Just how prevalent is 4th Edition?

[Libertad]

I heard that 4th Edition and Pathfinder are roughly equal in terms of popularity and access among table-top players.  There are no more standard 3.5 books at my FLGS (due to out-of-print and everyone buying them up), with 4th Edition and Pathfinder books lining the shelves.  The two common games played there are 4th Edition and Pathfinder in roughly equal measure.

But beyond the Internet and my local game store, is 4th Edition anywhere near as prevalent as 3rd Edition among D&D players?  Do 4th Edition players outnumber the Pathfinder and 3rd Edition players at this moment?  How often do you encounter 4th Edition groups?

[caelic]

On campus here, the Saturday groups currently break down as follows, I believe:

2 3.5 groups
1 Pathfinder group
1 first edition AD&D group
1 WWF Roleplaying Game group (no, I'm not joking)

[SolEiji]

"Not often."

Most things I see are 3.5.  I run the main pathfinder group in the area and I think there was briefly a 4e group, but they vanished.  Then again, most games in my area are 40k stuff and variants, and Magic the Gathering card games.

[TenaciousJ]

The store where I play MTG usually has some 4th edition games going on.  I've seen at least 3 groups.  I've only seen a single 3.5 group, and no Pathfinder even though the store has a lot of Pathfinder products.

[Ryu Hayabusa]

From reading a lot of anecdotal evidence, it really varies by area. I have two groups of friends that don't intermix. One group is heavily 3.5 and Pathfinder, the other is 4e. Most of the 4e players are new or old players who lost interest until 4e came around. In particular, most of them like it because it plays like a board game of Fire Emblem or other similar console games.

So I suspect it varies a lot by area to area.

[X-Codes]

I would suggest that, overall, it's about 1:1:1.  I'd suggest that there are fewer 4e players now than there were 3.5e players at the height of that game, and instead 4e is introducing people who haven't played before to the game.

[Eldritch_Lord]

At my university, of the 7 RPG groups besides mine that I've run into, 5 play 3.5, 1 plays Pathfinder, and 1 plays WHFRP, and they all say they don't know of any 4e groups on campus either.  Back home, one friend's group plays 3.5 or Pathfinder depending on who's DMing, another friend's group alternates between 3.5 and SWSE, and the local game store has 1 regular 3.5 game and 1 regular Exalted game.  Not a single 4e group or game in sight, not even players who have anything more positive to say about 4e than "Well, I liked a lot of the ideas going in, but it just isn't for me" or similar.  My experience is probably an outlier, but take it as you will.

[caelic]

There also seems to be a fair amount of player interest in OSR games like Castles and Crusades and OSRIC.

[Libertad]

There also seems to be a fair amount of player interest in OSR games like Castles and Crusades and OSRIC.

I heard about how Castles and Crusades is an attempt to blend d20 and old-style D&D.  Have you had any experience with the game?

[Complete4th]

From reading a lot of anecdotal evidence, it really varies by area.

Yeah, it's really impossible to make any accurate estimates because of this.

Everyone I talk to seems to have moved on to either PF or 4e. Or they play a different game entirely. My group plays 4e exclusively; I have scattered friends and acquaintances who play PF, I know a TSR D&D group, and then there are the occasional gamers who play really obscure games. But I can't think of anyone who plays 3.x other than the PFers.

[veekie]

Well, of the communities I know, SomethingAwful has a sizable 4E group. Now if only they'd stop attempting threadjacking. Its been years, anyone who's going to convert to the true gospel would have.

Mythweavers, at a glance, has a large majority of 3.5 game ads, with Pathfinder a distant second and 4E nowhere to be found.

Over IRC, my groups don't seem to play any 4E, though I run PF, play World of Darkness and engage with FATE.

IRL, no game groups at all. :\

[X-Codes]

Mythweavers is actually about 2:1:1 in favor of 3.5e, I think.  I think the number of 4e ads has overtaken 3.5e on that website exactly two times.

[betrayor]

Well in my area most play the 3.x version of the game,there are some groups that tried the 4th edition but it didn't take.....

[Ryu Hayabusa]

Well, of the communities I know, SomethingAwful has a sizable 4E group. Now if only they'd stop attempting threadjacking. Its been years, anyone who's going to convert to the true gospel would have.

Yeah, SA's Traditional Games forum skews hugely towards 4th edition. They're the biggest group of 4e fans I've personally observed, and most of them have given the impression of never much liking 3rd edition to begin with.

[veekie]

^^
Its actually turned pretty much everyone who isn't a 4E fan into a 4E hater, simply because there was a period of time where they'd just randomly waltz into threads for any kind of game to preach the True Gospel of 4E. Converts were nonexistent. Haters grew explosively.

Turns out players DO break a game.

[Libertad]

^^
Its actually turned pretty much everyone who isn't a 4E fan into a 4E hater, simply because there was a period of time where they'd just randomly waltz into threads for any kind of game to preach the True Gospel of 4E. Converts were nonexistent. Haters grew explosively.

Turns out players DO break a game.

True that on the last part.

Did the 4E fans go into other threads on the site, or did they join other message boards of unrelated games?

[veekie]

Other discussion threads, for a while, until the mods made them stop.

[Ryu Hayabusa]

^^
Its actually turned pretty much everyone who isn't a 4E fan into a 4E hater, simply because there was a period of time where they'd just randomly waltz into threads for any kind of game to preach the True Gospel of 4E. Converts were nonexistent. Haters grew explosively.

Turns out players DO break a game.

Really? I don't follow the forum enough to pick up on that sort of thing. Reading just a bit of it is enough to give you the idea. When you combine that with the fact that SA's always been good at mocking and hazing what falls outside of the favorites of any given board, I can't say I'm surprised.

[veekie]

Well the 4E stuff is mostly contained to its own thread now(along with the GURPS for everything guys). The current fad I think is probably FATE, since it gets suggested everytime someone asks for a system.

[Complete4th]

Well, of the communities I know, SomethingAwful has a sizable 4E group. Now if only they'd stop attempting threadjacking. Its been years, anyone who's going to convert to the true gospel would have.

Nobody likes RL prosthelytizers, why do some gamers think anyone likes online prosthelytizers? Oh yeah, it's that social maladjustment thing...sometimes it makes me sad to be a 4e fan.

PS: I feel your pain for no RL game groups.