Jester David
Hero
I used to be gung-ho about boxed sets back in the 2000s. Nostalgic for getting the cool boxes for 2e.
They are a nice way of getting a protected softcover book, and it's neat for adventures: a softcover adventure in one booklette and a gazetteer in the second. Plus other odds and ends like hand-outs and cards.
But, really, they're best used for delivering pretty minor bonus items. Stuff that could be sold separately in a dice box or a map pack. Or the Tarokka cards for Ravenloft. But having these sold separately allows those items to be of higher quality.
Baldur's Gate: Descent to Avernus is probably the best example of something that might have worked better as a boxed set. An adventure book and a separate guide to Baldur's Gate book plus the cards and poster map. But even in this case, the cards and the like are really just a nice perk and bonus to the dice and dice tray and not something you really care about having for the adventure.
The only product I really think only worked as a boxed set and wouldn't have functioned just as well as a hardcover is Madness at Gardmore Abbey, and that's because the deck of many things is a vital part of that adventure. But it's not like free printable cards or a separate product would have broken things.
They are a nice way of getting a protected softcover book, and it's neat for adventures: a softcover adventure in one booklette and a gazetteer in the second. Plus other odds and ends like hand-outs and cards.
But, really, they're best used for delivering pretty minor bonus items. Stuff that could be sold separately in a dice box or a map pack. Or the Tarokka cards for Ravenloft. But having these sold separately allows those items to be of higher quality.
Baldur's Gate: Descent to Avernus is probably the best example of something that might have worked better as a boxed set. An adventure book and a separate guide to Baldur's Gate book plus the cards and poster map. But even in this case, the cards and the like are really just a nice perk and bonus to the dice and dice tray and not something you really care about having for the adventure.
The only product I really think only worked as a boxed set and wouldn't have functioned just as well as a hardcover is Madness at Gardmore Abbey, and that's because the deck of many things is a vital part of that adventure. But it's not like free printable cards or a separate product would have broken things.