Right — the Wheaton/Tabletop effect is something I’d put closer to Smith in terms of the continuum of types of delivery — and yeah, at its height they sold out fucking *everything*
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Wheaton/Tabletop boosted Fiasco from a "scene favorite" to a "must-acquire for a rando basement hobby store in small-town Iowa," because that was the reach I had perceived
aug 21, 2025, 11:07 pm • 10 0 • view
Worth noting that this did not translate into swimming pools full of gold coins for us. The bump was pretty modest.
aug 21, 2025, 11:19 pm • 15 0 • view
I think that's worth noting. I know zero creators who've gotten "wealthy" via the selling of any TTRPG.
aug 21, 2025, 11:26 pm • 3 0 • view
I always thought that Gygax was wealthy for a hot minute (he kind of vaporized a lot of that wealth quite quickly too?).
aug 21, 2025, 11:32 pm • 2 0 • view
When I was in Gary's circles (~2000-2001), he was not in the best of financial shape, but he did tell us he at least never had to pay for beer at Gen Con
aug 21, 2025, 11:38 pm • 2 0 • view
Oh, later years were definitely not good - but they "heyday" ones?
aug 21, 2025, 11:41 pm • 1 0 • view
OK I'll give ya 1981-1985 or so ;-)
aug 21, 2025, 11:42 pm • 1 0 • view
I've always wondered "what happened?" - my guess is probably something like: a bit of luxury, paid for education (5 kids!), legal fees.
aug 21, 2025, 11:46 pm • 1 0 • view
@benriggs.bsky.social goes into it a little in his book. That's mostly right.
aug 22, 2025, 12:10 am • 2 0 • view
I get the sense (from seeing it in stores) that Fiasco is now an "evergreen" game. Did the Wheaton thing perhaps help with that? So, did modest bump result in a post-bump higher "baseline"? (bathtubs full of.... copper pieces?)
aug 21, 2025, 11:31 pm • 2 0 • view
Yeah, long tail is a thing.
aug 21, 2025, 11:44 pm • 5 0 • view
That seems to be part of why I think the original post is still in a bubble. Selling out is a lot harder the farther up you scale
aug 22, 2025, 12:53 am • 3 0 • view