What's this D&D box set in the film Labyrinth?

October 15, 2013 12:29 AM

So, I might have skipped work on Monday to see Labyrinth on the big screen. I've seen it a million times, know where all the little easter eggs are...except this was the first time I noticed that Sarah has a D&D box set in her room. But which one?

I think it's an earlier Expert Set, but mine has the new D&D / TSR logos, and I can't find any shots of the spine of sets that predate mine.

Bonus question - can you find where anybody else has spotted this and discussed it online? I see all the usual references to the Sendak books / stuffed toys / posters in Sarah's room, but none to her playing D&D.

posted by obiwanwasabi to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (7 answers total)

Yeah, before opening this up, I guessed the D&D Expert Set (1st to 3rd printing), same edition I had. The logo's on the front too.
posted by Monsieur Caution at 12:33 AM on October 15, 2013 [2 favorites]

That doesn't look like the font from the Expert box to me, but it's been a long time. http://www.acaeum.com/ddindexes/setpages/basic.html claims there are several early versions of the Basic set that came in a blue box.
posted by jjwiseman at 12:36 AM on October 15, 2013

Best answer: I had the original "blue" basic set mentioned at the Acaeum site too, and I'm pretty sure what they mean is the dark blue / slate color dominating the image you see on the front, which wrapped around the sides. The lighter all-blue screenshot is of just the rulebook, inside, not a box cover. The next basic set with the Otus cover (which I also owned) had sort of purple/magenta sides.

You can see the edges of the sides of the matching expert set in this eBay listing.
posted by Monsieur Caution at 12:48 AM on October 15, 2013 [1 favorite]

Best answer: MC has it. Here's a blog post with an image showing the blue edge of the box.
posted by bleep-blop at 1:21 AM on October 15, 2013 [1 favorite]

The 1977 Holmes boxed set ("blue book" basic) had a blue color on the side because the cover painting was partly blue and wrapped around to the sides of the box. It's known as "Blue Book" because the booklet inside reproduced the cover art but in blue.

The box pictured is correctly identified as the 1981 Expert set, revised by David Cook and Steve Marsh. It carried the Expert rulebook and the module X1 The Isle of Dread. (The WotC link has an awesome map/walkthrough of the adventure.)
posted by graymouser at 4:26 AM on October 15, 2013 [1 favorite]

I'm pretty certain Monsieur Caution is right. That looks a lot like the 1981 D&D Expert Set. I had a copy as well.
posted by bonehead at 9:32 AM on October 15, 2013

Response by poster: Thanks all. Not being able to see the sides was throwing me off - I had just assumed the cover art wrapped round the sides, or that the sides were at least the same purple at the edge of the cover.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 1:16 AM on October 16, 2013