Mark Mohrfield Posted January 16, 2023 Share Posted January 16, 2023 (edited) Given the general response to Wizards of the Coast's new OGL, is possible that RQ could regain its ancient status as the second most popular frpg? First place being too much to hope for, IMO. Edit: I should have mentioned that I include Pathfinder being part of D&D. Edited January 16, 2023 by Mark Mohrfield 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akhôrahil Posted January 16, 2023 Share Posted January 16, 2023 D&D and Pathfinder will be severely difficult to dislodge from the first two places. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Farrell Posted January 16, 2023 Share Posted January 16, 2023 Very, very unlikely. Complaining and actually making a major change in behavior are two very different things. In the world of comics, I've seen similar levels of outrage directed at Marvel and/or DC for everything from price increases to editorial direction, and very rarely do those fans ultimately stop reading the same books they've always read. They don't stop reading Marvel/DC and start buying a bunch of Image or IDW books. Most D&D players will remain D&D players. There will be some who are angry enough to look elsewhere, but it will be a minority. And many of those people will more likely gravitate to something different yet familar, like Pathfinder. But will it result in some increased interest in Runequest and other role-playing systems? Almost certainly! And that's great. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill the barbarian Posted January 16, 2023 Share Posted January 16, 2023 54 minutes ago, Mark Mohrfield said: Given the general response to Wizards of the Coast's new OGL, is possible that RQ could regain its ancient status as the second most popular frpg? First place being too much to hope for, IMO. Edit: I should have mentioned that I include Pathfinder being part of D&D. It's possible, the spider knows! Quote ... remember, with a TARDIS, one is never late for breakfast! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
svensson Posted January 16, 2023 Share Posted January 16, 2023 I don't think so. The fact of the matter is that the market has been indoctrinated towards d20 /class-based systems. That's not good or bad, it's just a recognition of fact. RQ has always been second fiddle to EGG's monster but OTOH that can be seen as a good thing. Look at what popularity and market forces did to the Forgotten Realms... every time DnD had a new edition, the world got nuked to fit the new narrative. Glorantha has had no such dilution of the creator's vision. Greg's creation has been augmented, been changed slightly, but nothing like Ed Greenwood's milieu has been through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted January 17, 2023 Share Posted January 17, 2023 Well the price drop of the starter set PDF to 99c is certainly a very shrewd move! Especially given the amazing content in the starter ser. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Devici Posted January 17, 2023 Share Posted January 17, 2023 The current OGL drama could maybe drive some of the market away from WOTC's ecosystem and toward third party solutions for supplemental material and running games, but it seems very unlikely that a significant market share will give up on D&D entirely. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HreshtIronBorne Posted January 17, 2023 Share Posted January 17, 2023 I have been hearing rumblings of up to $30/month subscription services with "content drops" trying to turn D&D into a highly monetized asset, not unlike we have seen from the AAA gaming industry in recent years. If these things come to pass I can see a large volume of people at least shopping around out of protest, if not being completely unwilling or unable to access their "Live Service TTRPG" model. I am frankly horrified and disgusted that WotC/HASBRO are bringing the worst parts of modern AAA gaming's unhealthy aspects into the TTRPG space. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MOB Posted January 19, 2023 Share Posted January 19, 2023 Quote OGL's effect on RQ sales? RQ Starter set shot up to Adamantine (highest tier) in about three days (as did the others) 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Mohrfield Posted January 19, 2023 Author Share Posted January 19, 2023 2 minutes ago, MOB said: RQ Starter set shot up to Adamantine (highest tier) in about three days (as did the others) Of course that probably had something to do with the $ 0.99 . 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brionl Posted January 19, 2023 Share Posted January 19, 2023 Well, I've been promoting the sale on the other discussion boards where this subject has come up. Of course that ends today, but the $14.99 regular price is still a pretty good deal. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beoferret Posted January 21, 2023 Share Posted January 21, 2023 Looking at MOB's post, am I interpreting it right that all three items combined saw 167 sales during the period of the sale? I hoped it would've been more than that. I will selfishly crow that one sale of the RQ Starter Set is due to me showing my hardcopy to a young co-worker (in his 20's). He was really excited by what he saw and is going to try to sell his gaming group on playing RQ at least some of the time. (I really think it's important for the long-term health of RQ as a game that more younger folks get seduced by Glorantha - Gen Xers like myself are only a few decades from either the grave or the nursing home.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Mohrfield Posted January 21, 2023 Author Share Posted January 21, 2023 (edited) 41 minutes ago, Beoferret said: Looking at MOB's post, am I interpreting it right that all three items combined saw 167 sales during the period of the sale? I hoped it would've been more than that. It means that of all the products on Drivethrurpg only 167 of them have made Adamantine level. Edit: Here is a breakdown of Drivethrurpg’s metal icons https://www.drivethrurpg.com/metal.php Edited January 21, 2023 by Mark Mohrfield 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Brooke Posted January 21, 2023 Share Posted January 21, 2023 Adamantine = over 5,000 sales on DriveThruRPG. Thresholds. 1 Quote Community Ambassador - Jonstown Compendium, Chaosium, Inc. Email: nick.brooke@chaosium.com for community content queries Jonstown Compendium ⧖ Facebook Ф Twitter † old website Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beoferret Posted January 21, 2023 Share Posted January 21, 2023 1 hour ago, Nick Brooke said: Adamantine = over 5,000 sales on DriveThruRPG. Thresholds. SWEET! That is very good news. Thank you for the non-Lunar illumination, Nick! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
g33k Posted January 22, 2023 Share Posted January 22, 2023 (edited) On 1/16/2023 at 2:13 PM, Mark Mohrfield said: Given the general response to Wizards of the Coast's new OGL, is possible that RQ could regain its ancient status as the second most popular frpg? First place being too much to hope for, IMO. Edit: I should have mentioned that I include Pathfinder being part of D&D. Note that Paizo (Pathfinder) is one of the lead participants in the OGL-alternative "ORC" license (Chaosium's there, too). So it's unlikely RQ will surge past them on just this ... Edited January 22, 2023 by g33k Quote C'es ne pas un .sig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smiorgan Posted January 22, 2023 Share Posted January 22, 2023 On 1/16/2023 at 11:13 PM, Mark Mohrfield said: Given the general response to Wizards of the Coast's new OGL, is possible that RQ could regain its ancient status as the second most popular frpg? First place being too much to hope for, IMO. Edit: I should have mentioned that I include Pathfinder being part of D&D. I think that having RQ as n. 2 as in the early '80s is highly unlikely. That would mean to dislodge Pathfinder. But I do hope it will become more popular, especially with the younger generation. That would be entirely deserved. I'm doing my part by running the game for new and younger players. One thing that Chaosium should do, in my opinion, is to provide VTT support. Having good VTT tools can help a lot nowadays. I think that Roll 20 support would be especially important, more than the more premium platforms such as Fantasy Grounds or Foundry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Mohrfield Posted January 22, 2023 Author Share Posted January 22, 2023 Re all the replies pointing out Pathfinder; as per my edit I regard Pathfinder as being part of D&D for purposes of this discussion. The question is whether or not RQ can regain 2nd place relative to D&D +clones, not D&D alone. Sorry for the confusion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smiorgan Posted January 22, 2023 Share Posted January 22, 2023 4 hours ago, Mark Mohrfield said: Re all the replies pointing out Pathfinder; as per my edit I regard Pathfinder as being part of D&D for purposes of this discussion. The question is whether or not RQ can regain 2nd place relative to D&D +clones, not D&D alone. Sorry for the confusion. Then, it has only to beat Call of Cthulhu... For what is worth, the latest ORR Group report from late 2021 put CoC at 9% of Roll20 games - over and above Pathfinder ! - and RuneQuest at 0.04%. As a references, all Warhammer related rpgs together are about 1% of the games. It's all to be taken with a grain of salt, and we do not have actual sales data. Chaosium has, of course. But I would not be surprised if the CoC7 corebook had sold 10 times or more the sales of the RQ core. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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