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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Iosue" data-source="post: 6157872" data-attributes="member: 6680772">Holmes was published in 1977, which meant it was written mostly during 1976.  At the time, TSR was working on AD&D, but at that point only the Monster Manual.  Holmes had some contact with Gygax, as can be seen by the new alignment rules, but had no inside information on how AD&D would turn out.  Hence, he still uses "Fighting-man" instead of "Fighter".  His alignment has 5 points, instead of nine.  His initiative system is completely unique.  TSR wouldn't actually begin codifying the AD&D rules until 1978, when they wrote the DMG.So Holmes was operating in something of a vacuum.  He had the little brown books and supplements, and a vague idea that after finishing the Basic set players would go on to AD&D.  And even that was something he learned in the course of doing it.  Originally he simply wanted to do an introductory set for the original three books.  At this point, no one had ever written a basic set for an RPG before.  Wargamers were used to the kind of supplements Gygax and Arneson put out in 1974.  Non-wargamers were used to boardgames or card games where the instructions fit on the inside of the box top.So he put out his Basic set.  When the AD&D DMG came out, it was actually with same presentation as Holmes: headings following headings without any real chapter breaks, and only a vague sense of thematic structure.  Not to mention it had just as many inconsistencies as Holmes, if not more.  For example, there are no Neutral Good or Neutral Evil monsters in the Monster Manual.  Because when the Monster Manual was written, they were intending the same alignment system as in Holmes, but sometime afterward they decided to go with the 9-point system.So while Holmes is by no means as good as Moldvay (published with the hindsight of the LBBs, the Holmes Basic, and AD&D), I think it's pretty clearly much easier for a newbie to learn the game from than the LBBs or AD&D.  Which is probably why it was so successful.</blockquote>

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