Original D&D "White Box" To Be Reprinted

Fans of the history of Dungeons & Dragons can get their dice off when a new edition of the long out-of-print, 1974 D&D rule set, known as the "White Box," is reprinted this November.
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The "new" White Box D&D Set [Image: Wizards of the Coast]

Fans of the history of Dungeons & Dragons can get their dice off when a new edition of the long out-of-print, 1974 D&D rule set, known as the "White Box," is reprinted this November.

According to the Wizards of the Coast website, "this deluxe, premium reprint of the original 'White Box' features new packaging" and "each booklet features new cover art but is otherwise a faithful reproduction of the original, including original interior art."

This version of D&D, often called "Original D&D" or "OD&D," was co-authored by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson and hails from the game's infancy, before role-playing games were known. Original White Box rule sets can sell for hundreds of dollars.

Clearly Wizards of the Coast is seeing the value in re-releasing old D&D products to capture the aging, nostalgic, tabletop RPG gamer market. The announcement comes on the heels of Wizards' unveiling of its dndclassics.com site last month (which GeekDad broke the news about, exclusively). Dndclassics.com is a website selling hundreds of decades-old D&D rulebooks and adventures available for download in PDF format.

Cover image of the reprinted "Men & Magic" OD&D rule book [Image: Wizards of the Coast]

In this new reprinted version of the White Box, the whole package also comes in a box, just like the 1974 edition. Only this appears to be a much more impressive box. Though it's unclear from the photo what the box is made of -- cardboard? wood? tanned kobold hide?

It might be wood, because the box retails for $149.99, which ain't cheap.

Using the White Box rules, you could only play three character classes (fighting-man, magic-user, and cleric) and choose from four races (human, dwarf, elf, and hobbit). The game only had a handful of monsters to fight, and players were expected to know about miniature wargaming rules in order to resolve battles. Published over the next two years, supplemental books such as Greyhawk, Blackmoor, Eldritch Wizardry and Gods, Demi-Gods and Heroes, expanded the rules and made more character classes, monsters and spells available to players. The Greyhawk supplement let non-wargaming players understand the concepts of combat.

The box contains all seven OD&D booklets. These three original volumes plus four supplements include Volume 1: Men & Magic; Volume 2: Monsters & Treasure; Volume 3: Underworld & Wilderness Adventures; Supplement I: Greyhawk; Supplement II: Blackmoor; Supplement III: Eldritch Wizardry; Supplement IV: Gods, Demi-Gods & Heroes. The photo above actually shows eight booklets, so what's in that last booklet? Any ideas?

Also, it appears the new boxed set comes packaged with some funky looking dice. Which aren't at all historically accurate, but look cool.

Release date is November 19 of this year. As I get more information, I will let you know.