D&D General All Basic, B/X and BECMI and Rules Cyclopedia set sales, from Ben Riggs.

[Malmuria]

5es nostalgia play is for Basic, not AD&D. Subconsciously I think it’s one of the reasons I’ve liked it so much.

What do you mean? I think Mearls was (infamously) influenced by the OSR which had revived OD&D and Basic in distilling their gameplay assumptions. So in that sense, aspects of 5e, like its relative simplicity and core game loop, probably owe something to basic. At the same time, they didn't include very explicit exploration procedures, and other elements of the class design are very cumbersome compared to basic. But the initial marketing struck me as very 1e and 2e nostalgic, both in the idea that a dnd campaign is this long epic story (2e) but also in the specific adventures they were reimagining (elemental evil-->princes of the apocalypse, against the giants-->storm kings thunder, etc).

 

[Reynard]

What do you mean? I think Mearls was (infamously) influenced by the OSR which had revived OD&D and Basic in distilling their gameplay assumptions. So in that sense, aspects of 5e, like its relative simplicity and core game loop, probably owe something to basic. At the same time, they didn't include very explicit exploration procedures, and other elements of the class design are very cumbersome compared to basic. But the initial marketing struck me as very 1e and 2e nostalgic, both in the idea that a dnd campaign is this long epic story (2e) but also in the specific adventures they were reimagining (elemental evil-->princes of the apocalypse, against the giants-->storm kings thunder, etc).

All the WotC edition have been follow ons of the AD&D tradition (you can tell by the numbering) but 5E definitely embraced the core simplicity of Basic. it is too bad that it didn't also embrace the procedural nature of either B/X or BECMI, though. Clear procedures for exploration -- dungeon or wilderness -- would have been welcome.

 

[darjr]

Combined graph of all sales of basic.

Behold! Total sales of D&D boxed sets 1979-1997! Data includes Basic, Expert, Companion, Master, Immortal & Rules Cyclopedia!

Next up, a final tally of D&D vs. AD&D sales, including all D&D boxed sets and the Cyclopedia, and all monster products for AD&D.

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

 

[CleverNickName]

Combined graph of all sales of basic.

Behold! Total sales of D&D boxed sets 1979-1997! Data includes Basic, Expert, Companion, Master, Immortal & Rules Cyclopedia!

Next up, a final tally of D&D vs. AD&D sales, including all D&D boxed sets and the Cyclopedia, and all monster products for AD&D.

View attachment 256086

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

(sigh) Ah, my favorite edition. It was truly the King of the 1980s, wasn't it?

 

[Stormonu]

@darjr - any way to coax Ben to give numbers for “Wrath of the Immortals”? I believe that was the redo of the Immortal ruleset done a few years later.

 

[darjr]

@darjr - any way to coax Ben to give numbers for “Wrath of the Immortals”? I believe that was the redo of the Immortal ruleset done a few years later.

I’ll ask!