In 2001, James Kittock conducted an online survey of d20 consumers, which had 524 respondents. He put it up publically for some time, but has since taken it off the net and requested that it not be distributed. Thus, the full data is not available. However, I thought it would be fair to give at least a brief overview of his findings.
The first rating question asked of the respondents was:
"Overall, how interested are you, yourself, in purchasing the following categories of d20 System accessories for use with the Dungeons & Dragons game?"
The results are summarized in the following table (the category descriptions are shown exactly as the appeared on the survey).
| Category | Score |
|---|---|
| Sourcebooks, including monsters, magic items, character classes, etc. | 74% |
| Campaign setting materials, including gazetteers, maps, etc. | 49% |
| Adventure scenarios, including self-contained modules, campaigns, etc. | 46% |
The following diagram shows the results in more detail:
|
Question |
Subquestion |
Score |
|
100. Interest by type of content |
Player character options, such as new classes and races |
66% |
|
Magic, including items and spells |
62% |
|
|
Creatures or monsters |
55% |
|
|
Deities, gods, or other supernatural powers |
36% |
|
|
Non-player characters (NPCs), such as heroes and villains |
33% |
|
|
110. Interest by style of setting |
'Medium fantasy' settings, with less magic, PCs that are heroic but not superheroes, etc. (think along the lines of Greyhawk) |
64% |
|
'High fantasy' settings, with lots of magic, powerful monsters, deities walking the earth, etc. (think along the lines of The Forgotten Realms) |
48% |
|
|
'Low fantasy' settings with little magic and a nearly real-world feeling |
31% |
|
|
120. Interest by locale or theme |
Pseudo-medieval Europe settings (knights, wizards, etc.) |
70% |
|
Pseudo-medieval Asia settings (samurais, ninjas, etc.) |
39% |
|
|
Subterranean or underground settings |
39% |
|
|
Pseudo-ancient Europe settings (Roman empire, Greek city-states, etc.) |
36% |
|
|
Extraplanar or outerspace settings |
35% |
|
|
Gothic or horror settings |
33% |
|
|
Aquatic or underwater settings |
26% |
|
|
Other pseudo-historical settings (Aztecs, Timbuktu, etc.) |
21% |
|
|
Pseudo-prehistoric settings (cavemen, dinosaurs, etc.) |
13% |
|
|
130. Importance of product features |
Depth of content |
96% |
|
Presentation of content |
83% |
|
|
Pull-out maps |
39% |
|
|
Quality of cover and interior artwork |
39% |
|
|
Hardback binding |
24% |
|
|
Full color illustrations |
18% |
|
|
140. Importance of purchasing factors |
Recommendations from friends or other gamers |
68% |
|
Skimming the product in a store |
67% |
|
|
Previous experience with publisher's products |
59% |
|
|
Third party reviews |
31% |
|
|
Publisher brand name |
26% |
|
|
150. Likelihood of purchase by channel |
Retail store, such as a gaming store, bookstore, etc. |
87% |
|
Mail-order from online store or publisher website |
40% |
|
|
Download and print yourself from online store or publisher website |
33% |
|
Question |
Subquestion |
Score |
|
200. Interest by type of content |
City or town adventures |
72% |
|
Wilderness adventures |
60% |
|
|
Mysteries or puzzles |
60% |
|
|
Dungeon crawls |
49% |
|
|
210. Interest by amount of time designed to be played |
Two to five sessions |
71% |
|
An entire campaign |
53% |
|
|
Six to ten sessions |
52% |
|
|
A single session |
47% |
|
|
220. Interest by character levels |
Mid-level characters (approx. levels 7-14) |
72% |
|
Adaptable to a wide range of party levels |
66% |
|
|
Low-level characters (approx. levels 1-6) |
63% |
|
|
High-level characters (approx. levels 15+) |
44% |
|
|
230. Interest by setting |
No particular campaign world at all (i.e., scenarios that can be easily 'dropped into' an existing campaign world) |
79% |
|
An existing published campaign world, such as The Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, Kalamar, etc. |
58% |
|
|
A new, unique fantasy campaign world |
30% |
|
|
240. Importance of product features |
Compelling plotline |
93% |
|
Maps drawn to scale |
76% |
|
|
DM aids such as charts summarizing monster stats |
74% |
|
|
Difficult combat challenges |
58% |
|
|
Player handouts, such as letters, clues, etc. |
58% |
|
|
Artwork illustrating settings, situations, or NPCs |
44% |
|
|
'Boxed text' meant to be read aloud |
32% |
|
|
Random encounter tables |
26% |
|
|
Pre-generated PCs |
10% |
|
|
250. Importance of purchasing factors |
Recommendations from friends or other gamers |
73% |
|
Skimming the product in a store |
64% |
|
|
Previous experience with publisher's products |
56% |
|
|
Third party reviews |
33% |
|
|
Publisher brand name |
19% |
|
|
260. Likelihood of purchase by channel |
Retail store, such as a gaming store, bookstore, etc. |
87% |
|
Download and print yourself from online store or publisher website |
43% |
|
|
Mail-order from online store or publisher website |
39% |