Do you miss the good old days? Boxed sets and single books.

[Staffan]

Good point. As I recall, there were three different styles of boxes going around in 2e (and I guess 1e too):
The medium box (1 inch?) made of thin cardboard, used for the boxes in the Spelljammer line and for the Land of Fate boxed set.
The big box (1.5 inch?) made of relatively thick cardboard, used for the core Dark Sun sets, the FR box, Night Below, and other major products.
The thin box (0.5 inch?) with the same cardboard as the big box, used for smaller adventures like much of the Al-Qadim product line, Mindlords of the Last Sea, and other small things.

I don't know how things are in the US, but here in Sweden our local RPGs used to be sold in toy stores up until about 1990. At that time, all the core RPG sets (and quite a few accessories) were produced as boxed sets - a box that has different items in it, so that is rattles when you shake it, is clearly a "game," while it's a lot harder to persuade toy stores to carry a hardback book. Pretty soon after the toy stores stopped carrying RPGs, the Swedish RPG producers switched to making books.

 

[Glyfair]

*nod*. The basic gamer habit of taking the game materials all over the place jammed in a bag with a ton of other stuff just doesn't match up with a flimsy cardboard box that's mostly filled with air. I cant' say I miss that particular form of packaging.

However, there are practical considerations. One of my favorite boxed sets was the Runquest Borderlands boxed set.

Contents

• DMs Book - Covered the campaign area, major NPCs and some other information (cults, etc).
• Encounter Book - Contained random encounters and stats for them (It was less "you encounter a tribe" and more "you encounter Khan Horst and his Rhino Riding warband).
• Players Book - Had information on the setting players would have. IIRc, it had some character creation tips, and some pregenerated characters to use.
• Campaign Map for players with some description of important areas on the map
• 7 Adventures - Each was separate
• Handouts - One thing I remember it had was copies of the mercenary contract the PC's signed when they agreed to work for Duke Roan

The 7 adventures being separate helped limit the number of things you needed at the table when running a session of the game. In fact, I was more than capable of running the Runequest game with no more than the adventure (perhaps 3 sheets of paper connected together), the rulebook (for occasional reference) and perhaps the encounter book (which had some stats of recurring NPCs who might be used in the scenario.

 

[diaglo]

i don't miss the good ole dayes. b/c i'm still using my boxed set. next session is this coming sunday

 

[Umbran]

However, there are practical considerations.

All of which can priobably be handled better with something less crush-able than a box.

As one example: take the contents of one of the old boxes, and three-hole punch 'em. Not at loose-leaf - punch the entire staple-bound book. The extra sheets of charts, print on something laminated and sturdy, and punch 'em. Include a couple zipper-pouches one uses to keep school supplies in a binder for counters or fiddly bits, and you've an instant campaign binder, more sturdy than any cardboard-boxed set ever sold.

It was not the contents I minded. Or what's included. I minded that the only way to keep 'em together was a flimsy box.

 

[Ottergame]

This question is a little loaded and far to inflexible.

I like both, for different reasons. Hard bound books are durable and usually contain more information in a bigger form. Boxed sets can include things you can't put in a book, like dice. Boxed sets also usually contain little flimsy booklets that fall apart.

And neither format is magically more rule inclusive then the other. A book can be as highly detailed as can be, and a boxed set might contain nothing useful at all. Boxed sets are hardly any more "complete" then a rule book.

 

[Mycanid]

Err ... what a strange question.

Do I miss the "good ole' days"? Sometimes, yes. Very few people exist who don't in some degree.

Do I miss the boxed sets? Umm ... this aspect of marketing "aesthetic" was not something I particularly associated with the old days per se. I mean, I like Erol Otus more than most 1e gamers, and I liked his cover illustrations for the basic and expert booksets in the boxes, but ....