Neonchameleon
Legend
D&D 5e is very successful in terms of players - and the 5e PHB is selling better than probably anything since the classic red box in the early 80s. But I had a look round my table last night - six committed players (including me) and two at least dolphins and probably whales in there and realised something. None of us had bought much from WotC. We have two copies of the PHB between us. A copy each of the Stranger Things and Rick & Morty boxed sets. One copy of Xanathar's Guide to Everything. We'd borrowed a DMG. And ... that's it. Not that we're short of other stuff (minis, battle maps, terrain, one of the players is making a computerized gaming table, etc.) Just ... not much that has much to do with WotC.
This hasn't been true for past editions - indeed my 5e books are outnumbered by my 4e books, my Pathfinder books, my 3.5 books, my 3.0 books, my 2e books, my 1e books, and even my oD&D books. For that matter I have more 13th Age books than I do 5e (this might be an extreme example). And when I look at my main 4e group (now scattered to the winds) the other whale in that group only has slightly more books than I do (all the core 3) and she's also running a 5e campaign. She's also got a lot of Pathfinder books plus a shelf full of 4e.
And when I think about other groups the whales among us were in the habit of buying books for D&D - and WotC made money hand over fist with D&D Insider with its $10/month or $70/year subscription; that subscription was almost pure profit. Pathfinder has its adventure paths and APGs.
Is this "not a lot to buy for 5e and not in the habit of buying 5e books" normal for everyone else? And what does it say about how D&D is doing?
This hasn't been true for past editions - indeed my 5e books are outnumbered by my 4e books, my Pathfinder books, my 3.5 books, my 3.0 books, my 2e books, my 1e books, and even my oD&D books. For that matter I have more 13th Age books than I do 5e (this might be an extreme example). And when I look at my main 4e group (now scattered to the winds) the other whale in that group only has slightly more books than I do (all the core 3) and she's also running a 5e campaign. She's also got a lot of Pathfinder books plus a shelf full of 4e.
And when I think about other groups the whales among us were in the habit of buying books for D&D - and WotC made money hand over fist with D&D Insider with its $10/month or $70/year subscription; that subscription was almost pure profit. Pathfinder has its adventure paths and APGs.
Is this "not a lot to buy for 5e and not in the habit of buying 5e books" normal for everyone else? And what does it say about how D&D is doing?