The Box Journey

by J. Scott Garibay

I have been thinking a lot lately about each Dungeons And Dragons Edition and the design philosophy that went into each Edition.

I think there is a unique vantage that you can view each Dungeons And Dragons Edition Design Philosophy from - I call it the Box Journey.

You can see Dungeons And Dragons central design arc - it’s journey from First to Fifth Edition through the Basic Set Boxes that have been created for it since 1974. There was at least one Basic Set Box created for every Dungeons And Dragons Edition and when you look at those boxes specifically, those boxes alone, you can see the impact of each Great Designer the game has been fortunate to have.

KEY - Year \ Designer Last Name \ Box Color \ Box \ Edition \ Designer First Name

1974 Gygax Brown Box \ 1E \ Gary
1976 Gygax White Box \ 1E \ Gary
1977 Holmes Blue Box \ 1E \ J. Eric
1981 Moldvay Red Box \ 1E \ Tom
1983 Mentzer Red Box \ 1E \ Frank
1991 Denning Black Box \ 2E \ Troy
2006 Tweet Black Box \ 3.5E \ Jonathan
2010 Heinsoo Red Box \ 4E \ Rob
2014 Mearles Green Box \ 5E \ Mike

To give even more context to the Box Journey consider the year each Dungeons And Dragons Edition was created.

1E 1974
2E 1989
3E 2000
4E 2008
5E 2014

I think if Dungeons And Dragons Edition Design Philosophy is viewed from the vantage of the Box Journey then it becomes clearer and more pedagogically approachable. It also, hopefully, puts into perspective for the current owner and publisher of Dungeons and Dragons the critical importance each Basic Set Box plays in the historical design arc of the game.