D&D 5E How Important is Stranger Things to the Success of 5e
- Thread starter Snarf Zagyg
- Start date
GuyBoy
Hero
My grandkids (12 and 9) got into D&D directly due to Stranger Things; I’m running them through Lost Mines of Phandelver, and the 12 year old wants the rulebooks for his birthday in October.
In vaguely related and slightly whimsical news, the ivy on my garden fence has grown from a cutting from the ivy on Kate Bush’s garden fence, but that’s a long story....and one that involves grandfather clocks!
In vaguely related and slightly whimsical news, the ivy on my garden fence has grown from a cutting from the ivy on Kate Bush’s garden fence, but that’s a long story....and one that involves grandfather clocks!
Snarf Zagyg
Notorious Liquefactionist
1. You have to tell the story.
2. True Fact- At least 138% of Kate Bush stories involve whimsy.
CleverNickName
Limit Break Dancing
...minor?
GuyBoy
Hero
OK, short version;
My next door neighbor fixes old grandfather clocks for a living. I don’t know how many people in the UK do this job, but it’s not many! He gets a call to fix an expensive grandfather clock at a very large house in South London.
The owner of the clock (and the house) was Kate Bush.
Whilst fixing the clock, he talked to her about her lovely garden, including a wonderful ivy.
She offered him a cutting of said ivy, which he took and planted on his side of the fence. Several years on the ivy has successfully run up that fence with no problem, and now covers both sides. Beautifully.
And for a bit more Kate Bush whimsy, I always thought it a fun fact that Kate Bush and Emily Bronte had the same birthday, one sang and one wrote Wuthering Heights. My uncle Dave also shared the same birthday but he had nothing to do with Wuthering Heights. Or ivy.
Snarf Zagyg
Notorious Liquefactionist
You tell your Uncle Dave that he has some 'splainin' to do.
...or maybe Uncle Dave is really the assumed name of Phillip Tromeur, and "Uncle Dave" has been secretly writing Wuthering Heights roleplaying games this entire time. Quelle surprise!
Charlaquin
Goblin Queen (She/Her/Hers)
Yes?
CleverNickName
Limit Break Dancing
From the graphs alone, I'd say it's more significant than just "minor." But then again, I haven't seen a similar graph that compares it to Critical Role (or anything else)...
Kobold Avenger
Legend
I think Stranger Things is important for the general public discovering that there are Metallica songs that aren't on the Black Album...
MGibster
Legend
Boo! We have expectations!
I think the exposure was mildly helpful, but I don't think it quite explains the success. I suspect YouTube has had more of an impact on the success of 5th edition than Stranger Things.
FitzTheRuke
Legend
IMO what has probably had the MOST positive influence on D&D is the new habit of people watching other people play games. Twitch and YouTube. It is led by video games, but things like Tabletop added board games, and then D&D (exemplified by but not limited to Critical Role).
My gut says that is the biggest reason for 5e's success.
(Though I think everyone would be surprised to find how much 5e's relatively slow book roll-out helped).
My gut says that is the biggest reason for 5e's success.
(Though I think everyone would be surprised to find how much 5e's relatively slow book roll-out helped).
payn
Legend
I think the lower barrier of entry to play of 5E and slow book release got the boulder up the hill. The internets and social media kicked it over the edge.
Parmandur
Book-Friend
How has that worked out for you locally? My local stores seem to do hopping business when new book hits, amd keep them in stick long term.
The ability for folks to see what it was before trying to join a game was probably the single most important aspect for whether people chose to give it a try.
DarkCrisis
Legend
Closest I’ve come to Stranger Things / D&D in the wild I’ve seen, is explaining to some 5E folks (while talking about SThings with them) that they are playing AD&D and I’d be happy to show them that version.
And we did play 2E and they like it a lot.
And we did play 2E and they like it a lot.
FitzTheRuke
Legend
Oh yeah. By this late in the game in 2e, 3e, and 4e, we were down to moving only a few copies of new releases. Even the worst selling book moves in the dozens. I mean, my store is bigger (both physically and in number of regular customers) now than it was then, and obviously D&D is more popular as well, but I can tell from word-of-mouth and experience that the books wouldn't sell nearly as well as they would if they pushed more of them. (Though I can feel it starting - they are getting up to, what? Six books a year now? And people who used to buy them all are starting to pick-and-choose. Still, old books still sell and new books still sell a lot, which is NOT the same as other editions at the same stage of their life.
Much like this discussion, the slow release is only one of many factors that have caused this, but I don't think it's insignificant.
Parmandur
Book-Friend
They did 5 hardcovers last year, and this year we (thst we know of) 4 hardcovers, a slipcase with three smaller books, the new starter box set and the battle game. Definitely amping the pace up a bir, but still nothing like I remember in 3.x when I was buying nothing at least partly becaue I.had analysi paralysis constantly from the stream of new stuff.
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