Let's Read...Everything D&D!

KirayaTiDrekan · Mar 9, 2014

Inspired by (un)reason's epic Let's Read the Entire Run of Dragon Magazine, I am going to embark on a crazy journey that will likely never be finished.

Reading and reviewing (almost) everything ever published with the D&D logo.

I'll be going in order of original publishing date as noted in Echohawk's collector's guides with a few exceptions. For example, A2 was published in July 1981, while A3 and A4 were published in May 1981, so I'll be reading through A2 alongside the others, rather than reading it after its sequels.

In most cases, I'll be using the PDF version of a product available on www.dndclassics.com or the recent premium reprints. I'll also put a holder post in for a product I simply don't have access to and get back to it if I ever do get it (I don't foresee ever being able to acquire ST1: Up the Garden Path).

My criteria for what I'll be covering here is a little arbitrary. I won't be doing magazines. (un)reason has already covered Dragon Magazine admirably and I simply don't want to delve into Dungeon and other periodicals. I won't be including D&D items that aren't really "readable" like character sheets, DM screens, geomorphs, etc. I will be including D&D setting products that were produced under license by companies other than TSR and WotC - specifically 3rd Edition and 3.5 era Dragonlance (Sovereign Press/Margaret Weis Productions) and Ravenloft (Sword & Sorcery Studios) products. I will not be including Kingdoms of Kalamar, Warcraft RPG, Diablo, etc.

In some cases I will also be including a play-through review, recounting my experiences with DMing an adventure or using a supplement with my current or past groups.

I'm going to try to post once a week or more, but I make no promises.

Commentary, suggestions, anecdotes, etc., are very welcome.

Now, on with the show...

Chainmail

Originally published March, 1971

Version being read and reviewed: Chainmail: Rules for Medieval Miniatures (3rd Edition) (PDF) (PDF added to www.dmsguild.com January, 2017)

"Rules for Medieval Miniatures" by Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren

My first impression upon reading through this slim rulebook is that it is intended for an audience that is already familiar with hobby wargaming and knows the jargon. Not being a member of that target audience, I felt like I was reading a math textbook written in Greek.

Still, this is an important part of D&D's pre-history so when it became available in PDF, I snagged it as soon as I could. I noted in my Original D&D reviews that it seemed like it was somewhat incomplete, referring back to Chainmail several times. Unfortunately, reading through the actual Chainmail rules, even the Fantasy Supplement section, really doesn't clarify anything. I still find both this game and OD&D itself to be effectively unplayable without bringing in some rules from later editions (BECMI mostly).

I'm sure if I had someone to guide me through a battle I'd probably enjoy it, but I'm not likely to ever try to play a battle with these rules myself.

KirayaTiDrekan · Mar 9, 2014

Dungeons & Dragons 3-Volume Set

Originally published January, 1974

Version being read and reviewed: Original Dungeons & Dragons RPG - Original Edition Premium Reprint (November 2013)

Book 1: Men & Magic

"Rules for Fantastic Medieval Wargames: Campaigns Playable with Paper and Pencil and Miniature Figures" by Gary Gygax & Dave Arneson

Foreword: Gary Gygax introduces us to this first version of the D&D game with a little history of the Castle and Crusade Society and taking a subtle dig at traditional wargamers who "lack imagination." The foreword is dated 1 November 1973. Dave Arneson's Blackmoor is referred to here as predating Gygax's own Greyhawk, though both campaigns were still ongoing as of the writing of this foreword.

After that the booklet doesn't have actual chapters, just a bunch of little subsections, so I'm just going to ramble a bit here. First interesting tidbit is the number of possible players - from 4 to 50 (though the recommended DM to Player ratio is 1:20). 50 players! Now I'm kind of curious just what that would look like.

For character classes we have Fighting Men, Magic-Users (who have some rudimentary item creation rules), and Clerics. A note on Fighting Men - this being from 1974, the subtle (and not so subtle) exclusion of women is pervasive, most clearly evident in the name of the class that would become the Fighter. If I ever try to run this version of the game, I'll be changing the language quite a bit.

We also have dwarves (who can only advance as fighters up to 6th level), Elves (weird multiclassing rules here - they can advance as fighters up to 4th level and magic-users up to 8th level, but must choose which one to adventure as for each adventure - they can't use their magic-user spells if they are adventuring as a fighter and vice versa), and Halflings (who are limited to fighters of up to 4th level). There's also a paragraph about more exotic characters, like dragons, though its left entirely to the DM as to how such a character would work.

Moving on a bit, I found it interesting that the DM (referee) is supposed to roll for each player's ability scores - the player only notes them on the character sheet, along with whatever gold total the DM rolled for them.

There's a relatively extensive section on NPCs with the assumption being that player character's will hire NPC retainers and often choose to subdue monsters into service instead of killing them. Amusingly, there's also a note about relatives (effectively replacement PCs) to whom a player character can leave their belongings to. The new PC thus starts with better gear (though they still start at 1st level, regardless of the level of the other PCs).

Of interest in the equipment section are wooden and silver crosses (not holy symbols) and other items inspired by the horror genre's monster hunters (garlic, wolvesbane, stakes, and the like). Gygax notes Leiber, Howard, and Burroughs as inspirations in the Foreward, but I would wager that Stoker and Shelley had a subtle influence as well.

There are several references to Chainmail in this booklet, mostly in reference to combat. An alternative combat system is provided, though it is bare bones (the skeleton upon which later edition combat systems would be built).

Spells are rather vague and often open to DM fiat. Magic-User spells only go up to 6th level and Cleric spells max out at 5th level. There's an odd little side note about Anti-Clerics (evil clerics) who make use of the Finger of Death spell.

And that's it for Book I: Men & Magic. Having started my D&D career with Mentzer's Red Box and moving straight into AD&D 2nd Edition, this little artifact is difficult to comprehend at times and feels somewhat incomplete, likely due to the strong ties to Chainmail (and the assumption that readers are at least somewhat familiar with it).

Next up: Dungeons & Dragons 3-Volume Set - Book II: Monsters & Treasure

Hussar · Mar 9, 2014

Go to it! Good luck!

KirayaTiDrekan · Mar 10, 2014

Dungeons & Dragons 3-Volume Set

Originally published January, 1974

Version being read and reviewed: Original Dungeons & Dragons RPG - Original Edition Premium Reprint (November 2013)

Book 2: Monsters & Treasure

"Rules for Fantastic Medieval Wargames: Campaigns Playable with Paper and Pencil and Miniature Figures" by Gary Gygax & Dave Arneson

Open up this booklet and one is confronted by a table full of stats right away. Unlike later editions where each monster had its own little (and not so little) "stat block" here we get all the stats up front with descriptions following. There only 57 entries on the table, though some of those encompass a number of different critters (dragons, lycanthropes, etc). The monsters are roughly evenly split up between humanoids (goblins and orcs and such), undead (skeletons, zombies, etc), mythological critters (dragons and so forth), and oozes.

Odd observations - Descriptions are pretty brief, usually no more than a paragraph per monster. Orcs get a bit more detail with class levels noted for leaders. The rock-throwing ability of giants has its origins as giants being effectively treated as catapults in the Chainmail rules evidently. Dragons, of course, get a decent amount of page space, with a good portion of it devoted to subduing and selling them on the open market. Only six age categories are noted - Very Young, Young, Sub-Adult, Adult, Old, and Very Old. Notably absent are what we now consider some of the iconic D&D monsters - Beholders, Rust Monsters, Yuan-Ti, etc. There is a note about other types of monsters the DM might want to use or come up with on their own, including robots, golems, and androids.

Following the monsters, we have the treasure section. Another table relatively similar to the tables in later edition Dungeon Master's Guides with random chances of various types of coinage, gems, jewelry, and magic items. Interestingly, bandits, nomads, and pirates are noted as having prisoners as part of their "treasure" hoards.

Magic swords are apparently always intelligent and have properties beyond the simple "+1." The rest of the magic items hold no surprises, being nearly identical to their later edition counterparts. Artifacts are mentioned briefly but not given stats.

Final thoughts: The gendered language is even more pervasive here with "men" used in a generic fashion to refer to humans and even non-human humanoids like orcs and goblins. While I don't necessarily want to turn this into a criticism of the gender bias of the time, I'm really glad I didn't start with this edition and that current RPGs have done away with the bias for the most part.

Next up: Dungeons & Dragons 3-Volume Set - Book III: The Underworld & Wilderness Adventures

Olgar Shiverstone · Mar 11, 2014

Dude, very ambitious -- but fascinating. Enjoying the stroll down memory lane.

Keep it up!

TerraDave · Mar 11, 2014

I imagine that 84 through 97 will be a little challenging.

pemerton · Mar 12, 2014

MasqueradingVampire said:
The gendered language is even more pervasive here with "men" used in a generic fashion to refer to humans and even non-human humanoids like orcs and goblins. While I don't necessarily want to turn this into a criticism of the gender bias of the time, I'm really glad I didn't start with this edition and that current RPGs have done away with the bias for the most part.

I can't remember how Moldvay Basic does it, but Gygax's PHB and DMG use "he or she", "him or her" etc throughout. In this respect the language is much more inclusive than second ed. (I can't remember 3E.)

In other words, I think there was a retrograde step in language somewhere in the 80s which lasted for a long time.

Iosue · Mar 12, 2014

pemerton said:
I can't remember how Moldvay Basic does it, but Gygax's PHB and DMG use "he or she", "him or her" etc throughout. In this respect the language is much more inclusive than second ed. (I can't remember 3E.)

In other words, I think there was a retrograde step in language somewhere in the 80s which lasted for a long time.

Moldvay uses "he or she". Mentzer as a whole avoids sentence constructions that required gender terms, helped by having the books written specifically for players and DMs respectively, allowing him to use "you". When it can't be helped, he uses "his (or her)". Also unlike AD&D, the level titles in B/X and BECMI have both male and female versions.

On one hand, I think OD&D could be cut some slack on the gendered language front, since rather than a mainstream RPG aimed at an inclusive audience, it's really more of a proto-RPG expanding on miniature wargames, particularly on Chainmail. In this idiom, "men" referred to miniature units, rather than the specific sex of characters or players. Thus it's use of goblins and other humanoids, in contrast to non-humanoid monsters, such as dragons.

OTOH, some of the material in the mid- to late-70s was mind-bogglingly, facepalmingly, head-shakingly sexist. Not at all surprisingly, considering the pulpy sources the early creators were working from.

KirayaTiDrekan · Mar 12, 2014

Yeah, I'm probably going to end up commenting about the "Pronoun Note" in the Rules Cyclopedia and "A Note About Pronouns" in the AD&D 2nd Edition Player's Handbook when I get to them. They struck me as out of place then, even as a teen.

(Next entry coming soon.)

KirayaTiDrekan · Mar 18, 2014

Dungeons & Dragons 3-Volume Set

Originally published January, 1974

Version being read and reviewed: Original Dungeons & Dragons RPG - Original Edition Premium Reprint (November 2013)

Book 3: The Underworld & Wilderness Adventures

"Rules for Fantastic Medieval Wargames: Campaigns Playable with Paper and Pencil and Miniature Figures" by Gary Gygax & Dave Arneson

This one starts off a little odd, at least in comparison to later guides for DM's designing their own adventures. Dungeon building is handled first by means of an example, along with anecdotes from Castle Greyhawk (it apparently had a bowling alley for 20' tall giants). The example dungeon has a lot of what we might call "gotcha" tricks nowadays, with a lot of shifting walls and changing rooms designed to challenge (or frustrate) the group's mapper.

It seems that the assumption back then was that players would delve into the same dungeon numerous times. The booklet gives advice about revising and restocking dungeon levels between excursions to keep things from getting boring. Another interesting tidbit - the wandering monster tables include level titles from the character classes. So, a superhero (the title for a Level 8 Fighter) appears with trolls, minotaurs, and wyverns on the 5th level dungeon wandering monster table.

The example of play makes me twitch as it seems the caller (the player designated to make decisions for the group and inform the DM), seems to be running the show with nary a peep from the other players, even dictating the actions of their characters. Was the game really played like that back then? I've never seen or heard of such a thing.

The rules for wilderness adventuring consist of discussions of the types of castles and stronghold members of each character class are likely to possess and wandering monsters found in the wilderness. The world outside the dungeon is a very unforgiving place it seems since the tables don't make any distinction based on level. Your 1st level characters are just as likely to run into a dragon as your 10th level characters. There's another offhand reference to the work of Edgar Rice Burroughs with the wandering monsters table for deserts indicating that it can also be used for Mars.

We then delve into the costs of building strongholds and hiring various retainers for both the stronghold and other areas (ship captains, assassins, etc). Players are referred to Chainmail if they want to play out larger scale battles involving strongholds and such. Aerial and naval combat are covered, however, in some detail.

Taken together, these three booklets don't feel like a complete game, at least to me. Abundant references to Chainmail and some gaps in the rules here and there make this original version of D&D feel like a reference work for those already "in the know" among the authors' wargaming club. My assumption, then, is that when the game suddenly became popular, only then did they consider organizing the rules in a fashion designed to introduce new players to the game.

Play-Through Review

Since originally writing this review I have experimented with creating characters and running a few sessions. My current groups consist of my wife's character and her henchmen and my family's characters (wife playing a second character and our four kids), both of which are members of a mercenary company hired to clear out an abandoned city. I'm basically running the city like a large dungeon crawl, as befitting the general focus of these rules. I have, however, house ruled the game fairly extensively, using the D&D Rules Cyclopedia for combat tables and the like. The kids are fairly unhappy with the limited character options (they were introduced to D&D via 3.5 and have played a lot of 4E and Pathfinder as well).

Next up: Supplement I: Greyhawk