Quote from: Doom;912724Don't get me wrong, 5e is quite playable, but I find it hard to believe all the same. Would love to see actual numbers...though I reckon I'm not alone in that regard.

You'd have to talk to Ryan Dancey. He saw what numbers they claimed they sold, what books were returned without covers, and what they had spent on inventory for 1e and 2e when he audited TSR just prior to the WOTC takeover.

Quote from: GameDaddy;913089You'd have to talk to Ryan Dancey. He saw what numbers they claimed they sold, what books were returned without covers, and what they had spent on inventory for 1e and 2e when he audited TSR just prior to the WOTC takeover.

...and then you'd have to believe him.

Quote from: CRKrueger;913099...and then you'd have to believe him.

*jaw drops*

You and I actually agree on something.

Quote from: Harlock;913072Well, that's curious. I wonder why M:tG isn't on there if Pokemon is? Probably some licensing issue or another.

Just doing a quick Google search, it seems like there's some sort of homebrew game called Pokemon Tabletop that's pretty popular there.

As far as Magic is concerned, while WotC does love their money (they really, REALLY love money) there are actually some free alternatives to M:tG Online out there that see some use. So if Roll20 did ever offer card games, they probably wouldn't have too much trouble with Magic. Pokemon would be trickier as Nintendo is fanatically protective of their licenses, so I could see Magic being supported before it ever got approved.

Quote from: Brand55;913101Just doing a quick Google search, it seems like there's some sort of homebrew game called Pokemon Tabletop that's pretty popular there.

As far as Magic is concerned, while WotC does love their money (they really, REALLY love money) there are actually some free alternatives to M:tG Online out there that see some use. So if Roll20 did ever offer card games, they probably wouldn't have too much trouble with Magic. Pokemon would be trickier as Nintendo is fanatically protective of their licenses, so I could see Magic being supported before it ever got approved.

Cool. Thanks for the info.

Quote from: Harlock;913072Well, that's curious. I wonder why M:tG isn't on there if Pokemon is? Probably some licensing issue or another.

oops. Turns out it is a fan made RPG.

And someone spotted it too after.

Quote from: Caesar Slaad;912892I found the claim a bit dubious at first, but it's not out of the realm of plausibility. I do see a lot of people playing 5e. I just also see a lot of people still playing 3.5, 1e, and Pathfinder. I suppose if the hard-corish installed fans that stick with their favored variants/editions run about 10% of the population, but on the whole the D&D audience grows by 25%, it could grow and the holdout segment still would seem fairly sizable, but be consistent with the claim.

For that matter, I know many Pathfinder players who purchased a 5e PHB out of curiosity, or who play both games, so there's that too.

Games being played =/= game being sold. I imagine there are a fair number of 5e PHBs out there that were purchased but are not being used in play.  Also I wonder if the sales numbers indicate copies purchased by retail customers or copies purchased by retailers through distribution. Product sitting on store shelves would count as "sold" in the second case.

Either way D&D lost me somewhere between 2 and 3.0. These days I am playing Beyond the Wall for my D&D style fix.

To Hasborg all that matters is sales.

Quote from: Mistwell;912722According to Mike Mearls' latest tweet, ""5e lifetime PHB sales > 3, 3.5, 4 lifetime" "

He clarifies that the 5e D&D Player's Handbook sales since the edition began have outsold the lifetime PHB sales of 4e, and 3.5e, and 3e.  Individually, not collectively (it has not outsold the lifetime sales of all three combined, though at this rate that could happen).  And that is in books sold, not money (money-wise Mearls implies that would be cheating as the 5e PHB sells for more than the others did due to inflation). He also says he doesn't know if it's outsold the 1e or 2e PHB as they have only sketchy records on those sales.

This comes at a time where ICv2 says retail sales of RPG books in general are up by 40% over last year, with 5e D&D leading the way.

There's a sucker born every minute.

Quote from: jadrax;913016There were some interesting numbers released by Roll20 about what games are being played on their platform Here.

Thank you for the link.

Quote from: Brand55;913101Just doing a quick Google search, it seems like there's some sort of homebrew game called Pokemon Tabletop that's pretty popular there.

As far as Magic is concerned, while WotC does love their money (they really, REALLY love money) there are actually some free alternatives to M:tG Online out there that see some use. So if Roll20 did ever offer card games, they probably wouldn't have too much trouble with Magic. Pokemon would be trickier as Nintendo is fanatically protective of their licenses, so I could see Magic being supported before it ever got approved.

Well theres never been an official one or it would likely take over.

Quote from: kosmos1214;913311Well theres never been an official one or it would likely take over.

How about this, written by Bill "Star Wars" Slavicsek and Stan!, published by WotC in 2000?

I wrote about it on this forum before.

Quote from: Armchair Gamer;913100*jaw drops*

You and I actually agree on something.

I seem to recall this happening before, I think this is the second time, or *gasp* maybe even more.

Congratulations to WotC. Although sales of core books is only one metric, they've basically succeeded as well as could have been hoped in recovering from the shittastic 4e era.

More game collectors now is all.

Quote from: Shawn Driscoll;913444More game collectors now is all.

Maybe there are more game collectors now (though in my experience that activity peaked in the late 90s), but even if that's true, it's most certainly not "all." In stores and online, and presumably also in basements and kitchen tables, a shitload of people are playing 5e. I mostly play on Roll20 these days (someone already linked to the Roll20 Q2 stats) -- I play in a weekly Friday night game and DM a weekly Saturday night game. The Friday game's core group and DM have been playing for more than two years, and my Saturday group of six fantastic players will hopefully be my regular gaming group for many years to come, regardless of what game we play.

I tried getting a B/X game running there, but sheer volume of eager and active players makes recruiting good players for 5e vastly easier. For me, there's been a clear resurgence, though how much of that is owed to 5e, how much to the maturation of VTT, and how much to the blossoming of nerd culture and attention to TTRPGs in general, I don't know.

5e is D&D and it's good. No surprise (to me) that people are buying and playing it.