What Edition of D&D Was Your First

[National Acrobat]

The first thing I played was the Basic Set with the Dragon on the cover on his horde. The Blue Book.

 

[thedungeondelver]

B2 KEEP ON THE BORDERLANDS D&D. What does that mean, you ask?

At the tender age of 11, I really wanted to give this "D&D" thing a try. I pestered my poor parents into shelling out $11 or so - $5 for a module, a few bucks for a box of Grenadier miniatures (a greek legends set complete with Heracles, a centaur, a cyclops, a unicorn(?!) and Pegasus) and a set of dice.

Hell, I didn't know you needed a whole separate rulebook...!

Fortunately, the module I picked (the abovementioned B2 featured about 60% or thereabouts of the rules one needed to play D&D - to-hit tables charts for monsters and men up to 3rd level or 3 HD (or thereabouts), spell lists ("What the heck is 'know alignment'?"), equipment lists and so forth. Of course, as it was missing little things like the fact that you needed to use 3d6 to generate character stats meant that you could have a 1, 2, 19 or 20 in your ability scores...!

Although friends would fill in the gaps for me with the convenient photocopied pages from both AD&D and Basic rulebooks, it was a couple more years before I got my first AD&D hardback - a DUNGEON MASTERS GUIDE. After that, things sort of fell in to place.

But those first few seminal games - man, that was a hell of a lot of fun.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Erol Otus cover, pink box BD&D circa 1981.

 

[WD40]

1988 The D&D Basic set.

AKA the Red Box.

Would I buy 4e? Were I not about to go back to school after a 9-year stint working supermarkets, I'd prolly say yes...

But for now, it's a no.

 

[DragonLancer]

I started with 1st ed AD&D.

 

[Merkuri]

I learned with 2nd edition, got most of my playing done in 3rd (well, 3.5), and I think I would pick up 4e if it came out today. The PHB, at least.

 

[ivocaliban]

New, Easy to Master Dungeons & Dragons Game (1991) shortly followed by the Rules Cyclopedia (1991)

I'm passing on the 4th edition unless it shines like the face of Pelor.

 

[Aus_Snow]

B/X. Or: "none of the above."

New poll!
New poll!

 

[cildarith]

I think the poll is just fine the way it is.

I started with 1981 Basic/Expert Sets, which are close enough to 1E IMO, so that is what I selected.

Undecided about 4E, but at the moment I'm leaning toward not buying it.

 

[T. Foster]

D&D Basic Set edited by Frank Mentzer w/ Larry Elmore cover art. My best gaming-friend had the D&D Basic rulebook edited by Tom Moldvay w/ Erol Otus cover art. When we were ready for the Expert Set I got the Cook/Marsh/Otus book and he got the Mentzer/Elmore set (i.e. we both had mismatched sets) and didn't realize until years later that there were actual textual and rules differences between the sets besides just the art.

It's probably pure nostalgia talking, but I actually still prefer my mismatched combo of the Mentzer Basic and Cook/Marsh Expert sets -- I think the Mentzer set provides a better pure introduction to the game (via its "choose your own adventure" intro and extensive DM advice) than Moldvay, but I like how the Cook/Marsh Expert rules feel like more of a "complete game" (with characters maxing-out around 14th level) whereas the Mentzer Expert rules with their shallower power-curve (slower progressions of saves and thief skills, some high level spells and monsters held back) are designed with more of an expectation that you'll eventually continue on to higher levels and additional rulesets (Companion and Master).