D&D 5E (2024) DnD 5e designer [Mike Mearls] explains how INDIE RPGs are taking over

[Parmandur]

I posited this response not to shut down discussion, but mainly because the metrics involved aren't pertinent to the correct answer - most of the answers here aren't answering and cannot answer of "what is played the most". Re-framing the question is going to be the most useful thing here.

"The most-purchased" or "the most played at cons" are tangible and can be answered. But the question inferred by Mike's answer here (what is being played the most) is the wrong one in the context of the data supplied. Bought systems are definitely a false equivalence to played systems. Convention play is a metric of how popular a system is at conventions - but are you playing new systems at conventions or playing a system you already have?

If I was going to blow 5K going to GaryCon (considered it this year, but expenses prevented it), I would play games in systems I haven't bought yet - but maybe I'm the odd man out?

I think it would be interesting to metric out something like Shadowdark - because we have a set number of books sold, we have a date and timeline for the system, and we have an adoption rate, and we could even probably find the number of people using it at the table versus sitting on a shelf or being resold on eBay.

That would make the data useful, we could draw certain conclusions from that? Just musing out loud at this point...

72,000 people we to GenCon last year, which is a small drop in the bucket of people involved with RPGs (upwards of 13 million D&D Beyond users, last I checked), and being a for-pay convention by definition self-selected and skewed as a sample.

I seriously doubt anyone has better information on how many people are playing Shadowdark versus playing, any more than any other game.

 

[SteveC]

My take for a long time is: play what you like. Investigate new games, be curious and not judgmental . And support development. Maybe it will be something you really like, or maybe you'll just encourage someone to stay in the hobby, but new games are the lifeblood of continuing to keep people in RPGs. You will likely come into the community via D&D, but once you see that there are so many games out there that do different things, you're likely to find something you really love.

And if you're designing something, design what you like. Work to create that community around that game. You might sell only a small number of copies, but that game will be your vision.

And please, for all that's holy, don't come out with yet another game that's 5E bolted onto a completely different genre or play style. Yes, you may sell some books, but 5E really does a very specific playstyle well, and if your game isn't it, you're unlikely to mesh well. Obviously, that's just my opinion.