Geek Native was lucky enough to be able to report on some of the successes at DriveThruRPG in 2018. We don’t have access to sales volumes but we did get the by-genre top ten. The genre charts looked to be quite a battle with some games storming up the rankings in only a matter of weeks. Other games were equally suited to more than one genre and appeared in more than one location. Fantasy Flight Games’ Genesys RPG holds the first position on a number of best seller lists, for example.
There’s one final league table to show and that’s the ultimate top 10. In this collection of best sellers the games’ genre doesn’t matter.
The 10 best selling RPGs
- The Witcher Pen & Paper RPG, by R. Talsorian Games Inc.
- Wrath & Glory: Core Rules, by Ulisses Spiele.
- Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Fourth Edition Rulebook, by Cubicle 7 Entertainment Ltd.
- Realms of Terrinoth, by Fantasy Flight Games.
- V20 Beckett’s
Jyhad Diary, by Onyx Path Publishing. - Legend of the Five Rings Core Rulebook, by Fantasy Flight Games.
- Wayfinder’s Guide to Eberron (5e), by Wizards of the Coast.
- Wraith: The Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition, by Onyx Path Publishing.
- Shadowrun: Kill Code (Advanced Matrix Rules), by Catalyst Game Labs.
- Shadowrun: Street Lethal (Advanced Combat Rules), by Catalyst Game Labs.
The Witcher Pen & Paper RPG is 2018’s best seller
This is an incredible achievement by The Witcher RPG has it was first added to DriveThruRPG’s vast catalogue on the 29th of July. It’s become this year’s best seller in only half a year.
R. Talsorian Games might not have been a well-known name at the start of the year to the new generation of tabletop gamers who have discovered the hobby through Dungeons & Dragons, Critical Role and streaming shows on Twitch and YouTube but that’s certainly changed. A partnership with the popular Polish video game developer CD Projekt Red has been critical and it seems certain we’ll hear a lot more about and from R. Talsorian in 2019.
CD Projekt Red is the creators of The Witcher as a computer roleplaying game. It’s a huge franchise. So how did they end up working with R. Talsorian Games? The connection is another tabletop RPG called Cyberpunk created by R. Talsorian Games’ Mike Pondsmith. CD Projekt Red wanted to do a cyberpunk game for their next project and to work with the grandfather of the genre – Pondsmith. As a result, CD Projekt Red is creating Cyberpunk 2077 and R. Talsorian Games delighted many gamers with a tabletop version of The Witcher.
The best selling RPGs of 2018 by genre
- Best selling fantasy RPGs
- Best selling sci-fi RPGs
- Best selling superhero RPGs
- Best selling anime RPGs
- Best selling modern RPGs
- Best selling family RPGs
- Best selling pulp RPGs
- Best selling horror RPGs
- Best selling western RPGs
- Best selling ‘Other’ RPGs
How much do best selling RPGs cost
There is variation in prices in our best sellers with some going for less than $10 and others for $60. The average price by genre is equally as spikey. Games designed for families to play tend to be the cheapest with an average top 10 price of just $9.86 whereas Sci-Fi games are the most expensive with an average cost of $31.64.
Creative Commons credit: Battle of the Champions by Maxim Patronov and The Witcher by Anna Ragimova.
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