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.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

I'm with you on "that sounds super cool, so why would there be complaints?"

But I also take some issue with the "you're totally wrong, this is a big difference that you can't see because you don't know enough and you'll be sorry, you'll see!" tone of the original message, here. Like, why do we have to be so confrontational over something so minor?

And if you don't want to have your players deal with Outer Plane stuff while using the Astral as a go-between, just... don't? It's really not hard.

Never said I'd complain, just pointing out it's a much more serious change then maybe it appeared at first glance.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

If funny that the broader FR (including Kara Tur, Faerun, Al Qadim, Maztica) occupies so many slots. One can't help wondering if TSR hadn't gone under, how many more Forgotten Realms expansions would we have gotten?

 

[SakanaSensei]

Never said I'd complain, just pointing out it's a much more serious change then maybe it appeared at first glance.

We'll just have to disagree on what constitutes a "serious change," it feels extremely minor to the point of being nothing to me.

 

[Peter BOSCO'S]

If funny that the broader FR (including Kara Tur, Faerun, Al Qadim, Maztica) occupies so many slots. One can't help wondering if TSR hadn't gone under, how many more Forgotten Realms expansions would we have gotten?

We are still waiting on a treatment for Osse (oversized FR "Australia"), Katashaka (FR "South America"), Anchorome (FR "North America") (although small parts of each were sort of covered in Maztica, the "Central America" analog), and Laerakon (which was "visiting" Toril during 4th ed).

 

[dave2008]

What does it mean when a "sales" number dips below zero?

* Also, why on earth are all those charts formatted differently?

The author explained it in one of his earlier posts. It means returns were greater than sales.

 

[Scott Christian]

Really the most surprising thing on that chart is that Planescape didn't sell better. I guess I wasn't the only one left wholly unimpressed by it (aside from DiTerlizzi's exquisite art, anyway).

The 2nd most surprising? The popularity of Oriental Adventures. I knew it was big, but I never thought it was THAT big.

Although we never knew anything about the numbers or even advertising for the game back then, this directly matches my friends' and our group's purchases. We were just teenagers, but apparently we were the "market."

 

[DorkForge]

As a person that started playing in 5E here's why I don't really have any interest in Greyhawk as a property:

It's just a fantasy setting, or at least, that's what it comes across as.

Eberron, Ravenloft, Spelljammer, Dark Sun etc. are all dramatically different from a typical fantasy setting, they have gimmicks and novelties that set them apart and draw interest. Whilst there is a touch of Greyhawk in 5e, I'd wager that most players didn't notice and don't care, Saltmarsh being set there is just a bit of 'neat' trivia to me personally, it doesn't fundamentally change the experience.

That said, should they choose to sell Greyhawk stuff it will sell well, not because of Grognards with disposable income, but because 5e sells well.

 

[Von Ether]

As a person that started playing in 5E here's why I don't really have any interest in Greyhawk as a property:

It's just a fantasy setting, or at least, that's what it comes across as.

Eberron, Ravenloft, Spelljammer, Dark Sun etc. are all dramatically different from a typical fantasy setting, they have gimmicks and novelties that set them apart and draw interest. Whilst there is a touch of Greyhawk in 5e, I'd wager that most players didn't notice and don't care, Saltmarsh being set there is just a bit of 'neat' trivia to me personally, it doesn't fundamentally change the experience.

That said, should they choose to sell Greyhawk stuff it will sell well, not because of Grognards with disposable income, but because 5e sells well.

And even then, WotC pitched 5e Ravenloft as gothic fantasy and 5e Eberron as Noir Fantasy.

I totally get that viewpoint to the point since the aughts I haven't bought anything Greyhawk/Dragon Lance/Forgotten Realms even as retro PDF. They are all too vanilla for me.

For the fans, though, there are nuances:
Greyhawk is more old school swords and sorcery where things are tough and the villains tougher, though some may say GH has gotten more vanilla over time.

Dragon Lance is more romanticized fantasy with knights, evil dragons, and love triangles

Forgotten Realms is now it's own beast. Part high fantasy, part pulpy fantasy, party superheros, part Earth cultural analog. With that big of an umbrella, though, you can fit the adventures you want to run in the other two setting in FR.

 

[Dungeonosophy]

Ben Riggs here!
These numbers are taken from internal company documents I've been given. As such, they are apparently what the company considered settings. Your points are well taken. But I'm a historian at the mercy of what data has trickled down to us from the past. There's tons of data I don't have. Everything in your post for example. Also, I have no data on the vast majority of novels, and the vast majority of adventures.

Ben, thanks for replying! Right, I mistakenly pictured that you had a gigantic spreadsheet with, like, sales numbers for every product published in the 80s and 90s. So I was perplexed why some products were highlighted in the charts and some weren’t. But yeah, Im glad you shared what you did. I look forward to the book!

 

[Parmandur]

As a person that started playing in 5E here's why I don't really have any interest in Greyhawk as a property:

It's just a fantasy setting, or at least, that's what it comes across as.

Eberron, Ravenloft, Spelljammer, Dark Sun etc. are all dramatically different from a typical fantasy setting, they have gimmicks and novelties that set them apart and draw interest. Whilst there is a touch of Greyhawk in 5e, I'd wager that most players didn't notice and don't care, Saltmarsh being set there is just a bit of 'neat' trivia to me personally, it doesn't fundamentally change the experience.

That said, should they choose to sell Greyhawk stuff it will sell well, not because of Grognards with disposable income, but because 5e sells well.

That's exactly why it is such a popular Setting, same as Forgotten Realms and Exandria. Gimmicks are not as useful for game proposal as generic material is.