A Case of the Red Box

Admit it, how many of you lined up at Gen Con this year to step into the red box cover? The opportunity to get a free signed Elmore poster and hold that little plastic sword was too much to pass up despite the hecklers. I felt like the little kid who marveled at this cover at length and spent many evenings tracing and then free-handing the iconic image. If it wasn't iconic before, it most certainly is now that WotC has released their relatively cheap Starter Set and marketing campaign which harkens back a few decades. It's currently selling on Amazon for less than fourteen dollars despite a list price of $19.99! Will it bring new sheep into the fold as many bloggers suspect? I'm happy to see sales reports that indicate a relatively competitive game market, so this isn't an absurdity.

The red box issue has made the blog rounds with expected frequent old school/new school dichotomies. New Fish seems to have a healthy balance in this regard, in addition to apparent respect from the OSR community. I also appreciate his healthy Mentzer defense. Like him, I hope to buy this far more sturdy red box to fill in the original BECMI. It looks as if a new generation of kids may develop a stubborn case of the Red Box. (I hear it's contagious and, despite general dissipation of symptoms after the initial exposure, likely to manifest at various times in one's life.)