A fun quick read at an early point in D&D history. At this point in time, just the original D&D had been published and the supplements were still forthcoming, Greyhawk being the next to come out. Probably the most interesting thing is a new Monster – the Mind Flayer – which gets a very brief …
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Dungeons & Dragons Vol. 3: Underworld & Wilderness Adventures
The third booklet is kind of like the DM’s guide and probably the weirdest of them all. In some ways, it seems the least developed and has the most references to use of the Chainmail rules. The sample dungeon is bizarre – all sorts of tricks and traps and a mapping nightmare. There’s also a …
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Dungeons & Dragons Vol. Two: Monsters & Treasure
The second book is effectively the Monster Manual. All the favourites are here. It’s a little bit odd in its organisation. Like Chainmail, the monsters aren’t in alphabetical order – rather they’re kind of in rough groups. The different colours of dragon are in there along with rules for subduing them. The treasure section has …
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Dungeons & Dragons Vol. One: Men & Magic
This first booklet is kind of like the Player’s Handbook. First oddity – it suggests a referee (not yet called Dungeon Master) to player ratio of 1:20. Whaaat? Next up – we have the 3 main classes – fighter, magic-user, cleric. The thief is a notable absence. Next, races – Humans, Dwarves, Elves and Halflings …
Original Dungeons & Dragons
This is it. The original. So much history are in these booklets. All the essentials of D&D are here, along with some oddities – holdovers from the war-gaming background. Absolutely fascinating. For more detail – see my reviews of each individual booklet: Volume 1: Men & Magic Volume 2: Monsters & Treasure Volume 3: Underworld …
Chainmail
This is a fascinating read for any D&D player. The first half is pretty skippable – it’s just standard miniature war-gaming rules. The fun starts half way through with Man-to-man combat – ie where one figurine represents one man instead or 10 or more. Included in here is a fun section for jousting which my …