From Forgotten Realms to Red Steel: Here's That Full D&D Setting Sales Chart

Whether this will end a thousand internet arguments or fuel another thousand, Ben Riggs, author of Slaying the Dragon: A Secret History of Dungeons and Dragons, has finally published the combined chart of cumulative sales for every AD&D setting from 1979 to 1999.

Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, Oriental Adventures, and Dragonlance lead the pack. The least selling setting was Red Steel in 1994. There was a clear decline in sales of all settings from 1989 onwards, so that's not necessary a comment on quality. Planescape, certainly a cult favourite, sold surprisingly few copies.

Slaying the Dragon - Macmillan

The secret and untold story of how TSR, the company that created Dungeons & Dragons, was driven into ruin by disastrous management decisions, then ...

read.macmillan.com

In order, the best-selling settings were:

1. Forgotten Realms
2. Greyhawk
3. Oriental Adventures
4. Dragonlance
5. Ravenloft
6. Dark Sun
7. Spelljammer
8. Lankhmar
9. Al-Qadim
10. Planescape
11. Birthright
12. Maztica
13. Karameikos
14. Red Steel

These stats were compiled as part of his research into his book, Slaying the Dragon: A Secret History of Dungeons and Dragons, which you should totally buy.

Slaying the Dragon - Macmillan

The secret and untold story of how TSR, the company that created Dungeons & Dragons, was driven into ruin by disastrous management decisions, then ...

read.macmillan.com

Let's dive into some individual sales charts! Note, these are for the primary setting product, not for additional adventures, supplements, etc.

 

[Blue Orange]

They

1. Greyhawk had a complete monopoly for a long time years so it's numbers were misleading.

2. WotC has tons of cultural consultants, including 3 or 4 East Asian writers on Radiant Citadel (it has a fantasy Thailand, China, and Japan, maybe one other), and several South Asian (Indian), writers on the book too, and Middle Eastern (Persian). Plus the crew who worked on Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty. In fact I susect the only reason Kamigawa didn't get a D&D book is because something is planned for Kara Tur. Btw OA is a MITHIRIL BESTSELLER, and Kara Tur is PLATINIUM BESTSELLER, so the setting is as popular as ever.

3. Urban Fantasy they have Waterdeep, Baldur's Gate, Ravnica, Radiant Citadel, and probably next year Sigil.

4. The Planescape lingo and attidude was annoying,but Planescape Torment was glorious.

5. Silly

6. They don't give a crap about fan out cries or rage as long as they keep o. making tons of money, they only care when things fall apart.

7. Psionics isn't solved. The rest I'm not even touching.

If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. I was kind of wondering why Torment was so popular but they never resurrected the setting after 3e. Thanks for clarifying on 2.

 

[DorkForge]

That's exactly why it is such a popular Setting, same as Forgotten Realms and Exandria. Gimmicks are not as useful for game proposal as generic material is.

Generic fantasy doesn't really need multiple setttings nowadays, FR has that covered which is why I don't see a need for GH. I would strongly argue, however, that it is popular because of how it was the original setting more than anything else.

Exandria is popular because Critical Role is popular. They could publish anything and it would sell.

 

[Dungeonosophy]

That's exactly why it is such a popular Setting, same as Forgotten Realms and Exandria. Gimmicks are not as useful for game proposal as generic material is.

Greyhawk has a bit of a “grimdark” “Warhammer” “amoral” “shades of grey” vibe which could be further drawn out in order to distinguish the setting. “WotC’s Mörk Borg.”

 

[darjr]

Greyhawk has a bit of a “grimdark” “Warhammer” “amoral” “shades of grey” vibe which could be further drawn out in order to distinguish the setting. “WotC’s Mörk Borg.”

Well. Cool

 

[Reynard]

Greyhawk has a bit of a “grimdark” “Warhammer” “amoral” “shades of grey” vibe which could be further drawn out in order to distinguish the setting. “WotC’s Mörk Borg.”

I for one am looking forward the absolute poopstorm that would occur if WotC actually did this. "You did WHAT to Greyhawk?!?"

If WotC really wanted to make GH relevant, they could do far worse than making it the D&D setting that really embraces the Old School style in 5E. Trim out the extraneous races and classes. Put class and level limits back in. Make equipment matter. Up the ante on resource management. Give the DM even more authority. Put it out in a boxed set or standalone book.

 

[CleverNickName]

I for one am looking forward the absolute poopstorm that would occur if WotC actually did this. "You did WHAT to Greyhawk?!?"

If WotC really wanted to make GH relevant, they could do far worse than making it the D&D setting that really embraces the Old School style in 5E. Trim out the extraneous races and classes. Put class and level limits back in. Make equipment matter. Up the ante on resource management. Give the DM even more authority. Put it out in a boxed set or standalone book.

I'm in the camp that feels 5E already embraces "the Old School style" of play. To me, 5E feels a lot more retro than the previous three editions did.

 

[Reynard]

I'm in the camp that feels 5E already embraces "the Old School style" of play. To me, 5E feels a lot more retro than the previous three editions did.

I disagree a lot, but I won't argue about it.

 

[Parmandur]

Generic fantasy doesn't really need multiple setttings nowadays, FR has that covered which is why I don't see a need for GH. I would strongly argue, however, that it is popular because of how it was the original setting more than anything else.

Exandria is popular because Critical Role is popular. They could publish anything and it would sell.

Critical Role's popularity is a Chicken and egg problem: I would say the friendly generic nature of the world that the wacky characters interact with is a big part of the secret sauce. People like generic fantasy, a lot.

 

[Mannahnin]

I for one am looking forward the absolute poopstorm that would occur if WotC actually did this. "You did WHAT to Greyhawk?!?"

If WotC really wanted to make GH relevant, they could do far worse than making it the D&D setting that really embraces the Old School style in 5E. Trim out the extraneous races and classes. Put class and level limits back in. Make equipment matter. Up the ante on resource management. Give the DM even more authority. Put it out in a boxed set or standalone book.

I don't think you have to go crazy with it, but I do think using the Old School cred would be a logical part of the marketing. Play up the Swords & Sorcery a bit, as well as the grim foes, including legendary evils like Vecna and Iuz. Not Black Metal grim/funny, but focusing a bit more on warring states, the balance between good and evil being a bit more tilted in evil's favor in the Flanaess.

Doing a bit more with equipment and resource management, and putting real (but fairly lightweight) dungeon crawl procedures in the 5.5e books could synergize really well with a Greyhawk relaunch, including either a revamped Castle Greyhawk (if they can work out a reasonable deal with Gail Gygax) or a revamped Village of Hommlet and Temple of Elemental Evil, for iconic dungeon play.

 

[Dungeonosophy]

As for distinguishing Mystara from Forgotten Realms, I’d lean into these themes:

1) Full-blown BECMI "red box" retro graphic design. Like how the 4E Starter Set did it, but with the BECMI fonts throughout. Elmore "Ancient Red" cover for the win!

2) D&D-meets-1980s-Cartoon-Action-Hour setting: He-Man and She-Ra meet Warduke meets Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (or rather Tortles!)

3) D&D-meets-Marvel mutant-superheroes setting. The Red Curse has expanded throughout the world...and expanded into seven rainbow colors! (Blue Curse, Orange Curse, etc.). Seven different Inheritor (mutant) classes, modeled on existing OGL superhero archetypes. (BTW, I strongly suspect the AD&D "red letter" MYSTARA logo was partly inspired by the MARVEL logo.)

5) D&D-meet-furries setting: Tortles, Rakastas, and Lupins are core Mystaran races. They're present throughout the world, in nearly every city and village and culture. People don't even blink an eye. They're like the "animal people" you see in the background crowd scenes of Earth in Dragonball Z, like: "Oh, the police officer is a dog-man? I never noticed." Could add other animal-folk as well: Chameleon Folk, etc.

6) Rewind to 1000 AC. But somewhat reboot the continuity, just as WotC has done for all 5E worlds.

7) Bargle and Aleena as narrators: the "Mordenkainen", "Fizban" and "Tasha" of Mystara.

8) Fill out the whole world map, Hollow World map, and Invisible Moon map from the start. Why not? Let's get on with it!

9) 5E stats for all the Mystaran / BECMI monsters which haven't been covered in 5E yet.

10) Blackmoor relics (i.e. modern tech) can found as treasure throughout the setting.

11) Include "cosmic" level rules for Immortal play.

12) Hire writers and artists from the same Real World cultures to depict the Real World-based cultures of Mystara. Where there's an equivalent culture in the Radiant Citadel, tie their lore together, saying that they're connected via a portal. Of course, some "classic" depictions (e.g. GAZ10) will need to be heavily reconceived. But it can be done.

I posted a bunch of other thoughts on 5E Mystara here (back in 2018!): Mike Mearls tweet: Is the Known World of Mystara coming to 5e? (What's Cool About Mystara?)