D&D General Introduction in the 1978 1st Edition AD&D Player's Handbook

[Bedrockgames]

Okay, fair enough, that's an overstatement. Perils of posting in too much haste.

People like James Lowder have commented on this and I believe pushed back on it a bit. Could be misremembering what he said though. I think there were some higher ups who didn’t understand the value of things like playtesting (or were worried people would goof off during work time but I think most of the designers and writers were playtesting and were gamers (and most of the TSR people I follow on social media who were active in the 90s seem to still be gamers today)

Maybe @JLowder can weigh in and let us know what the accurate account is

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

It's interesting how they weren't aiming at teens or college students as a primary market (obviously that changed in subsequent years). And actively urging people not to buy a product your company sells is also unusual.

Gygax was writing a game for the people he gamed with - adults. His children played the game as well but at the time THE MARKET for this was other adults, more specifically other adults with some experience with tabletop wargaming (upon which D&D was based), and for AD&D, adults with some experience already playing the original D&D game. As for asking people to NOT buy the DMG - he was asking PLAYERS (only in the DMG foreword) to not buy the DMG (which was mostly aimed at dungeon masters( so that they would not spoil their adventures by knowing the details of all the random magic items or looking up information rather than interacting with the dungeon master to obtain it.

The situation THEN just ISN'T the situation of today. The "don't buy the DMG" thing in particular had ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with "business models" - it was just sensible, practical advice that players not SPOIL the game for themselves by eliminating all the mystery and discovery. They hadn't thought about the DMG in terms of, "We need to make sure we can sell this to EVERYONE who plays the game." They were still INVENTING the game - the entire hobby - as the DMG was being written. Even as AD&D began to be played it seems fairly clear that the way players were playing the game was changing faster than Gygax had been writing it, meaning Gygax's idea of what the game was and could be, was already rather different from what all the purchasers and players of his game thought it was and could be.

So Basic D&D (the B/X later BECMI) was D&D geared toward children. "Advanced" D&D was geared towards adults.

Both were written for adults. The fact that both came to be played heavily by children is irrelevant. The fact that he tested the games with his own children also doesn't mean Gygax was making a specifically children's game at any point. THAT would be done by TSR after they had ousted Gygax and they made 2E - which WAS then aimed more specifically at a younger demographic (for better or worse).

 

[Clint_L]

The idea was, in theory, the Basic (etc) series was aimed at youngsters, the AD&D series was aimed at adults.

Which is while I and all my teenaged friends viewed Basic with complete disdain, and why Dragon magazine basically ignored it. Edition warring was built into the fabric of D&D almost from the beginning and we still feel the repercussions. It’s a shame.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Which is while I and all my teenaged friends viewed Basic with complete disdain

Same here.

 

[Remathilis]

Both were written for adults. The fact that both came to be played heavily by children is irrelevant. The fact that he tested the games with his own children also doesn't mean Gygax was making a specifically children's game at any point. THAT would be done by TSR after they had ousted Gygax and they made 2E - which WAS then aimed more specifically at a younger demographic (for better or worse).

Respectfully, no. Gary might have written OD&D like that, but by the time Moldvay, Cook, and later Mentzer were writing Basic, the tone had dramatically shifted to a far more YA tone. The Demons and eldritch elements were gone. The art was far more censored and appropriate to a younger demographic. The adventure writing was more simplistic and had a presumed heroic sheen to them. Yes, some of that coincided with Gary's ouster and subsequent removal, but the tone of Basic was absolutely more kid/teen friendly than AD&D.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Respectfully, no. Gary might have written OD&D like that, but by the time Moldvay, Cook, and later Mentzer were writing Basic, the tone had dramatically shifted to a far more YA tone. The Demons and eldritch elements were gone. The art was far more censored and appropriate to a younger demographic. The adventure writing was more simplistic and had a presumed heroic sheen to them. Yes, some of that coincided with Gary's ouster and subsequent removal, but the tone of Basic was absolutely more kid/teen friendly than AD&D.

But it wasn't IMO simplified or "dumbed down", and to me that's the key. They didn't make "A Child's Primer to Dungeons & Dragons".

 

[Azzy]

Respectfully, no. Gary might have written OD&D like that, but by the time Moldvay, Cook, and later Mentzer were writing Basic, the tone had dramatically shifted to a far more YA tone. The Demons and eldritch elements were gone. The art was far more censored and appropriate to a younger demographic. The adventure writing was more simplistic and had a presumed heroic sheen to them. Yes, some of that coincided with Gary's ouster and subsequent removal, but the tone of Basic was absolutely more kid/teen friendly than AD&D.

Wasn't B/X the biggest selling TSR edition?

 

[Remathilis]

But it wasn't IMO simplified or "dumbed down", and to me that's the key. They didn't make "A Child's Primer to Dungeons & Dragons".

I mean, it WAS simplified (race as class, no multi-classing, limited class options, three alignments, linear ability score bonuses) but yes, it wasn't 'dumbed down". They made a PG version of the game, whereas AD&D was PG-13 to soft-R depending on the book.

 

[Remathilis]

Wasn't B/X the biggest selling TSR edition?

I've heard that. I wager it was a combination of being the "entry point" for many years and having higher distribution for a while (the famous "I bought D&D at Toys R Us" era).

 

[Bedrockgames]

Wasn't B/X the biggest selling TSR edition?

The thing is BX was available in toy stores and all kinds of places. And everyone I knew who played AD&D always said to buy that first. But at least where I was playing AD&D was by far the most popular (we had people playing B/X but way, way more played AD&D that I saw)