State of the RPG Industry

[Sir Whiskers]

Ryan Dancey posted some public results of the survey to the web in 2000, and it has since been archived in various places. One is http://www.theescapist.com/WotCsummary1.htm

Thanks for the link.

 

[WizarDru]

I wonder what the breakdown of books would be: I am only guessing, but something like 1 million Players Handbook, 600,000 DMG, 400,000 Monster Manual?

Perhaps posters could report in their group numbers of monthly players, and number of collective core books owned here:So, 6 PH, 5 DMG and 2 MM is close to the ratios I have sited. Note that although everyone in the group games every month, only some buy books, but those who do tend to buy at least two books. Frequent player-only members often go for things like the "Arms and Equipment Guide", and DM's go for world-books.

Just to show how difficult the question is:

My group: 1 DM, 6 players (full time), 1 part time, 1 ex-player

Books: 5 DMGs (3.5), 5 DMGs (3e), 8 PHBs (3.5), 7 PHBs (3.0), 5 Monster Manuals (3.5), 4 Monster Manuals (3.0).

Note that since my wife is one of my players, we share the core books, except for her own copy of the PHB. Most of my players have copies of the splatbooks, although such purchasing has tended to slow down in recent months. I picked up the Complete Warrior, and after I gave tacit approval, others have gotten their own copies. While I am the main one to buy campaign settings, it still varies. One of my players purchased Underdark, another got Morningstar and still another some Sigil information. Most of my players have a copy of the Manual of the Planes.

 

[Henry]

On top of that, you have people who buy multiple copies who throw that figure out of proportion, as well as those who sponge off another's books, use the SRD, etc.

By the way, wasn't the Ryan Dancey Survey figure 2.5 million people play tabletop RPG's each month? I don't think it was ALL D&D in that survey, but was just trying to gauge how many people were regular roleplayers.

Also, for the doubt on the veracity of the figures, I believe those were hard numbers of responses, not an estimate; I could be wrong, however.

 

[Bards R Us]

Hmm, I'll be optimistic and say there may be roughly 2 to 2.5 million table-top RPGers (of all games including d20, whitewolf, palladium, gurps, etc). While it sounds like a big number, but out of the (roughly) 300 million people of the US population, that is pretty much just a drop in the bucket.

 

[Storminator]

I'd be interested in seeing the methodology of this research, not because I think anyone is being deceptive, but because the numbers just don't seem to match my own experience. I'll understand completely if WOTC considers the information privileged, but I'd love see a breakdown by:

*location (country or continent)
*type (fantasy/supers/etc.)
*frequency of playing
*years played
*most important, number of unique players

Since many roleplayers play in multiple games, and/or in multiple game systems, I wonder if some of these players have been counted more than once. My guess is that the 2 million number is simply an extrapolation, though perhaps with a lot of hard data behind it. I'd like to see how the information was collected.
I'd also be curious to see what definition was used for rpg.

If 2M is true, I have to wonder why rpg's are not more mainstream than they are. In my experience, half the people I introduce to rpg's drop out (usually sooner rather than later). If this is typical throughout the hobby, then at least 4 million people have tried rpg's. That's a huge exposure for what is a leisure-time hobby.

Lastly, if this number was true before 3E came out, what is the number today?

Remember where the survey came from: WotC was seeing if TSR was worth buying. They were some pretty sharp businessmen making a market assessment.

PS

 

[Staffan]

By the way, wasn't the Ryan Dancey Survey figure 2.5 million people play tabletop RPG's each month? I don't think it was ALL D&D in that survey, but was just trying to gauge how many people were regular roleplayers.

A later question in the survey was:

Getting back to the people still playing the games, when asked what games TRPG players play monthly, the answers (multiple choices allowed) were:
D&D: 66%
Vampire: The Masquerade: 25%
Star Wars: 21%
Palladium: 16%
Werewolf: The Apocalypse: 15%
Shadowrun: 15%
Star Trek: 12%
Call of Cthulu: 8%
Legend of the Five Rings: 8%
Deadlands: 5%
Alternity: 4%
GURPS: 3%