Libertad
Legend
An interesting thing I've noticed is that products with a strong horror emphasis do very well, both in official and 3rd party spaces. On the official side of things, Curse of Strahd is the most popular of the WotC adventures for this edition by far. And the semi-official DM's Guild has an awful lot of products with the Ravenloft/Curse of Strahd filters, with Ravenloft actually exceeding Eberron in content number. Forgotten Realms leaves both in the dust, albeit I've noticed that a lot of publishers put generic setting-less content under that tag as opposed to Realmslore-specific things, which likely inflates the numbers.
When it comes to OGL material, some of the most popular crowdfunding campaigns have distinctly horror elements. Crooked Moon raised an amazing 4 million dollars on KickStarter, while Dungeons of Drakkenheim breached a little over 1 million dollars themselves. While it's not their only product, Ghostfire Gaming's flagship setting is Grim Hollow, and they're one of the larger publishers currently on the market. Both Grim Hollow and Drakkenheim recently got their material sold on DnD Beyond, being the first among unofficial settings to get this treatment.
I'm aware that I may have some confirmation bias as there's quite a bit of popular products that aren't horror-themed, such as the Griffon's Saddlebag or Matt Colville's Stronghold/Kingdom building books. Not to mention the many smaller horror-themed products out there that don't get such coverage or publicity. I'm aware that there are other factors at play, but it does seem to be a recurring trend of interest in the 5e fandom. Especially given that the 5e ruleset isn't what I'd regard as the most appropriate for horror elements.
What are ENWorld's thoughts?
When it comes to OGL material, some of the most popular crowdfunding campaigns have distinctly horror elements. Crooked Moon raised an amazing 4 million dollars on KickStarter, while Dungeons of Drakkenheim breached a little over 1 million dollars themselves. While it's not their only product, Ghostfire Gaming's flagship setting is Grim Hollow, and they're one of the larger publishers currently on the market. Both Grim Hollow and Drakkenheim recently got their material sold on DnD Beyond, being the first among unofficial settings to get this treatment.
I'm aware that I may have some confirmation bias as there's quite a bit of popular products that aren't horror-themed, such as the Griffon's Saddlebag or Matt Colville's Stronghold/Kingdom building books. Not to mention the many smaller horror-themed products out there that don't get such coverage or publicity. I'm aware that there are other factors at play, but it does seem to be a recurring trend of interest in the 5e fandom. Especially given that the 5e ruleset isn't what I'd regard as the most appropriate for horror elements.
What are ENWorld's thoughts?