1991 marked the end of the line for the BECMI boxes, which launched in 1983. They were replaced by the Rules Cyclopedia (1991), a nicely formatted hardcover that covered the BECM boxes, and Wrath of the Immortals (1992), a box set that reintroduced the I box material. That would be a pretty straightforward transition, but alas, TSR was always incapable of straightforward.
Alongside the Rules Cyclopedia, TSR also released The New Easy to Master Dungeons & Dragons Game in a massive 12”x17” horizontal box, fronted by a swell Easley dragon painting. It is sort of an even more simplified version of Basic that includes a map sheet and a ton of paper standees — I suspect this was intended to appeal to fans of HeroQuest (or confused grandparents looking for HeroQuest for a gift) and then on-ramp those players into the Cyclopedia for advanced play. Which would be fine, but then TSR spun the big boxes off into their own weird line — more on that tomorrow. Making matters more confusing, in 1994 TSR tossed this primer rulebook in a standard box set with some plastic miniatures with the same cover, but called it the Classic D&D Game, even though you still needed the Cyclopedia to get the full experience. That box would be the final iteration of the Basic rules before 3E. What a weird journey!
The cool part of this box (aside of the standees) is the reference folder. Tucked into the “Screen” is a pile of tabbed pages that are sort of a tutorial for running D&D; it very much feels like a teacher’s lesson plan. Some of it restates the rules, a lot of it tackles sort of the philosophical questions of the game — the how and why of it all — all in a conversational question and answer tone. And not all of it is aimed at the DM, a lot of this is meant to be handed over to players so they can get a feel for their potential character creation choices before they make them. The pages end with a dungeon to put all the theory into practice. It is the most effective format for teaching the game that TSR produced that I have encountered so far.
