It is completely ridiculous that I’m even looking at this. What the actual fudge, me?

Posted on by Paul Beakley

It is completely ridiculous that I’m even looking at this. What the actual fudge, me?

I will say that I’m very tempted to pull my daughter deeper into roleplaying via D&D, though, and the 5E stuff is so gloriously glossy. Like, red box was great when I was, dunno, 10 or whatever, because it looked great in 1980.

Interesting side note: apparently this package was intended to be a FLGS exclusive, and somehow a bunch of it ended up in Massdrop’s grubby paws. Some folks are salty about that but that seems like getting mad at clouds for raining on you.

https://www.massdrop.com/buy/d-d-core-rulebooks-gift-set-hobby-exclusive

Published by Paul Beakley

I founded the Indie Game Reading Club in 2010. I've written and developed RPGs since the mid-90s, now I mostly talk about playing them.

0 thoughts on “It is completely ridiculous that I’m even looking at this. What the actual fudge, me?”

  6. A friend of mine who has been running D&D for his son just from the PDFs let this be his “breakdown” moment and he pre-ordered these from our FLGS. He’s pretty happy. In terms of buying them as a second copy of books one already owns, I dunno… they do apparently integrate the errata from the last few years, so they are the “cleanest” versions of these rules, fwiw.

  8. They are pretty on the outside, but still DnD on the inside. That being said 5e has been my favourite version of DnD so far and by a large margin. I had some luck getting my daughter into DnD but she took to Fate much quicker and enjoys the flexibility way more.

  11. I ran some B/X for the kids a couple of times, but it felt like it was mostly for me since I like it so much. I’m toying with trying 5e with them, since there’s more for them to dig their grubby little paws into on the player side.

    And I’m tempted by those faintsy books, but with a couple of falling-apart-book-replacements already I’m a bit flush with 5e books.

  13. For me, and I believe for a lot of gamers, there is a difficulty in deciding what we want because we have an actual desire and likelyhood to play/use/read in a way we enjoy, and a desire to acquire the perceived possibilities of what it might represent.

    That is to say, your likelihood of actually using this may be low, and your likelihood to use this version of it — as opposed to just PDFs of the main rule books of whatever, or to play D&D at all — are maybe kinda low? And even if you do, maybe sub-optimal compared to using a more kid-friendly, don’t care if it gets fucked up at the table version?

    But, often our emotional response seems to be based not on that, but on a heart-felt dream about what could happen if you were to play the game you desire to play with the kid. And you want that, and want to be able to buy that.

    I know I back Kickstarters all the time less on my analysis of if the game will be good, or if I’ll play it, and more because I have a dream of what it could be, and a desire to reach that dream even though all logical analysis says this product will not achieve that.

  14. So my thoughts:

    * They’re just beautiful to thumb through. Look at the art, imagine doing this stuff, get excited. Remember, this is a 7 year old, not a bitter old gamer who knows they’ll never actually face down a Beholder with a giant gem-encrusted staff and a sword.

    * The play mode is extremely straightforward. At her age, I have seen her either engage with play-house mode (which doesn’t really have room for, or a need of, random inputs and unwanted outcomes) or problem-solving mode. D&D is, and I hope this isn’t controversial, pretty good at doing the problem-solving thing.

    * The advancement grind is very appealing for primitive-monkey reasons. Something to aim for! That’s something we really miss in No Thank You, Evil! It’s very Fate-y that way, you just kind of keep playing and nothing ever changes.

  15. I get some of that “beautiful to thumb through” fulfillment now from buying the various visual guides to the Star Wars movies. Lots of “oh what if” but I don’t have to stress about it because I can just say it’s a coffee table book.

    I still stress about it a little tho. Because omg what if.

  17. I have some 5e books, I don’t really play D&D, but I saw that box set at the FLGS and, damn, they’re beautiful books. I’ve been thinking about them for days. Nerd greed is a really thing.

  19. I am so tempted. Also, it kinda sucks to come into a thread like this & see people ragging on D&D. If it’s not your thing, that’s fine, but no need to harsh someone else’s enjoyment.

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