So we’ve all heard by now that Wizards of the Coast is planning on reprinting the OD&D rules in what looks to be a pretty sweet boxed set. Some folks are uninterested. Some folks are concerned about the price. Some folks seem angry. Still others are rather chuffed. In other words, unique individuals are having their own unique reactions.
You can count me in the last group, though. For even though I own a copy of the Original Collectors Edition of the white box (as seen previously), I don’t own any of the Supplements in print form (I did get everything in PDF back when they were available through RPGNow) and I am an absolute sucker for a nice boxed set. And when that box is actual wood, well, sign me up! If nothing else, it’ll be fun to have this alongside the wooden box I sprung extra for in the Deluxe Tunnels & Trolls Kickstarter.
Go ahead and call me a consumer whore if you want to. But I will happily (and luckily for me) note that the release date on this is just after my birthday. So I get to call it my precious as a birthday present and not feel quite so bad about dropping the cash on it.
In Other News
The awesome G-Man slid me a new BoL adventure a little while back and, though I’ve been remiss in reviewing it for him (and posting it for y’all) my schedule has cleared up at last and, with a little bit of luck, it should see the light of day by the weekend. Feel free to yell at me if it doesn’t 🙂
A new G-Man adventure! Too cool!
Indeed. And I think I’m actually, finally gonna have time to jump through the hoops to get it distributed, too!
Yeah, I’m not sure how I feel about the reprint. It’s good that WotC finally got their head out of their hoohoo and made their old stuff available again, but $150 for it? That photo looks badly ‘shopped, so I’ll reserve judgement until I see a review of the actual product.
You’ve been posting like a demon lately, dude, some pretty cool stuff in there!
I saw that G-Man’s got another adventure, looking forward to it.
I admit that $150 isn’t exactly cheap, but for me it’s worth it. I can absolutely understand where it it wouldn’t be for other folks.
My biggest hope, though, is that they eventually put OD&D PDFs as well so that there’s an affordable option for folks who want to explore this iteration of the game.
Also, I’m desperately hoping that the box is big enough that I can squeeze my Arduin Grimoire reprints (the original trio of books) in with the D&D reprints 🙂
$150!?! I’m even less interested now.
That’s perfectly understandable, Narmer. There’s no doubt it’s a level of expense that doesn’t make sense for everyone. I’m not sure I believe the “it’s just a nostalgia release” beef I’ve heard here and there, but it’s definitely not something I think I’d be likely to buy if there weren’t some emotional component of the purchase.
When I was a kid I went kinda crazy tracking down an OCE box because I felt like getting back to the source was somehow the most important thing I could possibly do. And though I know there are no hidden mystical formulas buried deep within those pages, it boils down to the fact that it’s just plain something I want. And I’m notorious for my lack of self-denial skills 🙂
Self-denial isn’t one of my strong suits either. Sigh. I have to seriously control myself not to buy PDFs. The instant gratification is just too alluring.
As you can probably tell from my posts, there is a nostalgia component to my excitement about Basic. I’ve collected two hard copies of Moldvay/Cook Basic/Expert as well as a copy each of the new pdfs. I don’t think I really need that many copies. But hey, why not.
I’m with you on PDFs, amigo. They reach right into my brain and tickle the pleasure centers even if I ultimately decide (as I do some awful percentage of the time) that I didn’t really need the damned thing after I’ve bought it 🙂
B/X is indeed another nostalgia sink for me. If they ever decide to do a reprint of that line, they’re get even more of my money. As long as they don’t put non-Otus covers on them, that is. Those covers are the definition of D&D to me and not having them on the B/X books would be a huge turnoff.
I wouldn’t call you a consumer whore, but I will say that you are reaching for a dropped bar of soap in WotC’s shower room : P
The reasons I’m not getting it are three-fold: the (insane) price; the cover redux; and the fact that I’m pretty sure they will do it in glossy paper, all of which kept me from buying the AD&D reprints. If they corrected at least two of those, I’d be more interested.
And, yes, yes, yes, they better not even think of re-releasing B/X without the Otus covers. That there smacks of blasphemy!
Eh, I honestly don’t feel it’s an insane price. High yes, but not insane. At least not in comparison to what it would cost to assemble a complete set of the originals. Which wouldn’t be in a purty wooden box. But insanity is in the eye of the WOTC IP – REDACTED, so I speak only for myself here and won’t try to convince anyone any differently.
It’s good to have three-fold reasons for things, so in that spirit, the reasons I’m getting it are: I’m a sucker for wooden boxes, it’s probably the best way for me to get print copies of the Supplements, and I just plain want it 🙂
On the B/X front, since I still have my originals (and they’re in pretty good shape) and the PDFs now, I’m way less likely to buy a reprint no matter how they do it. Unless, they do it in a wooden box, that is.
Dude, I’m right there with you on the wooden box thing. You could sell me a dead rat in a nice wooden box and I’d walk away happy. I guess I’m just bitter ’cause I sold my actual white box a while back… and then bought Swords & Wizardry three or four years later. *sob* 😀
I’m afraid I might buy it, too. Damn WotC and their wising up to the long tail. I haven’t seen my B/X boxes in many years, either. If they truck those out in hardcopy again I’ll probably roll over like a sucker.
I would probably buy reprints of B/X too. The voices in my head would bother me until I did buy them.
Listen to the voices, Narmer!
That’s it! I tripped over the long tail! Now I have an excuse! Thanks, GMonk! 🙂