Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="mearls" data-source="post: 9645491" data-attributes="member: 697">It's been really interesting tracking things over the past few months. A few things I have observed:<ul>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">D&amp;D Beyond usage is up. If you look at the forums, you can see how many people are online and how many of them have accounts. The number of active users online has been consistently high over Q1, and the number of characters created is up, too. Each PC you create is assigned an ID number, and you can estimate how many characters have been created using that.</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">At Gary Con, every publisher I talked to who worked with D&amp;D Beyond had nothing but good things to say about interacting with the platform, its management, and their sales. No one can give exact numbers, but the top question I hear from folks working on D&amp;D compatible stuff is, &quot;How can I get on D&amp;D Beyond?&quot;</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Meanwhile, we've seen four - maybe five as of this writing - TTRPG crowdfunding campaigns break $1 million.</li>
</ul>D&amp;D and TTRPGs traditionally do well during economic downturns. I think at the end of last year, people still had confidence in the economy. They were spending money on trips, big ticket items, and so on. As 2025 rolled in and the outlook grew murkier, I think we're seeing people who played D&amp;D and other TTRPGs during the pandemic come back to them. I think this is going to especially help D&amp;D.I also think I underestimated D&amp;D Beyond's staying power. I realized while cleaning my office that while I use D&amp;D Beyond daily, I hadn't touched my hardcover books since I bought them. I'm running two Shadowdark campaigns and a D&amp;D 5.5. For the D&amp;D game I use all the functionality. For SD, I've set my adventures up in Maps and run them online using that tool.Bigger picture, the new SRD and the commitment to update it is fantastic for anyone making third party content. If the new starter set has direct digital integration, then I think we could see a big upswing in interest in the game.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="mearls, post: 9645491, member: 697"] It's been really interesting tracking things over the past few months. A few things I have observed: [LIST] [*]D&D Beyond usage is up. If you look at the forums, you can see how many people are online and how many of them have accounts. The number of active users online has been consistently high over Q1, and the number of characters created is up, too. Each PC you create is assigned an ID number, and you can estimate how many characters have been created using that. [*]At Gary Con, every publisher I talked to who worked with D&D Beyond had nothing but good things to say about interacting with the platform, its management, and their sales. No one can give exact numbers, but the top question I hear from folks working on D&D compatible stuff is, "How can I get on D&D Beyond?" [*]Meanwhile, we've seen four - maybe five as of this writing - TTRPG crowdfunding campaigns break $1 million. [/LIST] D&D and TTRPGs traditionally do well during economic downturns. I think at the end of last year, people still had confidence in the economy. They were spending money on trips, big ticket items, and so on. As 2025 rolled in and the outlook grew murkier, I think we're seeing people who played D&D and other TTRPGs during the pandemic come back to them. I think this is going to especially help D&D. I also think I underestimated D&D Beyond's staying power. I realized while cleaning my office that while I use D&D Beyond daily, I hadn't touched my hardcover books since I bought them. I'm running two Shadowdark campaigns and a D&D 5.5. For the D&D game I use all the functionality. For SD, I've set my adventures up in Maps and run them online using that tool. Bigger picture, the new SRD and the commitment to update it is fantastic for anyone making third party content. If the new starter set has direct digital integration, then I think we could see a big upswing in interest in the game. [/QUOTE]

Verification