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Red Box, 2e, 3.5e Or 4e D&d

Red box, 2E, 3.5E or 4E D&D

Name: Flame
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Comments: Which was the best D&D set of all time: red box, 2e, 3.5e or 4e D&D?

Dampd e Box Red

I wasn't around when the cardbox edition and 2E came out and I know more about 3.5 so that's what I go with. Don't know much about the latest verion

Red Box, 2e, 3.5e Or 4e D&d Reviews RPG & Card Board

I'm not long in the tooth enough to be able to remember far enough back for "Chainmail" and original D&D (D&D0) , so I have to go with redbox as my starting base.

I bought "D&D1" off the shelf at a local bookstore here in Oklahoma, not quite 30 minutes from where I am now; it was sitting right next to the blue and turquoise and white other sets I eventually bought when I was about 17+. I opened it and puzzled over it in the car and later had my mom help me read over it and pronounce some words I couldn't, but couldn't figure some of it out so it spent a couple of years in my closet til a friend came over and we tried it out and muddled through it together.


As far as "best" from redbox to 4e: for ME, for my playing experience, I actually have to say probably "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition", or as everyone seems to call it now, just "2E".

2E wasn't the greatest system ever, as it seemed kinda cobbled together; but on the upside, Elf and Dwarf were not classes anymore, like in redbox, just races, like they should have been, and you had "non-weapon proficiencies", or what would eventually be called "skills" in other games that were a little more confident in their own abilities to handle things that didn't involve sticking the pointy end of objects in squishy things. A lot changed from redbox, but a lot stayed the same, but you could do a lot, and they provided a lot of options and suggested ways to create your own classes and balance trading abilities in and out - it was mind-boggling for someone who knew nothing about any other rpg's at the time. I was hooked.

I've played 3.5 and honestly, didn't like it at all. I've gone into specifics, but it's easier to wave my hand at the whole thing and say "because" and that covers it. I think some of it is not even so much the system as the "D&D Mentality" that goes along with it and probably doesn't even involve the system mechanics, but the way people GM and play and approach the game itself, that seems to color the way it is played, that really detracts from my ability to enjoy playing it, even online. I do tend to "come up against" various mechanical aspects of it a lot though, especially distance/radius quibbling, "AoO", "facing", and the damnable need to have a "Feat" for every single thing you want to do, and a roll for same.

I haven't played 4e but I've mosied through a few of the books and though I think they are incredibly well done, like "I'd leave them on a coffee table for company" kind of quality, setting the version fighting aside, the general idea hasn't changed all that much except it seems to be even more geared toward massively multiplayer online gamers (MMORPG), which isn't really a surprise; no longer are things listed for "hands and feet", but as like "foot slot", "head slot", like places to put items on a computer character - one of the sourcebooks even has a mention of "sockets" for you to put different games in each armor and weapons - you change them in and out to get different effects.

But it's all so tactical, every 10 feet/square iterative. That style of gaming has really left me cold and pushed me to simpler and lighter rules systems.

Dampd e Box Red

I'm more familiar with 3.5 but I've skimmed through 2E and the reading is way simpler. The art and stuff they put in the new versions are cool but distracting sometimes when you just want to get like some info quick.