D&D 5E Dungeons & Dragons Boom!

SovietDM · Aug 28, 2019

Zardnaar said:
Hard to say. It didn't exist in 3E and was in it's infancy when 4E landed.

More online shopping as well.

VTTs are also nature tech, cutting edge in 2008.

I would say that, 5E being comparatively simple to play and being good are big factors.

Social media I would argue us a large part of it, the product being good also helps, negative social media can bury stuff.

I agree.

SovietDM · Aug 28, 2019

I do like VTT.

Zardnaar · Aug 28, 2019

I have often thought if 4E was released now it would die even faster than in 2008-10. People would be burying it on you tube and Twitter.

3E released in the social media world would be interesting. It was fairly big at the time, people liked it as well so it would have been even bigger.

SovietDM · Aug 28, 2019

Zardnaar said:
3E released in the social media world would be interesting. It was fairly big at the time, people liked it as well so it would have been even bigger.

Especially 3.5e

Zardnaar · Aug 28, 2019

nobody69.420 said:
Especially 3.5e

Nope 3.5 was a bit if a flop. 3.0 outsold it by 2 or 3 to one. It's one of the least selling D&D's apparently. 3.5 popped the OGL bubble in 2004. Same year WoW landed.
It's better than 3.0 but didn't have the same impact.

SovietDM · Aug 28, 2019

Zardnaar said:
Nope 3.5 was a bit if a flop.

Oh. That's unfortunate, a lot of people have told me good things about 3.5e. I though that it would have done better, but I never looked at it's sales rates.

ad_hoc · Aug 28, 2019

nobody69.420 said:
So in other words, the main reason for Dungeons and Dragons's rise in popularity is the rise in streaming and social media?

It could be that people like the game.

Zardnaar · Aug 28, 2019

nobody69.420 said:
Oh. That's unfortunate, a lot of people have told me good things about 3.5e. I though that it would have done better, but I never looked at it's sales rates.

3.0 was the big hit of 3E, 3.5 split the playerbase. Not everyone upgraded.

As I understand it 3.0 came out at $20 on release. That was the same price as 2E in 1989. It sold a boatload, 3.5 was planned but they rushed it out the door at a higher price point.

At 3.0 price level a 3pp could not print their own phb and make money as not all the corporate types liked the OGL.

3.5 cost more and other companies made their own phbs. They probably only sold a few thousand copies but it scared the higher ups so they rushed 4E out the door.

With the higher price though Paizo could make their own. And we know what type of reception 4E got.

SovietDM · Aug 28, 2019

ad_hoc said:
It could be that people like the game.

Of course, who wouldn't? Most people that don't play, don't play, because they never have.

Hussar · Aug 28, 2019

Zardnaar said:
Hard to say. It didn't exist in 3E and was in it's infancy when 4E landed.

More online shopping as well.

VTTs are also mature tech, cutting edge in 2008.

I would say that, 5E being comparatively simple to play and being good are big factors.

Social media I would argue us a large part of it, the product being good also helps, negative social media can bury stuff.

I'd hardly call VTT's "cutting edge" in 2008. Maptools, for example, was programmed in Java, and Fantasy Grounds was a dinosaur even back then. Roll20 and other browser based VTT's were still a pipe dream at that point.

But, no, VTT's have never been "cutting edge". Closer to "Kludge of old code that folks cobbled together to create a barely functional platform"