D&D General D&D: Literally Don't Understand This

[The Firebird]

Citation on that, please? Thanks much.

While you get that, we can also remember it...

... was #2 in Publishers Weekly's "Best-selling Books Week Ending July 29, 2022" in hardcover nonfiction.
... was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Game Writing in March 2023.
...was nominated for the Diana Jones Award for Excellence in Gaming in June 2023.
...won the 2023 Silver ENNIE Award for Best Adventure and was nominated for Best Product.

So, hardly a sad-sack of gaming.

The data available here are from BookScan in 2023, which excludes many sales channels (e.g., digital) and may not be complete. However, it would be odd if a particular d&d adventure depended substantially on sales channel. Plausible but requires some explanation.

These show Radiant Citadel performed not particularly well, somewhere below the median in its in first year of sales. It has less history than other mods, but doesn't seem to have legs in the way some do. Strahd, for instance, undersold Radiant Citadel if you compare just the first year since release (i.e., in 2016 for Strahd vs 2022 for Radiant Citadel). But in the YTD data for 2023, Strahd was more than doubling Radiant Citadel in sales.

 

[Jaeger]

Citation on that, please? Thanks much.

While you get that, we can also remember it...

... was #2 in Publishers Weekly's "Best-selling Books Week Ending July 29, 2022" in hardcover nonfiction.
... was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Game Writing in March 2023.
...was nominated for the Diana Jones Award for Excellence in Gaming in June 2023.
...won the 2023 Silver ENNIE Award for Best Adventure and was nominated for Best Product.

So, hardly a sad-sack of gaming.

Except sales numbers don't lie.

Yes, it is a partial data set, but Roll for Combat and Prof DM are pretty good about being realistic about extrapolating data.
Here: 1:38:02 in to 1:40:60
Here: 6:00 in.

Awards and blips on some best seller chart are all trumped by sales to actual customers.

And by that metric: One of the worst selling books WOTC ever put out.

The wider fanbase didn't really want it.

No amount of 'we can also remember it...' will change that.

 

[Lakesidefantasy]

So, I have realized, this kerfuffle is really what Radiant Citadel is about.

Radiant Citadel is a product created by diverse authors, saying, in effect, "Hey, you know, D&D can represent a lot of stuff. There's room for all sorts of different cultures we can depict here."

Taylor Swift, of all people, has effectively reminded us that there's still a big chunk of gamers out there who say, "No! D&D can only be My Thing! I will whine if the presentation doesn't match my old-fashioned, preconceived notions! I will not open my mind to how other people's stuff might actually be fun!"

[Omitted]

And I'll make a half-dozen or so converts to multicultural D&D. Thank you for inspiring me.

You're wrong Umbran. Sometimes it's not an epic battle between good and evil. Often, people get painted as horrible people on these boards because they don't hold the same opinion.

We need to make an effort to see people rather than box them into a shape that they do not hold. We need to see allies where they are. This is not about multiculturalism (which you clearly think it is). This is about modern elements.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

View attachment 414519

This was one of the inspirations for the first Shadowdark class I made here at ENWorld!

 

[Gradine]

Wasn't this clickbait debunked a while ago?

 

[Micah Sweet]

I mean when people are mocking these high heels using template from a comics by a self-admitted nazi, I won't blame anyone for going to such conclusion.

Maybe they didn't know that. I certainly did not.

 

[Gradine]

You're wrong Umbran. Sometimes it's not an epic battle between good and evil. Often, people get painted as horrible people on these boards because they don't hold the same opinion.

We need to make an effort to see people rather than box them into a shape that they do not hold. We need to see allies where they are. This is not about multiculturalism (which you clearly think it is). This is about modern elements.

Unfortunately for... well, everyone, really; there are plenty of places on the internet where "modern elements" is explicitly used as a stand-in for "multiculturalism" amongst people who very much don't care for multiculturalism. Someone in this very thread indicated they specifically didn't like Radiant Citadel's approach to emphasizing its "diversity" and "cultural sensitivity".

Of course not all differing points of view are driven by animus directed at specific groups of people. However, enough of them are that a healthy level of skepticism and pattern recognition is called for, even necessary for some of us.

Sadly we don't get to choose the world we live in. But we do have to figure out the best way to live in it.

 

[dragoner]

This was one of the inspirations for the first Shadowdark class I made here at ENWorld!

I mean if we are going back to the 70's, I'll take a '73 GMC 3/4 ton 4x4 with a 454 cubic inch engine, yeah! We used to buy games in plastic baggies back then. Psst wanna try some microgames? It's the good stuff.

 

[Not a Decepticon]

Seems like a rather weird "pattern" to me. Whilst I am sure there are indeed people who don't want modern elements in their fantasy settings, want evil orcs and lethal combat, these are three completely separate issues.

They aren't as separate as you may seem - all of them are derided by people who hate the idea of "modernizing" the game.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Unfortunately for... well, everyone, really; there are plenty of places on the internet where "modern elements" is explicitly used as a stand-in for "multiculturalism" amongst people who very much don't care for multiculturalism. Someone in this very thread indicated they specifically didn't like Radiant Citadel's approach to emphasizing its "diversity" and "cultural sensitivity".

Of course not all differing points of view are driven by animus directed at specific groups of people. However, enough of them are that a healthy level of skepticism and pattern recognition is called for, even necessary for some of us.

Sadly we don't get to choose the world we live in. But we do have to live in it.

Fair enough, but I think it's also fair to expect that making those assumptions every time you see what you consider to be a red flag means you are painting folks with a pretty broad brush. If your situation means you can accept that, well as I said fair enough.