The numbers are out.
As of 2016, roleplaying games in the United States generated about $35 million in sales, or the “size of one major movie blockbuster,” according to EN World and ICv2. It’s up from $15 million in 2013. But it no where near reaches the billions video games and the film industry bring in. In fact, RPGs come in dead last in comparison to miniatures and collectible games.
Then EN World posted the games played on Fantasy Grounds. I don’t play online virtual tabletops, and D&D 5e was pretty much guaranteed first place, but why must Rolemaster Classic outpace Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG. Why?
The numbers don’t show the whole picture (in fact, the disclaimer on EN World, of course, but they’re still sobering.
While they’re plenty of options to choose from, when it comes to tabletop RPGs, you might have trouble finding other players unless you go with one of the Top 5.
This is why usually don’t look at the numbers of “The Industry.” I start having thoughts like:
“Well, everybody else is playing D&D 5e, maybe I should give in and join a group.”
“Why bother writing up notes for my next DCC RPG campaign, I’ll have a heck of time trying to find players.”
It’s hard not to. You see people playing the games, presumably have a good time, sometimes you feel like you’re being left behind, or something like that.
D&D 5e seems like a sound game, its just not my style.
But everybody seems to be playing it.
Should I give in?
Apropos of nothing I find D&D5 a very enjoyable game.
I have often wanted to sneak in ideas from DCC that like into D&D5. You could do something similar. The game is quite flexible in that regard.
In fact, I have often thought that DCC’s 0-level funnel would work great with D&D5 with some mods.
Now if there was a way to use DCCs magic corruption with D&D5. Come to think of it didn’t one of the older playtest docs have this?
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I don’t know about the old playtest docs.
I have used the 0-level funnel for Swords & Wizardry. And it could work for 5e.
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Oh boy, I’ve spent some time fretting over this. Although there’s something I just realized earlier today: if I ran a game using *only* the D&D 5e Basic Rules, then that would probably look a bit like a slightly higher-powered B/X. Since there are only the core 4 races (dwarf, elf, halfling, human) and classes (cleric, fighter, rogue, wizard), I won’t have to “disallow” Dragonborn, Tieflings, Warlocks, Barbarians, and Sorcerers… because they aren’t in the (Basic) rulebook. Plus, the limited customization options eliminate some of the classes where party variety and suspension of disbelief are stretched to the breaking point.
(Darn… I should write a whole post about this. 😀 )
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The D&D 5e basic rule DO feel a bit like B/X, don’t they?
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