D&D General All Basic, B/X and BECMI and Rules Cyclopedia set sales, from Ben Riggs.

[Reynard]

I feel like my experience was somewhat rare: we played BECMI exclusively -- getting up to the mid-20s -- for 4 years before moving to 2E.

 

[Stormonu]

I just saw a near mint Expert Set, the one that went with Moldvay Basic, on an auction site. Near mint, with original bagged dice.

The bids are at $300 and climbing.

View attachment 255695

For a second, I thought you wrote "mini"

Like this one (which I have!) - Dungeons & Dragons Expert Set - Miniature Reprint from Twenty-First Century Games
(It's about the size of my hand. And yes, I have all the other mini books - included two boxed set of the DL adventures, with the exception of Oriental Adventures & the Basic set).

(Sorry, just had to boast )

 

[Mannahnin]

I just saw a near mint Expert Set, the one that went with Moldvay Basic, on an auction site. Near mint, with original bagged dice.

The bids are at $300 and climbing.

View attachment 255695

This one is usually referred to as "Cook" Expert, because David "Zeb" Cook was the lead writer on it, though Steven Marsh is also co-credited and I understand did plenty of work on it. The other most common nickname for B/X is Moldvay/Cook.

 

[GreyLord]

For a second, I thought you wrote "mini"

Like this one (which I have!) - Dungeons & Dragons Expert Set - Miniature Reprint from Twenty-First Century Games
(It's about the size of my hand. And yes, I have all the other mini books - included two boxed set of the DL adventures, with the exception of Oriental Adventures & the Basic set).

(Sorry, just had to boast )

That's pretty cool. I saw those in the store many years back, but never got them.

Now days I think it would be a cool item to have, but, alas...skipped the chance to get them when I could (I believe it was when they were originally on sale. At the time, I thought since I already had them, why would I want those small books and such as they were hard to read and I didn't feel I'd ever use them).

 

[Stormonu]

That's pretty cool. I saw those in the store many years back, but never got them.

Now days I think it would be a cool item to have, but, alas...skipped the chance to get them when I could (I believe it was when they were originally on sale. At the time, I thought since I already had them, why would I want those small books and such as they were hard to read and I didn't feel I'd ever use them).

From what I was told (and I don't know how true it is, but came from someone who spent military time overseas), the small size came about because they fit in a shirt pocket, and thus military personnel could carry them around on duty/patrol. The regular-sized books were too large to be lugging around in the field.

 

[darjr]

There was a time I could have picked up ten RCs for ten bucks. Just before the release of 4e and the explosion of the OSR. After, we’ll I only own it in PDF.

Behold! Sales of the D&D Companion, Master, & Immortal boxed sets from 1984 to 1991!

The chart contains one very unusual feature. In 1987, sales of the Companion boxed set surged, selling more copies in its fourth year of release than it did any other year. A product selling more copies after its first year of release is a feat I believe unequaled in post-1984 TSR history!

Next up is perhaps the single best rulebook released in the history of D&D, the Rules Cyclopedia! After that, we’ll take a look at total BECMI sales by year, and then do a final tally of D&D vs. AD&D sales, including all D&D boxed sets and the Cyclopedia, and all monster products for AD&D.

 

[Reynard]

There was a time I could have picked up ten RCs for ten bucks. Just before the release of 4e and the explosion of the OSR. After, we’ll I only own it in PDF.

Behold! Sales of the D&D Companion, Master, & Immortal boxed sets from 1984 to 1991!

The chart contains one very unusual feature. In 1987, sales of the Companion boxed set surged, selling more copies in its fourth year of release than it did any other year. A product selling more copies after its first year of release is a feat I believe unequaled in post-1984 TSR history!

Next up is perhaps the single best rulebook released in the history of D&D, the Rules Cyclopedia! After that, we’ll take a look at total BECMI sales by year, and then do a final tally of D&D vs. AD&D sales, including all D&D boxed sets and the Cyclopedia, and all monster products for AD&D.

View attachment 255963

I bet a lot of folks that played AD&D picked up the Companion set for the War Machine and Domain rules.

 

[Stormonu]

Huhn. What event could have happened in '87 that caused that massive bump? 2E wasn't until '89, and UA came out in '85, so I don't think those were reasons.

 

[Parmandur]

Huhn. What event could have happened in '87 that caused that massive bump? 2E wasn't until '89, and UA came out in '85, so I don't think those were reasons.

That's such a massive bump, I would suspect either funny bookkeeping, or in 1987 the box was released in a new market for the first time.

 

[CleverNickName]

That's such a massive bump, I would suspect either funny bookkeeping, or in 1987 the box was released in a new market for the first time.

1987 saw the completion of the CM line of modules, which might have stirred market interest in the Companion Rules boxed set. There are some excellent adventures in that product line.