I've spent a lot of time, money and words on the growing state of the old TSR material that has been slowly rolling out via the OneBookShelf print on demand services. I have talked a lot about the older materials that are being released in PDF as well. Today I am going to talk about a couple more releases, the B1: In Search of the Unknown module for Dungeons & Dragons and the first edition of The World of Greyhawk for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1E.
These are both important releases to the overall stream of Dungeons & Dragons, but for differing reasons. The overlapping editions of those early days of Dungeons & Dragons sometimes made it confusing for those of us playing one edition or another to know which supplement or module was supposed to be used in which game. I know that I played a Frankenstein version of the game that used the Dungeons & Dragons B/X rules as our core rules, with monster books from the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game.
While Greyhawk was a part of the D&D game since the supplement outlining it was first published for Original Dungeons & Dragons (and obviously because the setting grew out of Gygax's home game), the In Search of the Unknown module was published first, in 1979, with The World of Greyhawk following in 1980. Neither of these books were things that I interacted with while playing D&D as a kid, my copy of the Holmes Basic D&D boxed set came with geomorphs rather than this module, and the copy of The World of Greyhawk that I picked up at a Kaybee Toys as a kid was the second edition boxed set.
Like my article two weeks ago talking about vintage D&D bestiaries, this piece isn't going to be a review. With each of these books being more than thirty years I think that all of the salient points have been pretty much covered at this point. The people from back in the day who would have had these books, already have them and have probably been using them over the last thirty years. I think for people who have come to play D&D since these books came out, a reason for buying these reproductions are as likely going to be their historic context as much as anything else.
Looking at these books chronologically, I'm going to take a look at B1: In Search of the Unknown first. If you're looking for a little more context for the creation of this module, check out the first part of an interview that EN World writer Fred Love did with Mike Carr, the module's author.
I think that one of the main reasons why In Search of the Unknown is important is because it is a module that was written for the starting DM. One of the biggest problems with most of the role-playing games that are being produced these days is that they are written with experienced role-players in mind. This isn't entirely accidental, unlike in 1979 when you could find Dungeons & Dragons books out in the wilds in places like dime stores and stationary shops these days finding a role-playing game is something that you have to seek out. When D&D 5E first debuted, you could find starter sets and dice for it in places like Target or Walmart, but these days you're lucky to find a Player's Handbook at a Barnes and Noble. So, it is understandable that the D&D books would be geared towards experienced players.
However, with the influx of new D&D players and DMs that we're getting due to the popularity of streaming, it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to take a look at In Search of the Unknown and how it approached introducing the concept of adventure designing for D&D. With the popularity of streaming game play, we are getting an introduction to how a variety of people run games but we're still not seeing as much on how people wanting to run games can create their own adventures. There are a lot of adventures for D&D out there, and with a minimal amount of tweaking, you can run In Search of the Unknown for your 5E group, but at some point people are going to want to make their own adventures for their own groups.
If you're picking this up specifically because of this section, be warned that it isn't hugely extensive, but that was the approach of that day. That said, five of the thirty-two pages of the module deal with tips for the new Dungeon Master, so it is a decent percentage of the book. There are also places throughout the text of the module explaining to the beginning DM what they can get players to do to successfully move their characters through the module (the measure of success mostly being the characters surviving to adventure on another day).
Now, on the production side In Search of the Unknown is not without flaws. There are a couple of poorly scanned pages in the book, and the choice of reproducing the text and line art in grey instead of black ink does make it hard to read in places. The maps are crisp and clean however. I would recommend buying this in print and PDF, if only so you can print out the maps in the back of the book to use at the table.
The book of the first edition of The World of Greyhawk is important because it is Greyhawk. Alongside of Dave Arneson's Blackmoor these are the first settings to come out of role-playing games.
This isn't a huge book. But then, a lot of game books of this period weren't big. The text of the book outlining the setting is 32 pages, but they are 32 pages that are packed with information. You get a wealth of geographic and political information about the people and places of Greyhawk, and a look at the different factions at work in the world. You also get a break down of the days of the week, and the activities of those days. One thing that was interesting is that, unlike in the "real world," Greyhawk has a day of rest and a day of worship. This makes sense in a game were deities are actual beings, and there are everyday examples of divine power in the form of Clerics. Religion and worship are a large part of the Dungeons & Dragons game, and it is something relatively small as a bit of worldbuilding that highlights the importance of these things.
You get anywhere from 1-4 paragraphs on each area of the world discussed. If the area has a leader, that section tells you who the leader of that area is (along with telling you the class and level of the leader), and you get a break down of the population and numbers of various non-human cultures within each area. It isn't a huge amount of information, but we have to remember that the D&D of this era was about emergent play and the idea that characters and world were developed through play. There is enough information to give your campaigns a starting point in Greyhawk, but not so much information that it makes the setting more important than the actions of the players. I wish that more games today focused on emergent play.
The World of Greyhawk is split roughly two-thirds text to one third maps. Like with In Search of the Unknown above, I really suggest getting this in both POD and PDF formats. The maps are much more useful to play when you can have a copy that is all on one page. Getting a table-sized, large format, print of the map would help to give players an idea of the scale of the setting of Greyhawk. There are some flaws in the book, mostly in scanning quality. There are a few pages with some scan problem that (hopefully) can be corrected. One thing that is nice about POD production is that it is easier to update books, because you don't have to worry about print runs.
Here are two books that can be useful both for those of us who have been playing since the early days of gaming, as well as those who have entered into playing D&D with more recent editions of the game.
These are both important releases to the overall stream of Dungeons & Dragons, but for differing reasons. The overlapping editions of those early days of Dungeons & Dragons sometimes made it confusing for those of us playing one edition or another to know which supplement or module was supposed to be used in which game. I know that I played a Frankenstein version of the game that used the Dungeons & Dragons B/X rules as our core rules, with monster books from the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game.
While Greyhawk was a part of the D&D game since the supplement outlining it was first published for Original Dungeons & Dragons (and obviously because the setting grew out of Gygax's home game), the In Search of the Unknown module was published first, in 1979, with The World of Greyhawk following in 1980. Neither of these books were things that I interacted with while playing D&D as a kid, my copy of the Holmes Basic D&D boxed set came with geomorphs rather than this module, and the copy of The World of Greyhawk that I picked up at a Kaybee Toys as a kid was the second edition boxed set.
Like my article two weeks ago talking about vintage D&D bestiaries, this piece isn't going to be a review. With each of these books being more than thirty years I think that all of the salient points have been pretty much covered at this point. The people from back in the day who would have had these books, already have them and have probably been using them over the last thirty years. I think for people who have come to play D&D since these books came out, a reason for buying these reproductions are as likely going to be their historic context as much as anything else.
Looking at these books chronologically, I'm going to take a look at B1: In Search of the Unknown first. If you're looking for a little more context for the creation of this module, check out the first part of an interview that EN World writer Fred Love did with Mike Carr, the module's author.
I think that one of the main reasons why In Search of the Unknown is important is because it is a module that was written for the starting DM. One of the biggest problems with most of the role-playing games that are being produced these days is that they are written with experienced role-players in mind. This isn't entirely accidental, unlike in 1979 when you could find Dungeons & Dragons books out in the wilds in places like dime stores and stationary shops these days finding a role-playing game is something that you have to seek out. When D&D 5E first debuted, you could find starter sets and dice for it in places like Target or Walmart, but these days you're lucky to find a Player's Handbook at a Barnes and Noble. So, it is understandable that the D&D books would be geared towards experienced players.
However, with the influx of new D&D players and DMs that we're getting due to the popularity of streaming, it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to take a look at In Search of the Unknown and how it approached introducing the concept of adventure designing for D&D. With the popularity of streaming game play, we are getting an introduction to how a variety of people run games but we're still not seeing as much on how people wanting to run games can create their own adventures. There are a lot of adventures for D&D out there, and with a minimal amount of tweaking, you can run In Search of the Unknown for your 5E group, but at some point people are going to want to make their own adventures for their own groups.
If you're picking this up specifically because of this section, be warned that it isn't hugely extensive, but that was the approach of that day. That said, five of the thirty-two pages of the module deal with tips for the new Dungeon Master, so it is a decent percentage of the book. There are also places throughout the text of the module explaining to the beginning DM what they can get players to do to successfully move their characters through the module (the measure of success mostly being the characters surviving to adventure on another day).
Now, on the production side In Search of the Unknown is not without flaws. There are a couple of poorly scanned pages in the book, and the choice of reproducing the text and line art in grey instead of black ink does make it hard to read in places. The maps are crisp and clean however. I would recommend buying this in print and PDF, if only so you can print out the maps in the back of the book to use at the table.
The book of the first edition of The World of Greyhawk is important because it is Greyhawk. Alongside of Dave Arneson's Blackmoor these are the first settings to come out of role-playing games.
This isn't a huge book. But then, a lot of game books of this period weren't big. The text of the book outlining the setting is 32 pages, but they are 32 pages that are packed with information. You get a wealth of geographic and political information about the people and places of Greyhawk, and a look at the different factions at work in the world. You also get a break down of the days of the week, and the activities of those days. One thing that was interesting is that, unlike in the "real world," Greyhawk has a day of rest and a day of worship. This makes sense in a game were deities are actual beings, and there are everyday examples of divine power in the form of Clerics. Religion and worship are a large part of the Dungeons & Dragons game, and it is something relatively small as a bit of worldbuilding that highlights the importance of these things.
You get anywhere from 1-4 paragraphs on each area of the world discussed. If the area has a leader, that section tells you who the leader of that area is (along with telling you the class and level of the leader), and you get a break down of the population and numbers of various non-human cultures within each area. It isn't a huge amount of information, but we have to remember that the D&D of this era was about emergent play and the idea that characters and world were developed through play. There is enough information to give your campaigns a starting point in Greyhawk, but not so much information that it makes the setting more important than the actions of the players. I wish that more games today focused on emergent play.
The World of Greyhawk is split roughly two-thirds text to one third maps. Like with In Search of the Unknown above, I really suggest getting this in both POD and PDF formats. The maps are much more useful to play when you can have a copy that is all on one page. Getting a table-sized, large format, print of the map would help to give players an idea of the scale of the setting of Greyhawk. There are some flaws in the book, mostly in scanning quality. There are a few pages with some scan problem that (hopefully) can be corrected. One thing that is nice about POD production is that it is easier to update books, because you don't have to worry about print runs.
Here are two books that can be useful both for those of us who have been playing since the early days of gaming, as well as those who have entered into playing D&D with more recent editions of the game.
They sell down and then restock weekly (I visit about once a week). So, there's more than just the PHB available there. My B&N may not be typical, but I suspect it is.
