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

[Giltonio_Santos]

I miss all the stuff it was possible to get from a boxed set, such as the Vistani deck from Ravenloft and all those great illustrations and character sheets from Council of Wyrms.

The only games we ever played solely with the core books were White Wolf's Vampire: The Dark Ages and Mage: The Sorcerer's Crusade, both were very complete, but became even better once we grabbed some extra books.

I really like to enhance the game with some sourcebooks, but still think that the majority of the RPGs are able to offer a great experience without the need of any non-core material. D&D being three instead of one rulebook is more of a comercial choice than a real necessity, as the other d20 books by Wizards show us that it's possible to put everything needed in one 350+ pages book, instead of three.

 

[The_lurkeR]

I voted boxed sets, simply for the nostalgia factor. Like it's already been said, it was fun to be able to open the box and find all sorts of neat extras included. Like the old set of dice with crayon. Plus you could keep everything in the box, your character, pencils, dice etc.

 

[scourger]

I missed the old days so much that I'm running Savage Worlds and just finished reading a Basic D&D boxed set that I recently bought. I don't mind buying plot point books or modules, but I just like having the game rules more concise & manageable.

 

[ChristianW]

I'm amazed that anyone gets into the hobby these days when to do so requires the purchase of a 300 page rulebook. No wonder why console and PC games are so popular.

I still use my Red Box Basic D&D rules and write material for it in my zine. Star Frontiers is another one of my all time faves. I just like simple, simple rules.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

There is only one thing that I miss from the old boxed sets - LOTS of BIG, poster sized maps!

I do not miss shoddy paper covers on the books (Runequest 3 and 2300 AD, I am looking at you!) and monsters done up on cardstock to bulk out the weight of the box (the only thing that I really did not like about Birthright).

The Auld Grump

 

[TroyXavier]

Yeah, I miss the maps. Otherwise, no. Those boxes can not take any pressure and it was way too easy to lose things.

 

[X-Marks!]

Very Limited

When I was a kid, boxed sets made it easier to carry my stuff to school/clubs, but in the end they just fell apart and looked awful (and couldn't carry very much at that).

I have NO nostalgia for them whatsoever. The HCs are by far my preference, although I agree: the loss of decent maps from campaign settings is a terrible travesty!!!

 

[Nathan P. Mahney]

Well, the basic requirements for D&D are the same as they've been since AD&D, so no problems for me there. I don't really miss the boxed sets, either. They just get mangled.

 

[ChristianW]

Threadjack....

The original poster mentioned Twilight 2000. Man, I loved that game. at the very least, it offered me an opportunity to shoot at my friends' characters with an automatic weapon.

Todd: Dude! You blew a hole through my character. What the hell?!
Me: I thought you were a commie. It was dark and you didn't announce your presence.
Todd: You darn well knew it was me coming though the door!
Me: I, the player, knew it was you, but my character didn't know it.
Todd: This is payback for that grenade I threw at you last week isn't it?
Me: Darn straight.
Todd: Even?
Me: Yeah.

 

[Umbran]

I liked my boxed sets, but they were sort of impractical... they got crushed &cetera.

*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.