Earlier today, Geek Native published the best-selling TTRPGs added to DriveThruRPG’s catalogue this year.
As a result of that analysis, we have several large spreadsheets of metal badge data. If we assign one point for every Copper badge, two points for every Silver, and up to 100 points for every Adamantine bestseller, we can create a league table.
The table above uses the scoring system below; points are awarded only to products added to the catalogue this year.
- Copper: 1 point
- Silver: 2 points
- Electrum: 5 points
- Gold: 10 points
- Platinum: 20 points
- Mithral: 50 points
- Adamantine: 100 points
Topping the chart is Darrington Press. Their strategy is similar to a film studio releasing a summer blockbuster. They don’t flood the market; they release a few massive, high-production titles (like Daggerheart) that skyrocket to Adamantine status immediately. Their victory is unsurprising, given the power of their media empire and the talent they’ve hired.
The real story of this chart is the second-place finisher. Fat Dragon Games is not selling heavy hardback rulebooks; rather, it is selling STL files for 3D printers. Their high score suggests a “swarm” strategy: consistently releasing high-quality, affordable terrain and miniature sets that reliably hit Copper, Silver, and Gold status. They prove you don’t need a YouTube actual play show to dominate; you need to solve a practical problem for gamers.
Seeing Karl Otto Kristoffersen (#8) and Oddity Press (#9) rubbing shoulders with industry giants such as Cubicle 7 and Onyx Path is notable. It demonstrates that in the digital age, a single creator with a strong idea (such as the West Marches Guidebook) can commercially outperform entire editorial teams.
Schwalb Entertainment (#4) and Need Games (#5) represent the healthy middle ground. They aren’t relying on a single gimmick; they are producing solid, traditional roleplaying games (Shadow of the Weird Wizard, Fabula Ultima) that are finding massive, loyal audiences outside of the D&D ecosystem.
We documented our process for gathering this raw data in the 2025 best-sellers opening post.
