Aleksander R. Nordgarden Rødner
Norway
Oslo
Oslo
Proud father of Sarah Arwen
Live long and prosper.
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While this review has been pending for a long time, I have not gotten to it before now, for a multitude of reasons that are beyond the purview of the review. I am happy and proud to have gotten my hands on one of my ultimate grail items; the Red Book. More accurately, the Red Book (Rødboka in Norwegian) is what is referred to as the Red Box, the Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set. This review is a continuation of my review of the Players' section.
The GM's section starts out with saying hi to the new GM, then goes on to define more or less all the terms you need to be aware of as a GM. Then follows a quick intro adventure, before defining a large number of monsters, spells and other things. It ends with two adventures to get your players into the drive of things, and you into the role of GM, too.
What I really like about the book is the fact that it is written in a way so as to feel more like a friend or mentor talking to you, and less like a text book. It assumes nothing, and builds up the ruleset piece by piece, giving you your tools gradually.
The book is obviously and tangibly from the early days of roleplaying. One of the things that is emphasized is the need for distinguishing between player knowledge and character knowledge, which seems to be more or less gone from more recent publications in roleplaying.
Likewise, the GM's section puts great store on the importance of GM secrecy, a practice which, in this reviewer's opinion is far overrated, especially as it is offered here, basically suggesting that any information contained in the section be kept from the players unless it is absolutely necessary to reveal it, at which point as little information as possible should be given.
The book is plainly laid out, and logical to anyone with more than a passing interest in roleplaying games, and the way the text flows is delightful.
Unless you are proficient in Norwegian though, the book has little worth other than as a curiosity. For Norwegian speakers, however, the book is a shining example of where our hobby's roots lie, in our own language.
One of the decisions which I personally find a bit weird, is the fact that more or less all terms are translated to Norwegian (e.g.: NPC (Non-Player Character) becomes SLF (SpillLederFigur), XP becomes EP), however, keeping when the translation was made in mind, it makes sense, even if it takes some getting used to.
The bottom line is that, if you are able to read it, it's well worth the investment. If you are not, it's probably only of interest if you are a hard-core collector of every single edition of the Red Box ever published.
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Kevin H.
United States
Crescent City
California
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One of the most fascinating parts of the hobby to me is how it's spread from the English-speaking world to diverse locales.
If there was a polyglot who wanted to do a review series comparing and contrasting the various D&D basic sets, and how they've affected the hobby as it's actually played in that language, I'd be pretty happy.
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Proud father of Sarah Arwen
