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<blockquote data-quote="KirayaTiDrekan" data-source="post: 6273562" data-attributes="member: 6755061"><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>Dungeons & Dragons 3-Volume Set</strong></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong></strong></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong></strong><span style="font-size: 10px">Originally published January, 1974</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-size: 10px"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-size: 10px">Version being read and reviewed: <a href="http://smile.amazon.com/Premium-Original-Dungeons-Dragons-Roleplaying/dp/0786964650/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1427579093&sr=8-5&keywords=Dungeons+and+Dragons+Premium" target="_blank">Original Dungeons & Dragons RPG - Original Edition Premium Reprint</a> (November 2013)</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-size: 10px"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-size: 10px"><strong>Book 1: Men & Magic</strong></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-size: 10px"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-size: 10px">"Rules for Fantastic Medieval Wargames: Campaigns Playable with Paper and Pencil and Miniature Figures" by Gary Gygax & Dave Arneson</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-size: 10px"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-size: 10px">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. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-size: 10px"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-size: 10px">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.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-size: 10px"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-size: 10px">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.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-size: 10px"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-size: 10px">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.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-size: 10px"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-size: 10px">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.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-size: 10px"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-size: 10px">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).</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-size: 10px"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-size: 10px">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.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-size: 10px"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-size: 10px">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).</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-size: 10px"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-size: 10px">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.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-size: 10px"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-size: 10px">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).</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-size: 10px"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-size: 10px">Next up: Dungeons & Dragons 3-Volume Set - Book II: Monsters & Treasure</span></span></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="KirayaTiDrekan, post: 6273562, member: 6755061"] [SIZE=3][B]Dungeons & Dragons 3-Volume Set [/B][SIZE=2]Originally published January, 1974 Version being read and reviewed: [URL="http://smile.amazon.com/Premium-Original-Dungeons-Dragons-Roleplaying/dp/0786964650/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1427579093&sr=8-5&keywords=Dungeons+and+Dragons+Premium"]Original Dungeons & Dragons RPG - Original Edition Premium Reprint[/URL] (November 2013) [B]Book 1: Men & Magic[/B] "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[/SIZE][/SIZE] [/QUOTE]
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