AD&D Publication Timeline -- weird

[Bullgrit]

AD&D publication dates

Player’s Handbook – published 1978
Dungeon Master’s Guide – published 1979

1978:
D1 Descent into the Depths of the Earth – levels 9-14
D2 Shrine of the Kuo-Toa – levels 9-14
G1-3 Giants series – levels 8-12
S1 Tomb of Horrors – levels 10-14

1979:
S2 White Plume Mountain – levels 5-10
T1 The Village of Hommlet – levels “Introductory to Novice” [1-3?]

1980:
A1 Slave Pits of the Undercity – levels 4-7
C1 The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan – levels 5-7
C2 The Ghost Tower of Inverness – levels 5-7
Q1 Queen of the Demonweb Pits – levels 10-14
S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks – levels 8-12

1981:
A2 Secret of the Slavers Stockade – levels 4-7
A3 Assault on the Aerie of the Slave Lords – levels 4-7
A4 In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords – levels 4-7
I1 Dwellers of the Forbidden City – levels 4-7
L1 The Secret of Bone Hill – levels 2-4
U1 Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh – levels 1-3


Looking over this list, I find a few interesting things:

You can’t play AD&D without both the PHB and the DMG, (all the charts for running the game is in the DMG), so you can’t technically play AD&D until 1979 or later. Now, I realize that many people bought the AD&D PHB in 1978 and filled in the rules gaps with OD&D for a year until the AD&D DMG was published. But Gygax and others often made sure to explain that AD&D was a completely different game than OD&D and BD&D. So it is strange that there was a year gap between publishing the first half (PHB) of the game and the second half (DMG) of the game.

And then there were six AD&D modules published in 1978, before the game system publication was complete. (These were all billed as “ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS” modules.) Those first modules published for AD&D were for high levels – 8-14.

The first module for 1st level characters was published in 1979, (right on time with first being able to actually play AD&D), but the next wasn’t until 1981. Between those two, there were several adventures published for levels 4-7.

There was B1 In Search of the Unknown for 1st level characters in 1978, and B2 The Keep on the Borderlands in 1980, but they were for Basic D&D – see above about the separation of BD&D and AD&D.

This publication pattern seems odd:
Publish some major adventures for a game system that can’t be officially played yet.
Published high level adventures first.
And then later published almost exclusively for the mid-levels instead of a wide range of levels.

The whole publication process for AD&D in the first few years looks completely backwards. With a couple of exceptions, it looks like TSR should have started with their 1981 line up and worked backward to their high level adventures.

Bullgrit

 

[ggroy]

You can’t play AD&D without both the PHB and the DMG, (all the charts for running the game is in the DMG), so you can’t technically play AD&D until 1979 or later. Now, I realize that many people bought the AD&D PHB in 1978 and filled in the rules gaps with OD&D for a year until the AD&D DMG was published. But Gygax and others often made sure to explain that AD&D was a completely different game than OD&D and BD&D. So it is strange that there was a year gap between publishing the first half (PHB) of the game and the second half (DMG) of the game.

IIRC the to-hit combat tables from the 1E AD&D DMG, were published previously in an earlier issue of Dragon Magazine.

(I'll have to look it up later).

 

[Corathon]

You're probably right, their schedule of publication was weird - but it seemed to have worked for them.

 

[Agamon]

Well, for one, yeah it seems weird now, but back then, there was no template for TSR to go off of. Also, like you say, people did have rules to play D&D, so putting out the books scattered as they were, it was still usable. Finally, TSR was a small company, so getting the books out there to sell when they're ready was necessary.

The main point is, the game took off, so the release schedule couldn't have been that big of a deal.

Also, Kenzer is putting out AHM the same way. Basic came out last year, the HoB just came out, PHB is being worked on, GMG will come out after that.

 

[Crazy Jerome]

Didn't the 1E MM come out in late '77?

My understanding was that the high-level adventures and MM were released first because it wasn't that hard to adapt, and people could use these products while waiting on the rest of the line to arrive. Seems to be a play to keep new things in the product pipeline in the inevitable dead space between editions. Seems to have worked, too. I think this was the reason that the MM had the treasure type information in the back, as well--though I may be remembering that wrong.

I didn't get any AD&D until 1980, but I happened to have imitated the release schedule--probably because of reading about the people that had coped with it originally. I got the Basic/Expert sets Christmas '80, then the 1E MM for my birthday early '81. Then the next year, I repeated the pattern to get the PHB and DMG. That extra money for the DMG ($12.00 versus $10.00 for the other two) was hard to justify until the economy started to recover.

 

[Traveon Wyvernspur]

Well the difference betweek 78 and 79 could have been a few days if you think about it. Perhaps the PHB was published at the end of December 78 (Dec 31st) and the DMG was published at the beginning of 79 (Jan 1st) it could in theory have been only 1 day apart right?

 

[Gargoyle]

Well the difference betweek 78 and 79 could have been a few days if you think about it. Perhaps the PHB was published at the end of December 78 (Dec 31st) and the DMG was published at the beginning of 79 (Jan 1st) it could in theory have been only 1 day apart right?

Or more likely, people didn't feel so entitled to instant gratifcation like in the Internet age, and they just got by with the rules they had for months until the DMG was done, and were happy about it.

Then again there probably were probably dozens upon dozens of gripes on dial up BBS systems, where edition wars raged between OD&D grognards and fans of the new fangled AD&D, and the merits of various choices of pole arms were debated endlessly.

 

[Crazy Jerome]

Then again there probably were probably dozens upon dozens of gripes on dial up BBS systems, where edition wars raged between OD&D grognards and fans of the new fangled AD&D, and the merits of various choices of pole arms were debated endlessly.

Naw, took too long to fire up the Tandy just to write an impassioned note. Besides, the tape drive was acting up, and you really didn't want to redo the note if it hiccupped. Better to write a letter to the editor of Dragon.

 

[Bullgrit]

Well the difference betweek 78 and 79 could have been a few days if you think about it. Perhaps the PHB was published at the end of December 78 (Dec 31st) and the DMG was published at the beginning of 79 (Jan 1st) it could in theory have been only 1 day apart right?

The PHB was published June '78. I can't find the month published for the DMG. So that's at least 7 months.

Or more likely, people didn't feel so entitled to instant gratifcation like in the Internet age, and they just got by with the rules they had for months until the DMG was done, and were happy about it.

Through the snow! Up hill! Both ways!

Bullgrit

 

[Anselyn]

IIRC the to-hit combat tables from the 1E AD&D DMG, were published previously in an earlier issue of Dragon Magazine.

(I'll have to look it up later).

In the UK the tables were in White Dwarf 13

White Dwarf Issue 13

That was June/July with the DMG out in the autumn.

PS: Interesting to note that the githyanki had been in Issue 12.