A somewhat interesting post about which games seem to be getting played and which games got traction with #ttrpg bloggers.

https://gestaltistrpg.substack.com/p/blogosphere-2025-wrapped

Deepens my impression that Mythic Bastionland got a lot of play while the YouTube games like Daggerheart and Draw Steel shifted a lot of copies but never saw a huge amount of play.

I think that YouTube games aren't really there to be played. They're part of the YouTube parasocial economy. You but CR games like you'd buy an EGirl's bathwater.

It's like the Cosmere book... If 1% of those books sees play I would be surprised.

The game isn't there to be played, it us currency in a broader parasocial economy that Sanderson uses to funnel money to his church's homophobic political activism.

Also funny that Colville has just announced another game. Those resources could have gone into supporting his existing game but no... Because that isn't the business model.

A somewhat interesting post about which games seem to be getting played and which games got traction with #ttrpg bloggers.

https://gestaltistrpg.substack.com/p/blogosphere-2025-wrapped

Deepens my impression that Mythic Bastionland got a lot of play while the YouTube games like Daggerheart and Draw Steel shifted a lot of copies but never saw a huge amount of play.

It is however interesting that these sort of games are on the shelf of my local, available to purchase, when a thousand other games never see the light of day in a shop. The inherent PR machine of those games gives them a place, even un-earned as physical product. The Daggerheart copies have just sat on the shelf unflushed though. I suspect they sold the ones they sold to specific people, and that was the end of it. All those Fallout Starters have sold though.

@Taskerland

@Printdevil @Taskerland Is it perhaps the case that game-shop buyers are looking for "an RPG" and fixate on a familiar name? Like the way a film company will buy the rights to a book then completely ignore the actual content, they just want the recognisable name on the poster.

@Printdevil @Taskerland Is it perhaps the case that game-shop buyers are looking for "an RPG" and fixate on a familiar name? Like the way a film company will buy the rights to a book then completely ignore the actual content, they just want the recognisable name on the poster.

@Printdevil @Taskerland And in turn if say Cubicle 7 buys the rights to your old media property it's gonna be a 2d20 game because that's what they do right now. Never mind what might be the best fit.

It is however interesting that these sort of games are on the shelf of my local, available to purchase, when a thousand other games never see the light of day in a shop. The inherent PR machine of those games gives them a place, even un-earned as physical product. The Daggerheart copies have just sat on the shelf unflushed though. I suspect they sold the ones they sold to specific people, and that was the end of it. All those Fallout Starters have sold though.

@Taskerland

@Printdevil In fairness, whether or not people seem to be playing a game is not something that the industry or commentators really talk about.

All this talk about D&D getting replaced as top game is pure bullshit. People are playing D&D, but the YouTube games seem to be getting less play than indie games.

YouTube PR shifts books and gets you into shops but that is not the same thing as getting played.

Like, I have seen no signs anywhere that anyone is playing the Arkham Horror RPG.

@Printdevil I think Chaosium should test their offices for carbon monoxide leaks.

So much hate for the 2d20 stable. Fallout is terrible and it is a *natural* for a good RPG, but even the tight ones like Space1999 are disasters of "lets make the font big and the paper stock shite"

Grrr

@RogerBW @Taskerland

@Printdevil @Taskerland I've not seen the actual rules (except for a quick skim through Star Trek) but I've played a little and it seems… it's a very modern-sensibility game, in that it has lots of complicated mechanics but there's nothing you can reality-check, so you can describe it as "simple". Like the One Ring, trade off a Fellowship point for a Despair point or whatever it is, but it's not "a 9mm bullet can penetrate this much Kevlar" so it doesn't get mentally bracketed into the "hard games".

@Printdevil @RogerBW One Ring is a mad game. A complex economy of metacurrencies with no connection to reality. It's like working in finance.

There's an appearance of depth because everything is incredibly involved and requires 17 steps but it's nothing but 5 red gets you a blue, unless you roll a 12 in which case it's a green.

I think that YouTube games aren't really there to be played. They're part of the YouTube parasocial economy. You but CR games like you'd buy an EGirl's bathwater.