I Miss Boxed Sets

[John Crichton]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: well

Yeah, but didn't he just claim that Ryan D. said it was the labor and not the material that made the cost?

He mentioned that the assembly made it more expensive. That could have meant the labor. Not sure. Either way, I wouldn't be surprised. I've only really done retail work and I work at a library now so I was only looking at it from the retail aspect from what I knew about packaging. :: shrugs ::

 

[roytheodd]

I really miss the box sets too. I didn't buy many of them, but those that I bought I got a lot of mileage out of. Only a couple of months ago I bought HarnWorld bex set and it really brought back the feel that I miss. As a matter of fact, I was at a gaming shop around Thanksgiving and they had the Kalamar 2nd Ed. box set and if my girlfriend hadn't have been there I'd have bought it just for the nostalgic feel of buying a box set.

 

[John Crichton]

Now to my other point, the one thing box sets were good for was including maps, tokens, pictures, and other goodies for whatever the set was made for. Now a lot more people have better computers with printers and internet than they did in the heyday of the box set.

How many people think that these "handouts" or whatever are better served by online downloads now?

Hmm, the internet is a good way to distribute the things you mentioned. However, for certain items I wouldn't mind spending extra to not have to go through the extra effort. I don't want a huge amount of boxed sets coming out but I wouldn't mind it for some things.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

How many people think that these "handouts" or whatever are better served by online downloads now?

I think it's good to include them as downloadable material, but I don't think the majority of people who would want such stuff would have internet access. We're a decided minority here at EN World. The bulk of gamers probably don't go online. That'll probably change eventually, but likely not soon.

 

[maddman75]

I don't miss boxed sets at all. The boxes didn't seem very durable for my 'lug stuff to the gaming site' style and often ended up with the corners falling apart.

I'd rather have a nice hardback with a pullout map.

 

[StalkingBlue]

I don't like boxed sets. I just don't have that much free space left on my bookshelves. Give me a nice hardcover any time.

The German publisher for the D&D materials puts each core book into a separate box and calls that a "Set" (as in "Player's Set"). It's just a box with the book inside, no dice, no counters, no bonus materials to speak of.
Apparently their marketing wizards have divined that the boxed-set design will convince more department stores to include D&D in their product range because that way they can fit the materials in with other, non-roleplaying games on their shelves (such as "Monopoly").

 

[jgbrowning]

I think it's good to include them as downloadable material, but I don't think the majority of people who would want such stuff would have internet access. We're a decided minority here at EN World. The bulk of gamers probably don't go online. That'll probably change eventually, but likely not soon.

I think we may be a minority here, but not because of internet access. I think most gamers have internet access, given the general accessibility in the US. I think we're the minority here because we spend a lot of time on the internet concerning RPGing.

edit: as of this minute there are 837 people on this board alone.

joe b.

 

[Darrin Drader]

I'm not a fan of boxed sets for 2 reasons. First of all, hard back book covers generally hold up better than boxes, which have an annoying tendency to collapse and tear over time. The other reason is that box sets require too much dead space. I have 8 large shelves full of gaming stuff, and that could probably be condensed significantly if the boxes were books. I'm collecting more material now with 3rd edition, so I just don't really have the room for a boxed set.

 

[LostSoul]

It woulda been nice if RttToEE was a box set instead of just a softcover book. I'd snap up a 3e Planescape box in an instant too.

Especially if it had decent artwork that I could actually show the players. And 3d perspective maps. And an issue of Playboy's Natural Beauties.

 

[John Crichton]

I just checked my closet and realized that I was (am?) a boxed set whore. I have a ton of them. Didn't even use half the stuff. Most of it is 2e D&D stuff (Planescape, Realms, etc.). I digress...

Boxed sets could be very useful for some things like large modules. Handouts with character portraits, maps with grid overlays (I do miss those a bit) and maybe even a custom screen. As long as the books included were sturdy softcovers I wouldn't mind a few boxed sets making a comeback (RttToEE, etc.). Some kind of gold-edition type thing or whatever. Maybe it's just the tired talking...