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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MGibster" data-source="post: 9678514" data-attributes="member: 4534">Inspired by the threads <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/what-does-a-successful-rpg-look-like.713672/" target="_blank">What Does a "Successful" RPG Look Like</a> and <a href="http://Jason Carl on White Wolf%27s Return, Mage: The Ascension Plans" target="_blank">Jason Carl on White Wolf's Return, Mage:  The Ascension Plans</a>, [USER=18]@Ruin Explorer[/USER] got me to thinking.  Just looking back and the sheer number of books published for various games in the 80s, 90s, and into the 2000s, my perception is that fewer books are published these days.  My working theory has been many splatbooks published in the 1990s were designed more to be read as one might enjoy a novel rather than actually be used in a game.  While I still think that's true to an extent, there were a lot of splatbooks for some game lines prior to the rise of the metaplot in the 1990s.  It's also a bit surprising to look back and see how quickly a new edition of a game might come out.  The 1st edition of Vampire was published in 1991, 2nd edition in 1992, and a revised edition in 1998.  Legend of the Five Rings published its first edition in 1997 and it's second in 2000.  Is my perception off?  Are fewer books being published for RPGs across the board?  Fantasy Flight Games is no slouch, having published about 50 Star Wars books/adventures since 2016.  That's the biggest number I can think of outside of D&D.  I think D&D 5th edition only has like 48 books for it.  If my perception is correct and there are overall fewer books published for any given game line, why?  How does one classify a book?  I typically categorize game products into two areas.  Splatbooks:  A supplement that expands the rules and/or setting of a game.  For the purposes of simplicity, I include boxed sets as a type of splatbook.  Adventures:  These are scenarios for the GM to run a group of player characters through.  I am not including accessories like dice, decks of cards, or exclusively PDF products to the number of items published for games.  For games published prior to 2010Between 1991-2004, White Wolf published over 100 supplements/adventures for their Vampire game.  That's just for Vampire and doesn't include Werewolf, Wraith, Changeling, Mage, or even spin off games like Vampire Dark Ages, Werewolf the Wild West, or Mages the Sorcerers Crusade.  The number would be a lot higher if I'd bothered trying to count them.  From 1997-2005, Alderac Entertainment Group published about 42 books/supplements for Legend of the Five Rings.From 1996-2005, Pinnacle published nearly 50 supplements and adventures for Deadlands.From 1989-1997, TSR published what I can only estimate was about 300 books, boxed sets, adventures, and other miscellaneous products for AD&D 2nd edition.  Between 1988-2004, Steve Jackson Games published more than 200 books for GURPS third edition.</blockquote>

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