Some Thoughts On Mentzer Edition Dungeons & Dragons Along With the Box Sets

"From the back of the box:

"Your first step on the road to Adventure!"

This is a game that helps you imagine.

"As you whirl around, your sword ready, the huge red fire-breathing dragon swoops TOWARDS you with a ROAR!"

See? Your imagination woke up already. Now imagine: this game will probably be more FUN than any other game you've ever played!

The DUNGEONS & DRAGONS game is a way for us to imagine together - sort of like reading the same book, or dreaming the same dream. But it's a book that YOU can write, without putting a word on paper - just by playing a D&D game. This New Popular Edition has been completely revised to include ONE-PLAYER GAMES as well as group games for Players and Dungeon Masters. YOU can start playing RIGHT AWAY!"

Mentzer edition Dungeons & Dragons is a whole cloth departure from the normal of original Dungeons & Dragons. Everything from slick editing, to whole cloth rules slimming & tucking from Holmes Dungeons & Dragons, to a fresh coat of Larry Elemore cover paint. Mentzer Dungeons & Dragons is a slick package. In Eighty three this box set was a revelation after playing my way through original Dungeons & Dragons. Thanks to Rpg geek for the trip down memory lane. 



Mentzer Dungeons & Dragons was & is a very different animal then original Dungeons & Dragons. The core is there but its tilted in a very different way that make the game primed for the 'Known World' that would come with it. Everyone talks about Rules Cyclopedia from Aaron Allston, &  Frank Mentzer. To tell the truth with the whole cloth Wizbros PC rebranding the Dungeons & Dragons brand from the ground up with politically correct paint I don't think Aaron Allston, &  Frank Mentzer get nearly enough credit these days. To tell the truth its actually Hasbro that's pushing this agenda. The Wizbros just are trying to keep their jobs at this point. I've already got my copies of these box sets so I can literally do whatever the Hell I want with my box sets.  Hasbro has no control over my or your table top.  



1983 - Dungeons & Dragons Set 2: Expert Rules  completely changed the neighborhood Dungeons & Dragons game. The cross over with the whole of the other Mentzer box sets meant that on going campaigns could continue for years! I said years & that was exciting to us. 

Sure I'll hear different folks talk about various aspects of Mentzer or Companion rules but never the fact that these rules are so easy to cross over with various incarnations of the OSR clones. The easy of use is so attractive to me even to this day. But we'll get to the why & how coming up.