I have no proof of this, but what I remember is that the statistics WotC gathered said that it was the sales of the Core Rules that gave them the majority of their income. The people who buy adventures already have the Core Rules, and they aren't likely to buy the same books more than once, so the only way to sell what they get the most money from is to get new players interested, or do a new edition.
A nice large supply of D&D books of any kind helps attract new players, and also gives the people already playing something to spend money on, so it's a benefit in both cases. That's why there are so many books supporting the game.
When you go to a store, and you see lots of different varieties of stuff, doesn't it make you feel more secure that you'll get what you want?
This is one of the reasons people get so infuriated with D&D Beyond and having to buy virtual copies of books that they have already purchased physically. They see that as having to buy the exact same thing twice. Time an again I see posts about that, and someone has to explain how D&D provides something more than just the books, and that even when a virtual book has the exact same text, it's much easier to search for what you want, and cross-links with all the other resources.
I can see it. I mean a sourcebook has things that can be adapted into any game. Adventures are more limited and harder to adapt, especially for newer DMs. There are many DMs who struggle with implementing adventures and prefer to homebrew the campaign instead.
I still get adventures as they're interesting and sometimes offer new options or ideas. But I certainly get more from sourcebooks than I do adventures.
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Players buy sourcebooks, DMs buy adventures, there are more players than DMs.
Agree- It’s true for homebrew stuff also-which you’ll see right away if you start posting your own stuff-or just browse through the pubs that are top rated on dmsguild.
Players buy sourcebooks, DMs buy adventures, there are more players than DMs.
This is very true. But they continue making the adventures because they are something new that people who already bought the sourcebooks will still be interested in buying. As already mentioned, you only have to buy a sourcebook once so after that, to continue making money and surviving as a business, you have to either find completely new customers or make more stuff that previous customers will also buy to go with their initial purchase. Because most players do not buy the adventures (just DMs and even then ones who aren't just running straight homebrew games), the adventures have a smaller target audience but it's still an audience that will buy something.
Unless you have access to Wizard's sales data, it is impossible to confirm for sure whether adventures sell more or less than sourcebooks.
Based on the number of reviews on Amazon though, overall, adventures have less reviews than sourcebooks, so it is pretty likely that they do indeed sell less. However, the only sourcebooks that actually have significantly have more reviews than adventures are sourcebooks that are setting agnostic. Sourcebooks tied to a specific setting have far lower number of reviews, although on average they generally do have more reviews than adventures on average too. For the box sets, Starter Set and Essentials Kit have number of reviews comparable to setting agnostic sourcebooks and did even better than the gift set containing the core three books; however, the Rick and Morty box and Stranger Things box have reviews comparable to adventures.
I personally (irl) know 30 people who play dnd.Not a single one of them own more then 5 adventure books.Half of them own more then more 5 source books.Second,sourcbooks usually cost more then adventures,so that adds to profit.
I personally (irl) know 30 people who play dnd.Not a single one of them own more then 5 adventure books.Half of them own more then more 5 source books.Second,sourcbooks usually cost more then adventures,so that adds to profit.
I think that in sheer numbers of sales, the sourcebooks would have to dwarf the adventure books on an individual basis. Nearly everyone who plays D&D will probably own the PHB. But only DMs, as has been pointed out above, buy adventure books. In addition, nearly every DM will own the DMG and MM, but only a DM who wants to run Rime of the Frostmaiden is going to buy it. Few DMs would have time to run all the adventures out now. Maybe someone who started 5e the minute Hoard came out, would have realistically been able to buy, and play, most adventures as they came out, but few people fit into that category -- only DMs who were there right when 5e launched.
On the other hand, the existence of such a large number of quality, published adventures drives sales of the sourcebooks, for many reasons. When people see all the pre-made adventures, more of them are willing to DM, since they don't have to make stuff up cold. That will mean they will probably buy the DMG and MM, and maybe things like Volo and Mord, along with the one adventure. Or maybe after buying and running a pre-made, they decide to do homebrew and now they need all those extra books.
Even for myself, when looking at possible other RPGS to run after I am done running D&D, one thing I am now asking (after all the work of a fully custom, home-brew campaign) is, "are there published adventures to run?" Some cool-seeming games have few or none, and I would be less likely to start trying to GM one of those, than I would a game that has some published adventures. And the more there are, the better it is, because I have several to choose from.
So... Although the adventures may not individual sell as many units as the sourcebooks, I think the mere existence of them, and a large number of them, drives the sourcebook sales because it gives people something to play, and although many DMs are happy to homebrew their worlds/adventures, a lot more of them aren't, and without premade adventures they might not be willing to DM at all.
I find this difficult to believe since about half of WotC’s official products are adventures.
I have no proof of this, but what I remember is that the statistics WotC gathered said that it was the sales of the Core Rules that gave them the majority of their income. The people who buy adventures already have the Core Rules, and they aren't likely to buy the same books more than once, so the only way to sell what they get the most money from is to get new players interested, or do a new edition.
A nice large supply of D&D books of any kind helps attract new players, and also gives the people already playing something to spend money on, so it's a benefit in both cases. That's why there are so many books supporting the game.
When you go to a store, and you see lots of different varieties of stuff, doesn't it make you feel more secure that you'll get what you want?
This is one of the reasons people get so infuriated with D&D Beyond and having to buy virtual copies of books that they have already purchased physically. They see that as having to buy the exact same thing twice. Time an again I see posts about that, and someone has to explain how D&D provides something more than just the books, and that even when a virtual book has the exact same text, it's much easier to search for what you want, and cross-links with all the other resources.
<Insert clever signature here>
I can see it. I mean a sourcebook has things that can be adapted into any game. Adventures are more limited and harder to adapt, especially for newer DMs. There are many DMs who struggle with implementing adventures and prefer to homebrew the campaign instead.
I still get adventures as they're interesting and sometimes offer new options or ideas. But I certainly get more from sourcebooks than I do adventures.
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@geann I agree. Your analysis makes sense from a business standpoint.
Sourcebooks have content for everybody. Adventures have content for whoever wants to run them.
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Players buy sourcebooks, DMs buy adventures, there are more players than DMs.
Makes sense
Agree- It’s true for homebrew stuff also-which you’ll see right away if you start posting your own stuff-or just browse through the pubs that are top rated on dmsguild.
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This is very true. But they continue making the adventures because they are something new that people who already bought the sourcebooks will still be interested in buying. As already mentioned, you only have to buy a sourcebook once so after that, to continue making money and surviving as a business, you have to either find completely new customers or make more stuff that previous customers will also buy to go with their initial purchase. Because most players do not buy the adventures (just DMs and even then ones who aren't just running straight homebrew games), the adventures have a smaller target audience but it's still an audience that will buy something.
Unless you have access to Wizard's sales data, it is impossible to confirm for sure whether adventures sell more or less than sourcebooks.
Based on the number of reviews on Amazon though, overall, adventures have less reviews than sourcebooks, so it is pretty likely that they do indeed sell less. However, the only sourcebooks that actually have significantly have more reviews than adventures are sourcebooks that are setting agnostic. Sourcebooks tied to a specific setting have far lower number of reviews, although on average they generally do have more reviews than adventures on average too. For the box sets, Starter Set and Essentials Kit have number of reviews comparable to setting agnostic sourcebooks and did even better than the gift set containing the core three books; however, the Rick and Morty box and Stranger Things box have reviews comparable to adventures.
PHB 34,330
DMG 19,433
MM 18,674
XGTE 17,060
TCOE 15,092
VGTM 10,142
MTOF 7,205
MEAN: 17,419.43
ERFTLW 6,955
EGTW 6,876
SCAG 4,876
MOOT 4,240
GGTR 3,662
AI 1,664
VGRTR 1,611
MEAN: 4,269.14
IDROTFM 5,333
COS 4,770
WDH 3,534
BGDIA 3,371
GOS 3,371
TFTYP 2,868
DOTMM 2,675
HOTDQ 2,582
CM 2,331
TOA 2,281
TROT 2,220
OOTA 1,736
SKT 1,684
POTP 1,510
MEAN: 2,876.14
PHB/DMG/MM 8,887
Box/LOMP 14,197
Box/DOIP 11,998
Box/D&DVRAM 2,994
Box/HFTT 2,289
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I personally (irl) know 30 people who play dnd.Not a single one of them own more then 5 adventure books.Half of them own more then more 5 source books.Second,sourcbooks usually cost more then adventures,so that adds to profit.
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Not only that, but it's generally considered poor form for a player to buy an Adventure to read ahead on it
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I think that in sheer numbers of sales, the sourcebooks would have to dwarf the adventure books on an individual basis. Nearly everyone who plays D&D will probably own the PHB. But only DMs, as has been pointed out above, buy adventure books. In addition, nearly every DM will own the DMG and MM, but only a DM who wants to run Rime of the Frostmaiden is going to buy it. Few DMs would have time to run all the adventures out now. Maybe someone who started 5e the minute Hoard came out, would have realistically been able to buy, and play, most adventures as they came out, but few people fit into that category -- only DMs who were there right when 5e launched.
On the other hand, the existence of such a large number of quality, published adventures drives sales of the sourcebooks, for many reasons. When people see all the pre-made adventures, more of them are willing to DM, since they don't have to make stuff up cold. That will mean they will probably buy the DMG and MM, and maybe things like Volo and Mord, along with the one adventure. Or maybe after buying and running a pre-made, they decide to do homebrew and now they need all those extra books.
Even for myself, when looking at possible other RPGS to run after I am done running D&D, one thing I am now asking (after all the work of a fully custom, home-brew campaign) is, "are there published adventures to run?" Some cool-seeming games have few or none, and I would be less likely to start trying to GM one of those, than I would a game that has some published adventures. And the more there are, the better it is, because I have several to choose from.
So... Although the adventures may not individual sell as many units as the sourcebooks, I think the mere existence of them, and a large number of them, drives the sourcebook sales because it gives people something to play, and although many DMs are happy to homebrew their worlds/adventures, a lot more of them aren't, and without premade adventures they might not be willing to DM at all.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
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