AD&D 1E Best 1E AD&D rulebook?

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I started with AD&D, literally playing an adventure based on the cover of the Players Handbook at summer camp, so at some level, this is always what "real" D&D is for me, warts, High Gygaxian and all.

But not all of the AD&D hard covers are created equal. Like Great Druids, there can be only one!

 

[fuindordm]

I have to say the DMG for 2 reasons: 1, it is a smidge closer to being a complete game than the PH; and 2 because it is the book where Gygax truly lets his freak flag fly. It has plenty of problems but it is magical.

 

[ilgatto]

I started with AD&D, literally playing an adventure based on the cover of the Players Handbook at summer camp, so at some level, this is always what "real" D&D is for me, warts, High Gygaxian and all.

I think that's extremely cool, especially because I recently ran a series of adventures that mixed (To the) City of Brass with exactly that--the cover of the PHB (APHIS, DEMON OF FIRE, anyone?). And I've even got the T-shirt.

But not all of the AD&D hard covers are created equal. Like Great Druids, there can be only one!

I have to admit that I'm at a bit of loss there, for though I've been playing 2E ever since it came out, I still use most of the 1E books if I need to look something up--both versions of the game are still just AD&D to me. I find that I still automatically reach for the DMG whenever I need to look up anything about the rules--and only refer to the 2E DMG for specific things (such as monster xp...) or when I realize that something is outdated. PHB not so much, although I have had to use it quite extensively recently because we were doing 1E for a fairly long time. And I still love it whenever I have to look up something Greyhawk and I have to go through Greyhawk Adventures to find it. I also use the Wilderness Survival Guide a lot when I have to work out things outdoors, while my love of monsters has me going through both Monster Manuals and the Fiend Folio a lot.

But are the monster books "the best"? Is Greyhawk "the best"? The DMG? Perhaps it's actually the PHB? Can I vote for multiple books?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

But are the monster books "the best"? Is Greyhawk "the best"? The DMG? Perhaps it's actually the PHB? Can I vote for multiple books?

LIKE THE GREAT DRUID, THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!

 

[The Soloist]

As a 15 year old DM, I voted for the Monster Manual. The monster descriptions were fascinating to me.

 

[billd91]

Difficult question in some ways.
The Player's Handbook is the first one I actually bought for myself and so that has a special place for me.
Yet the Dungeon Master's Guide is the single most prominent book to tie together everything that is the 1e AD&D soup in ways that vary from brilliantly evocative to incredibly vexing.
But adding to that, the Oriental Adventures book is the first real departure from the pseudo-medieval, European setting and that opens some pretty wide doors of opportunity (plus, it's the only book from the series I have more than one copy of).

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

This was a tough one. In the end, I went with the PHB. It's the core of the game, after all, and what inspires you to dive into the world. But the DMG is dense with detail and ideas, the Manual of the Planes has my favorite cover (and blew open what a game of AD&D could be), and the Fiend Folio is still one of the weirdest collections of monsters out there.

 

[Nikosandros]

LIKE THE GREAT DRUID, THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!

But then came Unearthed Arcana...

A study of the information pertaining to druids will reveal that there must be something above The Great Druid(14th level), for each area or land can have its own druid of this sort

In any event, I've voted the PHB, because that was my introduction to AD&D and I was filled with wonder with all the options compared to Basic...

 

[Sacrosanct]

No surprise the DMG is running away with it, but for me I voted MM. Since this is a subjective poll, I went all in for nostalgia

I chose the MM because as a kid, I loved it. Read it more than any other book, imagining battles. I colored the pictures. It was great.

My 2nd place is Oriental Adventures. I know it hasn't aged all that well, but remember that as a teen in the 80s, everything was about ninjas and martial arts, and I was sucked in. To this date, the full page illustration of weapons and gear is still one of my favorite illustrations in any D&D book.

 

[Edgar Ironpelt]

I voted Monster Manual, in large part because it was both my first AD&D purchase and one of my first RPG purchases of any sort.

The DMG is interesting, but not my fave - and it also had the downside of my having had to wait for it to be published, after I already had the MM and PHB.

(I'm not the eldest of gray-bearded elders when it comes to D&D and RPGs more generally, but I am a gray-bearded elder.)