Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
Seriously contemplating an attempt at a retro AD&D
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="overgeeked" data-source="post: 9285644" data-attributes="member: 86653"><p>From what I remember, there are no variations between printings of the books. Besides the Cthulhu Deities and Demigods. The content is all the same, only the covers are different. So whichever cover looks best to you, get that one. Or, if you have a PDF editor, buy whichever version you can and slap the cover you like on the PDF. </p><p></p><p>Stick with the core three for the rules and skip the other rules supplements. It will make things drastically easier to deal with. But pick up the other two monster books, MM2 and Fiend Folio.</p><p></p><p>No one ever actually play using all the rules printed in the books. No one. A lot of people online claim to have played all the RAW by the RAW, but I've never met an actual person in meat-space who's ever made that claim. Most people used the character races, classes, arms and equipment, and spells sections of the PHB but not much else. The absurd tables of weapon speed and weapon mods vs armor types were never used at any table I've ever heard about in meat-space. </p><p></p><p>People will inevitably bring up ADDICT and point to it as some kind of AD&D bible, it's not. It's a product of later players obsessed with RAW scouring every possible source to find every niche bizarre rule ever printed and smashing them all together. Again, literally no one played that way. When AD&D was new, D&D was still very much a folk tradition rather than an official RAW worshiping scene. It was only later that people began worshiping RAW. Actual AD&D players at the time when it was current used what made sense and ignored the rest. </p><p></p><p>It's worth noting the release order and dates of the core three books. MM 1977. PHB 1978. DMG 1979. </p><p></p><p>Year One you only had monsters. People used either OD&D or Holmes Basic for everything else. </p><p></p><p>Year Two you had monsters and PCs. People still had to use either OD&D or Holmes Basic for everything else. </p><p></p><p>Year Three you finally had all the rules. People forget that the to-hit charts are in the DMG...which wasn't released until two years after the MM and one year after the PHB. </p><p></p><p>What this resulted in is a lot...I mean a lot...of tables never really played AD&D RAW. They kept the bits and pieces of OD&D and Holmes Basic they used when the AD&D books were still being released. Early AD&D was a mishmash of game systems at the table. Groups kept using the rules they cobbled together, bringing in new players and teaching them their version of the game, those players went on to run their own games and either kept the cobbled D&D they were taught or modified it to suit their own tastes, and passed that on to their players. When a new book came out they'd look at it and decide what to use and what not to. There was no universal acceptance of whatever official stuff happened to be released. Most groups ignored everything besides the core three and the monster books, for example. </p><p></p><p>To make it even more confusing, most people didn't make the distinction between B/X, BECMI, and AD&D that we do today. It was all close enough to work together, so people used whatever they liked. For example, the version of AD&D my group still plays is a mishmash of AD&D, B/X, BECMI, 2E, and a bunch of house rules. We built the game we wanted to play based on what was available. What line it belonged to didn't matter. What edition was printed on the cover didn't matter.</p><p></p><p>Absolutely. See above.</p><p></p><p>Start with the absolute minimum you need to functionally play the game. Don't try to use all the rules in the book. You don't need most of it.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="overgeeked, post: 9285644, member: 86653"] From what I remember, there are no variations between printings of the books. Besides the Cthulhu Deities and Demigods. The content is all the same, only the covers are different. So whichever cover looks best to you, get that one. Or, if you have a PDF editor, buy whichever version you can and slap the cover you like on the PDF. Stick with the core three for the rules and skip the other rules supplements. It will make things drastically easier to deal with. But pick up the other two monster books, MM2 and Fiend Folio. No one ever actually play using all the rules printed in the books. No one. A lot of people online claim to have played all the RAW by the RAW, but I've never met an actual person in meat-space who's ever made that claim. Most people used the character races, classes, arms and equipment, and spells sections of the PHB but not much else. The absurd tables of weapon speed and weapon mods vs armor types were never used at any table I've ever heard about in meat-space. People will inevitably bring up ADDICT and point to it as some kind of AD&D bible, it's not. It's a product of later players obsessed with RAW scouring every possible source to find every niche bizarre rule ever printed and smashing them all together. Again, literally no one played that way. When AD&D was new, D&D was still very much a folk tradition rather than an official RAW worshiping scene. It was only later that people began worshiping RAW. Actual AD&D players at the time when it was current used what made sense and ignored the rest. It's worth noting the release order and dates of the core three books. MM 1977. PHB 1978. DMG 1979. Year One you only had monsters. People used either OD&D or Holmes Basic for everything else. Year Two you had monsters and PCs. People still had to use either OD&D or Holmes Basic for everything else. Year Three you finally had all the rules. People forget that the to-hit charts are in the DMG...which wasn't released until two years after the MM and one year after the PHB. What this resulted in is a lot...I mean a lot...of tables never really played AD&D RAW. They kept the bits and pieces of OD&D and Holmes Basic they used when the AD&D books were still being released. Early AD&D was a mishmash of game systems at the table. Groups kept using the rules they cobbled together, bringing in new players and teaching them their version of the game, those players went on to run their own games and either kept the cobbled D&D they were taught or modified it to suit their own tastes, and passed that on to their players. When a new book came out they'd look at it and decide what to use and what not to. There was no universal acceptance of whatever official stuff happened to be released. Most groups ignored everything besides the core three and the monster books, for example. To make it even more confusing, most people didn't make the distinction between B/X, BECMI, and AD&D that we do today. It was all close enough to work together, so people used whatever they liked. For example, the version of AD&D my group still plays is a mishmash of AD&D, B/X, BECMI, 2E, and a bunch of house rules. We built the game we wanted to play based on what was available. What line it belonged to didn't matter. What edition was printed on the cover didn't matter. Absolutely. See above. Start with the absolute minimum you need to functionally play the game. Don't try to use all the rules in the book. You don't need most of it. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
Seriously contemplating an attempt at a retro AD&D
Top