From Forgotten Realms to Red Steel: Here's That Full D&D Setting Sales Chart

Whether this will end a thousand internet arguments or fuel another thousand, Ben Riggs, author of Slaying the Dragon: A Secret History of Dungeons and Dragons, has finally published the combined chart of cumulative sales for every AD&D setting from 1979 to 1999.

Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, Oriental Adventures, and Dragonlance lead the pack. The least selling setting was Red Steel in 1994. There was a clear decline in sales of all settings from 1989 onwards, so that's not necessary a comment on quality. Planescape, certainly a cult favourite, sold surprisingly few copies.

Slaying the Dragon - Macmillan

The secret and untold story of how TSR, the company that created Dungeons & Dragons, was driven into ruin by disastrous management decisions, then ...

read.macmillan.com

In order, the best-selling settings were:

1. Forgotten Realms
2. Greyhawk
3. Oriental Adventures
4. Dragonlance
5. Ravenloft
6. Dark Sun
7. Spelljammer
8. Lankhmar
9. Al-Qadim
10. Planescape
11. Birthright
12. Maztica
13. Karameikos
14. Red Steel

These stats were compiled as part of his research into his book, Slaying the Dragon: A Secret History of Dungeons and Dragons, which you should totally buy.

Slaying the Dragon - Macmillan

The secret and untold story of how TSR, the company that created Dungeons & Dragons, was driven into ruin by disastrous management decisions, then ...

read.macmillan.com

Let's dive into some individual sales charts! Note, these are for the primary setting product, not for additional adventures, supplements, etc.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

You can choose to be insulted if you want, but that wasn't my intent.

….that’s some interesting phrasing.

 

[Reynard]

If Spelljammer is being OK boomered then I’m sure WotC will want more of that.
It’s like at the top 100 out of all books on Amazon US in preorder.

I could absolutely be wrong but I don't think Greyhawk and Spelljammer are in the same category. Greyhawk is at least a decade earlier, a whole generation of gamers, and Spelljammer has its easily recognizable visual cues. I mean, how long did WotC seed Spelljammer in other modules and jokes on podcasts and such?

Anyway, I am happy to be proven wrong. I am not making any quality judgement on GH.

 

[darjr]

Well it was being poo pooed. So many wanted too that Jeff Grubb actually told people to chill.

 

[Bedrockgames]

3. The market isn't grognards. It's new players.

You will all be grognards one day. I remember laughing at the grognards in my youth. Then suddenly I found myself a grognard.

My feeling is they can attract new fans and still appeal to old ones. The people who have been with the hobby for a long time are an important life support for the hobby. Right now we are in a boom, just like we were in a boom in the early 80s. But I remember how much the hobby started dying and you really needed those die hard gamers to keep it alive through that.

 

[Reynard]

You will all be grognards one day. I remember laughing at the grognards in my youth. Then suddenly I found myself a grognard.

My feeling is they can attract new fans and still appeal to old ones. The people who have been with the hobby for a long time are an important life support for the hobby. Right now we are in a boom, just like we were in a boom in the early 80s. But I remember how much the hobby started dying and you really needed those die hard gamers to keep it alive through that.

We are actually kind of overdue for a bust cycle, which is interesting.

 

[Mannahnin]

I could absolutely be wrong but I don't think Greyhawk and Spelljammer are in the same category. Greyhawk is at least a decade earlier, a whole generation of gamers, and Spelljammer has its easily recognizable visual cues. I mean, how long did WotC seed Spelljammer in other modules and jokes on podcasts and such?

Anyway, I am happy to be proven wrong. I am not making any quality judgement on GH.

Is there that much difference between thirty years ago and forty years ago in the eyes of new gamers starting today, or say, in the last five years?

Obviously modern marketing for either has to appeal to the young gamers.

 

[Blue Orange]

You will all be grognards one day. I remember laughing at the grognards in my youth. Then suddenly I found myself a grognard.

The beards have all grown longer overnight...

 

[schneeland]

You will all be grognards one day. I remember laughing at the grognards in my youth. Then suddenly I found myself a grognard.

Also, grognards often have more disposable income for gaming. I'm not saying, you should target only grognards (even though there's a market for that, too, IMO), but trying to also make the people who stayed with your brand for a long time happen once in a while is probably not a bad move.

 

[Reynard]

Also, grognards often have more disposable income for gaming. I'm not saying, you should target only grognards (even though there's a market for that, too, IMO), but trying to also make the people who stayed with your brand for a long time happen once in a while is probably not a bad move.

Generally speaking, older people are more set in their ways (this isn't always true, of course) so you can probably expect some resistance to the kind of changes you need to update old settings. Exhibit A: the poopstorm following the Ravenloft book release. I fully expect one following the Spelljammer release, too. The farther apart the "old" and "new" customers are, the less likely you can make a product that appeals to both, and there's a certain point where the benefits of appealing to the old at all just disappears.

 

[schneeland]

Generally speaking, older people are more set in their ways (this isn't always true, of course) so you can probably expect some resistance to the kind of changes you need to update old settings. Exhibit A: the poopstorm following the Ravenloft book release. I fully expect one following the Spelljammer release, too. The farther apart the "old" and "new" customers are, the less likely you can make a product that appeals to both, and there's a certain point where the benefits of appealing to the old at all just disappears.

Careful modernization is indeed tricky and you are right that Ravenloft sparked debate (I also think it's not exactly WotC's strength). I was rather thinking about things like Runequest (both the Runequest 2 re-issue and the new edition) or Goodman Game's Original Adventure series as indication that there is clearly people who are willing to spend money on nostalgia-inducing products.