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<blockquote data-quote="prosfilaes" data-source="post: 5686622" data-attributes="member: 40166"><p>I'll pull some data from <a href="http://www.librarything.com/" target="_blank">http://www.librarything.com</a>. This is what people have entered in for their "libraries"; varying definition of library and self-selection problems come about, but in theory, this is what's on book shelves today. This is also number of copies of individual books held. When editions are combined and are separated is sometimes wonky, and is basically out of my control, and I suspect there's at least one game that could hit the 200 copies limit if we merged editions. Numbers are for copies, not holders; if someone holds editions 1, 3, 5, and 7 of Call of Cthulhu, it will add 4 to number of copies. An * is when I combined LibraryThing works to form one count for several editions or the like.</p><p></p><p>I'm working from a semi-complete "library"/bibliography that was compiled in 2007. I checked other lists, and hopefully caught anything new that would cross the limit; I made sure to double check D&D 4 and Pathfinder (Corebook only hits 92.) The number of copies is all current.</p><p></p><p>Most-held RPG books:</p><p>* PHB 3.5 + Gift Set = 1000 copies</p><p>(This assumes that nobody lists both the Gift Set and the books in the Gift set in their library, a known incorrect assumption)</p><p>Player's Handbook: Core Rulebook I (3.5) 955 copies</p><p>Player's Handbook: Core Rulebook I (Dungeons & Dragons, Third Edition) 783 copies</p><p>Player's Handbook (1st edition) 682 copies</p><p>Player's Handbook (2nd Edition) 659 copies (includes revised edition copies)</p><p>* DMG 3.5 + Gift Set = 645 copies</p><p>Call of Cthulhu 625 copies (includes all editions)</p><p>Dungeon Master's Guide: Core Rulebook II (3.5) 601 copies</p><p>Dungeon Master's Guide (1st Edition) 574 copies</p><p>Dungeon Master's Guide: Core Rulebook II (3.0) 569 copies</p><p>* MM 3.5 + Gift Set = 564</p><p>Monster Manual: Core Rulebook III (3.0) 528 copies</p><p>Monster Manual: Core Rulebook III (3.5) 519 copies</p><p>Monster Manual (1st Edition) 516 copies</p><p>* Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook (4th Edition) + Dungeons and Dragons Core Rulebook Gift Set 512 copies</p><p>Dungeon Master's Guide (2nd Edition) 482 copies</p><p>Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook (4th Edition) 403 copies</p><p>* D&D 4 DMG + Gift set 374 copies</p><p>* Star Wars D20 core book (1st, Revised, Saga) 370 copies</p><p>Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting 363 copies</p><p>GURPS Basic Set (3rd Edition) 355 copies</p><p>* Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual + Gift Set 354 copies</p><p>The World of Darkness (2004 book) 337 copies</p><p>Monster Manual II 318 copies</p><p>Deities & Demigods (1st Ed) 308 copies</p><p>Vampire : The Masquerade (3rd edition?) 304 copies</p><p>Fiend Folio (1st ed) 289 copies</p><p>Monster Manual II (1st ed) 285 copies</p><p>Unearthed Arcana (1st ed) 284 copies</p><p>Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master's Guide (4th ed) 265 copies</p><p>Manual of the Planes (3rd Ed) 260 copies</p><p>Monstrous Manual 258 copies</p><p>* Exalted (1st Ed + 2nd Ed) 250 copies</p><p>Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual 4ed 245 copies</p><p>The Book of Nod (V:tM) 244 copies</p><p>Vampire: The Requiem 240 copies</p><p>Complete Warrior 238 copies</p><p>Eberron: Campaign Setting 235 copies</p><p>Book of Vile Darkness (3ed) 230 copies</p><p>Serenity Role Playing Game 229 copies</p><p>Complete Adventurer: A Guide to Skillful Characters of All Classes 227 copies</p><p>Sword and Fist: A Guidebook to Fighters and Monks 227 copies</p><p>Mage: The Awakening (2005 book) 223 copies</p><p>Vampire: The Masquerade (2nd Edition) 217 copies</p><p>Complete Arcane: A Player's Guide to Arcane Magic for all Classes 212 copies</p><p>Defenders of the Faith: A Guidebook to Clerics and Paladins 212 copies</p><p>Werewolf: The Apocalypse (both 1st and 2nd edition) 212 copies</p><p>Epic Level Handbook 209 copies</p><p>Player's Handbook II (3.5) 207 copies</p><p>Tome and Blood: A Guidebook to Wizards and Sorcerers 206 copies</p><p>Psionics Handbook (3.0) 203 copies</p><p>Complete Divine 201</p><p></p><p>TL;DR version: D&D 3 & 3.5 lead the list, followed by D&D 1 & 2. D&D 1, 3 & 3.5 are pretty much the only systems to have non-core books show up. Followed by Call of Cthulhu (arguably cheated through over-combination), D&D 4, Star Wars D20, GURPS 3, various WoD main books and the Serenity RPG. </p><p></p><p>Skipping further D&D books:</p><p></p><p>D20 Modern 188 copies</p><p>Mage: The Ascension (Revised Edition) 186</p><p>GURPS Basic Set: Characters (4th Edition) 184</p><p>Mage: The Ascension (2nd Edition) 169</p><p>GURPS Discworld 169</p><p>* Shadowrun 2nd Edition 168 (It's a bit of a mess in the system)</p><p>Call of Cthulhu D20 166</p><p>Darksword Adventures 163</p><p>* Rifts Original Edition + Ultimate Edition 163 copies</p><p>Middle Earth Role Playing (1st & 2nd edition) 162</p><p>Werewolf: the Forsaken 159 </p><p>Unknown Armies 158</p><p>GURPS Basic Set: Campaigns (4th Edition) 156</p><p>Vampire: The Dark Ages (1st Edition) 154</p><p>GURPS Space (for 3rd Edition) 152</p><p>* Star Wars D6 RPG Corebook (multiple editions) 152</p><p>Vampire Players Guide (2nd Edition) 145</p><p>Cyberpunk 2020 (multiple editions) 144</p><p>Star Wars (Revised Edition d20) 144</p><p>Laws of the Night (Mind's Eye Theater) 143</p><p>Exalted (1st Edition) 142</p><p>Changeling: the Lost 140</p><p>Shadowrun, Fourth Edition 137</p><p>In Nomine 136</p><p>GURPS Compendium I: Character Creation 133</p><p>GURPS Magic (for 3rd Edition) 133</p><p>Amber 132</p><p>The Wheel of Time (d20) 131</p><p>Rifts 130</p><p>Wraith: The Oblivion (2nd Edition) 128</p><p>Nobilis (2nd Edition) 127 </p><p>* Savage Worlds (- + Explorer's Edition) 127</p><p>Kindred of the East 126</p><p>Guide to the Camarilla 123</p><p>* Burning Wheel: The Character Builder (+set, etc.) 123</p><p>Werewolf: The Apocalypse (Revised Edition) 121</p><p>Guide to the Sabbat 121</p><p>Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (1st Edition) 121</p><p>Buffy the Vampire Slayer 118</p><p>Changeling: The Dreaming (1st Edition) 117</p><p>GURPS Cyberpunk 115</p><p>Star Wars (1st Edition D20) 115</p><p>Street Samurai Catalog (Shadowrun) 114</p><p>The Book of Shadows: The Mage Players Guide 113</p><p>Mage: The Ascension (1st Edition) 113</p><p>GURPS Illuminati 113</p><p>Star Wars Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook, Saga Edition 111</p><p>Champions (Editions 1-4) 109</p><p>Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness 108</p><p>Shadowrun (2nd Edition) 107</p><p>GURPS Supers 106</p><p>Exalted (2nd Edition) 104</p><p>Hunter: The Reckoning 104</p><p>Hero System 5th Edition 103</p><p>Mage: The Sorcerers Crusade 102</p><p>Big Eyes, Small Mouth (2nd Edition & Revised 2nd) 102</p><p>Feng Shui: Action Movie Roleplaying 101</p><p>Paranoia XP (6th Edition) 100</p><p>Trinity 100</p><p>Shadowrun (1st Edition) 100</p><p></p><p>If you combine all editions of the main book of Shadowrun, there's around 532 copies held. Outside of GURPS Traveller (83 copies), no Traveller book had more than 40 copies. The Deadlands main book had 70.</p><p></p><p>What do the copy numbers mean relatively? Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is the most held book in the system, with 63k copies. All the HP books have over 50k, (* Fellowship of the Ring + the Lord of the Rings + Hobbit/LotR is 57k), then we get to the Da Vinci Code (44k copies), and the Hobbit (42k) (* + Hobbit/LotR = 46k). The Player's Handbook (3.5) that topped our list is the 6,470th most popular work; the books pulling up the end with 100 copies are in place 88,010. </p><p></p><p>Take with a lot of salt; combining different editions can make a huge difference, and there are a lot of games that could have been combined and represented with a * up there. The data itself is self-selected, and who knows what the bias is; maybe selecting for people who enter their book collection online samples for GURPS more than Rifts, for example. But I think the general stripes aren't too wrong.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="prosfilaes, post: 5686622, member: 40166"] I'll pull some data from [URL="http://www.librarything.com/"]http://www.librarything.com[/URL]. This is what people have entered in for their "libraries"; varying definition of library and self-selection problems come about, but in theory, this is what's on book shelves today. This is also number of copies of individual books held. When editions are combined and are separated is sometimes wonky, and is basically out of my control, and I suspect there's at least one game that could hit the 200 copies limit if we merged editions. Numbers are for copies, not holders; if someone holds editions 1, 3, 5, and 7 of Call of Cthulhu, it will add 4 to number of copies. An * is when I combined LibraryThing works to form one count for several editions or the like. I'm working from a semi-complete "library"/bibliography that was compiled in 2007. I checked other lists, and hopefully caught anything new that would cross the limit; I made sure to double check D&D 4 and Pathfinder (Corebook only hits 92.) The number of copies is all current. Most-held RPG books: * PHB 3.5 + Gift Set = 1000 copies (This assumes that nobody lists both the Gift Set and the books in the Gift set in their library, a known incorrect assumption) Player's Handbook: Core Rulebook I (3.5) 955 copies Player's Handbook: Core Rulebook I (Dungeons & Dragons, Third Edition) 783 copies Player's Handbook (1st edition) 682 copies Player's Handbook (2nd Edition) 659 copies (includes revised edition copies) * DMG 3.5 + Gift Set = 645 copies Call of Cthulhu 625 copies (includes all editions) Dungeon Master's Guide: Core Rulebook II (3.5) 601 copies Dungeon Master's Guide (1st Edition) 574 copies Dungeon Master's Guide: Core Rulebook II (3.0) 569 copies * MM 3.5 + Gift Set = 564 Monster Manual: Core Rulebook III (3.0) 528 copies Monster Manual: Core Rulebook III (3.5) 519 copies Monster Manual (1st Edition) 516 copies * Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook (4th Edition) + Dungeons and Dragons Core Rulebook Gift Set 512 copies Dungeon Master's Guide (2nd Edition) 482 copies Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook (4th Edition) 403 copies * D&D 4 DMG + Gift set 374 copies * Star Wars D20 core book (1st, Revised, Saga) 370 copies Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting 363 copies GURPS Basic Set (3rd Edition) 355 copies * Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual + Gift Set 354 copies The World of Darkness (2004 book) 337 copies Monster Manual II 318 copies Deities & Demigods (1st Ed) 308 copies Vampire : The Masquerade (3rd edition?) 304 copies Fiend Folio (1st ed) 289 copies Monster Manual II (1st ed) 285 copies Unearthed Arcana (1st ed) 284 copies Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master's Guide (4th ed) 265 copies Manual of the Planes (3rd Ed) 260 copies Monstrous Manual 258 copies * Exalted (1st Ed + 2nd Ed) 250 copies Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual 4ed 245 copies The Book of Nod (V:tM) 244 copies Vampire: The Requiem 240 copies Complete Warrior 238 copies Eberron: Campaign Setting 235 copies Book of Vile Darkness (3ed) 230 copies Serenity Role Playing Game 229 copies Complete Adventurer: A Guide to Skillful Characters of All Classes 227 copies Sword and Fist: A Guidebook to Fighters and Monks 227 copies Mage: The Awakening (2005 book) 223 copies Vampire: The Masquerade (2nd Edition) 217 copies Complete Arcane: A Player's Guide to Arcane Magic for all Classes 212 copies Defenders of the Faith: A Guidebook to Clerics and Paladins 212 copies Werewolf: The Apocalypse (both 1st and 2nd edition) 212 copies Epic Level Handbook 209 copies Player's Handbook II (3.5) 207 copies Tome and Blood: A Guidebook to Wizards and Sorcerers 206 copies Psionics Handbook (3.0) 203 copies Complete Divine 201 TL;DR version: D&D 3 & 3.5 lead the list, followed by D&D 1 & 2. D&D 1, 3 & 3.5 are pretty much the only systems to have non-core books show up. Followed by Call of Cthulhu (arguably cheated through over-combination), D&D 4, Star Wars D20, GURPS 3, various WoD main books and the Serenity RPG. Skipping further D&D books: D20 Modern 188 copies Mage: The Ascension (Revised Edition) 186 GURPS Basic Set: Characters (4th Edition) 184 Mage: The Ascension (2nd Edition) 169 GURPS Discworld 169 * Shadowrun 2nd Edition 168 (It's a bit of a mess in the system) Call of Cthulhu D20 166 Darksword Adventures 163 * Rifts Original Edition + Ultimate Edition 163 copies Middle Earth Role Playing (1st & 2nd edition) 162 Werewolf: the Forsaken 159 Unknown Armies 158 GURPS Basic Set: Campaigns (4th Edition) 156 Vampire: The Dark Ages (1st Edition) 154 GURPS Space (for 3rd Edition) 152 * Star Wars D6 RPG Corebook (multiple editions) 152 Vampire Players Guide (2nd Edition) 145 Cyberpunk 2020 (multiple editions) 144 Star Wars (Revised Edition d20) 144 Laws of the Night (Mind's Eye Theater) 143 Exalted (1st Edition) 142 Changeling: the Lost 140 Shadowrun, Fourth Edition 137 In Nomine 136 GURPS Compendium I: Character Creation 133 GURPS Magic (for 3rd Edition) 133 Amber 132 The Wheel of Time (d20) 131 Rifts 130 Wraith: The Oblivion (2nd Edition) 128 Nobilis (2nd Edition) 127 * Savage Worlds (- + Explorer's Edition) 127 Kindred of the East 126 Guide to the Camarilla 123 * Burning Wheel: The Character Builder (+set, etc.) 123 Werewolf: The Apocalypse (Revised Edition) 121 Guide to the Sabbat 121 Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (1st Edition) 121 Buffy the Vampire Slayer 118 Changeling: The Dreaming (1st Edition) 117 GURPS Cyberpunk 115 Star Wars (1st Edition D20) 115 Street Samurai Catalog (Shadowrun) 114 The Book of Shadows: The Mage Players Guide 113 Mage: The Ascension (1st Edition) 113 GURPS Illuminati 113 Star Wars Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook, Saga Edition 111 Champions (Editions 1-4) 109 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness 108 Shadowrun (2nd Edition) 107 GURPS Supers 106 Exalted (2nd Edition) 104 Hunter: The Reckoning 104 Hero System 5th Edition 103 Mage: The Sorcerers Crusade 102 Big Eyes, Small Mouth (2nd Edition & Revised 2nd) 102 Feng Shui: Action Movie Roleplaying 101 Paranoia XP (6th Edition) 100 Trinity 100 Shadowrun (1st Edition) 100 If you combine all editions of the main book of Shadowrun, there's around 532 copies held. Outside of GURPS Traveller (83 copies), no Traveller book had more than 40 copies. The Deadlands main book had 70. What do the copy numbers mean relatively? Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is the most held book in the system, with 63k copies. All the HP books have over 50k, (* Fellowship of the Ring + the Lord of the Rings + Hobbit/LotR is 57k), then we get to the Da Vinci Code (44k copies), and the Hobbit (42k) (* + Hobbit/LotR = 46k). The Player's Handbook (3.5) that topped our list is the 6,470th most popular work; the books pulling up the end with 100 copies are in place 88,010. Take with a lot of salt; combining different editions can make a huge difference, and there are a lot of games that could have been combined and represented with a * up there. The data itself is self-selected, and who knows what the bias is; maybe selecting for people who enter their book collection online samples for GURPS more than Rifts, for example. But I think the general stripes aren't too wrong. [/QUOTE]
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