D&D 5E Amazon: PHB has new competition and Tales from the Yawning Portal...

[Morrus]

D&D is the fantasy gaming poster child. It not dominating that particular sub-chart would be a problem.

 

[Jester David]

Some of those old adventures have crazy levels of sales.

The adventures don't sell thing came from late 2E after the wotc buyout. 2E adventures did not sell that well, 1E and Basic ones did. Usually ones with Gygaxs name on them.

Paizo also did the adventure thing. The key is I think good adventures with a popular edition that aren't to complicated and not competing with mechanical bloat.

You do have to wonder when adventures stopped selling. Was it 2e and the plenthora of settings? 3e and the Ashardalon adventure path? Was it competition with splatbooks?

 

[Corpsetaker]

You do have to wonder when adventures stopped selling. Was it 2e and the plenthora of settings? 3e and the Ashardalon adventure path? Was it competition with splatbooks?

It's not really that adventures stopped selling. During the ages of 2nd and 3rd edition, you had more books coming out that allowed you to create your own adventures. Really all 5th edition has done is limit the selections of products because there are a lot of people who would rather have something than nothing. The less choices you give people, the more they will buy the next thing that comes around.

 

[Zardnaar]

You do have to wonder when adventures stopped selling. Was it 2e and the plenthora of settings? 3e and the Ashardalon adventure path? Was it competition with splatbooks?

Apparently it was during 2E with the splintering of the fanbase. They started to move back to generic adventures in the mid 90's with The Night Below and Labyrinth of Madness.

You could even go back to 1985 I suppose and Gygax leaving. The big selling adventures had his name on it and Temple of Elemental Evil for example was reprinted well into 2E. Mentzer wrote most of it but Gygaxs name sells things (see UA and OA Gygax wrote little of them).

 

[Zardnaar]

It's not really that adventures stopped selling. During the ages of 2nd and 3rd edition, you had more books coming out that allowed you to create your own adventures. Really all 5th edition has done is limit the selections of products because there are a lot of people who would rather have something than nothing. The less choices you give people, the more they will buy the next thing that comes around.

Worked for 1st ed. Adventure sales got very low in the mid 90s though. Sub 10k and even 5k units being sold. Dungeon magazine maybe u dercut them as well IDK. I bought very few but all the dungeons I could.

 

[darjr]

D&D is the fantasy gaming poster child. It not dominating that particular sub-chart would be a problem.

Except I think to this extent is still surprising. I mean the PHB being so height at this point is in my mind unusual. It's not just dominating it, it owns all but 3 of the top 9 slots, and one of them is the DM's screen. Give credit where it's due.

 

[darjr]

Adventures can still be a problem. While Paizo's bread and butter IS adventures, it's the kind of adventures that are interesting. Even Paizo is cutting back on the stand alone single dungeon kind of adventures.

Though yea, the classics are good in my book. The new DCC B1 and B2 book couldn't happen soon enough.

 

[Jester David]

It's not really that adventures stopped selling. During the ages of 2nd and 3rd edition, you had more books coming out that allowed you to create your own adventures.

I think it was during 4e that they said adventures didn't sell, commenting on adventure sales in either 3e/4e. But I forget where. I wonder if it was related to the standard 4e sales slump...

Really all 5th edition has done is limit the selections of products because there are a lot of people who would rather have something than nothing. The less choices you give people, the more they will buy the next thing that comes around.

Fewer products that sell better as they appeal to a wider audience? Sounds like a winning strategy to me.

It's certainly working. Instead of having to reboot the edition to boost flagging sales like they did after this length of time in 3e and 4e, they've got another hit book. And the PHB is still strong to boot.

 

[darjr]

4e sales strategy was in part a response to "adventures don't sell". I think it was Ryan Dancy that originally coined the frase. Back at the start of 3e and the OGL. The OGL was a response to "adventures don't sell". They wanted the OGL to spur others to make the less profitable adventures while they sold a few core books.

Funny thing. With the DMSguild and 5e they've kinda made it work now.

 

[darjr]

Yea, they certainly seem to be doing well. I like the quality. I love the longevity. I'm crazy cool with the current popularity.

I do hope that it's good enough for Hasbro. It certainly seems so. Did anyone pick up in the mention of the hobby games market being the thing for Hasbro?