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What things do you miss from D&D?
- Thread starter Morrus
- Start date
Everyone says the magazines, but I hardly knew anyone besides myself (subscribed for about two years) who actually read them when they were in print.
I voted for boxed sets, and given the popularity of Euro-style boardgames at the moment you're going to have a much harder time convincing me that selling games in boxes is a non-viable business model than you are telling me magazines aren't.
I voted for boxed sets, and given the popularity of Euro-style boardgames at the moment you're going to have a much harder time convincing me that selling games in boxes is a non-viable business model than you are telling me magazines aren't.
diaglo
Adventurer
i miss hearing how others play the game.
i miss the grenadier miniatures and even ral partha
i miss the dice
i miss the advice in magazines from those who made the game
i miss the modules. not as written. but as a tool to convert for my campaign.
i miss the conventions when you could play with someone from miles away and actually say, "do you want to hear about my character? and they said yes, enthusiastically.
i miss the grenadier miniatures and even ral partha
i miss the dice
i miss the advice in magazines from those who made the game
i miss the modules. not as written. but as a tool to convert for my campaign.
i miss the conventions when you could play with someone from miles away and actually say, "do you want to hear about my character? and they said yes, enthusiastically.
nerfherder
Adventurer
Sorry diaglo, I was just being polite...
delericho
Legend
The subscriber numbers for the magazines are actually well-known, as there was an obligation that these were regularly reported. I don't know the figures for Dungeon, but MerricB handily compiled the numbers for Dragon. Apparently, some 46k people subscribed at the point where the print versions were cancelled.
(For point of reference, it's believed that the 3.0e supplement "Psionics Handbook", which was probably the best-selling supplement in the whole of 3.0e, sold out a 70k print run, and was one of very very few supplements to get a second run. Most supplements sell far fewer copies. So that 46k subscribers represents a fairly respectable number.)
Olaf the Stout
Hero
I voted Dungeon and Dragon magazines, but honestly any of the 3 could have gotten my vote. Paizo recently had a $2 sale on Dragon Magazines that I took advantage of. I bought about a dozen issues that I didn't own (I stopped subscribing for a couple of years, only to resubscribe just before it ended) and have been reading through them now. They've been enjoyable, even if some articles weren't my thing.
I bought the first 4 Gygax Magazines of someone for $30 to give them a go. They were ok, but the games they cover are a bit random and it's a bit too old-school for my liking. Still, at least someone's giving it a go.
I own a few boxed sets and I think they're cool. There's things you can do with boxed sets that you just can't do with regular hardcover books.
As for settings, I own a number of different setting books and boxed sets. They're always a lot of fun to read about.
I bought the first 4 Gygax Magazines of someone for $30 to give them a go. They were ok, but the games they cover are a bit random and it's a bit too old-school for my liking. Still, at least someone's giving it a go.
I own a few boxed sets and I think they're cool. There's things you can do with boxed sets that you just can't do with regular hardcover books.
As for settings, I own a number of different setting books and boxed sets. They're always a lot of fun to read about.
Tellerian Hawke
Defender of Oerth
I Miss The Boxed Sets (A Small Trip Down Memory Lane by Tellerian Hawke)
I said boxed sets, and here's why:
Back in "tha day," when I first started playing, I began with the Erol Otus "red book" basic rules. The first thing I had to do was to take the included crayon, and color in the numbers on all of my dice. Wow, when I think about doing that, it makes me wonder why they don't sell uncolored dice today. Painting miniatures has become its own sub-culture, its own phenomenon, if you will, but coloring dice just kind of died out. (At least to my meager knowledge---if I am wrong on this account, PLEASE correct me, because I have the sudden urge to spend money on such a thing, if it does indeed exist!)
The next thing I did was learn to draw dungeon maps on graph paper. This too, is a lost art, at least in terms of people doing it by hand. It seems that most people prefer to use computer aids these days. And I will grudgingly admit to being among them; I simply don't have the time to that stuff by hand anymore, although I would pay a small fortune to locate the hand-drawn maps from my childhood and somehow retrieve them from "the void;" (read: the landfill---they were probably thrown out long ago, during a fit of spring cleaning)
But I think that the appeal of these things lies in their crude, unrefined nature; it makes the game seem like more of a hobby. Not only do you have to create your own character, but you also have to color your own dice, draw your own maps, create your own world, draw your own world maps, paint your own miniatures, etc. In the box set era, the D&D game was more geared toward artistry and customized aesthetics.
I will also admit to scrapping my custom world when the Greyhawk boxed set came out, but with very good reason; that boxed set was FANTASTIC. The full-color maps were mind-blowing in their rich artistry and fine detail. I lost my original boxed set, but I was lucky enough (many years back, circa 1997 or so) to find a couple of sets at a garage sale which were gently used / well-cared-for. I immediately took the pristine maps and had them wet-mounted and individually framed, and I still have them today. They now adorn my 8-year old son's bedroom wall, and he is very fond of them.
Of course, my first "world" was actually based on the map in the back of the Expert Rules book; it was a partial map of the Grand Duchy of Karemeikos (sp?) if I remember correctly. And I drew what I imagined was beyond the borders of that small, little map, which of course was completely different than what ended up being officially published later on in the Gazetteer series.
But my point is, I miss the "hand made" feel of all the stuff that I made for use with my boxed set stuff. I think one day I might sit down (probably with my son) and draw out a few levels worth of dungeon maps, and maybe create a world map or two, of a campaign setting that doesn't exist yet. I think that would be a lot of fun.
I said boxed sets, and here's why:
Back in "tha day," when I first started playing, I began with the Erol Otus "red book" basic rules. The first thing I had to do was to take the included crayon, and color in the numbers on all of my dice. Wow, when I think about doing that, it makes me wonder why they don't sell uncolored dice today. Painting miniatures has become its own sub-culture, its own phenomenon, if you will, but coloring dice just kind of died out. (At least to my meager knowledge---if I am wrong on this account, PLEASE correct me, because I have the sudden urge to spend money on such a thing, if it does indeed exist!)
The next thing I did was learn to draw dungeon maps on graph paper. This too, is a lost art, at least in terms of people doing it by hand. It seems that most people prefer to use computer aids these days. And I will grudgingly admit to being among them; I simply don't have the time to that stuff by hand anymore, although I would pay a small fortune to locate the hand-drawn maps from my childhood and somehow retrieve them from "the void;" (read: the landfill---they were probably thrown out long ago, during a fit of spring cleaning)
But I think that the appeal of these things lies in their crude, unrefined nature; it makes the game seem like more of a hobby. Not only do you have to create your own character, but you also have to color your own dice, draw your own maps, create your own world, draw your own world maps, paint your own miniatures, etc. In the box set era, the D&D game was more geared toward artistry and customized aesthetics.
I will also admit to scrapping my custom world when the Greyhawk boxed set came out, but with very good reason; that boxed set was FANTASTIC. The full-color maps were mind-blowing in their rich artistry and fine detail. I lost my original boxed set, but I was lucky enough (many years back, circa 1997 or so) to find a couple of sets at a garage sale which were gently used / well-cared-for. I immediately took the pristine maps and had them wet-mounted and individually framed, and I still have them today. They now adorn my 8-year old son's bedroom wall, and he is very fond of them.
Of course, my first "world" was actually based on the map in the back of the Expert Rules book; it was a partial map of the Grand Duchy of Karemeikos (sp?) if I remember correctly. And I drew what I imagined was beyond the borders of that small, little map, which of course was completely different than what ended up being officially published later on in the Gazetteer series.
But my point is, I miss the "hand made" feel of all the stuff that I made for use with my boxed set stuff. I think one day I might sit down (probably with my son) and draw out a few levels worth of dungeon maps, and maybe create a world map or two, of a campaign setting that doesn't exist yet. I think that would be a lot of fun.
diaglo
Adventurer
:doh:
:fist:
that's what i get for playing Star Fleet Battles with you. but i was an awesome Capt Sulu.
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