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<blockquote data-quote="Mannahnin" data-source="post: 9839290" data-attributes="member: 7026594">Good post!&nbsp; Although slight clarification- both B/X D&amp;D (released in 1981) and AD&amp;D 1st Edition (released in 1977-1979) derive from Original D&amp;D (released 1974).&nbsp; (Like you I started with 1983-1985 BECMI in 1985 and didn't learn this history until years later).OD&amp;D accumulated additional rules and supplements from 1975-1977 until it was nearly as complex as AD&amp;D; AD&amp;D was introduced both to clean up/consolidate all the supplements and clarifications from OD&amp;D and expand on those to make it a &quot;more complete&quot; game suitable for tournaments, and as a business maneuver to claim to be a different game from D&amp;D so TSR could just put Gary's name on it and not pay royalties to Dave Arneson on it.&nbsp; 1981 B/X is simplified (introducing Race as Class for example) in many ways, to serve the dual purposes of being a good introductory set for newbies since the game exploded into national popular culture in late 1979 following the James Dallas Egbert III disappearance, and to differentiate it from AD&amp;D to help support TSR's legal argument that they should be allowed to cut Arneson off from royalties on AD&amp;D and just pay them to him on D&amp;D.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Mannahnin, post: 9839290, member: 7026594"] Good post! Although slight clarification- both B/X D&D (released in 1981) and AD&D 1st Edition (released in 1977-1979) derive from Original D&D (released 1974). (Like you I started with 1983-1985 BECMI in 1985 and didn't learn this history until years later). OD&D accumulated additional rules and supplements from 1975-1977 until it was nearly as complex as AD&D; AD&D was introduced both to clean up/consolidate all the supplements and clarifications from OD&D and expand on those to make it a "more complete" game suitable for tournaments, and as a business maneuver to claim to be a different game from D&D so TSR could just put Gary's name on it and not pay royalties to Dave Arneson on it. 1981 B/X is simplified (introducing Race as Class for example) in many ways, to serve the dual purposes of being a good introductory set for newbies since the game exploded into national popular culture in late 1979 following the James Dallas Egbert III disappearance, and to differentiate it from AD&D to help support TSR's legal argument that they should be allowed to cut Arneson off from royalties on AD&D and just pay them to him on D&D. [/QUOTE]

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