preferred 1E printing?

[MerricB]

Note that there is a difference between the text of the earliest DMGs and the later printings: a few extra appendices were added, including the encumbrance rules.

This change was made for the 6th printing (Dec 1979).

Paizo.com has the AD&D PDFs cheaper than rpgnow/drivethru - the rulebooks are $4 each rather than $6. The scans are identical at both places AFAIK; they could be better in quality.

Cheers!

 

[justanobody]

Note that there is a difference between the text of the earliest DMGs and the later printings: a few extra appendices were added, including the encumbrance rules.

This change was made for the 6th printing (Dec 1979).

Paizo.com has the AD&D PDFs cheaper than rpgnow/drivethru - the rulebooks are $4 each rather than $6. The scans are identical at both places AFAIK; they could be better and don't include OCR.

Cheers!

They aren't those pocket crap copies are they? The books that are 3x5 inches. I haven't got a PDF book since I ended up with one of those a few years back.

The page dimensions need to be listed for ALL PDF products, including the ones on ENWorld store... just in case.

I may never print it, but still the index card sized scans are really bad and hard to read.

Is the PDF copies the early or later printings with the extra appendices?

 

[MerricB]

They aren't those pocket crap copies are they? The books that are 3x5 inches. I haven't got a PDF book since I ended up with one of those a few years back.

The page dimensions need to be listed for ALL PDF products, including the ones on ENWorld store... just in case.

I may never print it, but still the index card sized scans are really bad and hard to read.

Is the PDF copies the early or later printings with the extra appendices?

The DMG PDF is sized properly.

The scan is of one of the 6th-8th edition, so it includes all the appendices. (Revised Edition 1979 is on the copyright page; the cover has the Wizard TSR logo rather than the face which was 9th+).

 

[FATDRAGONGAMES]

The content is the same, but the clear, objective, superiority of the original artwork makes the choice obvious.

Dude. You. Rock.

 

[MerricB]

Go with your gut.

That artwork is the version that (a) was published while Gygax was still with the company,

Actually, the new artwork debuted in 1983, while Gygax was still with the company.

Cheers!

 

[devoblue]

Get both, that's what I did when replacing my 1983 covered version, that was falling apart after spending too much of its life in a school bag. It's easy to find good copies on ebay, and a 1e PHB/DMG/MM will get a lot more love than some random 3e or 4e splat book you could have spent the dollars on

 

[Aus_Snow]

The latter artworks were on the first AD&D books I bought, so they have a special place for me. But I like them more than the former, regardless.*

PHB, DMG, MM, MMII, FF, OA, UA, then some other stuff. All with the slightly more recent covers, except FF (which, IIRC, didn't ever get one of those). Couldn't have been happier, overall. Plus, solid.

Whatever floats yer boat, o' course.

* I know, I know. That loses me precious geek points, and is terribly un-old-skool and all that. Oh well.