D&D 5E (2024) DnD 5e designer [Mike Mearls] explains how INDIE RPGs are taking over

Parmandur · Sunday at 8:18 PM

Mistwell said:
I don't understand why people don't trust the IcV2 data, which they had trusted for 25 years. Is it just because they don't like the results?

As someone who finds the results intriguing, if not even promising, I do think it worth taking then with some grain of salt as partial and somewhat obscure. But I would have said the same thing about ICv2 at any point, while taking it seriously as a source of some information.

My main caveat is I am not sure how much the Crooked d Hollow and Cosmere numbers mean: is it all Kickstarter, or have they sold very well in small retailers, or both?

I do think Pathfinder fans were shocked to see Pathfinder so low, and Shadowdark and Draw Steel fans shocked to not see those games present at all.

bedir than · 2026-04-07T02:41:07+0100

Parmandur said:
My main caveat is I am not sure how much the Crooked d Hollow and Cosmere numbers mean: is it all Kickstarter, or have they sold very well in small retailers, or both?

Since the Cosmere Kickstarter was already fulfilled in the time period of the most recent ICV2 it wasn't included

Parmandur · 2026-04-07T03:03:36+0100

bedir than said:
Since the Cosmere Kickstarter was already fulfilled in the time period of the most recent ICV2 it wasn't included

Seems reasonable. I'm partial to the Cosmere RPG, so I am trying to temper my read on the situation. But the evidence, such as this survey and the Amazon monthly sales numbers, do seem to indicate it is selling very well indeed.

dbolack · 2026-04-07T03:48:56+0100

Mistwell said:
I don't understand why people don't trust the IcV2 data, which they had trusted for 25 years. Is it just because they don't like the results?

Many people never trusted it.

pemerton · 2026-04-07T05:21:04+0100

GrimCo said:
Was 4e best version? Yes, no, maybe. Depends who you ask and what they want out of game. Was it best designed from perspective of heaving focused vision, intended play style and rules that supported that style very well? Hell yea. At it's heart, it's mmo style tactical skirmish game.

Not really.

darjr · 2026-04-07T05:33:43+0100

There have been changes in the distribution, which if you look ICV2 also gets there numbers from.

Also some bigger ish books don’t go thru distribution and are a store by store affair. Which is much harder to capture.

Add to that they are also now pulling crowdfunding numbers when they didn’t before, regardless if it effects Cosmeres ranking or not.

I will say I am glad they are still working at it.