The Wayfarer's Inn

I can't vote in that as in fact Cyclopedia is very much like the Mentzer thing... without immortals. However It has a very good weapon system that I try to integrate in 3rd edition. So why I can't vote for that?

1. Yes, the boxes had Bargle. I would add this as a point even if it wasn't already mentioned, believe it or not.
2. They had more examples and another... feel to them.

So I can't decide.


And Van you have played both Cyclopedia and the Basic Boxed set.

RC gets my vote. Very good reference, well laid out, nice summary of the Known Wolrd included. Heck, I still have my [very worn] copy of it. Mentzer would be a close second, as I started with that one.
I run using D20 rules, but I try and keep some of that old school feel in all my games. Old school rules!

Since RC is just a re-formatting of Mentzer's rules, they should be a single vote, however, due to the convenience, I voted RC over Mentzer. But it was a tough choice, the Mentzer sets had something which the RC lacked--IN GAME SAMPLES! The intro adventure of the red box, the sample wilderness & town in the blue box (ok RC had the wilderness, but not the Threshold info), Example dominions in the green box... etc, etc...

Roger

RC gives us Mystic as a fully fledged character class (allbeit one lacking the development that Frank Mentzer hinted that it needed), a skills system taken from the Gaz series, a few extra spells... It IS different to the boxed sets, but only a little. It lacks a few things, but none of the content that was taken out matters as much as the loss of context.

The boxed sets teach you the game incrementally; simple dungeon adventures, wilderness, broader campaigns and dominions/mations, cross planar adventures/global, and finally multiversal. The five sets give us context; how do you correctly balance encounters with, say, kobolds and their pet rust monster (all basic level monsters) against a party equipped with nets, weapon mastery and specialist skills (Companion, Masters and Gaz series additions) unless you understand the context of what came when?

But theres more even than that; when you add things to a game incrementally then you're giving a DM a chance to grow and learn/develop his own way of doing things. The more rules there are at the beginning, the harder that is. Rules Cyclopedia is an absolutely invaluable reference guide, but it isn't the best way to learn the game. I mourned the passing of the boxed sets.

Agreed, Cab.

For me, the main objection with the boxes is that they are, well, boxes, and thus not so easy to be transported.
The RC jsut fits in my gaming bag and I can take it with me wherever I go.

However, they are a very didactic method to learn an RPG.