What Does a "Successful" RPG Look Like?

• Is there a published physical book or other permanent artifact?,
• Do people know about it if you mention it?,
• Do I hear about people actually playing the RPG and enjoying it?,
• Could I convince one of my groups to play it, if we had the time of course?,
• Does it show up on (and stay on) various online "looking for players" / "looking for games" sites?,
• Can I see games played using this system at conventions?,
• Does it have some type of organized play program?,
• Does the publisher continue to publish material for it?,
• Are other publishers publishing material for it?,
• Is there a healthy community of GMs and creators regularly talking about it somewhere?,
• Does it have some type of open license so other people can build off of it or publish for it?,
• Can those publishers publish for it forever?,
• Are there regular successful crowdfunding campaigns for it from both first and third party publishers?

SlyFlourish said:

Here are some possible criteria folks might use to define a "successful" RPG. I don't necessarily agree with all of them or feel that a product must hit all of them to be successful but thought this list might help fuel the discussion.

• Is there a published physical book or other permanent artifact?,
• Do people know about it if you mention it?,
• Do I hear about people actually playing the RPG and enjoying it?,
• Could I convince one of my groups to play it, if we had the time of course?,
• Does it show up on (and stay on) various online "looking for players" / "looking for games" sites?,
• Can I see games played using this system at conventions?,
• Does it have some type of organized play program?,
• Does the publisher continue to publish material for it?,
• Are other publishers publishing material for it?,
• Is there a healthy community of GMs and creators regularly talking about it somewhere?,
• Does it have some type of open license so other people can build off of it or publish for it?,
• Can those publishers publish for it forever?,
• Are there regular successful crowdfunding campaigns for it from both first and third party publishers?

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SlyFlourish said:

Here are some possible criteria folks might use to define a "successful" RPG. I don't necessarily agree with all of them or feel that a product must hit all of them to be successful but thought this list might help fuel the discussion.

• Is there a published physical book or other permanent artifact?,
• Do people know about it if you mention it?,
• Do I hear about people actually playing the RPG and enjoying it?,
• Could I convince one of my groups to play it, if we had the time of course?,
• Does it show up on (and stay on) various online "looking for players" / "looking for games" sites?,
• Can I see games played using this system at conventions?,
• Does it have some type of organized play program?,
• Does the publisher continue to publish material for it?,
• Are other publishers publishing material for it?,
• Is there a healthy community of GMs and creators regularly talking about it somewhere?,
• Does it have some type of open license so other people can build off of it or publish for it?,
• Can those publishers publish for it forever?,
• Are there regular successful crowdfunding campaigns for it from both first and third party publishers?

Click to expand...

SlyFlourish said:

By these criteria, there are no other successful RPGs but D&D? That was actually sort of the point in me asking the question.

That last one the public almost certainly has no access to so we can't use that as a measure.

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Theory of Games said:

I answered the question. No other ttrpg has been as successful as D&D.

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Theory of Games said:

You have some very idealistic approaches to measuring success

I answered the question. No other ttrpg has been as successful as D&D. The public has access to some ttrpg sales data on sites such as DrivethruRPG (free access) and NPD Bookscan (requires a subscription).

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Morrus said:

I guess the question is: did it achieve the publisher's goals (whatever those may be)?

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Morrus said:

I don't know if 'successful' is the right word for it. It has too much baggage. But I can't think of a better word.

What makes it successful for the publisher might not be the same thing which makes it successful for a player and that might not be the same thing which makes it successful for a retailer or a distributor.

I guess the question is: did it achieve the publisher's goals (whatever those may be)? Those might be financial, might be popularity, might be innovation, might be measured in accessibility or inclusivity, might be measured by critical acclaim. Does it keep the company running, pay the bills, and pay peoples' wages? Do people like it? Has it changed the industry in some way? Has it had cultural impact? Is a game successful if one disadvantaged person is able to play where before they could not? Perhaps an accessibility feature makes that difference. There's so many things.

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SlyFlourish said:

By these criteria, there are no other successful RPGs but D&D? That was actually sort of the point in me asking the question.

Click to expand...