The 1983 Mentzer Red Box and the Essentials Red Box introduce the DM role in similar terms:

Mentzer: “One person must also learn how to be a Dungeon Master (or DM) – the person who plays the role of the Monsters. The other booklet in this set is the DUNGEON MASTERS RULEBOOK, and explains everything the DM needs to know.”

Essentials: “One player gets to be the Dungeon Master (DM) – the person who plays the roles of the monsters and guides the other players on their adventures. All the other players create heroic characters using this book, but the DM gets to read the other book in the box – the Dungeon Master’s Book.”

In Mentzer, someone MUST be the DM, and in Essentials, someone GETS to be the DM. Instead of “whoever draws the short straw jumps on the DM hand grenade” we have “I’m Tom Sawyer and whitewashing the fence is fun!”

OK, that’s a little bit of hyperbole. We all know that whoever draws the short straw has to play the CLERIC.

More Red Box thoughts…

The back of the 1983 Red Box contains INFINITELY more ALL-CAP WORDS used for EMPHASIS! Most of them are the word “FUN”! A dragon “swoops TOWARDS you with a ROAR!” It’s “more FUN than any other game!” “Start having “FUN”! “Programmed adventures for easy learning and HOURS of FUN”! “expand your FUN”! “More treasures, more monsters – and MORE FUN!” There’s also one example of Capitalizing the First Letter for Emphasis: “This New Popular Edition has been completely revised!”

The new set, by comparison, seems as dignified and sober as an actuary, or pallbearer, or pallbearer who is pregnant with twins who are both actuaries. Compared to 13 all-cap phrases and 10 exclamation points in Mentzer, the Essentials set has 0 all-cap phrases and a parsimonious 2 exclamation points. Sure, it lets us know that “in this game, anything is possible – the only limit is your imagination!” and “you can play an adventurous hero”. But riddle me this: will those activities be FUN?

More Red Box thoughts…

There are a few differences between the Red Boxes besides the depth and the publisher name. Below the picture, the 1983 box says, “This game requires no gameboard because the action takes place in the player’s imagination with dungeon adventures that include monsters, treasures and magic. Ideal for 3 or more beginning to intermediate players, ages 10 and up.”

The Essentials red box says, “The ultimate game of your imagination, complete with monsters, magic, and treasure. For 1 or more beginning to intermediate players.” Definitely a trimmed-down version of the text: gone is the disclaimer about the lack of a game board (Essentials does contain a poster map, which sort of is a game board) and gone is the reference to “dungeon adventures”. Also, “treasure” and “magic” have swapped places. Just for alliteration? Or is magic more important now than it was in 1983?

Also, the 1983 set is for 3+ players, 10 and up. The new set is for 1 or more players. In the top right corner it now says “Age 12+”. But you know what? I bet 11 year olds would still like it.

More Red Box thoughts…

Seeing the classic Elmore art on another D&D Red Box made me think about the continuity of the hobby. It’s good to know that another generation will grow up knowing that red dragons have knees. Also, is it possible that the treasure trove has even more ewers than I had previously counted?

More Red Box thoughts…

I just picked up the D&D Essentials box, and I’ll blog my thoughts as I read through it.

The new Essentials Red Box is bigger than the 1983 Mentzer Red Box. The box is the same height and width, but about 50% deeper. Mentzer D&D just required the two booklets, dice, marker crayon, and MY IMAGINATION. The new box packs two booklets, dice, power cards, tokens, maps, and also, presumably, MY IMAGINATION. There’s also a large triangular cardboard insert propping up all the components, which has the effect of making the box look fuller than it is. Without it, everything would fit in a Mentzer-sized box. I guess the cardboard insert is to protect MY IMAGINATION from getting crushed during shipping.

More Red Box thoughts…