D&D General How popular is AD&D relative to other OSR games?

[Velocitree]

I was curious about the enduring popularity of AD&D, especially relative to OD&D and B/X, so I ran some con attendance numbers for three 2025 conventions: Gen Con, Gary Con, and North Texas RPG con. What I found surprised me, though I doubt it will surprise anyone in the AD&D community. I post my main takeaways below, along with some unanswered questions.

Full disclosure: this is a repost of my Reddit post on the topic, because A) I have young kids and only have 5 more minutes before they demand the rest of my evening, and B) honestly I want to talk about this—especially after watching Bob’s results—and I appreciate the takes I have read here. I am not selling anything here and not making ad money of my blog.

Takeaway 1: There is a ton of AD&D still being played at all three of these cons, relative to other OSR games.

Takeaway 2: B/X- and OD&D-derived games outnumbered AD&D at all cons, but were less dominant than I believed. But it’s worth noting that AD&D was more popular than any individual OSR game across all cons, with the sole exception of Pirate Borg at GenCon. That’s right, more folks were playing AD&D at these cons than Shadowdark!

Takeaway 3: Trad games are common at both Gen Con and Gary Con.

Takeaway 4: OSE and Cairn are rare finds at con games: maybe we ought to change that? Across GenCon, GaryCon, and NTRPG Con, I found a grand total of 27 games of Old School Essentials (counting both OSE and Dolmenwood), 2 games of Cairn, and 9 games of Mausritter. And apart from 2 games of Mausritter at GenCon, all of these wonderful games were at GaryCon.

Here are the questions I am left with:
1) how have the numbers of AD&D games changed over time at cons? A slow decline, steady, or a resurgence?
2) are these con numbers representative of home games, or is AD&D something that folks play more at cons?
3) do the fans of AD&D skew older than the B/X fandom, which some of my colleagues have suggested? Or is about the same?

There are many other questions I should be asking I am sure—I would be interested to hear what folks think!

If you want to see the numbers and some pie charts, you can check out my post here:

AD&D, B/X, and the OSR: By the numbers

Is AD&D still alive and well, or an older part of the OSR that is fading in popularity? This week’s post is an apology: after I wrote “A...

dreamshrike.blogspot.com

On my to-do list for the weekend is posting the excel sheets for this analysis, I will post in the comments when that is done.

 

[Reynard]

I would be interested to see how the various OSR games compare at cons that are not specifically OSR oriented (like GenCon or Origins). My intuition is that Shadowdark would be very popular and probably beat out AD&D for numbers of seats.

That said -- and we have discussed this here recently in different context -- convention game events or seats does not necessarily reflect the general regular play popularity of any given game. At best it could reflect what folks prefer to play AWAY from their home tables.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

That said -- and we have discussed this here recently in different context -- convention game events or seats does not necessarily reflect the general regular play popularity of any given game. At best it could reflect what folks prefer to play AWAY from their home tables.

And how organized publishers are in getting their games played at conventions. Limithron puts a lot of effort into that. So Pirate Borg -- a great game, to be clear -- is probably overrepresented.

Shadowdark is likely to make a better showing next year, as the Shadow League organized play ecosystem is set to ramp up once the Western Reaches Kickstarter fulfills later this year (probably).

 

[Velocitree]

I would be interested to see how the various OSR games compare at cons that are not specifically OSR oriented (like GenCon or Origins). My intuition is that Shadowdark would be very popular and probably beat out AD&D for numbers of seats.

That said -- and we have discussed this here recently in different context -- convention game events or seats does not necessarily reflect the general regular play popularity of any given game. At best it could reflect what folks prefer to play AWAY from their home tables.

Fwiw AD&D beat Shadowdark at Gen Con in 2025. Yes I agree cons may be an odd sample but it’s better than an internet poll. I wish there was a better way to know what people play at home.

 

[Reynard]

Fwiw AD&D beat Shadowdark at Gen Con in 2025. Yes I agree cons may be an odd sample but it’s better than an internet poll. I wish there was a better way to know what people play at home.

Literally all you can do is ask them, so an internet poll is actually better.

Best would be to cold call poll people, but that's arduous and expensive.

I have been advocating for a while now for a non-profit TTRPG hobby and industry trade organization that takes market research seriously (among other things, like preservation).

 

[Velocitree]

Literally all you can do is ask them, so an internet poll is actually better.

Best would be to cold call poll people, but that's arduous and expensive.

I have been advocating for a while now for a non-profit TTRPG hobby and industry trade organization that takes market research seriously (among other things, like preservation).

Given the differences in forum uptake across play groups and games, I am not sure internet polls are better. But they are interesting.

I like that trade org idea!

 

[Sossij]

There’s also a decent number of people who aren’t on forums like this one and aren’t going to cons who just break out their old books and modules and notes to play with friends or teach and play with their kids that you just won’t hear from or see unless they are your friends and neighbors.

EDIT: And I should add that maybe I’m overestimating them based on the ones I know. And of course since they aren’t interfacing with the greater online community, it’s hard to know if they are doing B/X, or 1st Ed., or second, or BECMI. A lot will depend on what’s on their closet.

 

[GothmogIV]

"Skew older" is probably a very safe bet (says the old guy).

 

[aco175]

I would think that people that have played the newer editions like 3e and 4e would play one of the clones instead of AD&D. It seems that some of the new ideas like the d20 mechanic over Thac0 would be better to some/most.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

There’s also a decent number of people who aren’t on forums like this one and aren’t going to cons who just break out their old books and modules and notes to play with friends or teach and play with their kids that you just won’t hear from or see unless they are your friends and neighbors.

EDIT: And I should add that maybe I’m overestimating them based on the ones I know. And of course since they aren’t interfacing with the greater online community, it’s hard to know if they are doing B/X, or 1st Ed., or second, or BECMI. A lot will depend on what’s on their closet.

No, I don't think you're wrong. I was shocked when I saw how many people on the Facebook Shadowdark group are using it to play TSR modules and nothing but, basically transitioning over from AD&D to Shadowdark, often not having any idea that there have been decades of innovations in game design in the intervening decades until they saw them a bunch of them all at once in Shadowdark.

It certainly seems like a lot of these people, if they were still playing RPGs, were still playing with the books they acquired in the late 1970s and early 1980s and never felt the need to migrate to a new system since.