Those UV pens give me an idea. Going to make notecards for special items, armor, weapons my players come across. This let's me give them other traits (like a hammer that let's you reduce an enemies AC by 1 if you get a crit) but could add magical properties like does fire damage with the UV pens. They'll only find this out if they do an acrane check on it :P
Speaking of dice, I find that having smaller dice to be very useful (d2's and d3's). They are great to add in combinations with other dice to generate numbers that the standard dice struggle with. For example, need to generate a number between 1-300, roll percentile dice and a d3.
great idea! but to get a number between 1-300, wouldn't you need a d4 and not a d3? to account for numbers that don't have three digits (have the 4 count as a 0) otherwise the smallest number would be 100 (assuming you're using the d3 to get the digit in front)
A d6 handles d2 and d3. For d2: 1-3 = 1 and 4-6 = 2 For d3: 1-2 = 1 and 3-4 = 2 and 5-6 = 3 For 1d300, roll 3d10 of different colors, assigning one for 100s, one for 10s, and one for 1's. Reroll any number over 300.
The old-school Red Basic Set you have there is from 1983, part of the BECMI series of boxed sets put together by Frank Mentzer. Each box contained the "complete" rules for the D&D game up to a certain level. The red box (Basic) covered levels 1-3, the blue box (Expert) covered 4-14, etc... Each set also expanded on different things not specifically covered in previous sets, as well as adding new monsters, spells, items, etc... The sets all did come with dice and the crayon, but those metal minis weren't included... someone must have just tossed those in there. ;-) There was also a version from 1981 that is famously called the B/X or Moldvay/Cook sets. That was also a red (more magenta, really) set for Basic and a blue box for Expert. There was a planned Companion set, but they ended up scrapping this particular line to do the BECMI one I described earlier, which did get a Companion set. And if you go even further back in time... there was a 1977 Basic set printed, famously called the Holmes rules. This one was in a blue box and never had anything beyond those rules that covered levels 1-3. Later printings even said to simply go out and get the AD&D game if you want to expand your game further. heh Some printings of this even lacked dice because of a shortage TSR was having at the time, so it included sheets of chits you could cut out and put in bags or mugs or something to pull from when you needed a random number rolled. Gotta love that!
Very accurate, save that Holmes didn't have a blue box, but rather a colored box - the rulebook itself was a blue-toned copy of the colored box art. So not blue BOX, but blue Book.
@@asafoetidajones8181 True... Good correction on the Holmes box color. :-) Thanks for that. I know that blue is a fairly predominant color in that art on the box, and that coupled with the book cover, my brain colors that box more blue than it really is. ;-)
@@KabukiKid it's a super common mistake. Probably because the BECMI set is almost always referred to by box color, sometimes B/X and Holmes are too even though none of them really have a single dominant color on the box, so people are used to saying "box". Nevermind that "black box" can refer to both the M component of BECMI and the 1991 starter set with 2e Lite rules, and there are two other Red boxes besides B, namely the 4e starter which mimics it, and the stranger things box. Really, the edition release history is a mess.
Just came back to this video and read this comment. You have inspired me to get back to making content for this channel! An update for this video will be on my list :D
nice kit! my party gained 2 players and suddenly i can’t fit everyone at my table so im gonna have to start driving out with my stuff. i’ve got most things in there aside from the special dice and pens, those scent ones are super cool. After a few weeks of gathering stuff, ive got 3 boxes i’ll bring with me : one for the dwarven forge build in anticipating needing, one for miniatures and scatter terrain, and one holding my GM screen, dice, rolling tray, a pencil case, condition rings, ipad, notebook and a portable bluetooth speaker. I love the idea of the players making name tags, waves away the immersion break of “uhhh what’s your name again?”
In my toolkit there is a small hourglass, I use all the time. It always freaks out my players when they see the time passing, but having no idea what's going to happen when they run out of time
I started playing D&D in 1978. I’m thinking of getting back into it as in basically disabled. The first “starter” set was the “basic” set and was a sky blue in 1978. I don’t have it any more. The version you have there is about six years into the game. It was pretty much the same thing less the figures and crayon.
the mood die reminds me of monster reaction rolls from b/x dnd. basically, just roll 2d6 and consult a table to find out how a monster reacts to a particular pc. the roll is modified by the pc's charisma modifier
Consider a set of Boggle dice to generate names. You can grab a couple dice to generate that NPC's name your party adopted and you did not have any name already set up. Also useful to name a Magic Item such as Gr'nards Mace of Retribution.
I have several GM kits, depending on the game I play/direct. The common items are dice (at least 3 sets of d4, d6, d8, d12 and d20, and 10 d10), dry-erase pens, blue, black, and red pen, pencil, small notebook, some A-4 paper in a transparent plastic sheet (you can use that as a dry-erase board!), and either my phone or tablet, and a laptop (Google Docs is an invaluable asset when coupled with GIMP and some basic edition capacity); finally, I have some small and light tokens on different colors, and some cheap white plastic checkers pieces I can use the Dry-erase pen on for enemies if needed. For Cyberpunk games I use a hacking deck I made before Talsorian decided they had to sell one for their RED version, with some main NPCs, all printed in paper then sleeved in Magic TG-sized cheap plastic protectors with some cards on the background (either useless Magic ones, or cheap card games ones). Miniatures for player characters (or even NPCs), I either grab from my collection or print myself, there are some STL for 6mm-scale games quite good if I need minimal size. As for generating content, I have a Tarot Deck, TvTropes, and the internet, so I copy, adapt and recycle shamessly for important NPCs, main or secondary plots, etc...
Whoa! I though I were prepared! But yeah spare dices æ, step in minis and filled+blank character sheets is a must. Regarding players wanting to be a dragonborn, I show them Fizbans Treasury of Dragons book with Chromatic, Gem and Metallic ones and just tweak it so they can choose to use either 30 line or 14 cone breath weapon. Also adding Gem dragon aspects to the Drake Wardens drake and Draconic bloodline sorcerers list of ancestries
Alright! Very useful video fulled with tools for extra immersion! Hope you do more vids. Im soon gonna dare start as a fresh d.m for 3 friends. At least for 1 buddy + sidekick to compensate, sonce the other two are parents..though they seemed interested. I got this Game master companion from Dragon Shield which I have filler with stuff from ALL dnd starter kits, two dm kits dungeon+wilderness, fill at least two of the included foam trays with minis and might have room for the d.m book. HOWEVER. I had to use my 35 liter backpack to add the rest of my books, tool cards, spare dice, pens, pensils, sharpener and Cards for monsters, spells etc. Like to be prepared *cough*
The red box wasn't for first edition, and certainly wasn't the first boxed set. Original D&D came in a wood patterned box about a decade before that in 1974. The game was then split into AD&D (aka 1st edition) and Basic D&D. What you have there is the third version of the BD&D basic set.
the D&D first edition Box set was not a Starter set, the Box was the actual BASIC D&D Rules versions and the Books were the Advance D&D Version, Both were Originally printed in 1977, the Basic Box set has had multiple Reprints, with Different Art, yours Red Box should either be 1983 but didn't come with miniatures, they were sold separately, there were also, expansions to the 1983 version basic Set... 2. Expert > 3.Companion Rules > 4.Master Rules > 5.Immortal Set ... this all said, the new 5e Starter set .. Sucks, very little in the box, few paragraphs to help a new GM learn, No Player sheets or even How to make characters, the Essentintials is a Little better, It has more dice which is good, they finally figured out no one wants to roll one dice multiple times, it also has character sheets, Maps But money value .. Pathfinder Beginner box is Just over the top, has Huge Map, 150+Standees, the DIce are Color Coded to learn which is which easier, there are Action/Conditions cards for new Players and Player Sheets are a Booklet, with a great explanation for what each part is, as well as Black sheets and a walk thru to make your own characters. I grew up playing 1e when it came out, and still prefer it over 5e.
Those UV pens give me an idea. Going to make notecards for special items, armor, weapons my players come across. This let's me give them other traits (like a hammer that let's you reduce an enemies AC by 1 if you get a crit) but could add magical properties like does fire damage with the UV pens. They'll only find this out if they do an acrane check on it :P
This is a great idea! I'm definitely gonna use this. The UV pens have so much potential - I'm still finding new ways to use them!
Thinking of doing an updated version of this video, with my most recent additions - would this be something people would be interested in? 🤔
yes! i was shocked to find out that this was your first post, its so well made!
The use of the beads for condition markers is quite clever.
Thanks! As soon as I saw them I knew I had to use them
stickers, and tokens are brilliant
Speaking of dice, I find that having smaller dice to be very useful (d2's and d3's). They are great to add in combinations with other dice to generate numbers that the standard dice struggle with. For example, need to generate a number between 1-300, roll percentile dice and a d3.
Oooh I like that idea. I will keep an eye out for some more unusual numbers!
great idea! but to get a number between 1-300, wouldn't you need a d4 and not a d3?
to account for numbers that don't have three digits (have the 4 count as a 0)
otherwise the smallest number would be 100
(assuming you're using the d3 to get the digit in front)
A d6 handles d2 and d3.
For d2: 1-3 = 1 and 4-6 = 2
For d3: 1-2 = 1 and 3-4 = 2 and 5-6 = 3
For 1d300, roll 3d10 of different colors, assigning one for 100s, one for 10s, and one for 1's.
Reroll any number over 300.
The old-school Red Basic Set you have there is from 1983, part of the BECMI series of boxed sets put together by Frank Mentzer. Each box contained the "complete" rules for the D&D game up to a certain level. The red box (Basic) covered levels 1-3, the blue box (Expert) covered 4-14, etc... Each set also expanded on different things not specifically covered in previous sets, as well as adding new monsters, spells, items, etc... The sets all did come with dice and the crayon, but those metal minis weren't included... someone must have just tossed those in there. ;-)
There was also a version from 1981 that is famously called the B/X or Moldvay/Cook sets. That was also a red (more magenta, really) set for Basic and a blue box for Expert. There was a planned Companion set, but they ended up scrapping this particular line to do the BECMI one I described earlier, which did get a Companion set.
And if you go even further back in time... there was a 1977 Basic set printed, famously called the Holmes rules. This one was in a blue box and never had anything beyond those rules that covered levels 1-3. Later printings even said to simply go out and get the AD&D game if you want to expand your game further. heh Some printings of this even lacked dice because of a shortage TSR was having at the time, so it included sheets of chits you could cut out and put in bags or mugs or something to pull from when you needed a random number rolled. Gotta love that!
Very accurate, save that Holmes didn't have a blue box, but rather a colored box - the rulebook itself was a blue-toned copy of the colored box art. So not blue BOX, but blue Book.
@@asafoetidajones8181 True... Good correction on the Holmes box color. :-) Thanks for that. I know that blue is a fairly predominant color in that art on the box, and that coupled with the book cover, my brain colors that box more blue than it really is. ;-)
@@KabukiKid it's a super common mistake. Probably because the BECMI set is almost always referred to by box color, sometimes B/X and Holmes are too even though none of them really have a single dominant color on the box, so people are used to saying "box". Nevermind that "black box" can refer to both the M component of BECMI and the 1991 starter set with 2e Lite rules, and there are two other Red boxes besides B, namely the 4e starter which mimics it, and the stranger things box. Really, the edition release history is a mess.
Thanks for this correction! I got this box second hand and wrongly assumed they were part of the original contents.
@@dragonpuppetuk Hey, those metal minis were a cool bonus! :-D You made out!
Two and a Bit years later...
I'd love a Updated version of this to see how much your kit has changed! :)
Just came back to this video and read this comment. You have inspired me to get back to making content for this channel! An update for this video will be on my list :D
@@dragonpuppetuk Excellent News!
Glad you're feeling inspired... but don't put pressure on yourself with any timelines! :D
@@dragonpuppetuk Please do! i loved this!
Not a bad set up. Make use of what you have. Scents are something i have to try and use.
nice kit! my party gained 2 players and suddenly i can’t fit everyone at my table so im gonna have to start driving out with my stuff. i’ve got most things in there aside from the special dice and pens, those scent ones are super cool.
After a few weeks of gathering stuff, ive got 3 boxes i’ll bring with me : one for the dwarven forge build in anticipating needing, one for miniatures and scatter terrain, and one holding my GM screen, dice, rolling tray, a pencil case, condition rings, ipad, notebook and a portable bluetooth speaker.
I love the idea of the players making name tags, waves away the immersion break of “uhhh what’s your name again?”
Sounds like you're very prepared! Your new players are in for a treat :D
PC Nameplates is a gem of an idea. Thanks!
In my toolkit there is a small hourglass, I use all the time. It always freaks out my players when they see the time passing, but having no idea what's going to happen when they run out of time
I like that idea to add suspense. Going to try it out
this is my favorite such video I have watched so far as it has some actual funky ideas that I feel a strong urge to include in my first DM session
That red box is in really good condition. I imagine you have that in plastic when you are not show-and-tell on video.
haha thanks! I probably should but it just sits on my bookshelf with my other dnd boxes
Nice! Some of these gave me cool ideas, it'd be cool to get an updated version of this.
I started playing D&D in 1978. I’m thinking of getting back into it as in basically disabled. The first “starter” set was the “basic” set and was a sky blue in 1978. I don’t have it any more. The version you have there is about six years into the game. It was pretty much the same thing less the figures and crayon.
the mood die reminds me of monster reaction rolls from b/x dnd. basically, just roll 2d6 and consult a table to find out how a monster reacts to a particular pc. the roll is modified by the pc's charisma modifier
I like the mood and weather dice
ticky tack is infinitely useful for holding things in place
Consider a set of Boggle dice to generate names. You can grab a couple dice to generate that NPC's name your party adopted and you did not have any name already set up. Also useful to name a Magic Item such as Gr'nards Mace of Retribution.
I love this idea. My kit has changed a bit since I posted this video so I might do an updated version soon. I'll be sure to add boggle dice :D
Brilliant GM kit and video! Thanks for sharing!
Love this! The invisible ink pens are awesome!
I have several GM kits, depending on the game I play/direct. The common items are dice (at least 3 sets of d4, d6, d8, d12 and d20, and 10 d10), dry-erase pens, blue, black, and red pen, pencil, small notebook, some A-4 paper in a transparent plastic sheet (you can use that as a dry-erase board!), and either my phone or tablet, and a laptop (Google Docs is an invaluable asset when coupled with GIMP and some basic edition capacity); finally, I have some small and light tokens on different colors, and some cheap white plastic checkers pieces I can use the Dry-erase pen on for enemies if needed. For Cyberpunk games I use a hacking deck I made before Talsorian decided they had to sell one for their RED version, with some main NPCs, all printed in paper then sleeved in Magic TG-sized cheap plastic protectors with some cards on the background (either useless Magic ones, or cheap card games ones). Miniatures for player characters (or even NPCs), I either grab from my collection or print myself, there are some STL for 6mm-scale games quite good if I need minimal size.
As for generating content, I have a Tarot Deck, TvTropes, and the internet, so I copy, adapt and recycle shamessly for important NPCs, main or secondary plots, etc...
Whoa! I though I were prepared! But yeah spare dices æ, step in minis and filled+blank character sheets is a must. Regarding players wanting to be a dragonborn, I show them Fizbans Treasury of Dragons book with Chromatic, Gem and Metallic ones and just tweak it so they can choose to use either 30 line or 14 cone breath weapon. Also adding Gem dragon aspects to the Drake Wardens drake and Draconic bloodline sorcerers list of ancestries
One of my favorite sets of die is a 13 peice set from d3 to d100
Oh that's great! The more dice combination the better :D
More dnd vids?
So many great ideas, thank you!
You've got some really cool unique tools
Alright! Very useful video fulled with tools for extra immersion! Hope you do more vids. Im soon gonna dare start as a fresh d.m for 3 friends. At least for 1 buddy + sidekick to compensate, sonce the other two are parents..though they seemed interested. I got this Game master companion from Dragon Shield which I have filler with stuff from ALL dnd starter kits, two dm kits dungeon+wilderness, fill at least two of the included foam trays with minis and might have room for the d.m book. HOWEVER. I had to use my 35 liter backpack to add the rest of my books, tool cards, spare dice, pens, pensils, sharpener and Cards for monsters, spells etc. Like to be prepared *cough*
The red box wasn't for first edition, and certainly wasn't the first boxed set. Original D&D came in a wood patterned box about a decade before that in 1974. The game was then split into AD&D (aka 1st edition) and Basic D&D. What you have there is the third version of the BD&D basic set.
Thanks for the extra info! I'll be sure to correct it if I ever make this video again :)
Underrated Channel
Nope - the red set was not the first started box. There was at least one - maybe two before that. I had them. They were a blue/colored box.
Meeples minis is an amazing set of wooden minis
Love the set up :)
aaaaaagh. All the cool gadgets here that I wanted to get are no where to be found. Out of print, out of business etc. Dissapointeeeeeeeeeeeed
Basic D&D wasn’t a starter set and didn’t come with any minis. Those were added by someone else.
Yeah i've since realised that! thanks :)
I need to know where u got that attack land dice there is so much potential funny moments that can be made with that die
I was coming on here to see if someone even named it to start looking for it! It's so epic!
the D&D first edition Box set was not a Starter set, the Box was the actual BASIC D&D Rules versions and the Books were the Advance D&D Version, Both were Originally printed in 1977, the Basic Box set has had multiple Reprints, with Different Art, yours Red Box should either be 1983 but didn't come with miniatures, they were sold separately, there were also, expansions to the 1983 version basic Set... 2. Expert > 3.Companion Rules > 4.Master Rules > 5.Immortal Set ... this all said, the new 5e Starter set .. Sucks, very little in the box, few paragraphs to help a new GM learn, No Player sheets or even How to make characters, the Essentintials is a Little better, It has more dice which is good, they finally figured out no one wants to roll one dice multiple times, it also has character sheets, Maps But money value .. Pathfinder Beginner box is Just over the top, has Huge Map, 150+Standees, the DIce are Color Coded to learn which is which easier, there are Action/Conditions cards for new Players and Player Sheets are a Booklet, with a great explanation for what each part is, as well as Black sheets and a walk thru to make your own characters. I grew up playing 1e when it came out, and still prefer it over 5e.
those metal mini's are not original to the 1e starter set
Why do all D&D players have purple hair. Is it because their personality is bland?