Boxed Text in Published Modules

[Wheggi]

What was the first module to include boxed text that was intended to be read aloud to the players? And does anyone know how this shift in module design came about? I'm assuming it is tourney-related, but that's just a guess.

- Wheggi

[rogatny]

What was the first module to include boxed text that was intended to be read aloud to the players? And does anyone know how this shift in module design came about? I'm assuming it is tourney-related, but that's just a guess.

- Wheggi

I know B3 (green version) did from 1981. It was written as a "how to" DM module and so the boxed text was included to aid the novice DM.

[bobjester]

Very possibly tourney related. As far as my own collection goes, I found the earliest boxed text in 1980's A1 "Slave Pits of the Undercity" and C2 "The Ghost Tower of Inverness".

C2 was one of the first AD&D modules I ever ran (with Holmes Basic rules), and I still have my original copy.

[bobjester]

I know B3 (green version) did from 1981. It was written as a "how to" DM module and so the boxed text was included to aid the novice DM.

I haven't checked my BX module collection yet, but there are only a couple of modules that predates 1980, but neither of my versions of B1 (1981) or B2 (1980) have boxed texts.

EDIT: I just now checked them.

[T. Foster]

I believe C1: The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan (1980) was the first published module with read-aloud boxed text. It was originally a tournament module (the first entry in TSR's "Competition" series - it was also the first module to include detailed notes on tournament scoring, fully-detailed pre-gen characters, etc.), which seems to support your assumption.

[francisca]

A1, also 1980, and a tournament module originally, also has boxed text.

I bet Harold Johnson might have an idea as to the aims of adding boxed text to modules.

Did JG ever do such a thing?

[Welleran]

I've always assumed it was so, in a tournament, every group got he exact same descriptions so there'd be no issues with fairness.

[Wheggi]

I've always assumed it was so, in a tournament, every group got he exact same descriptions so there'd be no issues with fairness.

This is what I was thinking as well, that box text provided a standardized presentation for the different groups in the tournament. Makes me wonder if there would have ever been boxed text in published modules if tournament play hadn't existed. Were third-party publishers who weren't publishing tournament modules adding any boxed text?

- Wheggi

[T. Foster]

T1: The Village of Hommlet (released in 1979; not based on a tournament) doesn't have boxed text but it is leading in that direction:

Each numbered building area has its general information first. Immediately following this is material which you should not reveal to the players. As a matter of course throughout this module, all insertional material which is for your information is in bold face or enclosed by parentheses. As you read aloud, skip these sections. Of course, if you are so thoroughly familiar with the module that you can simply glance at the number key and then put everything in your own words, so much the better. You should be conversant with the whole before beginning play, and your players will reflect the degree of skill you have in presenting the material herein dramatically, as if it were your own.

So while boxed text appears to have originated in tournament modules, the idea wasn't confined to them. Making it easy to identify at a glance what info should be provided to players (either literally or paraphrased) and what is for the DM's eyes only was a goal early on, even for non-tournament-derived adventures.

My copies of early non-boxed-text modules like S1, S2, and B2 are all filled with highlights and underlines of what info should and shouldn't be given to the players. While boxed text itself often sucks, the idea of making it easy to tell at a glance what info should be given to the players and what shouldn't is a good one.

[bobjester]

I believe C1: The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan (1980) was the first published module with read-aloud boxed text. It was originally a tournament module (the first entry in TSR's "Competition" series - it was also the first module to include detailed notes on tournament scoring, fully-detailed pre-gen characters, etc.), which seems to support your assumption.

I didn't include it, since my copy is copyright 1980 and 1981, meaning it was not the first version of C1 released.

A1, also 1980, and a tournament module originally, also has boxed text.

It does! I glanced too quickly through my modules, and missed it.

I've never really played in a tournament, let alone run a module for it, so the boxed text for my campaign was optional, according to how much bearing the module as written had on the directions and goals of my players.

I definitely agree that boxed text was designed for fairness to competing groups in tournaments. Its the first step in adjudicating each groups' initial reactions when entering an area, but everything else is on the DM's shoulders as he judges what happens depending on the unboxed descriptions according to what the players do.

I think that tournament play is why AD&D initiative rules are so labyrinthine in design, but intuitive based on what the players decide to do next - its the DM's call, but it must always start out with a standard assumption.

[T. Foster]

I think that tournament play is why AD&D initiative rules are so labyrinthine in design, but intuitive based on what the players decide to do next - its the DM's call, but it must always start out with a standard assumption.

I think tournament concerns were one of the drivers behind the detailed spell and magic items descriptions (especially the in-description enumeration of what common "tricks" will and will not work - using a Light spell to blind an opponent is in, having Magic Mouths cast spells is out, etc.) but if the intent was to make a set of initiative rules that could be consistently applied in tournaments they did a very bad job of it (which is why, by the mid-late 80s, I'm pretty sure every RPGA tournament I played in had switched to the "individual d10" house-rule that became official in 2E).

The tournament line (i.e. "AD&D was created for use in tournaments, but if you're not playing a tournament you don't need it") is something that pops up a lot among people wanting to dismiss AD&D - starting possibly with Frank Mentzer* in the 1983 D&D Basic Set: "Since [AD&D] is so much more complex than the D&D system, with established rules for almost everything, it is often used in large tournaments, where accurate rules are needed." But in 1977-79, from all contemporary accounts, that was at-best a secondary consideration - viewed as a fortunate side-effect of having a more clear and consistent set of rules. See Gary in the preface to the DMG:

This uniformity will help not only players, it will enable DMs to carry on a meaningful dialogue and exchange of useful information. It might also eventually lead to grand tournaments wherein persons from any part of the U.S., or the world for that matter, can compete for accolades.

He's not saying "these rules were created for use in tournaments," he's saying, "hey, now that the rules are more consistent [the goal in-itself] it might also be possible to do grand-scale D&D tournaments - wouldn't that be cool?"

*It's probably worth delving further into the fact that the person who both was in charge of running official D&D tournaments as head of the RPGA, and was TSR's official "AD&D Rules Guru" (appointed by Gary) held this wrong-headed attitude, and the negative impact that had on both D&D tournament play and the AD&D rules during and after that time, but this thread isn't really the place for it.

[thedungeondelver]

I don't mind brief boxed text in modules. It helps move me along.

That three column bullshit in T1-4, though? Yeah, screw that.