What’s your favorite boxed set?

[mserabian]

Hmm...hard to say...but probably

1. Basic set (BECMI). Best introduction to D&D (only better introduction I have ever read was the Pathfinder Beginner Box for PF1e).

2. Basic Set (BX)

3. Basic Set (Holmes). See a pattern here?

4. Basic Set (3e)

5. Expert Set (BX)

6. Expert Set (BECMI)

Sure, they aren't AD&D, but I've seen plenty of folks use them alongside their AD&D books!

I have no idea how many people learned how to play D&D (And hence AD&D by default as many times they went on to use the Basic rules with the AD&D books) with the first 3 listed here??!! I think it was a LOT though.

Actual AD&D Box set though...

1. Tales of the Lance (2e).

2. FRCS

I skipped all the BECMI and BX sets back in the day. I started with Holmes Basic, and then went on to other nonD&D games (Champtions, Call of Cthulhu, Pendragon, RuneQuest) I was busy playing other things at the time. I've acquired all of them in the last 10 years or so and they are very excellent introductions to the game. But my heart will always belong to the wonderful setting boxes of the late 1e and early 2e era.

 

[mserabian]

Ravenloft: Masque of the Red Death, hands down.

Love, love, love this box. As a dedicated Call of Cthulhu GM this was so much better to me than Cthulhu by Gaslight!
I just wish there was more support for more evil human cultists as opponents, as opposed to monsters for villains...

 

[RuinousPowers]

Grey box Forgotten Realms. I loved that!

Thieves World box set from Chaosium was great too. More 3rd party votes go to Mayfair Games for their Demons/Demons II boxed sets and their "10th level spells" box set (the actual name escapes me atm).

edit: Arch Magic.

 

[jdrakeh]

A big chaosium fan here, and I read and enjoyed the book series - but for some reason I never picked this up

It's really good and has stats for a number of different fantasy RPGs, not limited to two editions of D&D. I think it goes for about $150-ish on the secondhand market right now. If you can grab a complete copy, it's definitely worth it.

 

[R_J_K75]

2E FR, "Empires of the Shining Sea" & "Lands of Intrigue". It should have been one mega boxed set with the Calimport supplement thrown in for good measure. Dale Donovan and Steven Schend wrote some great stuff mid to late 90s. Well written books, lots of lore and some mechanics thrown in. If someone asked me what the template for a boxed set should be I'd give them those 3.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Definitely the Forgotten Realms grey box and the Basic red box. Both of them opened so many doors to adventure for me.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

I am going a little off the beaten track.

What was the coolest TSR-era boxed set, in my opinion?

Star Frontiers: Knight Hawks.

Sure, there were a lot of good, and even great D&D boxed sets. There were some amazing other TSR boxed sets (Gamma World, anyone?).

But this expansion to the original Alpha Dawn boxed set ... it took a good game and really kicked it up a notch. It had the rules for spaceship combat, and making space ships ... and a map and little counters to use.

It wasn't minis. It wasn't the realism of Traveler. But it was awesome. Pure unadultered joy.

 

[David Howery]

the first World of Greyhawk boxed set. It gave the DMs in our group so much to work with....

 

[TheSword]

Night Below definitely the best. It had a scale and level of detail that dwarfed every other product I’ve seen.

Closely followed by Ruins of Myth Drannor. A product that was so inspiring in about a million different ways.

 

[Malmuria]

Boxed sets make a lot of sense for adventures. They allow you to give maps and handouts to players, while keeping the DM material disarticulated in a way that is possibly helpful for the DM. Of course, sets vary in terms of execution on this front.

In terms of settings, though I listed to the two planescape boxed sets as my favorites, I'm not sure it was the best use of the format. A lot of the material was repeated across the player's and dm's guides, and the poster maps, while pretty, were planar and thus abstract. Those boxed sets would have worked just as well as dm-facing gazetteers. At the time I remember it was thought that the boxed sets allowed TSR to charge more money, though I think a lot of them were overly costly to print and put together.