When did 4d6-drop-lowest first appear?

[Bullgrit]

AD&D1 DMG (c 1979, E. Gary Gygax):

CREATING THE PLAYER CHARACTER

GENERATION OF ABILITY SCORES

As AD&D is an ongoing game of fantasy adventuring, it is important to allow participants to generate a viable character of the race and profession which he or she desires. While it is possible to generate some fairly playable characters by rolling 3d6, there is often an extended period of attempts at finding a suitable one due to quirks of the dice. Furthermore, these rather marginal characters tend to have short life expectancy -- which tends to discourage new players, as does having to make do with some character of a race and/or class which he or she really can't or won't identify with. Character generation, then, is a serious matter, and it is recommended that the following systems be used. Four alternatives are offered for player characters:

Method I:
All scores are recorded and arranged in the order the player desires. 4d6 are rolled, and the lowest die (or one of the lower) is discarded.

Bullgrit
Total Bullgrit

 

[justanobody]

1st edition DMG for AD&D has only 4 methods. Unable to find my 2nd edition PHB, I am unable to nail down if it was there or not, but 2nd edition revised PHB clearly has Method V (4d6 drop the lowest) in the DMG on lucky page 13. Just be mindful of "Super characters" with this method. (See page 14)

As to the why I would have to look in the book itself, or check the old Dragon issues from 1989-1993 to find out.

I think it said something about giving the option for the players to more easily distribute their scores to be able to get the race and class they wanted with all the prereqs.

It is Method I in the 1E DMG!

 

[Oni]

Good quoting there Bullgrit. I think it's funny that there is encouragement to use such a method, when so many old school gamers would lead one to believe that such is new fangled powercreep.

 

[Plane Sailing]

The first time I remember actually using it was in the first edition Gamma World (1978) which actually predated the AD&D DMG (1979)

Cheers

 

[RFisher]

I think it's funny that there is encouragement to use such a method, when so many old school gamers would lead one to believe that such is new fangled powercreep.

AD&D was the original new fangled powercreep.

 

[Greylock]

While I know the method was, in fact, around during 1st Edition, no one I play with used it or was aware of it, or if anyone was aware of it, it was a discussion I missed. We certainly never used it. And I skipped Second Edition. So... for me, in my little gaming universe, 4d6 drop the lowest was introduced to me via 3rd Edition, either by Beale Knight or Alsih20. One or t'other.

hth

Edit. Pretty sure it was 3.5.

 

[cougent]

Unfortunately I no longer have my AD&D books to reference, but I remember that was the method we used (per DM direction) in 1981 when I started playing. So it was either around then [as clearly noted by Plane Sailing] or my DM was ahead of the curve.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

While I know the method was, in fact, around during 1st Edition, no one I play with used it or was aware of it, or if anyone was aware of it, it was a discussion I missed. We certainly never used it. And I skipped Second Edition. So... for me, in my little gaming universe, 4d6 drop the lowest was introduced to me via 3rd Edition, either by Beale Knight or Alsih20. One or t'other.

hth

Edit. Pretty sure it was 3.5.

Similar experience, though I played some of both 1 and 2e AD&D 3d6 in order or 3d6 pick attributes was the norm for any DM I played with and 4d6 drop one only appears for me in D&D 3.0

 

[CleverNickName]

The first time I remember seeing it was in the 3.0 Player's Handbook. But I went straight from BECMI to 3E...so I missed a lot.

(or did I? )

 

[Aus_Snow]

Yep, AD&D 1st edition. At least *I* didn't have to post the text, or the reference, yet again.

It gets asked about, and most of all mistaken as a more recent phenomenon, a lot.