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Vintage D&D Starter Sets from TSR | The New Easy to Master Dungeons and Dragons Game & First Quest
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 ส.ค. 2024
- Always Board Never Boring is taking a little stroll down memory lane, checking out some retro TSR products, including the New Easy to Master Dungeons & Dragons Game and First Quest, stopping to admire games such as DragonStrike and Dragonlance along the way.
Please note, ABNB does not claim to be well-versed in the history of D&D and his memory of personal experiences is a little foggier than it used to be. He apologises in advance for any errors.
Here are some timestamps:
00:00 Intro
01:21 TSR games
03:56 The New Easy to Master D&D Game
11:06 First Quest
20:48 Sunrise; sunset... Sunrise again
This video is only possible thanks to the generosity of Mark White, who donated these games to the channel. Thank you, Mark!
Please note, the cover image for Dragons of Stormwreck Isle is the property of Wizards of the Coast.
#dnd #dungeonsanddragons #tsr
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These simple, old-school minis are a joy to see.
And the artwork never looses it's charm, either.
It's always a pleasure to go back and look at some of the old artwork.
I am still astonished every time I go back to the red box, how epic the old Elmore graphics are...
Those Dragon cards put me in mind of the "Fighting Fantasy" books by Steve Jackson & Ian Livingston, think I still have a few of those around the house somewhere.
They do have that sort of vibe to them. I actually have the Fighting Fantasy board game Legend of Zagor. That's another one to feature on the channel at some point!
'It's about finding the right people' - very true 👍
It makes a world of difference.
Wish I could find people lol... Looks like I'm going to have to be a DM for my kids... Not looking forward to it... I wanna be a player lol
The dragon cards did work very nicely. I got the box at around 92 and there was no one around me who could teach me the game. It helped me understand the game and lead me down the road of "almost always DM".
I had the Introduction to Advanced Dungeons & Dragons boxed set. It had most everything First Quest had, save some monsters and treasures not being in the booklets, and the space adventure being omitted entirely. I still get a chuckle at the fact that the audio CD had Macho Man Randy Savage as the Ogre.
With that and Malibu on the Dragon Strike VHS, TSR got all the big names.
I acquired a copy of First Quest from a garage sale in the late 90's and used it to great success to introduce several new players to D&D. What an incredible experience, with the combination of lavish maps, creative and immersive audio support through the CD and just a fun series of adventures. Harrow Hill was a particular stand out and playing it late at night created some spooky moments that I still remember vividly all these years later. I've long since lost almost everything from that box set over various moves and the ravages of time. However, I still have two relics from it in my possession: the audio CD, still in its jewel case and the "thief" miniature, in good condition.
That's awesome. I'm happy to hear the set worked well to bring some new players into the game and gave you such fond memories. The CD is a real treasure, well worth keeping hold of!
As you named every other artist, I felt I should add that the monsters in the Monster and Treasure book were drawn by Tony DiTerlizzi, the same art used in the 1993 Monstrous Manual. Plus, it's always fun when people realize that the guy who co-authored The Spiderwick Chronicles used to do art for D&D.
Ah, the black box. I do love that thing ever since I found one... Literally in the trash. Someone was throwing out tons of stuff, including the black box itself. It was open, and even a little warped on the lid, but it is still otherwise complete, including the dice AND lots of those flyers. Someone's dad probably bought it for their kids but since it was in english and not the local language, it probably sat in a closet for years before it got thrown out, and properly rescued by me.
That's a great find. Got to love those flyers.
Another great review! Love seeing The Easy-To-Master Box set. This was the set that taught me how to play. The dragon cards were so simple. I had the red basic box but for some reason it never made sense to me. I didn’t have anyone to ask questions about the game. Then this set came out and the rest was history. I learned the game and have been a DM ever since.
That’s awesome hearing that the system worked so well. Thanks for watching.
The artwork at 15:47 of Delver Ironfist the dwarf is actually from the front cover of the R. A. Salvatore book Streams of Silver... It was the 2nd book in a trilogy starring Drizzt Do'Urden, the Drow... you can actually see Drizzt on the left behind the dwarf, (who is called Bruenor by the way) with Regis (a Halfling) and Wulfgar (a Barbarian)... I'm actually reading that book at the moment, thats how I know lol...
That's cool. Lots of this artwork has popped up in other places. It's so great.
Are you going to do a let's play of any of this games? Would you see a solo adventure of dragon strike and the black box. Love ur videos and love watching you play these games and paint mini's. Thanks for sharing this video 😊
I'm definitely going to play a solo adventure of Dragon Strike. I've been meaning to do it for a while, but I'm struggling to fit playthroughs into the schedule at the moment. Not sure about the black box yet. Thanks for watching, and for the kind words. It means a lot.
The original Red Box (1983) was my introduction to Dungeons & Dragons. It also had a choose your own adventure teaching the basics of role playing.
((To the Hells with you Bargle!! Vengeance for Aleena!))
In the days when you had to wax crayon your own dice. Nice. Back in the mid-80s I was just getting into fantasy gaming, but starting out with classic Waddingtons stuff like Lost Valley of the Dinosaurs and The Vampire Game. Quite a difference to RPGs!
Thanks for bringing back all those good memories of playing First Quest back in the day 🙂👍 I still have the CD that came with it, although I'm not sure where the box went.
Thanks for watching. The First Quest CD was hilarious, but it was a great introductory set with some lovely maps.
I started out with First Quest in the early 90s if I recall correctly but I quickly fell in love with the New Easy to Master box set. To this day, I won't play any other version of D&D. TSR throughout the 90s regularly used draft artwork for product previews in their catalogues. Peruse the catalogue more carefully and I am sure you will find more instances of it. There were also oddly enough several different final versions of that artwork used on the back of the First Quest DM screen as it was reused on several different products (with slight differences in the details of each version).
Nice! I have FQ knocking about somewhere… I need to find it now! Never played it but remember box and the cd. I now know why I have 2 of the same blue plastic minis too lol! Thanks.
Those minis certainly got around. A bit like the old Games Workshop plastic scouts.
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring could wait to “find” mine so bought a copy minus adventures and separately the adventures for £30. There’s an almost pristine one going on eBay too…
@@georgeadsett-knutsen829 I hope you have fun getting reacquainted with it.
I work for the United States Patent and Trademark Office. One of my coworkers used part of my original blackbox set to reject a patent.
You missed one: Dungeons & Dragons: Dragon Quest. A three adventure module with miniatures and standees. Used cards (for pretty much everything), and a chopped back version of the D&D basic game rules. Awesome game.
Reviewed that one on my blog years ago, but don’t have a copy anymore to put in any videos.
I still have 2 copies of that buck rogers board game, one in original shrinkwrap. Its a fun game. 😊
I played the heck out of my copy when I was a kid. Used to spend a lot of time sling-shotting around the planets.
Interesting to see those old starter sets. I never took the plunge with D&D like you did, just skirted around it with board games, and I think it's a bit late now. Didn't find a group to play with, which is the key point, I think. Looking at those sets obviously brought back some good memories for you, which was nice to see.
I know the names of Jeff Easley and Larry Elmore from card sleeves and deck boxes for magic the gathering - I have a few from both of them, some of my favourite designs. I didn't realise they were big in the world of fantasy art, but I should have known really. I didn't investigate their art, apart from the things I had. Some people really follow certain artists and styles, but I've never done that.
I think when Wizards of the Coast acquired TSR they started using a lot of Easley artwork on their Magic cards and accessories. There are quite a few artists I really like, such as Easley, Howe, and Chalk, so I know a bit about them, but I'm certainly no expert.
This episode brings me back. I own the Dragonlance game, Dragon Strike, Dragon Quest & the ‘black’ box (fantastic way to learn with the dragon cards) still. Those were the days. I actually loved the cardboard standees. I own all the box sets & adventure books for the ‘black’ box with all their cardboard standees. I had an obsession I guess. 😂 Keep up the great work, mate.
I hope you enjoyed the video. Thanks for watching. Dragon Quest had so many of those standees - they filled the whole box when they were assembled!
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring, it was a great episode. I wanted the First Quest box back in the day, but it never happened. I stopped playing after the group went there separate ways. I started back up on 4th edition (very underrated IMO). I stopped playing again before 5th edition.
Thanks so much. First Quest was a great little box. I thought it was a really good mix of everything you needed to get into the game. Shame I could never get a group off the ground back then.
I was cleaning my house today and stumbled upon that "Bruce Campbell" magician mini. Mine is missing the hand too, but it's the other hand lol
Clearly spellcasting is a dangerous profession!
Ahhh! Good ol' classic D&D. I managed to find an old copy of The Temple of Elemental Evil, which I still haven't deciphered... It's rather extensive..!
That big black box was my life when I was 13.
Any time I see a video pop up it always seems to be some game that I've got tucked away on the top shelf somewhere, and your gaming youth sounds very similar to mine! Next I'm expecting one of the fighting fantasy ganes to appear because I was literally looking at them a couple of days ago aha
I do have Legend of Zagor, the Fighting Fantasy board game, on the shelf waiting for a playthrough and review.
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring NICE! I'm unsure if my talky box still works anymore, I think it had a battery leak a while back :'(
I'll have tongwt it out and take a look at some point.
The talky box is so funny. The voice actor was having a blast.
I am gonna say this is amazing to look back at the old edition
I do love a little wander down memory lane. Thanks for watching.
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring definitely I will keep following
I never seen those. Glad you show us them
Thanks for watching.
Wow... I own none of these, but I remember playing hero quest with someone's else set.
I've collected starter sets since 3rd edition and none of em have miniatures or the quality in artwork as these, I'm definitely gonna try and get them, excellent video 👌
Thanks. Second edition artwork was gorgeous, and there was some fun miniatures in these sets. I particularly liked the Ral Partha ones in Dragon Quest.
Yes, the dragon cards were really effective on learning the game to a newcomer. Nice video!
It seemed like a really neat idea. Thanks for watching.
I've played the Black box, it was a journey to another world. I also have Dragonstrike 10-12 years ago but the minis were incomplete so I got the First Strike Minis (but not the game, sadly) for the heroes, I also found Cleric stats for Dragonstrike in a fan page. The black box was, at the beginning, too much text and after playing only a little, I wished it had more adventures! This video is blast form the past.
I hope you enjoyed the trip down memory lane. I'm hoping to find the time to play Dragon Strike on the channel soon.
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring Dragonstrke is fantastic for children! I played with the original instructions, we didn't use our names, since the photo of the character was in front of us, we called ourselves as "Fighter,could you..." or "Thief, don't do that". Since I had more girls in the game I printed some female cosplayers and copied the stats on the back, (but the game itself avoided people using pencil and paper) There were 4 Dragonstrike young adult novels (one I found it online), 2 choose you own adventure books (I also found one online) and a comic (it is online too). Also, the video was very cheesy, but remember how many people saw the power rangers (with similar effects and acting) before they were famous, also the owlbear looks like a monster of the series. I think some more episodes and we could have another success!
Great review as usual, I love all your reviews of old games like this. You think you’ll possibly ever do one for the original Warhammer Quest?
I have a written review of Warhammer Quest on my old blog. I doubt I will ever do a video review as I no longer have the game in my collection.
Sweet. I’ll check it out :)
Good stuff! Looking forward to those Dragon Lance and Dragon Stike reviews!
I’ve already reviewed DragonStrike on the channel. Check it out in my Stick to the Script playlist. I still need to do the playthrough though. Dragonlance should get some more coverage soon. I was holding it back until we know a bit more about the forthcoming Dragonlance board game.
Interesting stuff. Thanks ABNB
Thanks for watching.
I love d&d dungeons and dragons rules and kick ass and it's badass
Not going to argue with any of that.
I adapted several of the the adventures from First Strike into a a WFRP campaign I ran in '96ish. I'm sure we have talked about the cool maps before.
The black box is a great set. Even better with the two adventure expansions, though they are pretty expensive.
We’ve definitely talked about some of these maps before. They are really great.
Dragonstrike is still my top number 1 favorite game.
It's great. It came in at number 40 in my series of my favourite games of all time.
Oh wow. I forgot about Dragonlance the game. I bought it new, and gave it away a year later.
It’s a really fun game. I haven’t played it for a while, though.
Nice! Personally I grew up with the Easy to Master set and acquired an incomplete copy of First Quest in more recent years. The Dragon Cards never really made for great reference system and dropping the folder once was enough to put me off using them
It was just the pocket in the DM screen that bugged me!
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring Imagine being 11 years old, having convinced your 3 Warhammer and Heroquest playing friends to try out D&D - and just as you're setting up the table, you drop the folder/DM screen scattering the loose pages all over the floor and have to spend the next half an hour trying to sort them back into order ...
Time for a quick game of 52-card pickup.
I bought that brand new when it first came out... Time is relentless 😭
Yeah, I never owned the black box but I bought First Quest when it was new.
where is my damn dragonstrike box at ugghhhh man i loved that game.
It's well worth finding!
The TSR D&D First Quest sets were magnificent; couldn't stand 3.0, 3.5 was nothing but a money grab, and 4.0 was a disgrace. When 5.0 came out, I went back to playing T&T.
I really enjoy 5th. I've never tried Tunnels and Trolls.
I agree. Seems like dnd keeps getting watered down and revamped every few yrs. I had most of these sets and it's funny to see where we are today.
I bought the more recent dnd boardgames because they can be played solo but after not playing dnd in over 20 yrs I realize it's not even close to what it used to be.
Only a d20 instead of a handful of polyhedrals and only the names of monsters are the same...
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring T&T is great! Lots of solo adventures too!
As someone who grew up with 1st and 2nd, I couldn't disagree more. Most things got better and better, and 4th was my favorite edition. I never liked how brutal and restrictive the early editions were. 2nd ed was the most bloated, overwrought work of fiction of all time. Don't get me wrong, I love those editions. 2nd ed books especially bring me great joy. But it is pure nostalgia, as playing them is like eating rusty nails. I'd say the Rules Cyclopaedia is the high-point of older rulesets.
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoringI'm late to this but Tunnels & Trolls is fantastic. I was able to play my very first ever proper tabletop game a couple years ago and it was T&T; and I had a blast. After reading 5th edition D&D and a whole bunch of old school retroclones none of it really grabbed me, then on a whim I bought the Deluxe T&T ebook and got hooked. It's the 2nd ever RPG, and unlike D&D it was written from the ground up as an RPG without any of D&D's wargaming roots. Perfect balance of rules and improvising IMO. The problem is convincing people who are stuck in this mentality that D&D is the only real fantasy RPG that there are other (and maybe better) systems available.
It was not unusual for TSR to advertise products using earlier draft art. I notice this with Dragonlance and a couple of Dark Sun products in the past.
First time I’ve ever spotted it. It’s pretty interesting to see how the art evolved.
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring Oh yeah, at 18:40, the art is by Fred Fields. You can find on it his website's fantasy portfolio.
Interesting. I said it was Jeff Easley in the video, because it's credited as Jeff Easley on the book.
@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring May have been an typo or an overlook.
Definitely appears to be an incorrect credit in the book.
Will you paint the miniatures?
It’s very unlikely, really. I have so many painting projects lined up I can’t see it happening.
I've played D&D since 1987 and I never owned a starter set.
I expect you weren't the only one. Some people find a starter set approach easier, while others can just jump straight into the books. I think, sometimes it depends on how you were introduced. A starter set was really useful for me, as I was completely new and had to take control of an adventure as DM for a group of people who were also new to the game.
👀
About boards, always boring is a better name. I had to rewind the video a few times, hoping I could focus on it better. Nope. Didn't work.
Well, thanks for watching anyway. Sorry it wasn't for you.