Adlon
Mortality.net
I totally miss well done boxed sets. I currently have every one that was released from TSR, pertaining to AD&D. From the original Gray Box FRCS, onward.
My fav's are:
FRCS (Gray Box) This is the one I got started with. It had everything. NPC's, POI's, guilds, adventuring bands, history, current events, MAPS, mini-adventures, timelines, magic items, the list goes on and on. Even though I had a gray box in GREAT condition, I recently bought an extra, in mint condition, for 10$. I wont ever let this one fall from my collection.
Ruins of Undermountain I - the eternal dungeon crawl. Truly, one of the classics. Easily integrated into ANY campaign. I ran this for a year...
Ruins of Myth Drannor - Another classic. Lots of material here, that at the time, wasn't available elsewhere. A must for FRCS fans, even in present day, IMO. I ran this for over 6 months.
Night Below - Another epic, with a good amount of information.
Dragon Mountain - Yet another epic. Infyrana is bas a$$. I still to this day wonder how to run her against a party, in her lair, where the party has a chance of living through it.
Planescape Series - If you liked PS, then you needed these boxed sets. Period. Before PS, there was the MotP, and dribs and drabs in the DMG. To this day, IMO, they are the best sources on the planes for D&D yet.
------------------------------------
OF course, there were a few others that I like. In the case of the boxes getting trashed: well, I simply took good care of mine. ALL of my 1E/2E stuff is stacked in standing milk crates, and I always carefully slid in and out any box I was going to use. I must confess, that even with the hard use my FRCS, RoU, and RoMD boxed sets have taken, they are all in very desireable shape. I figured, for 30$ a pop, I should treat them nicely.
I liked the convenience of the boxed sets. If I wanted to run Undermountain, then all I needed was that one boxed set, my screen, and my DMG handy. If I wanted to show a map, I had that to pull out, even hang on the wall if need be. The best map of the FRCS is STILL the one from the gray box, and then, the Waterdeep Trail map. But the WTM was too cumbersome.
Granted, at the time, TSR was losing out on the boxed sets. But as a consumer, and DM, I found them to be most valuable.
This is not to say that ALL of the boxed sets were great. But my fav 3, and several others, were definately providing good value, and kept the specific information all sorted out for you.
With today's costs of printing, I could easily see a FRCS Gray Boxed set going for 55-65$, with bigger ones going for 70$. The biggest cost that I can see, is the assembly, which has been touched on here already. You'd get STACKS of materials from the printer, then, each box must be packaged, and checked. Therein lies the caveat for today's publishers.
Yea, I'd gladly buy well done boxed sets for 3E/d20. AND pay the modern day prices as well.
IF Clark is putting out a boxed set, I'll be first in line at my local Waldenbooks for it
My fav's are:
FRCS (Gray Box) This is the one I got started with. It had everything. NPC's, POI's, guilds, adventuring bands, history, current events, MAPS, mini-adventures, timelines, magic items, the list goes on and on. Even though I had a gray box in GREAT condition, I recently bought an extra, in mint condition, for 10$. I wont ever let this one fall from my collection.
Ruins of Undermountain I - the eternal dungeon crawl. Truly, one of the classics. Easily integrated into ANY campaign. I ran this for a year...
Ruins of Myth Drannor - Another classic. Lots of material here, that at the time, wasn't available elsewhere. A must for FRCS fans, even in present day, IMO. I ran this for over 6 months.
Night Below - Another epic, with a good amount of information.
Dragon Mountain - Yet another epic. Infyrana is bas a$$. I still to this day wonder how to run her against a party, in her lair, where the party has a chance of living through it.
Planescape Series - If you liked PS, then you needed these boxed sets. Period. Before PS, there was the MotP, and dribs and drabs in the DMG. To this day, IMO, they are the best sources on the planes for D&D yet.
------------------------------------
OF course, there were a few others that I like. In the case of the boxes getting trashed: well, I simply took good care of mine. ALL of my 1E/2E stuff is stacked in standing milk crates, and I always carefully slid in and out any box I was going to use. I must confess, that even with the hard use my FRCS, RoU, and RoMD boxed sets have taken, they are all in very desireable shape. I figured, for 30$ a pop, I should treat them nicely.
I liked the convenience of the boxed sets. If I wanted to run Undermountain, then all I needed was that one boxed set, my screen, and my DMG handy. If I wanted to show a map, I had that to pull out, even hang on the wall if need be. The best map of the FRCS is STILL the one from the gray box, and then, the Waterdeep Trail map. But the WTM was too cumbersome.
Granted, at the time, TSR was losing out on the boxed sets. But as a consumer, and DM, I found them to be most valuable.
This is not to say that ALL of the boxed sets were great. But my fav 3, and several others, were definately providing good value, and kept the specific information all sorted out for you.
With today's costs of printing, I could easily see a FRCS Gray Boxed set going for 55-65$, with bigger ones going for 70$. The biggest cost that I can see, is the assembly, which has been touched on here already. You'd get STACKS of materials from the printer, then, each box must be packaged, and checked. Therein lies the caveat for today's publishers.
Yea, I'd gladly buy well done boxed sets for 3E/d20. AND pay the modern day prices as well.
IF Clark is putting out a boxed set, I'll be first in line at my local Waldenbooks for it
