It's almost impossible to tell anything about WotC's sales figures, but judging from the sheer number of accounts involved in the playtesting and downloads, as well as the early sales ranks on Amazon (where the PHB has been bobbing around in the top 10 in new releases for about a week, going briefly as high as #1), I've got a suspicion that the "relapsed gamer" market is far bigger than anyone imagined and that a big portion of the college and high school age market is at least giving the game a shot with the online resources.

How that translates down the line depends on how successful they are at reeling in the online experimenters.

My anecdotal experience is that the older players are buying physical books at a higher rate, which isn't surprising, since they almost always have better financial resources. We have mixed ages around the table and that's the same thing I'm seeing there, so far.

I also suspect that there will be a nice spill-off effect benefiting other games, as people poke their heads up or start considering other games, decide they don't like 5e, and look around for other options.


I mean, that pretty much happened with me, and now I'm reconsidering games I had passed by previously.

Quote from: Old Geezer;778501That's a good question.. and a real toughie!  The hardest part, of course, would be overcoming my intimate familiarity with the rules.  It's hard to beat a game where I know the rules so well that I can run multiple sessions in a weekend referencing only the to hit charts, saving throw tables, wandering monster charts, and my dungeon maps.

The first is "be rules light."  The second is be clear and more explicit; I freely admit OD&D is full of gaps and badly organized.

Now, Dungeon World PLAYS very much like OD&D, and I like it a lot except for the over-simplified combat, but I didn't like the rules much (mostly because the sardonic smirking attitude they had.)

If you pared DW down to about 100 pages I'd probably like it.

The original Star Wars RPG by West End was 148 pages.  We played the shit out of that game and loved it, and it's still my favorite Star Wars RPG.  And just reading the book is a joy.

So, "do like that."  For instance, a "Princess Bride" RPG in 120 pages that was well done, I would probably buy.

Vague, I know.  Sorry.

Ah, 1st edition WEG Star Wars... to me the easiest game of all time to learn, play, and run. I still use it ( and the Sourcebook). The revisions and changes struck me as fixing what ain't broke.

A Princess Bride RPG in a similar vein would be a godsend.

Quote from: Old Geezer;778501Now, Dungeon World PLAYS very much like OD&D, and I like it a lot except for the over-simplified combat, but I didn't like the rules much (mostly because the sardonic smirking attitude they had.)

I had to do a double take on this. I can't think of anything that comes off as sardonic (smirking or otherwise) in tone or undertone in DW. Of all the criticisms I can see levied against DW, that would never have occurred to me. Can you point to something that came across that way to you?

Quote from: Matt;780413Ah, 1st edition WEG Star Wars... to me the easiest game of all time to learn, play, and run. I still use it ( and the Sourcebook). The revisions and changes struck me as fixing what ain't broke.

A Princess Bride RPG in a similar vein would be a godsend.

I just started playing that game, it's brilliant.

Quote from: Ladybird;780503I just started playing that game, it's brilliant.

That makes me curious but I loathe the setting. Any others use the system?

Quote from: Natty Bodak;780508That makes me curious but I loathe the setting. Any others use the system?

We had a d6 topic awhile back. Bloodshadows apparently was one of the settings that caught my eye. There was a few more, and d6 the company made some generic setting books, IIRC.

Quote from: Opaopajr;780616We had a d6 topic awhile back. Bloodshadows apparently was one of the settings that caught my eye. There was a few more, and d6 the company made some generic setting books, IIRC.

Thank!  I'll take a look.

My PHB arrived from Amazon today. I haven't had as chance to do more than glance through it. My first observation is annoyance that they can't just use black text on off-white paper as that is so much easier to read. I guess I should be happy that at least the background image does not have the lines that the 3e core books had.

Late and haven't read the thread yet, but was looking for a place to say this:

I love my 5 PHB.

It makes me excited to play again!

Very happy.  Very solid book.

Quote from: RandallS;781062My PHB arrived from Amazon today. I haven't had as chance to do more than glance through it. My first observation is annoyance that they can't just use black text on off-white paper as that is so much easier to read. I guess I should be happy that at least the background image does not have the lines that the 3e core books had.

Least it isnt text on a grey SPECKLED background. argh! d20 GW argh!