D&D 5E (2024) What Is 2026's Big Adventure

[Reynard]

The market already tested that format.

It failed.

How many did it sell? Where does it sit on the list of adventures for total sales?

 

[Reynard]

There is no such thing as a sure bet. Unless you make a spelljammer of it, in which case it's a sure bet it will fail.

If I recall correctly, Ben Riggs charts show DS being the worst selling of all the major 2E settings. I don't know why people think it is going to be a success here.

 

[mamba]

If I recall correctly, Ben Riggs charts show DS being the worst selling of all the major 2E settings. I don't know why people think it is going to be a success here.

According to Ben's charts, DS sold more than Planescape or Ravenloft did and on par with Spelljammer. FR, GH and DL sold more

 

[Reynard]

According to Ben's charts, DS sold more than Planescape or Ravenloft did and on par with Spelljammer. FR, GH and DL sold more

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Thanks. I did not, in fact, recall correctly.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

If I recall correctly, Ben Riggs charts show DS being the worst selling of all the major 2E settings. I don't know why people think it is going to be a success here.

As I said before, how DS did in the past is irrelevant, because current D&D players weren’t born then. It is in effect a new setting using themes that were ahead of their time in the 1980s, but are very topical now.

Anyway, I rate the probability of WotC using the slipcase approach for any setting ever again slightly less than zero. DS may only be one book without an accompanying big adventure, but it sure won’t be a slipcase.

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

I don't know why people think it is going to be a success here.

Because Fallout is popular. Even though logically that would lead to a 5e Gamma World (7e Gamma World?).

 

[darjr]

I think the nostalgia played in by 5e releases are based on more than the rpg material. For example the planescape one was as much about the video game nostalgia.

 

[Scott Christian]

I went MtG. I think with some of the more well known voices gone from the company, the higher ups in Hasbro will insist they know better than the creatives in the company. So they will try to do something that maximizes crossover. They'll use words like synergy and cross-pollination. But what they really mean is, "We need to drive the stock up short term."

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

I think the nostalgia played in by 5e releases are based on more than the rpg material. For example the planescape one was as much about the video game nostalgia.

I never played it, but I think Wake of the Ravager has a pretty good reputation among old school RPG fans. Certainly not as big as Baldurs Gate, but I'd say that Dark Sun had a few video game adaptations that cemented the setting as unique (as opposed to the few Greyhawk video games which are just kinda flavorless).

 

[Reynard]

It is in effect a new setting using themes that were ahead of their time in the 1980s, but are very topical now.

This is the first time I have ever heard DS referred to as "ahead of its time." That's strikes me as odd, given that at the time it seemed intentionally backward looking toward the S&S themes of yore, as a response to the modern fantasies of DL and FR.