What’s your favorite boxed set?

[Malcolm Serabian]

Hey folks!

What’s your favorite boxed set for ad&d and why? Let’s just list setting boxes… if you’re favorite box is a rules set, list it and why, But also add a setting box you love! If you want list your top 3!!

I’ll star with my own number 1: City of Greyhawk.
Why? Because it’s a complete sandbox campaign with a city, and a surrounding countryside, and a buck load of fun mini adventures… plus for me it captures just the right mix of whimsy, pg13 darkness, and wonder… plus the amazing birds eye view map of the city by Valerie Valusk is amazing.

 

[jdrakeh]

For older editions of D&D, it's the licensed Thieves World box set by Chaosium. For the current edition of D&D, it's the D&D Essentials Kit.

 

[overgeeked]

I have four.

Dark Sun. Original Campaign Setting box. My all-time favorite D&D setting. It was weird and wild and dangerous. Evocative of the science-fantasy stories I love. Psionics even for the plants and everything...everything is desperately trying to kill you. Also, the world is doomed. The bad guys won a few centuries ago. Good luck.

Spelljammer. Adventures in Space. D&D in space and the wild and crazy shenanigans of miniature giant space hamsters running in wheels to power spaceships. Crystal spheres and the phlogiston. All the wild planet and sphere generation tables. Again, mixing the science-fantasy elements into a single wonderful stew.

Al-Qadim. Land of Fate. Always loved the Arabian nights and the movies they spawned. Could not get enough of this setting. Loved so many of the extra elements of the setting. The adventures, the society of the Enlightened, the cosmopolitan nature of the cities where anyone was welcome. Great stuff.

Ravenloft. Realm of Terror. Always loved Gothic horror and the tropes that went along with it. It was a great fit for 2E's rules. Level draining undead and glacially slow healing. Damn, that's scary.

 

[Alzrius]

As I mentioned elsewhere, it's Return to the Tomb of Horrors for me (though I'd have said Ravenloft's red boxed set, if I didn't feel that Domains of Dread surpassed it).

 

[Malcolm Serabian]

Dark Sun. Original Campaign Setting box. My all-time favorite D&D setting. It was weird and wild and dangerous. Evocative of the science-fantasy stories I love. Psionics even for the plants and everything...everything is desperately trying to kill you. Also, the world is doomed. The bad guys won a few centuries ago. Good luck.

I also love this one. It’s probably my second favorite boxed set for most of the same reasons as you give. I always wanted to run it with a bit more John Carter vibe so boosting up the heroics and downplaying the doom and gloom.

Spelljammer. Adventures in Space. D&D in space and the wild and crazy shenanigans of miniature giant space hamsters running in wheels to power spaceships. Crystal spheres and the phlogiston. All the wild planet and sphere generation tables. Again, mixing the science-fantasy elements into a single wonderful stew.

I have fond memories of this set, but I was recently rereading it in anticipation of a 5e spelljammer release - and I found myself really disappointed. It’s mostly just ships and physics. There’s not much setting or character involved.

Al-Qadim. Land of Fate. Always loved the Arabian nights and the movies they spawned. Could not get enough of this setting. Loved so many of the extra elements of the setting. The adventures, the society of the Enlightened, the cosmopolitan nature of the cities where anyone was welcome. Great stuff.

Never had this but it has always intrigued me.

Ravenloft. Realm of Terror. Always loved Gothic horror and the tropes that went along with it. It was a great fit for 2E's rules. Level draining undead and glacially slow healing. Damn, that's scary.

Loved the Gothic Earth boxed set but the fantasy/gothic/horror combo of the original never appealed.

 

[Malcolm Serabian]

For older editions of D&D, it's the licensed Thieves World box set by Chaosium. For the current edition of D&D, it's the D&D Essentials Kit.

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

 

[Jack Daniel]

Ravenloft: Masque of the Red Death, hands down.

 

[Musing Mage]

Many to choose from, but I think I have to say the Mentzer Red Box starter set... as it's what started me on the whole D&D journey.

 

[Hex08]

That's hard....
The City of Greyhawk. This was the first setting I got for AD&D and spent so much time reading it.
Al-Qadim was another favorite. I never exclusively ran a campaign there but one of my most memorable campaigns did have my players travel from their home around Corm Orp in Faerûn to Zakhara. One of the player's characters died while there so he created a Sha'ir who travelled back with the rest of the party.

Also, edited to add Night Below. I have run this campaign twice and am considering a third. Loved this adventure.

 

[Thauramarth]

For me, it’s the Forgotten Realms 1st Edition, the Old Grey Box. Partially because it wzs my first, and you never forget your first, but even now, I still use it as the basis for my campaigns (pre-ToT, sandbox-type adventures). It gave enough of a framework to give coherence and continuity, but was loose enough to fit just about everything (O)(A)D&D or generic Med-Fan in there somewhere. Over the years, I’ve sold off almost all of my D&D collection and replaced it with PDFs, but I hung on to my orange spine AD&D 1st edition books and my OGB. When the internet collapses, and we’re all tryong to figure out how to eat, I’ll still be rolling dice