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.

 

[Afroconan]

So I find all the musings and sales numbers to be funny, because most of the people I've talked to who purchase are collectors, not the DMs like the people above. They may run games, they may run games online, but they do not have a constant group, do not run games weekly/monthly, and are still the very small but money-heavy librarians of the hobby - not the consumers and users of the material in the sense that it was made for.

I know it's unhelpful to say "we cannot really know", but I have seen nothing IRL that changes my mind, even being present for a number of DragonCons (not as participant) and seeing the staggering numbers there - still a drop in the bucket and not representative of these "quiet but numerous" tables I encounter every few weeks at FLGS.

I feel completely called out here... I've been playing for 20> years, never been to a convention (mostly because of my geographical location for most of my life) and for the last 6 years I've barely played or ran a game. On the other hand I've never bought more rpg products in my life in the hope of playing some day or just to read in my off time.

Part of it has been moving to another country but the biggest part has just been growing old and having kids. The biggest TTRPG club in my city is a 5 minute walk from my home so it's not a lack of gaming group. I'm actually running Heroes of the Borderlands to a group of newbies once a month or so...