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<blockquote data-quote="JohnSnow" data-source="post: 5312755" data-attributes="member: 32164">[Counter-Nitpick]Sorry, but no. I've got both my Moldvay and Mentzer pamphlets right here. And in both, Halflings totally lacked the special abilities of thieves and therefore have to be considered to be more like fighters. Moreover, the description says &quot;halflings behave similarly to fighters and dwarves.&quot; So, not thieves at all.[/Counter-Nitpick]As to the content, I agree with you.The Moldvay set covered all of 3 character levels for 7 classes, and provided DM advice, magic items, and monsters in one 64 page book. In addition, the set was packaged with a copy of Keep on the Borderlands..The Mentzer set covered all of 3 character levels for 7 classes, but expanded to a 64 page Players Manual and a 48 page Dungeon Masters Rulebook. It also included an adventure (~32 pages) as well.If the DM's Book didn't have to include an adventure, and the Players Book was still 64 pages, there'd be plenty of room for the material I and others have suggested. Class &amp; race writeups, character creation, and equipment tables would take up less than 32 pages. Printing the (16 page) adventure separately would free up that many pages in the DM Book.&nbsp; A substantial list of magic items would take up, at most, 10. Yes, it's an increase. But it's one that adds substantial value to the product. I know WotC for some reason feels it's not in their best interests to design the Starter Set this way. I also know that NO D&amp;D starter product has been as successful as the old Red Box, which followed the formula I'm talking about.One definition of insanity is &quot;doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting the result to be different.&quot; Given the similarity in product, I predict this set will do about as well as the last several D&amp;D Starter Sets - which is to say &quot;not.&quot;</blockquote>

[QUOTE="JohnSnow, post: 5312755, member: 32164"] [Counter-Nitpick]Sorry, but no. I've got both my Moldvay and Mentzer pamphlets right here. And in both, Halflings totally lacked the special abilities of thieves and therefore have to be considered to be more like fighters. Moreover, the description says "halflings behave similarly to fighters and dwarves." So, not thieves at all.[/Counter-Nitpick] As to the content, I agree with you. The Moldvay set covered all of 3 character levels for 7 classes, and provided DM advice, magic items, and monsters in one 64 page book. In addition, the set was packaged with a copy of [i]Keep on the Borderlands.[/i]. The Mentzer set covered all of 3 character levels for 7 classes, but expanded to a 64 page Players Manual and a 48 page Dungeon Masters Rulebook. It also included an adventure (~32 pages) as well. If the DM's Book didn't have to include an adventure, and the Players Book was still 64 pages, there'd be plenty of room for the material I and others have suggested. Class & race writeups, character creation, and equipment tables would take up less than 32 pages. Printing the (16 page) adventure separately would free up that many pages in the DM Book. A substantial list of magic items would take up, at most, 10. Yes, it's an increase. But it's one that adds substantial value to the product. I know WotC for some reason feels it's not in their best interests to design the Starter Set this way. I also know that NO D&D starter product has been as successful as the old Red Box, which followed the formula I'm talking about. One definition of insanity is "doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting the result to be different." Given the similarity in product, I predict this set will do about as well as the last several D&D Starter Sets - which is to say "not." [/QUOTE]

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