Alzrius
The EN World kitten
Recently, I've been working my way through the 2004 book 30 Years of Adventure: A Celebration of Dungeons & Dragons as part of a personal desire to read everything I could find about the game's history. While I've found the book to be something of a slog to get through, it does have a few gems tucked away in its pages.
One of those is that it spends several pages talking about The NEW Easy to Master Dungeons & Dragons Game boxed set from 1991, better known to most fans as "the black boxed set."
While the section talking about this particular product is uncredited (30 Years of Adventure is written by several authors, not including the guest pieces sprinkled throughout the book), several preceding parts of the book – giving an insider's perspective on products that were produced around the same time – were written by Steve Winter, so I'm fairly confident that he's the one who wrote the section on the black boxed set as well. And in doing so, he reveals a number of interesting tidbits about it. You might have heard some of these before, but they're all worth reiterating here. So here's the inside scoop on this all-too-often overlooked piece of D&D's history!
#5: It was the original D&D Fifth Edition
Back in the days of TSR, D&D and AD&D were separate game lines that were produced concurrently. According to Winter's essay, this was done as an attempt to answer the problem of how to draw in new players to what was often seen as an incredibly complicated pastime. "[AD&D] just looked daunting to the novice," he writes. "Stack up all those rulebooks. No one wants to read such a mound of twaddle just to play a game that he or she might not even like! Cut it down to just the Player's Handbook and it's still too much." To that, he explains, the basic D&D game line was the answer.
In that regard, TSR saw Basic D&D as having multiple editions. The first was Original D&D (1974). The second was the Holmes Basic Set (1977). The third was Moldvay's Basic Set (1981). The fourth was Mentzer's Basic Set (1983). Which meant that the black boxed set was 5E before 5E!
#4: It was known internally as "1070"
Although it might have been "D&D Fifth Edition" in a technical sense, that wasn't what it was called during development. "For some reason," notes Winter, "although this game was officially the fifth edition of D&D, it was always known throughout TSR by its stock number: 1070, pronounced 'ten-seventy.' It's the only product that ever earned that distinction."
Winter also notes that the distinction was an odd one. "D&D sets in general were usually referred to by their colors or other distinguishing package characteristics. The original set was "small-box D&D" or "brown-box D&D. The 2nd edition was 'blue-box D&D.' The 3rd edition was 'red-box D&D.' When the 4th edition appeared, also in a red box, it assumed the name of red-box D&D and 3rd edition became 'the Erol Otus set.'" He waxes nostalgic about Otus' artwork before noting that "The 5th edition, then, should have been called 'black-box D&D,' and sometimes it was. Most often, though, it was just Ten-Seventy."
I find myself wishing that designation had been externally known, now. One can imagine the jokes that could be made about kids wanting to go for some "ten-seventy," and their parents thinking it had something to do with "four-twenty!"
#3: It was the pet project of Lorraine Williams
I've mentioned elsewhere that Lorraine Williams, often portrayed as a villain in the story of TSR, was the driving force behind the black boxed set. Winter confirms this, and goes into greater detail, saying that she came up with the format for the boxed set's signature "dragon cards" as a way to combat how intimidating the game's rules-heavy format was:
"SRA (Science Research Associates) changed the way children learned to read in 1957 when it published the first of its individual instruction packets," writes Winter. "In this format, lessons are broken down into small, self-contained steps. Each lesson fills a single, double-sided card. The student reads the lesson on one side, then immediately applies what he or she just learned by working through the exercises on the reverse side of the card. Each student can proceed at a comfortable, individual pace. Lorraine wanted to apply that same method to D&D."
#2: It was written by Troy Denning
A lot of people today know Troy Denning for his novels, which range from familiar D&D properties like Dark Sun and the Forgotten Realms to more popular franchises such as Star Wars and Halo. But while D&D aficionados know that he has quite a few game design credits to his name also, it came as a surprise to me to learn that he was the person who actually wrote much of the black boxed set.
"There was never any doubt in Lorraine's mind that she wanted Troy to create this version of D&D," states Winter. Of course, he also notes that Denning didn't do it alone. "The rulebook was put together by Tim Brown, who along with Mary Kirchoff and Brom was one of Troy's partners on the budding DARK SUN design team." Given that, I have to wonder if another way of referring to this set should be "Denning Basic."
#1: It was wildly successful
Winter is quite forthright about this particular point. "Ten-Seventy was one of the hottest products TSR ever produced, with something over a half a million copies sold worldwide." Anecdotal evidence offers some confirmation here, as the TSR Archive notes that the black boxed set had a second printing before it was a year old. Moreover, fans will remember that it had several "adventure packs" produced specifically for it in 1992: The Dragon's Den, The Goblin's Lair, and The Haunted Tower. And of course, once you finished those and wanted to advance past fifth level (the highest that the black boxed set presented), there was always the Rules Cyclopedia.
While today, D&D boasts sales numbers much higher than this, the black boxed sets sales were (judging from how Winter frames the presentation) truly incredible for their time. "Hundreds of thousands of people who might never have tried D&D in another form, or who knew about it but were intimidated by the rules bulk, bought Ten-Seventy for themselves, as presents for friends and relatives, or even as a means of introducing reluctant friends to a game that they themselves were already playing. It was one of the great TSR success stories."
Given that Ten-Seventy was what got me into D&D, I'm inclined to agree.
Please note my use of affiliate links in this post.
One of those is that it spends several pages talking about The NEW Easy to Master Dungeons & Dragons Game boxed set from 1991, better known to most fans as "the black boxed set."
While the section talking about this particular product is uncredited (30 Years of Adventure is written by several authors, not including the guest pieces sprinkled throughout the book), several preceding parts of the book – giving an insider's perspective on products that were produced around the same time – were written by Steve Winter, so I'm fairly confident that he's the one who wrote the section on the black boxed set as well. And in doing so, he reveals a number of interesting tidbits about it. You might have heard some of these before, but they're all worth reiterating here. So here's the inside scoop on this all-too-often overlooked piece of D&D's history!
#5: It was the original D&D Fifth Edition
Back in the days of TSR, D&D and AD&D were separate game lines that were produced concurrently. According to Winter's essay, this was done as an attempt to answer the problem of how to draw in new players to what was often seen as an incredibly complicated pastime. "[AD&D] just looked daunting to the novice," he writes. "Stack up all those rulebooks. No one wants to read such a mound of twaddle just to play a game that he or she might not even like! Cut it down to just the Player's Handbook and it's still too much." To that, he explains, the basic D&D game line was the answer.
In that regard, TSR saw Basic D&D as having multiple editions. The first was Original D&D (1974). The second was the Holmes Basic Set (1977). The third was Moldvay's Basic Set (1981). The fourth was Mentzer's Basic Set (1983). Which meant that the black boxed set was 5E before 5E!
#4: It was known internally as "1070"
Although it might have been "D&D Fifth Edition" in a technical sense, that wasn't what it was called during development. "For some reason," notes Winter, "although this game was officially the fifth edition of D&D, it was always known throughout TSR by its stock number: 1070, pronounced 'ten-seventy.' It's the only product that ever earned that distinction."
Winter also notes that the distinction was an odd one. "D&D sets in general were usually referred to by their colors or other distinguishing package characteristics. The original set was "small-box D&D" or "brown-box D&D. The 2nd edition was 'blue-box D&D.' The 3rd edition was 'red-box D&D.' When the 4th edition appeared, also in a red box, it assumed the name of red-box D&D and 3rd edition became 'the Erol Otus set.'" He waxes nostalgic about Otus' artwork before noting that "The 5th edition, then, should have been called 'black-box D&D,' and sometimes it was. Most often, though, it was just Ten-Seventy."
I find myself wishing that designation had been externally known, now. One can imagine the jokes that could be made about kids wanting to go for some "ten-seventy," and their parents thinking it had something to do with "four-twenty!"
#3: It was the pet project of Lorraine Williams
I've mentioned elsewhere that Lorraine Williams, often portrayed as a villain in the story of TSR, was the driving force behind the black boxed set. Winter confirms this, and goes into greater detail, saying that she came up with the format for the boxed set's signature "dragon cards" as a way to combat how intimidating the game's rules-heavy format was:
"SRA (Science Research Associates) changed the way children learned to read in 1957 when it published the first of its individual instruction packets," writes Winter. "In this format, lessons are broken down into small, self-contained steps. Each lesson fills a single, double-sided card. The student reads the lesson on one side, then immediately applies what he or she just learned by working through the exercises on the reverse side of the card. Each student can proceed at a comfortable, individual pace. Lorraine wanted to apply that same method to D&D."
#2: It was written by Troy Denning
A lot of people today know Troy Denning for his novels, which range from familiar D&D properties like Dark Sun and the Forgotten Realms to more popular franchises such as Star Wars and Halo. But while D&D aficionados know that he has quite a few game design credits to his name also, it came as a surprise to me to learn that he was the person who actually wrote much of the black boxed set.
"There was never any doubt in Lorraine's mind that she wanted Troy to create this version of D&D," states Winter. Of course, he also notes that Denning didn't do it alone. "The rulebook was put together by Tim Brown, who along with Mary Kirchoff and Brom was one of Troy's partners on the budding DARK SUN design team." Given that, I have to wonder if another way of referring to this set should be "Denning Basic."
#1: It was wildly successful
Winter is quite forthright about this particular point. "Ten-Seventy was one of the hottest products TSR ever produced, with something over a half a million copies sold worldwide." Anecdotal evidence offers some confirmation here, as the TSR Archive notes that the black boxed set had a second printing before it was a year old. Moreover, fans will remember that it had several "adventure packs" produced specifically for it in 1992: The Dragon's Den, The Goblin's Lair, and The Haunted Tower. And of course, once you finished those and wanted to advance past fifth level (the highest that the black boxed set presented), there was always the Rules Cyclopedia.
While today, D&D boasts sales numbers much higher than this, the black boxed sets sales were (judging from how Winter frames the presentation) truly incredible for their time. "Hundreds of thousands of people who might never have tried D&D in another form, or who knew about it but were intimidated by the rules bulk, bought Ten-Seventy for themselves, as presents for friends and relatives, or even as a means of introducing reluctant friends to a game that they themselves were already playing. It was one of the great TSR success stories."
Given that Ten-Seventy was what got me into D&D, I'm inclined to agree.
Please note my use of affiliate links in this post.
