What are the best selling d20 products so far?

[Turjan]

I'd agree with the notion that critical acclaim does not have much to do with sales figures. My local WotC store had always a huge selection of Fast Forward Games stuff. The reviews for FFE stuff on EN World are consistently bad, but according to the shop staff the books sold quite well compared to other D20 stuff. On the other hand, FFE's economic struggles might point into a different direction .

 

[Umbran]

It's sad to think that there are potentially millions of players and 20K is a huge selling field.

Yes, well, remember that very few books are of much use to the players. They're of use to the DM. If we imagine that there's 2 million gamers playing D&D, organized into groups of 5 (1 DM, 4 players), that means the real target audience is more like 400,000, not millions. Then a book that sells 20,000 is hitting about 5% of the total market.

The real revolution will come when someone creates a book that players actually want, but that does not impinge upon the DM's rules-control.

We of EN World have people who buy everything and those that buy nothing so it's a good showcase that even people who love the hobby don't necessarily do all they can to support it.

Don't go there. This is a hobby, not a charity. There is no moral obligation to buy products merely to support the hobby.

 

[Trickstergod]

I'd agree with the notion that critical acclaim does not have much to do with sales figures. My local WotC store had always a huge selection of Fast Forward Games stuff. The reviews for FFE stuff on EN World are consistently bad, but according to the shop staff the books sold quite well compared to other D20 stuff. On the other hand, FFE's economic struggles might point into a different direction .

That doesn't surprise me, actually; I think a lot of people foolishly buy bad books on the basis of "Well, gee, it can't be that bad, can it? I'll pick it up and see..."

And while a great book may get roughly about the same amount of press as a bad one, I'd say that books that only hit the decent mark receive nowhere near as much coverage as a bad one, and similarly suffer sales-wise because simply put, no one's ever heard of them, while the bad-mouthing of poorly done books garners a few more sales than simply have said nothing would have.

 

[Dreaddisease]

Wulf Ratbane,
I appreciated Heroes of High Favor: Elves. I am surprised that it is not the most popular product out there as elves seem to be the most played. I am not surprised that Half-Orcs are so low as they are a cross breed race, as well as one of the least picked races in our group (even with the Half-Orc Paladin and Half-Orc Cleric in one of our campaigns). As such books focused on these races are less popular by its nature. I am only (and I don't mean this at all to seem rude) picking it up in order to figure out if I would even allow half-orcs as a standard class in my campaigns. I don't see a major use for them as well as the half-elves. Opinions of course. Because of this I have put Half-Orcs lower on my collection list (3-4 months out).

I did appreciate 'Elves' because it introduced me to Ley Lines and Nexuses in a way I hadn't thought of and now I'm redisigning parts of my world to include such mystical things.

Suggestion for more heroes of high favor? I have one yes. I wouldn't go for one specific race as much as focus on a specified range (half breeds of exotic races such as Giants and Dragons, Beasts, or Monsterous Races). But please keep them coming. I may even pick up the HOHF:Halflings when I get through my current list.

There I go highjacking the thread. Sorry, continue...

 

[Dreaddisease]

And while a great book may get roughly about the same amount of press as a bad one, I'd say that books that only hit the decent mark receive nowhere near as much coverage as a bad one, and similarly suffer sales-wise because simply put, no one's ever heard of them, while the bad-mouthing of poorly done books garners a few more sales than simply have said nothing would have.

Also, one store isn't a good indicator of overall market. Good location of a store (suburbs of larger cities) can play a major impact on how fast non-WOTC product goes through the store. Also if the store owner has a bias on a certain product line such as FFE or BadAxe then maybe they push those products more.

Still it is surprising that with the internet and such great sites as this one that better products don't sell as well sometimes. Oh well.

 

[der_kluge]

Yea, Death in Freeport, R&R, Creature Collection, and Pit of Loch Durnan - all the early stuff, all probably sold fairly well. I think initially people didn't know to distinguish it from WoTC stuff (I didn't know what D20 was when 3e came out). So, some people bought that stuff probably thinking that it was official stuff.

I suspect that, in general, what is popular on ENWorld isn't necessarily indicative of what is popular "outside". PDFs, for example, don't sell anywhere but to this community, really. And 200, (not 2000) is a good run for a .pdf.

From my experience, KoK seems to have sold fairly well, but I doubt even it has pushed 20k units.

 

[Monte At Home]

I'd be very surprised to learn that Creature Collection wasn't the best selling non-WotC d20 product. I'd suspect that it's probably one of the best selling non-WotC rpg products of the last few years.

It wasn't just early. It was the:

First non-WotC d20 hardcover.
First d20 monster book (WotC or non-WotC).
First non-WotC d20 "core" type book of any kind.

I'll agree with Chris and James that being early meant a lot in the d20 industry. While I'm not referring to their products, you could literally put the d20 logo on any old piece of crap in those early days and sell 10K to 20K. (And even some of the good stuff from those days hasn't aged particularly well.)

I won't agree that it's impossible to see sales figures like that today. It's just harder--which is OK with me, actually. Malhavoc products are selling very well and I suspect that, while not the best selling d20 product of all time, Arcana Unearthed is likely to be right up there, and in fact is still selling very strong. I'm very proud of that. The fact that it sold so well in a period when it seemed everyone else in the industry was talking doom and gloom made it particularly interesting time.

Of course, a big part of the issue of sales is distribution. It's probably a bigger factor than individual product quality (although consistent quality might get you better distribution, so it's muddy). In any event, it would be a mistake to think of the game industry, or the d20 segment of it, as a level playing field. There's a world of difference in sales of a product that regularly gets into bookstores (as well as all gamestores) with one or more full-time salespeople working to get it into distributors' and retailers' hands and a product that isn't even regularly stocked in every game store.

I suspect, as things move along, this difference will become more pronounced, not less. More and more distributors, let alone retailers, are choosing to carry only a few d20 companies' products and don't even look at new ones.

This means, of course, that the occasional gem slips through the fingers of the system, like last year's Magical Medieval Societies.

 

[mattcolville]

Consider, when talking about sales, that almost no new companies that come into this business are better than "very badly" capitalized. These companies are usually started with a few thousand dollars, and must make a profit with each product in order to keep going.

I don't think I've yet seen a really well capitalized new company in this business. Meaning enough captial to operate and publish for three to five years before you see a profit.

In the absence of such a company, sales data seems pretty useless to me.

 

[MerricB]

. Sometimes people ask us why we stopped publishing adventures (for the time being) and focused on counter products -- simple answer: the Counters sold WAY MORE than the adventures.

Creature Collection sold well over 20,000. (Well over 50,000 is a good guess too!) If it came out today, it would probably sell 10,000 or so, as a guess.

Just some things to think about.

That also probably explains the D&D Miniatures line. (And the Map Folios, too!)

Cheers!

 

[Brilbadr]

Well I don't know if activity is an indicator
or even how well Mongoose does in comparison to other companies
but I do know that the Conan d20 section of Mongoose's boards has generated abouts as much traffic as it's 4 other seperate lines...
It certainly gets people over at Mongoose yapping.. No indication of what that means in sales mind you (I've got 1 )

I've found it hard to judge books and been a bit stingy with my cash,
I would never have even looked at the Complete "X" series at all if I hadn't been given the C-Cleric which was quite good. I imagine such reticence is common amongst us poor roleplayers.