WotC 2020 Was The Best Year Ever For Dungeons & Dragons

[Nefermandias]

5e isn't my favorite edition, but you have to give the design team a lot of credit. The numbers don't lie.

5e was optimized for sales.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

5e was optimized for sales.

As opposed to other editions? Wtf does this even mean?

 

[Imaro]

As opposed to other editions? Wtf does this even mean?

It means... Haters gonna Hate!!

 

[Steampunkette]

54% of active players are under 30. That's -amazing-.

It means the Grognards are -way- outnumbered! <3

 

[Nefermandias]

It means... Haters gonna Hate!!

Firstly, I don't hate any edition. I've been playing this game nonstop since the 90s and I'm always DMing whichever edition is the current. Not sure how you are labeling me a hater just with that.

Now, I do think 5e success is mainly due to it's presentation as an easily approachable system. It's just like the design team really focused on publishing a game for the masses above all else. Mechanical depth, crunchy subsystems and even character options take a back seat in favor of simplicity this time around. That's all.

 

[el-remmen]

I recently found out that two old friends of mine, women in their late 40s/early 50s who back when we were all living in the same city 20 years ago used to razz me about blocking out a day every two weeks for my D&D campaign and my "nerdy hobbies," are now playing D&D regularly in a group of all women going on a year and my mind was blown. This personal anecdote really drove home for me how popular and normalized D&D is now and I absolutely love it.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Wow. 40% of the community is female? That's great news, as the number of percentage there keeps going up. And most of the community being under 30 is also a big deal (I'm one of those people).

Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft's success shows that (at least some of the) older campaign settings can be profitable by both the older players and the younger ones buying them. I wonder what other campaign settings from previous editions can be as profitable as this (please be Spelljammer, please be Spelljammer!). I could see Dark Sun and Planescape getting similar success if they were officially published in 5e.

This is great for the hobby and great for the community. I hope this keeps up for the next several years!

 

[Mind of tempest]

I recently found out that two old friends of mine, women in their late 40s/early 50s who back when we were all living in the same city 20 year ago used to razz me about blocking out a day every two weeks for my D&D campaign and my "nerdy hobbies," are now playing D&D regularly in a group of all women going on a year and my mind was blown. This personal anecdote really drove home for me how popular and normalized D&D is now and I absolutely love it.

the victory of the nerds it seems.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

I'll add;

This summer will bring the return of D&D Live and D&D Celebration to announce the rest of the products due out for the line this year.

D&D Live is July 16th this year, so if this line is true, there is unlikely to be a book released this July.

So the possiblities are:

1: An announcement is planned for July, but the announcement is so soon they decided it doesn't count.

2: They release each book a month later then we originally expected, August, October, and December.

3: Two of the books are linked together functionally, so they are both released in September, like a Campaign Setting book with tie in Adventure book, with the third released in November.

4: Something I haven't thought of yet.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

So the possiblities are:

1: An announcement is planned for July, but the announcement is so soon they decided it doesn't count.

2: They release each book a month later then we originally expected, August, October, and December.

3: Two of the books are linked together functionally, so they are both released in September, like a Campaign Setting book with tie in Adventure book, with the third released in November.

4: Something I haven't thought of yet.

It's also possible they release one book and one box set in the same month. Or simply, there is no 5th major release this year.