A lot of these are great. I'd add:

BRP (1980) -- "play components included," 16 pages.

Adventures on Tékumel Part 1: Growing up on Tékumel

Arguably Prince Valiant as a beginner route to Pendragon.

I thought hard about adding Dungeon as an intro to the core concepts and crawl genre bt the DNA is just a little too different and the evolutionary path too vague. Still might be good to talk pro/con as an edge case.

Moldvay basic D&D, possibly Holmes.

Quote from: thedungeondelver;752200Moldvay basic D&D, possibly Holmes.

I found Mentzer better for making the rules crystal clear for a dead beginner, but think Moldvay plays better over time.  I would want both!  :-)

Quote from: econobus;752199I thought hard about adding Dungeon as an intro to the core concepts and crawl genre bt the DNA is just a little too different and the evolutionary path too vague. Still might be good to talk pro/con as an edge case.

Interesting - been playing Dungeon! a lot with my son recently, and we've added a fair bit of roleplay elements, houseruled to eg allow PvP combat and item gifting/trading, etc. The very simple base system encourages experimentation in a way that heavier stuff doesn't - we have Descent too, but haven't been able to understand it, and I gave away Wrath of Ashardalon recently after deciding it wasn't worth the effort. Something with Descent's play components but complexity similar to Dungeon! would be fantastic.

Quote from: VectorSigma;752198Marvel Super Heroes original boxed set (the yellow one).  Two rulebooks that explained the rules step-by-step in a way a little kid can not only understand, but read to himself.  Dice.  Character cards.  Awesome map.  Short adventure.

There are enough powers and campaign advice in that box to keep you going in perpetuity, without ever "graduating" to the later-published Advanced set.

Yeah, this.  I loved D&D, but at age 10, I needed adults to break down some of it.  Whereas, Basic Marvel was incredibly aimed at my age group.  I'd add DC Heroes to this, but honestly, I think Underground broke that system down better.

Quote from: Votan;752205I found Mentzer better for making the rules crystal clear for a dead beginner, but think Moldvay plays better over time.  I would want both!  :-)

Mentzer bugged me; the Choose Your Own Adventure crap, the reordering the books into a "DMG" and "Players Handbook" in the box.  Ugh, no thanks.

For me personally, I have two.

Marvel Superheroes Roleplaying Game Basic Set. This is the RPG that I cut my teeth on so it holds a very special place in my heart. I would spend hours rolling random superheroes. I would fill 100 page notebooks with Supers and Villains. That City Block map that came in that set was used for years until it fell apart due to being folded and unfolded so many times.

Today, the best starter currently on the market is the Pathfinder Beginner's Box. It set the gold standard for Starter Sets that all Starter Sets made after should be judged against. If you cant meet or exceed the content, quality, or value per dollar then you are doing it wrong.

Quote from: S'mon;752142I have a battered copy of the Classic Traveller box from the early '80s, that deserves a mention as it's pretty well the full game in a box. But that was an era of much shorter games, I'm not sure if it wouldn't just have been considered the full Traveller RPG minus supplements.

GDW's Traveller was eventually renamed to Starter Traveller, so new players knew which books to buy first. It came with an adventure.

Although I've a soft spot for Moldvay, I think that the MERP set was better of the old games. More levels (up to 10), and a far more complete game right out of the box.

For modern games (within the past decade), the Pathfinder Beginner Box is the best of the bunch. I've actually bought a copy for myself and stashed it away so that when the kids have beaten theirs to a bloody pulp we still have a copy ready and waiting.

Now, the Dragon Age Set, levels 1-5, is very very good too, but doesn't have that extra polish that the Pathfinder version has.

I've got the FFG Star Wars starter sets (Edge of the Empire and Age of Rebellion), and they're well done too. The difference between the FFG game and the others are that the FFG game doesn't have character creation, but as far as rules layout, adventure layout, etc., the game is very well presented.  (As for whether you like the game or not, that's a different story.)

Eventually I'll get around to the Dragon Shadowed Lands starter.  It'll have two dozen 1/32 figures including doors, a giant, and a dragon (most of that is mostly sculpted, it's the casting that gives me trouble) all packed in foam trays in a hinged wooden box with a leather bound rule book.  It'll cost about $500 and I'll probably never sell a single one but it will be the best starter set ever made.  And yes it will include character creation.

MERP has been mentioned. It contained a rulebook of perhaps 128 pages (don't remember exactly), an adventure, and dice. As a 15 year old I ate it up and it led inexorably to Rolemaster. So it certainly worked both as a self-contained product and as a gateway.

Also, Tunnels and Trolls 5e. Slim rulebook, a solo and a GM adventure, and character sheets. Also a bumper sticker. Price was very reasonable too.

also a half dice weapon!

Quote from: econobus;752199Adventures on Tékumel Part 1: Growing up on Tékumel

Arguably Prince Valiant as a beginner route to Pendragon.

I thought hard about adding Dungeon as an intro to the core concepts and crawl genre bt the DNA is just a little too different and the evolutionary path too vague. Still might be good to talk pro/con as an edge case.

Forgot aboit Adventures in Tekimel. Very good intro to playing a human in the setting and a nice "lifepath" style character building system. The "Fighting Fantasy" style adventure books that are a part of it add even more.

As for Dungeon. Id say no. Its system is utterly different from D&D. Its a board game pure and simple.

Now Cardmaster on the other hand is a good stepping stone into D&D.

This is a tough OP to respond to because very few games put out anything we would really call an intentional 'starter set' (i.e., some sort of teaser, or basic entry-level version of the rules, distinct from the full-blown version of the rules). So, most people's picks are just well written rules books or core boxed sets for games that only exist in one form.

I can't think of very many games that put serious effort into the concept of a 'starter set'. D&D has done it several times. Maybe you would call MERP the 'starter set' for Rolemaster? Sort of a narrow vision of what MERP was supposed to be. GURPs put out something like this, but it didn't catch on - I own a ton of GURPs stuff and I have never even seen their short-format rules. BRP did it, but it was really just a gap-fililng product intended to keep them visible while they finished their core rule set.

Considering the small number and mixed success of these sorts of efforts, it is hard to argue with some form of BD&D boxed set as the best ever. I don't think I've seen anyone mention Holmes here. Probably for the good reason that it seems kind of twee in retrospect. But it had a huge print run and huge impact. You could argue that game basically created the market for 1EAD&D and dragged more people into the hobby than any other. So, just to show it some love I'll pick it.

If I step back and just pick my favorite initial offering/core rule book, there are bunch of worthy things others have mentioned. So I'll pick FASA's Behind Enemy Lines, since I doubt anyone else will mention it and it is at least as good as most of the others listed here. If you've never see it, do yourself a favor and check it out.

Quote from: Larsdangly;752301This is a tough OP to respond to because very few games put out anything we would really call an intentional 'starter set' (i.e., some sort of teaser, or basic entry-level version of the rules, distinct from the full-blown version of the rules). So, most people's picks are just well written rules books or core boxed sets for games that only exist in one form.

I can't think of very many games that put serious effort into the concept of a 'starter set'. D&D has done it several times. Maybe you would call MERP the 'starter set' for Rolemaster? Sort of a narrow vision of what MERP was supposed to be. GURPs put out something like this, but it didn't catch on - I own a ton of GURPs stuff and I have never even seen their short-format rules. BRP did it, but it was really just a gap-fililng product intended to keep them visible while they finished their core rule set.

Considering the small number and mixed success of these sorts of efforts, it is hard to argue with some form of BD&D boxed set as the best ever. I don't think I've seen anyone mention Holmes here. Probably for the good reason that it seems kind of twee in retrospect. But it had a huge print run and huge impact. You could argue that game basically created the market for 1EAD&D and dragged more people into the hobby than any other. So, just to show it some love I'll pick it.

If I step back and just pick my favorite initial offering/core rule book, there are bunch of worthy things others have mentioned. So I'll pick FASA's Behind Enemy Lines, since I doubt anyone else will mention it and it is at least as good as most of the others listed here. If you've never see it, do yourself a favor and check it out.

There is a GURPS Lite out there, but it's just a booklet to get you started, not a complete "starter set".