Basic Set (Otus)

[Beyondthebreach]

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"Ah, Blackadder. Started talking to yourself, I see."

"Yes . . . it's the only way I can be assured of intelligent conversation."

[Avurax]

Ok, this might be putting the cart before the horse since the non-Holmes sets haven’t been detailed yet. But I have a question about the dice present in the Moldvay, Cook and Mentzer boxed sets. Having just enough of my original dice, I feel good that the following dice configurations were included in the original sets:

D4 displaying “1” on the bottom all the way around and turning the die to the left (reading bottom number, left number, right number):
1,2,3; 1,4,2; 1,3,4. The bottom would have 3,2,4.

D6 starting with “1” and spinning die to the left, the following numbers appear:
1, 4, 6, 3. All of the numbers face the same direction as the die is turned.
The 2 is on top and the 5 is on bottom.

D8 starting with “1” which is on the “bottom”; turning die to the left:
1, 7, 5, 3
On the other side starting with “2” and turning die to the left:
2, 8, 6, 4
The even and odd numbers face toward each other so when an even number is displayed, the odd number on the other side would be upside down if held by the sharpest points.

D10 starting with “1” which is on the “bottom”; turning die to the left:
1, 9, 5, 3, 7
On the other side starting with “2” and turning die to the left:
2, 8, 0, 4, 6
Both sides of this die face the same direction so if holding between two fingers by the top and bottom points, none of the numbers appear to be upside down.

D12 – since these sides are a little different than the previous ones, I will list numbers on opposite sides of each other (the number before the dash [-] would be on top, the number after the dash would be on the bottom).
1-7; 2-12; 3-8; 4-5; 6-9; 10-11

D20 – like the d12, I will list numbers on opposite sides of each other (the number before the dash [-] would be on top, the number after the dash would be on the bottom).
1-11; 2-12; 3-16; 4-20; 5-15; 6-9; 7-19; 8-13; 10-14; 17-18.

My question is if someone knows for sure whether any other dice configurations were provided with the non-Holmes Basic & Expert sets? Such minutia may be too much even for a research thread but I figured I would give it a shot. The reason for the query is that I have a few sets of dice that look like they belong to one of these early games but do not adhere to the above configurations.

[TheMilford]

I've never heard much discussion about this but there are distinct differences in the 1st and 2nd print Moldvay Basic sets. I hope to illustrate and document here:


The original box for the 1st edition is made using the same "tip-on-board' construction of the earlier (pre 1980s) TSR boxed sets. Tip-on is a process where the artwork is printed onto a thin "slick" and that is thremally glued to a chipboard substrate. The thin paper slick is what "binds" the corners together. that is why these break so easily.

The 2nd prints of the box is printed using the later "direct to board" style printing. This is just what it implies. the artwork is printed directly to white card-stock. Then the box is formed much like origami where the corners are glues folded into themselves.



There are other differences as well; some that may have been pointed out before such as the the text on the being totally different and the print dates on the side of the box differing as well.


and lastly the dice changed at some point in too. the earlier sets have the more crude looking dice on the left. These are mistakingly refered to as Dragon Dice... or Low impact dice. These actually hold up better than the Holmes set dice and the later Dragon Dice that came in later prints of the Basic and expert rules and as late as the early Mentzer sets. The dice on the left have more moulding marks than the Dragon Dice on the Right and came in shades of Powder blue to turquoise and shades of brown. The Dragon dice are quite nice but disintegrate and flake easily. These came in a slew of colors... earlier sets seemed to be baby blue or Navy with the other bright colors coming right after.


Now, I have seen Basic sets with 1st print books and early dice but with the Direct-to-board boxes. I have also seen a few Expert sets with the Tip-on boxes but these seem to be even more rare.

My next post will cover the differences between the Gateway to adventures included in the Moldvay sets... there is a earlier version missing some of the photos that the more common one has.
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[Mars]

Good Stuff and nice to see you here TheMilford.

We do have some postings for Gateway to Adventure list in the TSR catalogs section:

http://tomeoftreasures.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=2085

The one thing that I know we are missing is the rare black covered version of Gateway to Adventure - I think I have only ever seen 3 copies of this one go by in auction.