OD&D Edition Experience: Did/Do You Play OD&D? How Was/Is It?

[HarbingerX]

It was the old Blue Book edition.

Blue-book D&D

Blue-book D&D, p.n. 1. the 1974 edition of TSR Hobbies, Inc.'s Dungeons & Dragons Adult Fantasy Role-Playing Game. 2. D&D as played by this basic rules set. 3. a D&D game with characters below 3rd level (the bluebook rules only covered characters through third level - more advanced players moved...

gamerjargon.fandom.com

Now more commonly known as Holmes D&D, and published in 1977. That wiki entry is really wrong. The 1974 D&D is normally called the 'White Box' D&D or Original D&D.

 

[Garthanos]

Now more commonly known as Holmes D&D, and published in 1977. That wiki entry is really wrong. The 1974 D&D is normally called the 'White Box' D&D or Original D&D.

I had the books Men and Magic, Eldritch Wizardry, Blackmoor and I think maybe Gods, Demigods, & Heroes at one point too but I do not really know where any of them wandered off to.

 

[GreyLord]

I agree--and apparently, so does everyone else: exactly 0% of people who responded to the survey are still playing it. So one could argue from this survey* that while OD&D ranks high in satisfaction, it fails hard in sustainability.

*this completely unscientific, heavily biased, and infamously unreliable survey

That is actually...incorrect to a degree.

I play it occasionally, even today.

That I'm not playing in a campaign right now or currently (as your poll states) is why I marked I have played it and enjoyed it. I am not playing it right now or in a campaign with it right now. I may be in the next few months though. I played it last year for a few sessions.

I've continued to play it at times in recent years, normally with the Greyhawk supplement at the very least (though normally with more tossed in).

If you had an option such as, I played it and liked it and I am still playing it today, I may have marked that as an answer instead.

 

[JeffB]

So far: of the 74 members of ENWorld that took the survey, almost half (43%) have played the original version at least once. And of those who never played it, about 43% said that they would like to.

And get this: nearly everyone who played it liked it (81%). That's an incredible satisfaction rate. I don't think any of the older editions can even come close to that...

...or can they!? Time will tell.

FWIW I didn't vote. I play it all the time, and love it. But I'm not playing it right now- No Poll option felt correct,

 

[CleverNickName]

FWIW I didn't vote. I play it all the time, and love it. But I'm not playing it right now- No Poll option felt correct,

Yeah, the poll can't capture every possible option (and no poll ever can). But this is useful information...even if you aren't actively in the middle of an ongoing campaign, you still play the game on occasion and that's more than most. And it would seem that everyone who has played it has loved it.

 

[WayOfTheFourElements]

OD&D is a great game. It's a wonderful choice for the "rules as guidelines" crowd. It pretty much forces the DM into the role of game designer; some DMs thrive there, other shriek away from it, other still take it as an opportunity to slap their players across their left cheek.

For me, OD&D is my baseline for all editions; it's always the skeleton I pile everything else on top of.

 

[Oldtimer]

The 1974 D&D is normally called the 'White Box' D&D ...

And even that would be a bit misleading, since the actual box only became white in 1975.

 

[atanakar]

And even that would be a bit misleading, since the actual box only became white in 1975.

What was the colour of the original?

 

[Oldtimer]

What was the colour of the original?

It was brownish. A sort of wood-grain emulation with the cover art on a loose piece of paper glued onto the top.

 

[atanakar]

It was brownish. A sort of wood-grain emulation with the cover art on a loose piece of paper glued onto the top.

Cool, I did not know that. Hence the wood box for the 40th Anniversary Edition.