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<blockquote data-quote="howandwhy99" data-source="post: 2882917" data-attributes="member: 3192">The original edition was really created for the wargaming community.&nbsp; Pretty much all combat uses Chainmail which can easily be as complex as D20.&nbsp; (i.e. characters have facing, threaten squares, take AoOs, can have reach, ranged attackers can attack 2x in place of moving, initiative is rolled every round, etc.)Holmes (edition 2) is greatly simplified.&nbsp; It's not really the Basic edition yet, however.&nbsp; Races are classes instead of being combined, levels go only from 1-3, many of the Chainmail options are absent.&nbsp; That said, it can be picked up fairly easily by kids under 10.Moldvay/Mentzer (edition 3) I think these count as one version, I'm not sure.&nbsp; At the time these were published, the AD&amp;D game was out and Basic became a full-fledged product line unto itself.&nbsp; I think the Holmes version was created as well because TSR knew AD&amp;D was on the way.&nbsp; The original rules are closer in form to AD&amp;D than to Basic, but really don't qualify as either.&nbsp; OD&amp;D has a lot of flexibility, so much of what was introduced in the other two games can easily be ported in.The default game world from the modules and books (the Known World) was changed into Mystara for the Basic game.&nbsp; This is more something I've been told than can back up though.&nbsp; I'm not sure where the Known world saw print before Mystara.&nbsp; But I don't own the early Dragon mags.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="howandwhy99, post: 2882917, member: 3192"] The original edition was really created for the wargaming community. Pretty much all combat uses Chainmail which can easily be as complex as D20. (i.e. characters have facing, threaten squares, take AoOs, can have reach, ranged attackers can attack 2x in place of moving, initiative is rolled every round, etc.) Holmes (edition 2) is greatly simplified. It's not really the Basic edition yet, however. Races are classes instead of being combined, levels go only from 1-3, many of the Chainmail options are absent. That said, it can be picked up fairly easily by kids under 10. Moldvay/Mentzer (edition 3) I think these count as one version, I'm not sure. At the time these were published, the AD&D game was out and Basic became a full-fledged product line unto itself. I think the Holmes version was created as well because TSR knew AD&D was on the way. The original rules are closer in form to AD&D than to Basic, but really don't qualify as either. OD&D has a lot of flexibility, so much of what was introduced in the other two games can easily be ported in. The default game world from the modules and books (the Known World) was changed into Mystara for the Basic game. This is more something I've been told than can back up though. I'm not sure where the Known world saw print before Mystara. But I don't own the early Dragon mags. [/QUOTE]

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