Desolations adventure compilation similar to Ghosts of Saltmarsh, but I don't think that'll come until 2021, and not as a setting.
I really want to see a manual of the planes that is a guide to the multiverse, and I'd rather have a planeswalker narrate it than an old dnd character.
I feel that Dragonlance suffers from the main story. Who wants to feel subordinate to the “big heroes,” who essentially already predetermine the fate of the world? Middle-earth kind of suffers from the same thing.
I don't understand why you would feel subordinate to the heroes of the lance, even if you (for some reason) decide to stick to canon while playing a dnd campaign.
I really want to see a manual of the planes that is a guide to the multiverse, and I'd rather have a planeswalker narrate it than an old dnd character.
