WotC to Release 1st Edition Premium Core Rulebooks Reprints

mudbunny · Jan 20, 2012

MerricB said:
Hmm... I'm currently running an AD&D game in my FLGS. I wonder how many of the players will want them? I wonder if they'll be available in Australia?

Cheers!

From what I have read, North American FLGSs only.

GreyLord · Jan 20, 2012

I am definately planning on getting copies of these. Who all will be running a 1e campaign, adventure, or one off when they get a copy?

OnlineDM · Jan 20, 2012

I could definitely see running a one-off game when I get my books. I'm a 4e player who never had the chance to play 1e. I'd love to give it a swing, just for variety's sake!

Upper_Krust · Jan 20, 2012

mudbunny said:
From what I have read, North American FLGSs only.

Thats simply not going to cut it.

WIZARDS OF THE COAST need to sort this out. Fans of the game exist outside North America y'know. :.-(

Roland55 · Jan 20, 2012

Relique du Madde said:
This is like the anti-edition warring thread since the notion of reviving the first edition actually is bringing applause... which is strange considering that at the same time the new edition is in the works.

I think it's appropriate.

There's a lot of discussion of "balance" right now.

ExploderWizard · Jan 20, 2012

thedungeondelver said:
No no. First this:

<IFRAME height=360 src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/PzleCckNfAE" frameBorder=0 width=480 allowfullscreen></IFRAME>

then this:

queen we will rock you we are the champions - YouTube

All in the proper order.

Good stuff.

..........But when I think about AD&D the same song keeps playing on an internal mental loop:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNG_Kn-m73M"]"Heavy Metal" Theme: Takin' A Ride / Don Felder - YouTube[/ame]

Eridanis · Jan 20, 2012

I think this is a brilliant move, Not only does it start the 5e push off on a good foot, but it's for a great cause. I'm torn between buying copies for myself, and doing without so that others who never played 1e can try it out for themselves.

Tortoise · Jan 20, 2012

Gundark said:
Holy crap!!! How long did they think he was dead.

He was in a coma a number of weeks from some nasty brain bleeding fever you can catch overseas that apparently has only a 5% survival rate so the brass jumped the gun and went ahead with the "we regret to inform you" letter.

I'm not sure how much longer it was before he could call home, but by then his gaming stuff was all sold.

Sacrey stuff, both the disease and losing all of one's gaming stuff! :heh:

Rogue Agent · Jan 20, 2012

Stormonu said:
But $45 for the DMG and $35 for the PHB? I'm glad I kept my books, and in good shape.

You're right. It's shocking how cheap RPG rulebooks are these days when adjusted for inflation.

With that being said, I'll be interested to see what the new cover art looks like. Given that you can trivially find used copies of these books in good condition for $10-15, I doubt there'll be much market for these beyond the collector's market.

But bravo to WotC for supporting a good cause. Pity they're slighting Arneson.

Warunsun · Jan 20, 2012

Amazing PR Move

This is just an amazing PR move. This will make a lot of people very happy and win over some folks in advance of 5th edition. While helping Gail Gygax's charity drive is a very nice thing to do I can't help but think the reprints may have occurred anyway. It seems like a nice coincidence.

Either way I am considering buying a copy of each book but I already own the originals. About 6 months ago i seriously considered running a nostalgia-based 1st edition AD&D game. I read over the rules again (since it has been a long time since I DMed them). After about a week of heavy reading and sending e-mails and making phone calls I pretty much came to the conclusion that my players have many fond memories of AD&D but only one of the eight main players wanted to play it again. One player had mild interest but no real desire. So 1 DM plus 1.5 players meant we were sticking with 4E.

If I have the spare cash I might pick them up for the novelty. That remains to be seen. Remember the miniature boxed sets and hard cover first edition books they were selling for a limited time? They were pretty neat in the same nostalgic way. I bought a miniature World of Greyhawk boxed set even-though I owned the full sized original and the original Greyhawk folio to boot. It was just cool. Damn thing almost cost as much as the original boxed set and could fit in the palm of your hand. It was amazing you could actually read the text on every page.