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Message: <blockquote data-quote="CleverNickName" data-source="post: 8507124" data-attributes="member: 50987">I remember opening my 11th birthday present and seeing that bright-red box with the red dragon on front, that iconic art piece by Larry Elmore, and being so excited to get past the plastic shrink-wrap that I accidentally marred the box (and would feel guilty about it for years).  I remember getting the TSR Catalog in the mail every so often, and pouring over the grainy black-and-white pages squinting at the offerings, and mail-ordering The Saga of the Shadow Lord, and Test of the Warlords, and The War Rafts of Kron.And I also remember how I once called to order my own copy of the Expert Set, after having saved my allowance for months, only to discover that the entire BECM product line was out of print.  I could order a copy of the Rules Cyclopedia, though, and the lady on the phone assured me that it had the same content of all four sets, condensed into a single book.  "The same stuff, all in one book?"  I asked.  "Yep!" she enthusiastically replied.So I ordered it, and when it arrived 4-6 weeks later, I couldn't suppress my disappointment at the artwork.  Yes, the rules were all there, and it was handy to have them all in a single book, but--ooof, that artwork.  Don't get me wrong, Terry Dykstra did a great job and there are some awesome pieces in there.  But I was just so looking forward to seeing all of the Elmore and Easley pieces I had missed out on when the boxed sets went out-of-print, and it just wasn't there.  I had been deceived by omission.What I expected:[ATTACH=full]149670[/ATTACH]What I received:[ATTACH=full]149669[/ATTACH]That was when I learned that the importance of the artwork in a fantasy RPG product cannot be understated.   (I also learned that I need to be incredibly specific when I'm asking about the contents of an RPG product, especially when I'm buying it sight-unseen.)  If the salesperson on the phone had told me that it "featured new artwork from Terry Dykstra!" I would have been all like, "Cool, I'll check it out!" or maybe "Ah well, I guess that's fine."  But instead, I got the sales pitch of "it's ALL of the boxed sets you want, just in one book!" and that turned out to be only sorta correct.I love my Rules Cyclopedia.  It's still on my bookshelf, in tatters, its cover barely hanging on to its battered spine, right next to my pristine POD copy that I actually play with. In my whole collection of BECM D&D materials, this is the only one that doesn't match the set.  The cover art is wrong, the font is wrong, the logo is wrong, the labeling is wrong.   I know it's such a small gripe, but it bothers me--it's bothered me for decades.  Inside and out, it doesn't look like it belongs:[ATTACH=full]149672[/ATTACH]Anyway, I thought I'd share a little about my favorite D&D book ever published by TSR...how I came to own it, and my first impression of it.  I love the Rules Cyclopedia, I truly do, but it sure broke my heart.</blockquote>

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