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<blockquote data-quote="Ariosto" data-source="post: 5012076" data-attributes="member: 80487">So, what D&amp;D-game stuff did TSR mostly sell in the 1980s? Yes, the &quot;core&quot; game itself! And yes, dungeon modules!How could that possibly work? Well, see, sales were to more than just people who had gotten into D&amp;D prior to 1979. There was this curious thing called a growing market. For that matter, people who stuck with the &quot;little brown books&quot; were (and are) part of the market for Basic and Advanced modules -- and 1E DMs for good 2E stuff. But the really big deal was the continuing influx of new players.I'm sure there were some AD&amp;Ders who rushed out to get the new D&amp;D line, maybe just unable to resist the Erol Otus covers. And maybe there were some already possessing those volumes who bought revised Basic and Expert sets a few years later. I doubt that they accounted for more than a minority of sales of those, though, or even of the Companion and Masters and Immortals sets.Fiend Folio, I think, sold very well, the &quot;orange spine&quot; supplements not so much ... but I would gladly stand corrected. From what I saw, though, they kept selling from year to year. So did the &quot;big three&quot; (MM, PHB, DMG).Even after 2E was released, retailers kept selling 1E core books as long they were able to get them in the first place.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Ariosto, post: 5012076, member: 80487"] So, what D&D-game stuff did TSR mostly sell in the 1980s? Yes, the "core" game itself! And yes, dungeon modules! How could that possibly work? Well, see, sales were to more than just people who had gotten into D&D prior to 1979. There was this curious thing called a growing market. For that matter, people who [i]stuck with[/i] the "little brown books" were (and are) part of the market for Basic and Advanced modules -- and 1E DMs for good 2E stuff. But the really big deal was the continuing influx of new players. I'm sure there were some AD&Ders who rushed out to get the new D&D line, maybe just unable to resist the Erol Otus covers. And maybe there were some already possessing those volumes who bought revised Basic and Expert sets a few years later. I doubt that they accounted for more than a minority of sales of those, though, or even of the Companion and Masters and Immortals sets. Fiend Folio, I think, sold very well, the "orange spine" supplements not so much ... but I would gladly stand corrected. From what I saw, though, they kept selling from year to year. So did the "big three" (MM, PHB, DMG). Even after 2E was released, retailers kept selling 1E core books as long they were able to get them in the first place. [/QUOTE]

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