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

[Azzy]

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)

Given that the lion's share of the OSR retroclones are based on B/X, I think that your experience may not be universal.

 

[Lakesidefantasy]

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.

Which basic Dungeons and Dragons publication elicited this response from you and your peers? Moldvay, Cook, or Mentzer? I would agree with Remathilis that the Red Box game (Mentzer?) was written for kids, but I'm not sure about the other two earlier iterations. As I understand it Moldvay rewrote the game's rules so that it was actually playable.

 

[Bedrockgames]

Given that the lion's share of the OSR retroclones are based on B/X, I think that your experience may not be universal.

I don't know what the reason is for that. But it wouldn't surprise me if many of the OSR folks playing B/X clones, played AD&D but were trying to get back to basics during the early phase of the old school renaissance. I could completely be wrong. Maybe there were a ton of B/X players and I just never really saw them. I just know locally, from like 86 on, I saw something like a 5-1 preference for AD&D over B/X

 

[Bedrockgames]

Which basic Dungeons and Dragons publication elicited this response from you and your peers? Moldvay, Cook, or Mentzer? I would agree with Remathilis that the Red Box game (Mentzer?) was written for kids, but I'm not sure about the other two earlier iterations. As I understand it Moldvay rewrote the game's rules so that it was actually playable.

The big thing that turned us off to it when I started wasn't a perception that it was for kids, but that it 1) was "Basic" and the other version was "Advanced", 2) the rules for race as class bothered a lot of people (now I am much more open to the idea, but back then it seemed too limiting). The one big B/X game I remember playing in and thriving locally used the Rule Cyclopedia (which was actually quite awesome)

Also AD&D was so heavily supported. If you walked into a game store or book store, the choice was obvious because there was so much material (i would compare it to how it used to be back in the late 80s if you had a PC versus an Apple----there were just way, way more games for the PC user)----I had an Apple IIGS so I felt the pain keenly lol

 

[Clint_L]

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

Possibly in terms of units, but not dollars. You could buy it for ten bucks or so at a toy store. I didn't even want it but I had a set that my aunt or someone got me (which in retrospect was awesome just for the great pack-in module!).

Note that sales were exponentially lower for each set after Basic, implying that most folks who got it probably weren't continuing with it, or possibly never even played it (raises hand).

 

[Bedrockgames]

Possibly in terms of units, but not dollars. You could buy it for ten bucks or so at a toy store. I didn't even want it but I had a set that my aunt or someone got me (which in retrospect was awesome just for the pack in module!).

Those were the days! And bazooka gum cost a nickel (and I think a box of lemon heads were like 10 cents). Back when you didn't have to take out a bank loan to buy a paper back book or boxed set, and a 22-year-old could buy a house.

 

[MerricB]

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).

It's worth noting that B/X - more correctly, Moldvay's Basic rules - was the biggest selling version of Basic, despite being only produced from 1981-3. Mentzer's Red box replaced in it 1983 but, overall, sold not as many copies - though somewhat comparable.

Holmes 1977
Moldvay (B/X) 1981
Mentzer (Red Box) 1983

The top of the D&D "fad" was in 1982-3, IIRC, and it started going down after that.

Cheers!