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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MerricB" data-source="post: 3323184" data-attributes="member: 3586">Craze is a much better word than fad in this context; thanks. I was looking for such a word, and just couldn't think of it. (No edition of D&D is released as a "fad"). Actually, we didn't see smaller supplements (as such). Mostly new modules and Dragon magazine - Dragon was the only place for new rules material, which is probably one reason it was so popular during that time.If it were merely a fad, there wouldn't be so many supplements overloading your senses, as the lifespan would be shorter. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> Wizards produce about 2 books a month, which while a lot from an AD&D perspective, isn't really that much (certainly not from a 2E perspective!)Wizards do get revenue from constantly releasing new material. I wonder if this is a gamer thing (most profits are in the first 2 months) or a phenonomen with everything - I suspect the latter.D&D has a big difference from the book market: the D&D core books aren't really consumables. With most book buyers, they get the book, read it, and then put it away and buy another book. With D&D, they get the core game, play it, then play it again, and again, and again...What distinguishes D&D from other games even more is the time investment required. If you play D&D anything like most people, you play it in a campaign that takes 4 hours per session, and many, many sessions! That's quite different to other games, where play is discreet, and not ongoing.The closest we have in the present age is World of Warcraft, and that, of course, derives from D&D. Where WoW is better is the subscription fee, so the makers can keep making money from the game! No such luck with D&D!With a boardgame, you can own several games because to play one doesn't exclude you from playing another on the same day or the next day. (So says the gamer who's bought 15+ boardgames in the past year or so...) Meanwhile, the D&D player has a game, and then wants to return to another D&D game. Although play of Top Secret or Star Frontiers could be possible, the RPG structure works against it, if simply for the effort needed to learn the game (both as a player and especially as a DM).I think it was about 1983 that TSR really lost Gygax as a guiding force, as he was sidelined before he left in 1985... so, Gygax was there during the initial growth period of D&D. We never really got to see him sustaining the game, which needs a different strategy, of course.As an aside, post-1983, I don't see any real classic adventures. The latter Gygaxian efforts (Dungeonland, Isle of the Ape) are a bit too whimsical, IMO. And T1-4 was... disappointing.As Gary noted, Unearthed Arcana was created to build revenue quickly, and it did so. That it also set the pattern for 3e releases is not unnoted: players like new rules material!Cheers!</blockquote>

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