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there's a column over at RPGNet that talks about this on a fairly regular basis: http://www.rpg.net/columns/list-column.phtml?colname=businessofgamingretail

Right, I'm assuming that by 2010's Dark Sun release that the 4E sales problem was a known thing since the Essentials line came out later the same year. Allowing for that it was the last multi-book setting release so I'm wondering how much influence it (and the other 4E campaign releases for that...

What you described is pretty much how Dark Sun was handled for 4th Edition: World Book, Monster Book, Adventure. I wonder how it went over (as far as sales & reception) inside WOTC? As far as the "bringing back the creators to work on their settings" well, I think that lessens our chances of...

Yep, and this is a little annoying, because although I've done it at times over the years it's never been the default approach to D&D. It feels as though the old zero-level start is being forced into the game at level 1 and level 2 whether you like it or not. Was there some great outcry in the...

There were plenty of groups playing it in the 80's and 90's, usually groups who came to it through Champions and saw 1E and 2E AD&D as tremendously limiting in character concepts. Some still do but I think 3E's unlimited multiclassing and the explosion of options for race/class/feat/skill...

Two thoughts: 1) Changing careers is a change on an entirely different scale from changing gaming campaigns, to the point I'm not sure there are any insights to be drawn from comparing one to the other. The impact on other people in your life is similarly different. Sure, they're both "change"...

Well the puzzles always look easier from the DM side of the table, whether it's D&D or Shadowrun. Keep that in mind. It sounds like you're running some version of D&D, wrote up an adventure as a mystery to be solved, then took out Gather Information? With a new group of players? Does that feel...

I will second the motion here to peruse Arcana Evolved/Unearthed for anyone interested in alternate approaches to classes. There is a class for the heavily armored fighter (Warmain) and a separate class for the light fighter (Unfettered) and it works pretty well. I think the basic split...

I think that's a completely sensible response. Thank you sir.

It looks like this is being resolved but the whole episode raises some questions in my mind. First there is this: It has come to our attention that at a recent tournament held by Groovy Frog, Yugioh player Luke Lennard caused distress and harassment to an opponent who had learning...

I'm pretty sure MWP thought Marvel was going to be a huge seller too - how did that work out for them? The Star Trek RPG's haven't set the world on fire since the 80's. LOTR hasn't been a barn-burner of a game either. I get that they're all big media properties, I'm just not sure that...

I'm not sure how Harry Potter could be a "Big Six" RPG license when it's never been a game? I agree on Doctor Who though, and it seems as though Warhammer 40,000 does pretty well as a licensed RPG. Skylanders might make for an interesting license if someone could get it. It's approaching...

Yeah I was under the impression that wasn't very complete, more of an intro set than anything else. I have a City of Heroes tabletop starter RPG sitting on my shelf too and it's not enough to run a campaign. Given the success of the cards and the video games back then (and still, to a degree) it...

Sure, assuming that the accuser is completely correct. What if they were not? There's a lot of finger pointing and some stores jumped on board but it seems like a pretty large reaction for something that might not be as cut and dried as the headline. If this was a YuGiOh focused site you might...

You could say the same thing about 1E, 2E, 3E, 4E, and Pathfinder. There's a first time for everything I suppose, but a new version of D&D, after the bungled handling of 4E, is going to sell a ton of books. Will it be more or less than any particular edition launch? There's no way to know at...

Well they have said this today: In terms of scope, this upcoming phase of the playtest is at least as large as the playtest for 3rd Edition, if not larger. See here for the full rundown: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4ll/20130819

I think this is an important point - the more viable ranged monsters there are, the more valuable a ranged (blasting) character is. This is something else 4E did well - added a specific monster role for ranged combat and then included a bunch of them in the books. In our games there is usually...

I agree with the time commitment comments, but those same groups have now been given notice that there's a new version of D&D coming in the May-Gen Con time frame next year. Also, what games are they wrapping up? D&D? If they mainly play D&D I suspect a new edition of D&D will be under...

As someone mentioned above there were 3rd party adventures and race/class books published early on for 4E. That said I agree the license was a barrier. A sometimes-overlooked obstacle is that nothing from 3rd party character books was added to the character builder and that pretty much killed...

Again I don't want to get into fighter builds in a wizard discussion, but I can keep it simple: At 12th a Cleric (or rogue) is a +9/+4 BAB. A fighter is at +12/+7+2. Assuming similar magic weapons, the lack of a dex bonus drops the fighter's bow shot down to being about as effective as a Cleric...