DriveThruRPG medals are an important detail that’ll help you make good buying choices on the Internet’s largest RPG store, DriveThruRPG. Let’s explore how titles earn them and why you should pay attention to these shiny bits of digital metal.
How RPG Titles Earn DriveThruRPG Medals
According to the DriveThru Partners Help Center, medals are awarded for sales of products priced at $0.20 or more. A title needs to pass the following number of units sold to earn the related medal:
- Copper: 51
- Silver: 101
- Electrum: 251
- Gold: 501
- Platinum: 1,001
- Mithral: 2,501
- Adamantine: 5,001
Running the Numbers
Let’s put those numbers into perspective.
On DriveThruRPG, Platinum (a total of 2,538 titles at the time of writing), Mithral (555 titles), and Adamantine (264 titles) account for 2.22% of all titles with medals. That’s 3,357 titles — the cream of the crop.
We know that major publishing houses, like Penguin Random House, rely on repeat best sellers — such as The Bible, Lord of the Rings, celebrity bios, Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, etc. — for their income. The rest of their offering consists of titles that sell less than 1,000 copies, each. That, however, is mainstream publishing. RPG titles, which fall into the tabletop hobby niche, are a minuscule slice of a tiny pie in comparison.
However, this insight indicates that anything under Platinum Seller is still a respectable achievement.
Our Example: Rising Phoenix Games
Selling 51 units is sometimes a small feat for small publishers like us.
While we have a Mithral title (Player’s Companion for D&D), a Gold title (Aurora’s Whole Realms Winter Catalogue), and a handful of Electrum titles (also all for D&D 5e) most of our titles are Silver or Copper sellers. We’ll typically hit Copper Seller in weeks for a Pathfinder product.
Despite releasing multiple titles a year and marketing to an established customer base, many of our titles, like our Apothecary alternate class for D&D, may take years to break the 50-sales mark. Hobby publishers with no social media footprint are in for a harder time. Especially publishing their own game or creating content for less popular systems than Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition or the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.
We love DriveThruRPG medals. They motivate us. But what do the medals mean for customers?
Why DriveThruRPG Medals Matter
Medals don’t prove quality. Since a publisher earns them from sales, good marketing can conceal problems like poor mechanics, bad art, or fumbled layouts. If enough customers want and pay for the product it’ll earn medals.
But when a product has medals and reviews you’ll start to see a clearer picture of the game’s worth. In my experience, customers won’t leave a review unless they’re angry about something or they’re a reviewer. Does a lack of ratings and reviews indicate a good game? Does it mean customers were generally satisfied if a product has earned medals but customers left no feedback? Maybe.
My advice is to read whatever reviews you can find, either on DriveThruRPG or on other great stores like the Open Gaming Store, Paizo, or Itch. Ultimately, if the game looks good to you, drop some money on it. That way you’re supporting creators and showing them that their creation resonated with you.
Every cent is appreciated.
Hi there, I’m Rodney.
Writer, Game Designer, Editor, Kitbasher, Skateboarder, and Ork ‘Ed Banga. But Nothing Without Christ!
