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<blockquote data-quote="Vartan" data-source="post: 5311966" data-attributes="member: 26155">Why is the original red box so special? Nostalgia. I started playing in 1990 when I was 11/12 years old and the Basic Rules boxed set was my introduction to the hobby, as I suspect it was for a lot of players between the time of its release 1991 and the publication of the Rules Cyclopedia in 1991. 8 years of service as the de facto gateway product for D&amp;D earned the red box a special place in the hearts of many gamers. Why was the original red box so special? It was a good way to start playing. The cover art was (and still is) awesome. It came with dice, a &quot;choose your own adventure&quot; thing to get you started, rules for character creation and a lengthy introductory adventure. It was accessible but fairly meaty, and it served as a good &quot;survey&quot; of the D&amp;D/AD&amp;D landscape at the time.The Rules Cyclopedia is definitely a better core reference for the BECMI rules set. If I hadn't switched over to AD&amp;D 2nd Edition within a few months of my first D&amp;D then game I almost certainly would have used it. As it happens, I was invested in AD&amp;D before the RC ever saw print. A friend of mine plays in a long-running BECMI game and they covet copies of that book.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Vartan, post: 5311966, member: 26155"] Why [i]is[/i] the original red box so special? Nostalgia. I started playing in 1990 when I was 11/12 years old and the Basic Rules boxed set was my introduction to the hobby, as I suspect it was for a lot of players between the time of its release 1991 and the publication of the Rules Cyclopedia in 1991. 8 years of service as the [I]de facto[/I] gateway product for D&D earned the red box a special place in the hearts of many gamers. Why [i]was[/i] the original red box so special? It was a good way to start playing. The cover art was (and still is) awesome. It came with dice, a "choose your own adventure" thing to get you started, rules for character creation and a lengthy introductory adventure. It was accessible but fairly meaty, and it served as a good "survey" of the D&D/AD&D landscape at the time. The Rules Cyclopedia is definitely a better core reference for the BECMI rules set. If I hadn't switched over to AD&D 2nd Edition within a few months of my first D&D then game I almost certainly would have used it. As it happens, I was invested in AD&D before the RC ever saw print. A friend of mine plays in a long-running BECMI game and they covet copies of that book. [/QUOTE]

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