Top 5 Tabletop RPGs Spring 2021: Cyberpunk Gains!

ICv2 has released its periodic bestseller list of tabletop roleplaying games in the US and Canada for spring 2021. Dungeons & Dragons takes the top spot as it has done every quarter since Summer 2014, R. Talsorian's Cyberpunk displaces Pathfinder as it continues its climb to 2nd place since it first appeared in the chart a year ago, and for the second time ever '5E Compatible' has appeared on the chart, while Alien maintains its position.

Position​	Game (Publisher)​
1​	Dungeons & Dragons (WotC)
2​	Cyberpunk (R. Talsorian)
3​	Pathfinder (Paizo)
4​	Alien (Free League)
5​	5E Compatible (Various)

As always I keep a historical record of these charts here.

 

[darjr]

And by bad stock I don’t mean quality. Though there were some, as always. I mean bad as in much harder to sell after a new version of the core dropped with the perception that it wouldn’t be forward compatible.

 

[Staffan]

There are a lot of people who will say that Paizo wasn't individually and deliberately targeted since these were internally-driven decisions, but I am skeptical that killing Paizo wasn't on someone's Pro/Con list in the Pro column as a side-benefit of these decisions.

That's not likely. Lisa Stevens is on record as saying that Wizards handled themselves well, and told Paizo about things well in advance which was what allowed them to shift gears to the Pathfinder adventure path route and eventually the Pathfinder RPG. Remember that at that time, Paizo was a valued partner of Wizards of the Coast, not a competitor.

 

[billd91]

That's not likely. Lisa Stevens is on record as saying that Wizards handled themselves well, and told Paizo about things well in advance which was what allowed them to shift gears to the Pathfinder adventure path route and eventually the Pathfinder RPG. Remember that at that time, Paizo was a valued partner of Wizards of the Coast, not a competitor.

They may have been gracious about the magazine licenses, but partners that are truly valued usually aren't subjected to multiple decisions that will undermine or destroy their business model.
And WotC definitely did NOT handle themselves well with the GSL license. The license was late and Paizo (specifically Erik Mona) complained about lack of information about the license and the inability to have material available for the new version launch, one of the major aspects of Paizo's decision to stick to the OGL and go with Pathfinder.

 

[darjr]

Well… the GSL was a failure for everyone. Even other close partners.

 

[billd91]

Well… the GSL was a failure for everyone. Even other close partners.

Indeed. But Paizo felt the one-two punch on that stuff. Kind of a perfect storm, particularly for a company that was started specifically to publish WotC's magazines.

 

[darjr]

@billd91 Sure. None of that shows any particular malice however. It isn’t proof against it either.

 

[macd21]

My point is, it doesn't expose them to being burned to put out OGL material. If WotC burned bridges with 5E, that would be a major business opportunity. The OGL isn't what burned Paizo, Dungeon & Dragon were.

No, the OGL burned Paizo, they just came out of it stronger.

WotC dropping 3.5 was a huge problem for Paizo. It threatened to kill their business model. But they took a huge gamble and published Pathfinder. The gamble paid off, and they came out ahead, but that doesn’t change the fact that it was a huge risk.

If WotC burned bridges with 5ed, Paizo could make that gamble again, but would they want to? Just because it worked last time doesn’t mean it would work again. The 5ed customer base could just happily move on to 6ed, leaving Paizo pumping money into a product nobody wants.

 

[darjr]

@mad

No, the OGL burned Paizo, they just came out of it stronger.

I think you are completely wrong. The OGL helped save them, and maybe D&D.

 

[CleverNickName]

@mad

I think you are completely wrong. The OGL helped save them, and maybe D&D.

I agree. Love it or hate it, the OGL kicked off the "D&D Renaissance." Almost overnight, new publishing companies started coming out of the woodwork to create tons (TONS!) of fresh content, on a scale that was never seen before. If it weren't for the OGL, D&D could very well have faded into obsolescence and we'd all be playing Warhammer right now.

If anyone got hurt by the OGL in the later days, it was Wizards of the Coast. The OGL might have saved the D&D game, but it also gave other companies (like Paizo) the tools they needed to compete directly against WotC. I think they released the 4th Edition in order to lure players and publishers away from it, and it didn't go as well as they hoped.

 

[Marc Radle]

@mad

I think you are completely wrong. The OGL helped save them, and maybe D&D.

Agreed. With all due respect Macd21, you don’t have an accurate understanding of what what on then.