I Want My Boxed Sets!

[El_Gringo]

Just bought the old grey Forgotten Realms boxed set yesterday at my local 1/2 price book store. Large maps, overlays, illustrations of various symbols and runes.

*sigh*

I wish WotC would make them again. I know, I know. Too expensive to make nowadays. Still, I wouldn't mind paying 50-60 dollars for a quality boxed set. Anyone else still carry a torch for the box?

 

[Sir Osis of Liver]

Hecks yeah! When i started out if it wasn't in a box there was something wrong happening. I miss boxed sets big time.

 

[Henry]

Henry picks up the torch and waves it proudly

I loved the old boxed sets.

Would I buy them for 50 to 60 bucks? Probably, if they were rammed packed with quality maps, and innovative game materials that I could easily drop into a fantasy campaign. One of my personal favorites was ruins of undermountain, followed by Ruins of Myth Drannor. Now THOSE were some great boxed sets.

 

[Davelozzi]

I will wave my torch in the air for boxed sets. For campaign settings/expansions, I prefer them over hardcover books. (It gives me a good place to keep my nice poster maps - and I don't have to rip them pulling them out of the binding). For rules expansions, I prefer hardcovers.

I would pay the same price for a boxed set that I would for a hardcover, but I wuold be real hesitant to spend $50-60 on one.

 

[Skarp Hedin]

I'm sure you can find more information over on the Necromancer forums, but I believe two of their upcoming Judges' Guild products will, indeed, be boxed sets.

At least, that's what Orcus said in the Necromancer moderated chat -- hopefully for the boxed set fans out there, there'll be no need for them to change their approach.

 

[Tyler Do'Urden]

Not I, my friend... I VASTLY prefer hardcovers over boxed sets. The flimsy books in boxed sets easily get ripped up, the boxes get smashed, the maps and cards all get lost... give me a good, solid book any day... that's one of the things that I love about third edition- all the good stuff (well, except for Bastion Press' products and Dungeon Magazine) is in hardcover...

 

[mmadsen]

I guess I have to ask, what's so great about boxed sets? That the product can be divvied up into multiple small booklets? That the maps don't have to be glued into a book? That you can throw in some dice or chits?

 

[Tsyr]

Long live the box sets! It was like a little christmas every time you opened one...

 

[Davelozzi]

I guess I have to ask, what's so great about boxed sets? That the product can be divvied up into multiple small booklets? That the maps don't have to be glued into a book? That you can throw in some dice or chits?

Yes, the maps are the major issue -- I hate ripping them when I remove them from books and I like having a place to keep them. Also the boxed sets used to have 2-4 poster maps, sometimes even more whereas the hardcovers tend to have just one if any.

I also like the fact that you can divided the books into setting overview (player) setting details (DM) and rule material and/or intro adventure.

A DM's screen appropriate to the setting is a nice bonus. A boxed set is a great place for one as when they're sold seperately they tend to be overpriced.

I also like having some handy reference cards for monsters, historical maps, names, etc. that don't quite belong in any of the books.

Finally I like having a little extra space to keep campaign notes, downloaded material, etc. I very rarely keep dice or chits in the boxes.

IMO, the Birthright campaign setting is the best example of a well done boxed set, for all of the above reasons.

 

[JohnNephew]

Boxed sets can be cool, but you need an awfully good justification, as a publisher, to use them. They are expensive for a couple reasons, including the basic fact that they require manual assembly. Assembly errors, which are inevitable, mean you spend money sending replacement bits to people who get incomplete sets -- something that happens far more often than misprinted books, in my experience.

Another problem is that a lot of countries charge little or no "Value Added Tax" (sort of a national sales tax) on "books" (which the typical RPG book, hard or softcover, is considered) -- but if it's in a box, it's a "game," and thus gets the tax. That means that a lot of overseas people, besides paying for the extra expenses of manufacturing and assembly that are passed along in the form of a higher retail price, and the higher shipping expense (because boxed sets are bulky, which translates to more expense per pound in shipping cost most of the time), get to slap an extra 15%-20% in VAT on their price tag as well. Ouch.

Much better to wrap it all in a nice hefty hardcover, if you can.