Re: For the Love of Basic and Boxed D&D

Posted by Billiam Babble on Mar 13, 2010; 7:46pm
URL: http://the-lost-and-the-damned.71.s1.nabble.com/For-the-Love-of-Basic-and-Boxed-D-D-tp4599510p4728718.html

Those modules are making me drool... :)

This is interesting, I think that my "The Classic ..." D&D set (top right) is a reprint of your "Easy to Master..." D&D - The Zanzer's Dungeon map is identical. (will post pics of contents if I get around to it)
I applauded that set when a friend gave it to me because the rules were 95% similar to the Basic game and it went up to 5th level.  This meant the inclusion of dragons and larger monsters could be justified.  I have an almost by-wrote rant about first level characters being killed off by vermin which can be very negative for starting players, but a party of 3rd-5th level characters is ideal for more heroic quests.  So I think that this was a really positive move by TSR (despite it going against tradition).  I only acquired this edition relatively recently, it's made up of a rulebook, figures, DM's screen, large map, press-out monsters - no fiddly "Dragon Card Learning Pack", incidentally.

... A little reading, later ...

I believe it's this edition (not at home atm to confirm date on box):

Eighteenth (1996)
Still entitled the Classic Dungeons & Dragons Game
Box is full color (but predominantly black), depicting a red dragon fighting a single warrior (same artwork from the Fifteenth print)
128-pg Rules & Adventures rulebook (with cover art matching the box cover of the Sixteenth print), 6 plastic miniatures, 24 counters, poster map, DMs Screen (with cover art matching the box cover), and six dice
Aside from artwork changes on the box cover and DMs screen, further differences are unknown

Which clearly follows on from your "Easy to Master" box set, which might be this:

Fifteenth (1991)
Fourth Revision of the Basic Set rules, now entitled the New, Easy to Master Dungeons & Dragons Game
Box is full color (but predominantly black), depicting a red dragon fighting a single warrior, and bears the Gold Angled TSR logo
Rear cover of box has a 12-digit barcode
Covering levels 1-5, it is meant to be a primer for the D&D Rules Cyclopedia (which replaces the Basic, Expert, Companion, and Master Sets), and the Wrath of the Immortals Set
"Landscape" style box, as opposed to the "portrait" style of all previous prints
Contains rulebook (Angled TSR logo), DMs Screen, 51 cardboard "Dragon cards" (that serve as a sort of tutorial on D&D), 48 cardboard counters (creatures), a large full-color map sheet (to be used with the counters), a poster of the cover art, and six dice

(apologies if you've already read all this on http://www.acaeum.com/ddindexes/setpages/basic.html - mainly posting for benefit of casual browsers.)

So both sets may have been a precursor to the D&D Rules Cyclopedia, which never seems to have been brought out - definitely news to me!  Perhaps 2nd Edition AD&D was well enough without the need for a parallel set of rules. (?speculation)


That flyer is cool  - now I want to buy a copy of Dungeon ... (damn the power of old adverts!)

(I think I'm in denial about the Parker D&D board game actually being real D&D -whatever that means- which is silly, because I seem to have two copies, along with the forest expansion  - of course, anything with a cleric and thief in has to be D&D .... bought purely for, ahem, research ...)

Ace photos as always - guarded by the trade mark Mortis Goblin.