I owe my love to English literature to the 1E D&D books. They contributed massively to the expansion of my vocabulary. I remember, back in the late 80's, when I started using Gygaxian terms in my essay papers; words like "betwixt", "milieu" and "antithesis of weal". I'm pretty sure that's when my English teacher began developing a brain aneurysm.
1st edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons DMG is still amazing. My mom bought it for me back in ‘79. I spent a long time reading it and generating dungeons. It’s the ONLY edition I’ve ever played. Still play. Talk about value. EGG created a masterpiece. He painted the cover like that to leave space for the spine lettering. :)
I've played every edition other than the white box set and enjoyed them. Some have fallen out of favor with me these days, but had fun at the time. EGG's writing I still find fascinating. I do love reading the 1e books by him, they have a certain flavor that other books don't have - for better or worse at times. :)
We're all still playing the game and loving it. No problem comparing editions to each other: we all have our special loves. But it's a grand game no matter what edition you're using, no sense hating on other editions
I still have mine! And I have many others. Early 80's was just the most awesome time ever! Yes, it was an awesome part of MY life - I turned 15 in 1980 - but it was just a better time for everyone back then. Especially compared to now. 😔
I followed the standard path commonly trod back in the day; started out with OD&D, "graduated" to AD&D and moved to the shiny new 2e when it came out. While 2e is still my favorite edition my game is really a hybrid of all the early stuff. It's maybe 85% 2e, 10% 1e and the remainder OD&D with a few house rules sprinkled in. As you say, whatever edition you play it's great to have the original 1e DMG! Gary was really a treasure, and while his prose could be rambling and hard to follow there was a free-form whimsy to the early days. Stuff wasn't overly codified and everything felt new. Later on and especially in 5e the magic is gone and things have settled into well worn tropes so it's good to go back to beginning. Those early days really caught lightning in a bottle! Thanks for a good video.
when i bought this book back in the day.... i carried it around with me in my book bag all the time. i carried it in my bag all thru middle school and high school. it was my favorite book period. today, i have it on my shelf along with the reprint. it's a fascinating piece of work and influenced me heavily all through my young life. it captured my imagination in a way that no other book had.
@@gethrielWow, why don't you tell us how you really feel. I'm an actual artist, also, and the modern 'digital' stuff is over-rendered, lacks imagination and looks like it belongs at a goth festival. You must be thinking of Sutherland's work, it was pretty amateurish, but we all start somewhere. Are you published anywhere?
I cut my teeth on this book. This is where it all began. I traded a bunch of Nintendo stuff to a friend for his copy. It didn't have a cover. I used some sticker paper to keep the binding. I read it over a summer and I'm sad that I never captured the Appendix N feel from this book after high school. By that time everyone was playing Vampire. When I went back to D&D, it was like running The Avengers. The baked in setting of 3rd edition was just not firing the valves in my head. I love your channel. Thanks!
I book without a cover you SAY! My man, the AUTHOR did not receive his due royalties! That book was ear marked to be destroyed before some naive pilfered it from destruction! (nice history on your copy, you still satisfied with the Nintendo stuff you traded for it?
One of the few rules that we added in several campaigns was the Arduin Grimoir critical Hit and Fumble tables. You needed to adjust them slightly by weapon use but it was pretty easy to do. Other than that there were some spells from other games or supplements that were adjudicated using the DMG for play.
What’s great about the original AD&D edition: it was a mess of rules, but you sifted through them, pulled what you liked, and created your own game within the game. No two gaming groups played by the exact same rules, which made joining or forming a new group exciting!
This is the most useful book for any edition of D&D, and for other games as well. I have trained several new DMs in my years, and as part of their desire to get better, I always loan them one of my spare copies of the DMG so they can look through and see how much one book can stimulate their minds for creation. All of them have ended up getting a copy of their own and agreeing with me that it is eternally useful, whatever kind of campaign or adventure one is building. Love it.
After I stumbled upon your review a few months ago I made a point to obtain a copy of the original tome of knowledge and I can't thank you enough for recommending it so emphatically. I was brought in to the hobby in 5e and journeying back through the editions has been a joy beyond measure as I have been able to learn the heritage of this glorious game. Thank you for shedding a light upon these forgotten gems, I don't know where I'd be if I hadn't stumbled into the OSR.
Excellent commentary on a true classic' I began playing in my mid 20''s in the late 70's and loved the organic feel of the name. As the game progressed I purchased te 2nd Edition material as well. While somewhat interesting it felt too polished. I stopped playing in the early 90's and subsequently wanted to get back into playing. I have the 5E edition and I just find the heart and soul of the game is missing. Thank god I still have all y old editions as upon seeing your video I am definitely going back to the basics. Perhaps I can recapture some of the magic of playing.
What's often lost in modern versions of the game, is that even without special skills, abilities, feats, etc., a character with above-average attributes was ALREADY an above-average individual, hence the potential to be a hero. There is more to be said about a certain cultural shift in regards to the removal of the 3D6 Bell Curve (as opposed to the flat linear checks we've been accustomed to) then could be addressed here. This also explains the obvious disconnect in future editions in trying to justify a base class (such as 'Fighter') inclusive of other, obviously more powerful classes. 1st Ed. required (nay, demanded) you to randomly roll attributes and THEN choose a character class based on those rolls. Sometimes a Fighter was all you could be, with Palladin and Ranger unattainable to those with weaker scores. The Barbarian class introduced much later in Dragon Magazine was the first time a player could choose a class BEFORE he rolled, insuring the dice would give him favorable characteristics appropriate for the class.
I love both covers for this book. I had to have them both. This version was the first DandD book I ever owned as a kid. But, my DM had the other cover making it desireable to me in a nostalgic way. I love 1st edition so much. As good as 5e is, there's something truly special about 1st e.
Such of jumble of tiny text and numbers. No idea how I figured it all out as a kid. I do remember we thought that "open doors" applied to EVERY door. "Sorry, you failed to turn the handle."
A touchstone for 40 years. I've read everything in there two or three times,. A lot of the advice and principles in this book have served me well in other editions and even other games.
I recently stumbled across your channel, and I've really been enjoying the content! I've been watching your retro reviews of the S series of modules and then I kept watching; this is really taking me back. Cheers!
I just purchased replacements for my old copies of the DMG and Deities and Demigods. Already bought both vintage Monster Manuals and the Fiend Folio. I don't even play, never really did. The art, especially David Trampier, was always the appeal for me. Incidentally, the cover art was Sutherland's illustration of one of the stories from Arabian Nights.
The Campaign section is by far the greatest tutorial for GMs and DMs of any flavour. Gygax knew how to weave a fabric for a story. As always, you hit that nail with expert skill and accuracy. Thank you so very much.
I first read the Black box by myself, having picked it up at a yard sale. But my friend in junior high had this book and I was fascinated by it. I finally got my own a couple of years later and it's remained my favorite D&D reference to this day. I love high gygaxian and reading through Gary's words, The DMG is interesting and was full of secrets to find. I always felt like it was written just for me
From one DJ and DM to another, thanks for your videos. I watch them all. I still play 1e with my group. I'd love to see a video on the 1e Manual Of The Planes. Thanks! Hopefully you can get back to work soon.
Yep, I just had to pick mine up, gently release the covers and BOOM... that's where it would open. I remember some years later, when toying with the idea of switching to 2E and someone explained THAC0 to me that I went... "Holy Shit! That is GENIUS!!! I've been playing this thing for YEARS... I'm smart... how did I never figure that shit out for myself????"
My mom bought me this and the other three original books as a bribe to go to junior assembly (manners and dance class). Gary Gygax was an insurance salesman and that's why he was so interested in the idea of luck and chance. Even if someone does everything right and is very prudent and responsible, there's always luck.
I started dungeons and dragons with second edition. Since then I’ve played third edition and fifth edition and now I’m greatly appreciating advanced dungeon dragons by Gary Gaag first edition. thank you for giving such a beautiful overview. This book is by far a secret of useful knowledge. In every addition forward of Dungeons & Dragons. Understanding this you understand what has changed over the game and Gary did with Gary did. It’s amazing and very useful. in fact, we really didn’t need any other additions then first addition I would gather.
Just stumbled apond your channel. Brings back alot of good memories playing when I was a kid kept me out of a lot of trouble growing up. Thank you and well-done a New sub.
It is for sure that, once a teen bought the 3 core books and tried the random dungeon generation and campaign design, they had no.more money or time for drugs!
I had forgotten most of those details! Thanks for doing this video. I just pulled my copy of the shelf (the revised edition with the wizard opening a pair of massive vault doors to reveal a treasure pile) to have a look. One thing in particular I noticed was the description of the front cover... it still references the older cover! But now I know to keep an eye on those appendices for reference in my future games, whether they be D&D, Pathfinder, or even Call of Cthulhu or others. Thanks for the video and the inspiration.
Excitement of playing D&D pulled me into reading. Purchasing the DMG was a huge investment for me at the time. I had already tried DM'ing. So getting this tome had a huge impact on me and my games. I still have all my original books.
Thanks for revisiting this Cap, I can still remember when I first stat down to fully read my DMs guide and how that led to my launching my first true campaign in AD&D. Hope you and your family are staying safe!
Bought my first coppy in the late 70's, later bought a second copy with the new cover when the first one's binding fell off from use. Still have em both and a ton of other stuff collected over the last 40 years.
1st-edition is complicated stuff, and you see a glimpse of the "paper computer" way of doing things in the 70s and 80s before computer games generated the dungeons and monsters, internalized the hit points and modifiers stuff and hid them out of sight. This was a past when fans read it all; there is little "fluff". It should challenge us not to dumb down RPGs, but to build up ourselves personally to the point we can handle this stuff. Learn speed reading, learn the multiplication table if you didn't already. Gygax insisted on uniform adherence to the rules, no modding, because that made tournaments possible where many tables played the same adventure and you could objectively decide who got through the scenario the best, or so it was hoped.
Complicated? Not in the slightest, I sat down at my first RPG playing 1st Edition AD&D and got the basics that first session. I was GM'ing a year latter. This may sound like I'm showing off, but I can assure you I am not the brightest spark in any room. I still play RPG's to this day 35 years later. I don't use computers to generate anything. Yeah my Character sheet is a fillable PDF, my books are PDF's. But all the stats are worked out as per normal. Find the section in the book that you need to understand, figure it out, make some choices, create your character. On average a fully fleshed out character with a backstory and history, desires and dreams, fears and weaknesses takes me a few days. A few hours here a few hours there. And will be tinkered with until the sessions starts. Try reading The Wilderness Survival Guide for unnecessary rules. You'd probably be dead before you actually even got to fight any Kobolds, LOL. The use of You, is used in a generic way and doesn't mean you as an individual.
IMO the only things that made the early editions of D&D complicated were the lack of standardized to-hit, saving throw, and advancement tables. Certainly, 5e is *less* complex -- some would harshly call it "dumbed-down" -- but that doesn't mean AD&D 1e was difficult to play or DM.
Yeah I agree, I don't use that phrase "Dumbed Down" though, as it could imply I'm superior and people who play 5e are somehow lesser. I haven't played AD&D since 2e, using lots of 1e rules alongside. I loved it back then for sure, it was my way in to role playing and then I moved on to other systems. The best system, is the system you currently enjoy playing.
I would invite you to delve deeply into the DMG in regards to how the game is SUPPOSED to be played versus how we actually played it. :) - Read the rules on missile fire and melee combat. Firing into melee necessitated the DM to 'randomly determine among both foes and allies who got hit. - Read the rules on grappling and overbearing. - Read the rules on segmented initiative, and surprise. - Read the rules on weapon attack modifications versus armor types. - Read the rules on weapon speed factor. I think if you actually integrated everything as written in the DMG that you're 'SUPPOSE' to, AD&D is VERY complex IMHO.
I completely agree. When people say 5E is 'dumbed down' I really feel sort of lost and I don't understand what game they're talking about to be honest. :) 5E has a rather complex timing/ turn system, with Actions, bonus actions and reactions. Now I LIKE how that is done, but when you start integrating class skills, and abilities in regards to some of these things it becomes rather interesting, and I'd say some situations are very complex, especially at higher levels.
Ahhhhh The nostalgia in this video is so beautiful! I remember getting this book back when it was released. The artwork style captivated me and I would find myself coveting the book like it was a prized heirloom.
1st edition all the way to Eastern Adventures is how I still play to this day. I had a subscription to Dragon Magazine throughout the entire 80s and use many of the supplements in these.
The cover is perfect. The rough and inconsistent artwork throughout all the AD&D books challenges the reader to imagine these things, as opposed to subsequent versions which spoon fed a stylized and often times boring aesthetic.
One of the things I look for in old school artwork, above technical precision, is the conveyance of mood and atmosphere, and there are a lot a great pieces in the DMG that do just that.
Perhaps true (and I generally agree, I enjoy pen/line art over the more "glossy" paintings of later editions), but it's only because in the early days they didn't have money for better art. Later printings, even under the same creative management (i.e. Gygax) had increased art budgets and it showed.
I've done a few "random roll" dungeons from the DMG tables. The "two ogres" treasure lesson inspired a lot of treasure troves that were mixed and needed sorting and decisions on what the PC's would carry off, and I loved the charts on various herbs, dungeon room types and gem types.
I used the appendixes of the DMG along with the Events and Encounters chapter of the Oriental adventures campaign book (and several tables from other sources, including issues of Dragon Magazine) to build a kind of random adventure machine. With this system I was able to play an entire long-run campaign with no dungeon master. Any time I had insomnia I would just play random generated dungeons, wilderness exploration, and loot tinkering. Because humans could retire old classes to pick up a new one it wasn't that hard to reach ridiculous levels (assuming your character managed to avoid death or level-drain.) This, folks, is how I used the random adventure machine to play from 1st level 300th. I really loved that character, but I never did get around to naming her. Oh well.
I didn't expect there to be an entire appendix to good fantasy and stuff you can read for inspiration. That's pretty cool and helps to give the reader something to look up if they need something. Another thing is that I am kind of surprised just how much STUFF is in this thing. Like there is no stone overlooked for this for this.
Sloppy, disjointed, chaotic mess...and still the definitive edition. There's just so much...more than what later D&D editions would bring to the table. Even now I'm impressed by the sheer amount of information included there. It's still my go to volume for designing unique and rare magical weapons and infernal tomes. The chapter on these virtually guarantees that no two 'Wands of Orcus' will resemble each other in differing campaigns, thus maintaining the mystery and excitement of discovering one for the first time.
I started playing in 1980. The 1e DMG has not lost any of its luster since I first read it, back then. I've been playing 2e since it was first published, in 1989, but I still use my 1e DMG... All the time. When my three sons turned 13, I gifted them the core books for both 1e, and 2e, inviting them to join in playing our family 2e game: 2e relies so heavily upon 1e books, that without them, they would be at a disadvantage. There are subtle things which were lost in the translation, so 1e books can fill in those blanks. My sons have discovered how useful their 1e DMG's are, over the course of the past 19 years. They often pull them out at my table, to look up key elements of their PC's magic items they have forgotten. The magic item listings are perhaps the most often used portions of the 1e DMG, for all of us, at my table. It is so convenient! 1e rules were written before the PC culture developed. It is not fair to view these rules through our current version of cultural rose-colored glasses. Don't worry, we are always wearing rose-colored glasses -- the tint changes over time, however, along with our views on what is acceptable, and what is not. For example, the scantily, to completely naked, women in the artwork, is not exactly welcome, today. You do not see fully nude women in today's D&D books. That is a cultural, and marketing, shift. Remember the Satanic Panic of the early 1980's? I still have the mental scars from that nonsense. When D&D Next/5e took off, I was concerned: the old wounds from the Satanic Panic ached. It seems as though the rose tint has shifted far enough that the S/P is gone for good. Back around 2003-2005, however, I was questioned on D&D being Satanic, again. It put my position within an organization, in jeopardy, since I freely shared that I played, "that game." I offered to show the material which inspired the S/T nonsense, so that I could demonstrate how irrational, and false, it was. My superior declined the offer, taking my word for it. Culture changes, and we usually change our attitudes with it. The 1e art, and male-centric tropes, are not politically acceptable, today. I am OK with that. I returned to play 1e rules, around five years ago. I ran the one-off game with my sons, and friends. We were all a bit stunned by what was missing from the game, compared to our 2e games. Still, it was very close, and it was very fun and challenging. Cheers!
A victim of the S/P, I had left the game until my son got 5E'd. Now it's a regular part of the. BTW I am an active member in full-standing of a Christian denomination.
@@ddickson1167 Yeah, me too. There has never been anything wrong with wanting to kick demon's butts into the ground. Oddly enough, my mom didn't freak out about anything Satanic - she had heard the news say it'd make kids kill themselves so I had to start with other games without that reputation. Star Frontiers was a great first love though. Years later when I had been playing other games for years my mom walked in on a D&D session and asked what we were playing. I told her D&D and she said, "oh, so that's what it is", pretty much shrugged, and left the room. It's funny how actually KNOWING what something is before freaking out about it works.
Appendix A... Your Mileage May Vary (YMMV) LOL Appendix O.. I am guessing most players didn't use encumbrance. The book also sometimes mentions details Mr. Gygax pulled from his own gameplay sessions, especially in the magical items section. Things related to the Greyhawk world.
I have 3 points on this. Firstly this book is still very useful today regardless of what edition you play. Secondly the design of the secret door that can lead to different areas depending on how it is opened is a lost art that needs to be revived. And finally ability scores ALWAYS go in the big box!
I can't believe after over 30 years looking at cover and I never realized it was one congruent picture, aside from what you pointed out of course. I knew this was going to be a good video!
Definitely the best thing about this book is the text. It feels like Gary is sitting right next to you, trying to explain how this cool game works. It feels like a conversation, after reading it you feel like you know the guy. It's a big contrast to the text on current editions, with lots and lots of rules but no soul.
45 years and I still use it! I've decided to start a 1st edition campaign! With all the trimmings! I recently got my millennial relatives into 5th edition(a few of them played 3.5) but I think it's about time to bring back the old school! At least they will have to use normal math instead of the worthless new math. DnD was a game that requires thinking not a tablet or a phone or even an app. Paper pencil and dice!
As always Captain,great video.This one is especially dear to me as this,along with 2nd edition AD&D,is the edition I prefer to play.(I actually use an amalgamation of 1st/2nd edition AD&D along with Advanced Labyrinth Lord and Osric).Thanks for the new upload.You're the man.Happy gaming.
Great stuff. I've been collecting 1e to replace the sets I had way back in the day. Going for original covers, of course! I've played 1e and got back into the game with 5e. I've enjoyed 5e but I feel there's a distinct shift in power dynamics from DM to player as far as rulings go, not to mention the flavour has gone from swords and sorcery (with elves and dwarves thrown in) to marvel superheroes in a high fantasy setting. I'm trying to set up a 1e game for a bit of Old School flavour revisiting. Thanks for the vids!
Most valuable things in this book for me: 1) The magic item lists, especially the artifact & relic lists - as you said, the only place many of those items ever appear. Ideas in just those pages for a hundred campaigns, and written with style that later books don’t always match. 2) The Example of Play section, which showed you how to turn this chaotic mess of rules and judgment calls into something that flows and is comprehensible and fun. I doubt I ever would have gotten a game together if not for that passage.
I'd love to see you do a video series on creating a campaign. It would be a great source for experienced and novice DMs alike. You could start from choosing the world and setting, plot elements of the campaign, then what modules to use and why. How you adapted a module to the campaign. It would show us how other dms think and that's always a great tool.
Great review! Although I'm a 2E DM myself, I think the 1E DMG is great and full precious advice on running the game. I check it frequently and every time I seem to find something new.
Can't get enough of WOTC allowing DriveThruRPG to POD the 'PREMIUM' re-prints/-re-issues of these books - still VERY relevant all these years later indeed.
It would not have surprised me if they hadn't included Tolkien, after his family had sued TSR for including "Hobbits" and "Ents" in the earlier editions of the game, resulting in "Halflings" and "Treants". (They also wanted "Elves," "Dwarves," "Orcs," "Wargs," "Goblins," and fucking "DRAGONS" to be removed... seriously... DRAGONS!) Tolkien had set out to create a new "Mythology" that other people could walk into and tell their own stories... it was "The Tolkien Estate" who turned it into a "Franchise Canon".
I have a book Gygax made about world building that recommends reading the Holy Bible, among a lot of other things. I always found that interesting. If I remember properly off the top of my head it says something about historical and religious world building.
@@NegatveSpace Yeah, that's a good idea. It gives a different take on the supernatural etc, written by people that had a very different perspective than we have today. Same for reading all varieties of old mythologies from around the world in their various forms (oral, written, etc) - standing in as other "religious texts" of their times.
Wonderful video. I sometimes pull out the original DMG just to read some of Gygax's prose. He had a very unique style of writing, the clarity of which is hard to match.
I still use the Mercenary Unit generator, the section on mercenary NPCs and the section on Sages all the time. And the Treasures section, while rather disjointed, is a wealth of information for any campaign.
You really should do a review of the infamous Chivalry & Sorcery 'Red Book'. If there was ever a more magical, concise, detailed and eminently unplayable tome, this would be it.
Absolutely it is still relevant. Even though I am "trapped" into playing 5e I still reference the AD&D DMG for tables, ideas, and just general information. The AD&D books are far superior to the ones that have come after. Of course, I own six copies.
The DMG is available print on demand again from DriveThruRPG! Just ordered through your link Cap'n. Bought the more expensive high quality paper one, both because hey, it's the DMG, want this awesome as possible, and out of hoping it gives you a bigger cut. BTW, the standard paper hardcover + PDF is $25, that's a Natural 20 value if I've ever seen one. Even the fancy-pants one I got was $43. Compare that to the fortune they want for the original print online.
Heck yeah! I still use this book on a weekly basis to find something it has/did better that a later DMG doesn't have or is harder to find. Great book - and the binding is still in perfect condition after all these years and after soooooo much use. Quality.
I think the cover looks awesome now that I've seen the back of it. I probably still prefer the cover I grew up with but now I am going to have to check to see what other of those early books have wraparound covers. I think the Monster Manual cover is about the most brilliant looking thing I've seen in my life. I thought that for sure when I first seen it back in grade 2 and I still sort of think it now.
I think the cover when viewed with the back in landscape looks almost like it is a mural that is painted on the wall. Perhaps the plane of fire magically burned a depiction of the encounter onto the wall eternalizing the battle for all of time.
It kind of looks that way, agreed, but if you follow the line of the floor/ wall angle the efreet is in the right place, but the two PCs are not. There was an artists blog I read a while back that overlaid the angles so you could more easily see the issue, but I can't seem to locate it at the moment.
I always look forward to you vids. Keep 'em coming. They have always been some of the first recommendations I click on. One thing I can say about the AD&D 1e DM's Guide, it's a far denser book than its modern counterpart, that's for sure. I love the make the artifact your own aspect, not to mention the herb and apothecary appendices. There are so many useful 'tables' in it, especially those Religious furnishings and articles, M-U furnishings, and an example of a mini-dungeon within. Appendix N drew me in, though; it invited me to try "new" books that I'd probably never have experienced, otherwise.
My brother added his own tweak to the AD&D base game that was a big hit with us: a critical hit chart, and critical miss chart. If you rolled a natural 20, you got to roll again and see what 0-99 the results were to the opponent. And on the other end, a natural 0 was a critical miss and a roll to see what happened to you. I once did the impossible, rolled a 0, then a 00, and chopped my own head off. Otherwise, we played it by the book. Good times!
I still visit the dungeon generation appendix for every one of my adventures, it keeps my dungeons from being musty and dank. The artifact section is pure gold. To have the agency of creation over artifacts makes them more mysterious, wondrous and dangerous. I've used the same artifact in multiple campaigns without my players ever noticing because I chose different abilities for it each time. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning the craft of DMing.
It's possible to go a little far that way though. As a DM I'd rather have my players have a vague estimation of their fighting power by seeing their To-Hit charts. Also, I don't want to have to look up the damn stuff each attack. Just tell me what AC you hit, helps me out.
I owe my love to English literature to the 1E D&D books. They contributed massively to the expansion of my vocabulary. I remember, back in the late 80's, when I started using Gygaxian terms in my essay papers; words like "betwixt", "milieu" and "antithesis of weal". I'm pretty sure that's when my English teacher began developing a brain aneurysm.
1st edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons DMG is still amazing. My mom bought it for me back in ‘79. I spent a long time reading it and generating dungeons. It’s the ONLY edition I’ve ever played. Still play. Talk about value. EGG created a masterpiece. He painted the cover like that to leave space for the spine lettering. :)
I've played every edition other than the white box set and enjoyed them. Some have fallen out of favor with me these days, but had fun at the time.
EGG's writing I still find fascinating. I do love reading the 1e books by him, they have a certain flavor that other books don't have - for better or worse at times. :)
I have every book for first edition AD@D, my kids now play it.
We're all still playing the game and loving it. No problem comparing editions to each other: we all have our special loves. But it's a grand game no matter what edition you're using, no sense hating on other editions
I couldn't agree more! We all love Dungeons and Dragons. :)
I still have my original books and sometimes miss playing AD&D. Thanks for sparking some of the old memories.
I still have mine! And I have many others. Early 80's was just the most awesome time ever! Yes, it was an awesome part of MY life - I turned 15 in 1980 - but it was just a better time for everyone back then. Especially compared to now. 😔
I followed the standard path commonly trod back in the day; started out with OD&D, "graduated" to AD&D and moved to the shiny new 2e when it came out. While 2e is still my favorite edition my game is really a hybrid of all the early stuff. It's maybe 85% 2e, 10% 1e and the remainder OD&D with a few house rules sprinkled in. As you say, whatever edition you play it's great to have the original 1e DMG! Gary was really a treasure, and while his prose could be rambling and hard to follow there was a free-form whimsy to the early days. Stuff wasn't overly codified and everything felt new. Later on and especially in 5e the magic is gone and things have settled into well worn tropes so it's good to go back to beginning. Those early days really caught lightning in a bottle! Thanks for a good video.
Between my older brother & I have many of the 1977 copies of The Dungeon Master Guide & as well as The Player Guide of D & D & Modules of the Game.
I got my copy Christmas day 1982. One of the best presents i ever got
My DMG was a Christmas present as well, 1981!
when i bought this book back in the day.... i carried it around with me in my book bag all the time. i carried it in my bag all thru middle school and high school. it was my favorite book period. today, i have it on my shelf along with the reprint. it's a fascinating piece of work and influenced me heavily all through my young life. it captured my imagination in a way that no other book had.
Yes, I carried it with me a lot as well! Great memories.
Hats off to the great illustrators of that book: Dave Trampier, Erol Otus and the others who helped stir the imaginations of so many people.
Yes, and yes.
As an actual artist, that offends me to my core. The "art" was all garbage.
@@gethrielWow, why don't you tell us how you really feel. I'm an actual artist, also, and the modern 'digital' stuff is over-rendered, lacks imagination and looks like it belongs at a goth festival. You must be thinking of Sutherland's work, it was pretty amateurish, but we all start somewhere. Are you published anywhere?
The best Xmas gift I ever got.
I got mine for Christmas too!!
I cut my teeth on this book. This is where it all began.
I traded a bunch of Nintendo stuff to a friend for his copy. It didn't have a cover. I used some sticker paper to keep the binding.
I read it over a summer and I'm sad that I never captured the Appendix N feel from this book after high school.
By that time everyone was playing Vampire.
When I went back to D&D, it was like running The Avengers. The baked in setting of 3rd edition was just not firing the valves in my head.
I love your channel. Thanks!
I book without a cover you SAY! My man, the AUTHOR did not receive his due royalties! That book was ear marked to be destroyed before some naive pilfered it from destruction! (nice history on your copy, you still satisfied with the Nintendo stuff you traded for it?
I recommend DMs of all editions to have a 1e DMG, as the disease tables and the essays on ecomics, ecology, etc, are still useful
The first edition books also had an earnestness to them that later editions, more refined as they were, simply lacked
It was Gary, our gaming peer, guiding us through what worked best for him. Newer editions feel more like corporate “product”
One of the few rules that we added in several campaigns was the Arduin Grimoir critical Hit and Fumble tables.
You needed to adjust them slightly by weapon use but it was pretty easy to do.
Other than that there were some spells from other games or supplements that were adjudicated using the DMG for play.
What’s great about the original AD&D edition: it was a mess of rules, but you sifted through them, pulled what you liked, and created your own game within the game. No two gaming groups played by the exact same rules, which made joining or forming a new group exciting!
This is the most useful book for any edition of D&D, and for other games as well. I have trained several new DMs in my years, and as part of their desire to get better, I always loan them one of my spare copies of the DMG so they can look through and see how much one book can stimulate their minds for creation. All of them have ended up getting a copy of their own and agreeing with me that it is eternally useful, whatever kind of campaign or adventure one is building. Love it.
Was having the Blues tonight. Thanks for posting this video, something to wash away the filth of sorrow........
man...
Sorry to hear you're down. Glad this helped!
After I stumbled upon your review a few months ago I made a point to obtain a copy of the original tome of knowledge and I can't thank you enough for recommending it so emphatically. I was brought in to the hobby in 5e and journeying back through the editions has been a joy beyond measure as I have been able to learn the heritage of this glorious game. Thank you for shedding a light upon these forgotten gems, I don't know where I'd be if I hadn't stumbled into the OSR.
Excellent commentary on a true classic' I began playing in my mid 20''s in the late 70's and loved the organic feel of the name. As the game progressed I purchased te 2nd Edition material as well. While somewhat interesting it felt too polished. I stopped playing in the early 90's and subsequently wanted to get back into playing. I have the 5E edition and I just find the heart and soul of the game is missing. Thank god I still have all y old editions as upon seeing your video I am definitely going back to the basics. Perhaps I can recapture some of the magic of playing.
What's often lost in modern versions of the game, is that even without special skills, abilities, feats, etc., a character with above-average attributes was ALREADY an above-average individual, hence the potential to be a hero. There is more to be said about a certain cultural shift in regards to the removal of the 3D6 Bell Curve (as opposed to the flat linear checks we've been accustomed to) then could be addressed here. This also explains the obvious disconnect in future editions in trying to justify a base class (such as 'Fighter') inclusive of other, obviously more powerful classes. 1st Ed. required (nay, demanded) you to randomly roll attributes and THEN choose a character class based on those rolls. Sometimes a Fighter was all you could be, with Palladin and Ranger unattainable to those with weaker scores. The Barbarian class introduced much later in Dragon Magazine was the first time a player could choose a class BEFORE he rolled, insuring the dice would give him favorable characteristics appropriate for the class.
Exactly right!!
Excellent. I still use Appendix A, C, and D for the solo aspect where you can create your own dungeon as you go when I'm bored sometimes.
I love both covers for this book. I had to have them both. This version was the first DandD book I ever owned as a kid. But, my DM had the other cover making it desireable to me in a nostalgic way. I love 1st edition so much. As good as 5e is, there's something truly special about 1st e.
Such of jumble of tiny text and numbers. No idea how I figured it all out as a kid. I do remember we thought that "open doors" applied to EVERY door. "Sorry, you failed to turn the handle."
Yeah I read the combat rules now and I'm like, how did i get through this as a kid? lol
A touchstone for 40 years. I've read everything in there two or three times,. A lot of the advice and principles in this book have served me well in other editions and even other games.
I just started switching to 5e from AD&D - looking forward to playing again.
I was a Second Edition / AD&D player, but man this was fun to watch. The original game that changed the world.
Glad you enjoyed it!!
I recently stumbled across your channel, and I've really been enjoying the content! I've been watching your retro reviews of the S series of modules and then I kept watching; this is really taking me back. Cheers!
Thanks. I try to keep it retro and fun. Glad to hear that you're enjoying!!
I just purchased replacements for my old copies of the DMG and Deities and Demigods. Already bought both vintage Monster Manuals and the Fiend Folio. I don't even play, never really did. The art, especially David Trampier, was always the appeal for me.
Incidentally, the cover art was Sutherland's illustration of one of the stories from Arabian Nights.
Omg they are so expensive to repurchase original d&d 1st edition books!
The Campaign section is by far the greatest tutorial for GMs and DMs of any flavour. Gygax knew how to weave a fabric for a story.
As always, you hit that nail with expert skill and accuracy. Thank you so very much.
Wow! Thank you!!
I first read the Black box by myself, having picked it up at a yard sale. But my friend in junior high had this book and I was fascinated by it. I finally got my own a couple of years later and it's remained my favorite D&D reference to this day. I love high gygaxian and reading through Gary's words, The DMG is interesting and was full of secrets to find. I always felt like it was written just for me
The 1E DMG is still my favorite DMG! So much useful stuff in it! And who can forget Papers and Paychecks or "Get Dave a Beer"!
The humor was a big part of the DMG as well. I agree. or the +2 back scratcher, and more.
Get Dave a Beer, just reading that and I can see the image in my head LOL
Papers and Paychecks NEVER gets old! 8>D
From one DJ and DM to another, thanks for your videos. I watch them all. I still play 1e with my group. I'd love to see a video on the 1e Manual Of The Planes. Thanks! Hopefully you can get back to work soon.
After all these years I still remember that page 75 is where the all important to hit charts are located.
YESSS.. OMG yes. There was a time the book would just naturally fall open to that page. lol.
Yep, I just had to pick mine up, gently release the covers and BOOM... that's where it would open. I remember some years later, when toying with the idea of switching to 2E and someone explained THAC0 to me that I went... "Holy Shit! That is GENIUS!!! I've been playing this thing for YEARS... I'm smart... how did I never figure that shit out for myself????"
I still have all the AD&D first edition books, and always will.
Great video! Appreciate the overview 👍
My mom bought me this and the other three original books as a bribe to go to junior assembly (manners and dance class). Gary Gygax was an insurance salesman and that's why he was so interested in the idea of luck and chance. Even if someone does everything right and is very prudent and responsible, there's always luck.
I started dungeons and dragons with second edition. Since then I’ve played third edition and fifth edition and now I’m greatly appreciating advanced dungeon dragons by Gary Gaag first edition. thank you for giving such a beautiful overview. This book is by far a secret of useful knowledge. In every addition forward of Dungeons & Dragons. Understanding this you understand what has changed over the game and Gary did with Gary did. It’s amazing and very useful. in fact, we really didn’t need any other additions then first addition I would gather.
Just stumbled apond your channel. Brings back alot of good memories playing when I was a kid kept me out of a lot of trouble growing up. Thank you and well-done a New sub.
Welcome aboard! Glad to have you!!
It's the best old school DnD channel.
It is for sure that, once a teen bought the 3 core books and tried the random dungeon generation and campaign design, they had no.more money or time for drugs!
You know that's right!
I had forgotten most of those details! Thanks for doing this video. I just pulled my copy of the shelf (the revised edition with the wizard opening a pair of massive vault doors to reveal a treasure pile) to have a look. One thing in particular I noticed was the description of the front cover... it still references the older cover!
But now I know to keep an eye on those appendices for reference in my future games, whether they be D&D, Pathfinder, or even Call of Cthulhu or others. Thanks for the video and the inspiration.
Excitement of playing D&D pulled me into reading. Purchasing the DMG was a huge investment for me at the time. I had already tried DM'ing. So getting this tome had a huge impact on me and my games. I still have all my original books.
Thanks for revisiting this Cap, I can still remember when I first stat down to fully read my DMs guide and how that led to my launching my first true campaign in AD&D. Hope you and your family are staying safe!
Yes, we're all doing fine. Hope you are as well! You're welcome!
Some of my best days were spent with this book and my friends.
Mine too!!
Bought my first coppy in the late 70's, later bought a second copy with the new cover when the first one's binding fell off from use. Still have em both and a ton of other stuff collected over the last 40 years.
1st-edition is complicated stuff, and you see a glimpse of the "paper computer" way of doing things in the 70s and 80s before computer games generated the dungeons and monsters, internalized the hit points and modifiers stuff and hid them out of sight.
This was a past when fans read it all; there is little "fluff". It should challenge us not to dumb down RPGs, but to build up ourselves personally to the point we can handle this stuff. Learn speed reading, learn the multiplication table if you didn't already.
Gygax insisted on uniform adherence to the rules, no modding, because that made tournaments possible where many tables played the same adventure and you could objectively decide who got through the scenario the best, or so it was hoped.
Complicated? Not in the slightest, I sat down at my first RPG playing 1st Edition AD&D and got the basics that first session. I was GM'ing a year latter. This may sound like I'm showing off, but I can assure you I am not the brightest spark in any room. I still play RPG's to this day 35 years later. I don't use computers to generate anything. Yeah my Character sheet is a fillable PDF, my books are PDF's. But all the stats are worked out as per normal. Find the section in the book that you need to understand, figure it out, make some choices, create your character. On average a fully fleshed out character with a backstory and history, desires and dreams, fears and weaknesses takes me a few days. A few hours here a few hours there. And will be tinkered with until the sessions starts.
Try reading The Wilderness Survival Guide for unnecessary rules. You'd probably be dead before you actually even got to fight any Kobolds, LOL.
The use of You, is used in a generic way and doesn't mean you as an individual.
IMO the only things that made the early editions of D&D complicated were the lack of standardized to-hit, saving throw, and advancement tables. Certainly, 5e is *less* complex -- some would harshly call it "dumbed-down" -- but that doesn't mean AD&D 1e was difficult to play or DM.
Yeah I agree, I don't use that phrase "Dumbed Down" though, as it could imply I'm superior and people who play 5e are somehow lesser. I haven't played AD&D since 2e, using lots of 1e rules alongside. I loved it back then for sure, it was my way in to role playing and then I moved on to other systems. The best system, is the system you currently enjoy playing.
I would invite you to delve deeply into the DMG in regards to how the game is SUPPOSED to be played versus how we actually played it. :)
- Read the rules on missile fire and melee combat. Firing into melee necessitated the DM to 'randomly determine among both foes and allies who got hit.
- Read the rules on grappling and overbearing.
- Read the rules on segmented initiative, and surprise.
- Read the rules on weapon attack modifications versus armor types.
- Read the rules on weapon speed factor.
I think if you actually integrated everything as written in the DMG that you're 'SUPPOSE' to, AD&D is VERY complex IMHO.
I completely agree. When people say 5E is 'dumbed down' I really feel sort of lost and I don't understand what game they're talking about to be honest. :)
5E has a rather complex timing/ turn system, with Actions, bonus actions and reactions. Now I LIKE how that is done, but when you start integrating class skills, and abilities in regards to some of these things it becomes rather interesting, and I'd say some situations are very complex, especially at higher levels.
Ahhhhh The nostalgia in this video is so beautiful! I remember getting this book back when it was released. The artwork style captivated me and I would find myself coveting the book like it was a prized heirloom.
This is a magical book. You open it to a page, any page, start reading and BAM, you now want to play some D&D!
I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels that way. :)
1st edition all the way to Eastern Adventures is how I still play to this day. I had a subscription to Dragon Magazine throughout the entire 80s and use many of the supplements in these.
The cover is perfect. The rough and inconsistent artwork throughout all the AD&D books challenges the reader to imagine these things, as opposed to subsequent versions which spoon fed a stylized and often times boring aesthetic.
One of the things I look for in old school artwork, above technical precision, is the conveyance of mood and atmosphere, and there are a lot a great pieces in the DMG that do just that.
Perhaps true (and I generally agree, I enjoy pen/line art over the more "glossy" paintings of later editions), but it's only because in the early days they didn't have money for better art. Later printings, even under the same creative management (i.e. Gygax) had increased art budgets and it showed.
I use the DMG to this day while running other FRPGs
I've done a few "random roll" dungeons from the DMG tables. The "two ogres" treasure lesson inspired a lot of treasure troves that were mixed and needed sorting and decisions on what the PC's would carry off, and I loved the charts on various herbs, dungeon room types and gem types.
Yeah, those area a lot of fun and really add character to an encounter when you include them.
I love your videos. Small audience, high quality content.
I'm working on the 'small audience' thing. :) Thank you!!
I used the appendixes of the DMG along with the Events and Encounters chapter of the Oriental adventures campaign book (and several tables from other sources, including issues of Dragon Magazine) to build a kind of random adventure machine. With this system I was able to play an entire long-run campaign with no dungeon master. Any time I had insomnia I would just play random generated dungeons, wilderness exploration, and loot tinkering. Because humans could retire old classes to pick up a new one it wasn't that hard to reach ridiculous levels (assuming your character managed to avoid death or level-drain.) This, folks, is how I used the random adventure machine to play from 1st level 300th. I really loved that character, but I never did get around to naming her. Oh well.
I didn't expect there to be an entire appendix to good fantasy and stuff you can read for inspiration. That's pretty cool and helps to give the reader something to look up if they need something. Another thing is that I am kind of surprised just how much STUFF is in this thing. Like there is no stone overlooked for this for this.
Agreed. Its pretty comprehensive, which is why its still a great resource to this day.
Sloppy, disjointed, chaotic mess...and still the definitive edition. There's just so much...more than what later D&D editions would bring to the table. Even now I'm impressed by the sheer amount of information included there. It's still my go to volume for designing unique and rare magical weapons and infernal tomes. The chapter on these virtually guarantees that no two 'Wands of Orcus' will resemble each other in differing campaigns, thus maintaining the mystery and excitement of discovering one for the first time.
Yes!! A tome of infinite combinations and magid!
It's funny, when people say DnD needs this or that... You can usually find this and that in "1st" edition.
@@BockwinkleB If not in first, then 2nd or BECMI. Anything after 2nd isn't D&D, it's d20.
Yes, both the 1E and 2E books could have used better editors. They were sloppy, disjointed and a bit of a mess.
I started playing in 1980. The 1e DMG has not lost any of its luster since I first read it, back then. I've been playing 2e since it was first published, in 1989, but I still use my 1e DMG... All the time. When my three sons turned 13, I gifted them the core books for both 1e, and 2e, inviting them to join in playing our family 2e game: 2e relies so heavily upon 1e books, that without them, they would be at a disadvantage. There are subtle things which were lost in the translation, so 1e books can fill in those blanks. My sons have discovered how useful their 1e DMG's are, over the course of the past 19 years. They often pull them out at my table, to look up key elements of their PC's magic items they have forgotten. The magic item listings are perhaps the most often used portions of the 1e DMG, for all of us, at my table. It is so convenient!
1e rules were written before the PC culture developed. It is not fair to view these rules through our current version of cultural rose-colored glasses. Don't worry, we are always wearing rose-colored glasses -- the tint changes over time, however, along with our views on what is acceptable, and what is not. For example, the scantily, to completely naked, women in the artwork, is not exactly welcome, today. You do not see fully nude women in today's D&D books. That is a cultural, and marketing, shift.
Remember the Satanic Panic of the early 1980's? I still have the mental scars from that nonsense. When D&D Next/5e took off, I was concerned: the old wounds from the Satanic Panic ached. It seems as though the rose tint has shifted far enough that the S/P is gone for good. Back around 2003-2005, however, I was questioned on D&D being Satanic, again. It put my position within an organization, in jeopardy, since I freely shared that I played, "that game." I offered to show the material which inspired the S/T nonsense, so that I could demonstrate how irrational, and false, it was. My superior declined the offer, taking my word for it.
Culture changes, and we usually change our attitudes with it. The 1e art, and male-centric tropes, are not politically acceptable, today. I am OK with that. I returned to play 1e rules, around five years ago. I ran the one-off game with my sons, and friends. We were all a bit stunned by what was missing from the game, compared to our 2e games. Still, it was very close, and it was very fun and challenging. Cheers!
A victim of the S/P, I had left the game until my son got 5E'd. Now it's a regular part of the. BTW I am an active member in full-standing of a Christian denomination.
@@ddickson1167 Yeah, me too. There has never been anything wrong with wanting to kick demon's butts into the ground.
Oddly enough, my mom didn't freak out about anything Satanic - she had heard the news say it'd make kids kill themselves so I had to start with other games without that reputation. Star Frontiers was a great first love though.
Years later when I had been playing other games for years my mom walked in on a D&D session and asked what we were playing. I told her D&D and she said, "oh, so that's what it is", pretty much shrugged, and left the room. It's funny how actually KNOWING what something is before freaking out about it works.
This is excellent! I never even knew the Dungeon's Master Guide was one picture on the front and the back?!
Appendix A... Your Mileage May Vary (YMMV) LOL Appendix O.. I am guessing most players didn't use encumbrance.
The book also sometimes mentions details Mr. Gygax pulled from his own gameplay sessions, especially in the magical items section. Things related to the Greyhawk world.
What a fun reminder on how good the 1st edition game really was. Gygax will always be the final authority on AD&D for me :)
I love the book a lot.
I'm up to 7 copies of it on my shelf. 😁
I have 3 points on this. Firstly this book is still very useful today regardless of what edition you play. Secondly the design of the secret door that can lead to different areas depending on how it is opened is a lost art that needs to be revived.
And finally ability scores ALWAYS go in the big box!
yes!
Regarding the cover, I must admit I never looked at both sides of the cover as a single drawing. Great observation.
Mine has always had a big black panther sticker covering the back, cause that was cool when I was like 12. lol.
Ha ha, so edgy! The things we think are cool when we're 12. Love it!
I always took it as them being just inside a cave or cavern, perhaps a building.
@@johnhansen4794 To be fair, a Black Panther sticker is cool. Just not on an original cover 1e DMG. :)
I can't believe after over 30 years looking at cover and I never realized it was one congruent picture, aside from what you pointed out of course. I knew this was going to be a good video!
Definitely the best thing about this book is the text. It feels like Gary is sitting right next to you, trying to explain how this cool game works. It feels like a conversation, after reading it you feel like you know the guy. It's a big contrast to the text on current editions, with lots and lots of rules but no soul.
Couldn't agree more!
45 years and I still use it! I've decided to start a 1st edition campaign! With all the trimmings! I recently got my millennial relatives into 5th edition(a few of them played 3.5) but I think it's about time to bring back the old school! At least they will have to use normal math instead of the worthless new math. DnD was a game that requires thinking not a tablet or a phone or even an app. Paper pencil and dice!
I miss old-school D&D so much . . .
No need to miss it. Get the books and play it!
As always Captain,great video.This one is especially dear to me as this,along with 2nd edition AD&D,is the edition I prefer to play.(I actually use an amalgamation of 1st/2nd edition AD&D along with Advanced Labyrinth Lord and Osric).Thanks for the new upload.You're the man.Happy gaming.
Great stuff. I've been collecting 1e to replace the sets I had way back in the day. Going for original covers, of course! I've played 1e and got back into the game with 5e. I've enjoyed 5e but I feel there's a distinct shift in power dynamics from DM to player as far as rulings go, not to mention the flavour has gone from swords and sorcery (with elves and dwarves thrown in) to marvel superheroes in a high fantasy setting. I'm trying to set up a 1e game for a bit of Old School flavour revisiting. Thanks for the vids!
Most valuable things in this book for me:
1) The magic item lists, especially the artifact & relic lists - as you said, the only place many of those items ever appear. Ideas in just those pages for a hundred campaigns, and written with style that later books don’t always match.
2) The Example of Play section, which showed you how to turn this chaotic mess of rules and judgment calls into something that flows and is comprehensible and fun. I doubt I ever would have gotten a game together if not for that passage.
Oh my gosh, yes. I love the magic item lists. Fun reading!
Still have mine, and still running my campaign using 1st edition rules. My world has evolved a lot over the decades!
I'd love to see you do a video series on creating a campaign. It would be a great source for experienced and novice DMs alike. You could start from choosing the world and setting, plot elements of the campaign, then what modules to use and why. How you adapted a module to the campaign. It would show us how other dms think and that's always a great tool.
I appreciate the vote of confidence. I have done two sandbox campaign videos already. Have you watched those?
@@captcorajus 😆 no I missed those somewhere along the line.
Great review!
Although I'm a 2E DM myself, I think the 1E DMG is great and full precious advice on running the game. I check it frequently and every time I seem to find something new.
Yes, agreed. I am running 5E at the moment, but I still consult and use things from the 1E DMG, and have through every edition
2E is pretty much 1.5. I like it.
Can't get enough of WOTC allowing DriveThruRPG to POD the 'PREMIUM' re-prints/-re-issues of these books - still VERY relevant all these years later indeed.
Yeah, that's pretty awesome isn't it??
"Note that there's not a bit of Tolkien anywhere" ...yet it's listed right there, under Tolkien, J.R.R.
So there is. shhh.
@@captcorajus Gary borrowed an awful lot from a series he didn't like. :) Can anyone TRULY hate LotR, even if it's not their fav?
It would not have surprised me if they hadn't included Tolkien, after his family had sued TSR for including "Hobbits" and "Ents" in the earlier editions of the game, resulting in "Halflings" and "Treants".
(They also wanted "Elves," "Dwarves," "Orcs," "Wargs," "Goblins," and fucking "DRAGONS" to be removed... seriously... DRAGONS!)
Tolkien had set out to create a new "Mythology" that other people could walk into and tell their own stories... it was "The Tolkien Estate" who turned it into a "Franchise Canon".
I have a book Gygax made about world building that recommends reading the Holy Bible, among a lot of other things. I always found that interesting. If I remember properly off the top of my head it says something about historical and religious world building.
@@NegatveSpace Yeah, that's a good idea. It gives a different take on the supernatural etc, written by people that had a very different perspective than we have today. Same for reading all varieties of old mythologies from around the world in their various forms (oral, written, etc) - standing in as other "religious texts" of their times.
Wonderful video. I sometimes pull out the original DMG just to read some of Gygax's prose. He had a very unique style of writing, the clarity of which is hard to match.
I remember the charts best. Every class had its own charts. I also enjoyed the random dungeon generation tables.
Thanks for the great video! Came from 5e, and wanted to learn the earliest version of D&D.
I still use the Mercenary Unit generator, the section on mercenary NPCs and the section on Sages all the time. And the Treasures section, while rather disjointed, is a wealth of information for any campaign.
You really should do a review of the infamous Chivalry & Sorcery 'Red Book'. If there was ever a more magical, concise, detailed and eminently unplayable tome, this would be it.
I've had this book since the early 80s and I jut discovered that it was one continuous painting on the cover.
Absolutely it is still relevant. Even though I am "trapped" into playing 5e I still reference the AD&D DMG for tables, ideas, and just general information. The AD&D books are far superior to the ones that have come after. Of course, I own six copies.
One subject that I never get bored of. You did a great job on this one Captain!
I laughed when you said gambling games should be included under random traps table G! Very funny, sir.
The DMG is available print on demand again from DriveThruRPG! Just ordered through your link Cap'n. Bought the more expensive high quality paper one, both because hey, it's the DMG, want this awesome as possible, and out of hoping it gives you a bigger cut.
BTW, the standard paper hardcover + PDF is $25, that's a Natural 20 value if I've ever seen one. Even the fancy-pants one I got was $43. Compare that to the fortune they want for the original print online.
Heck yeah! I still use this book on a weekly basis to find something it has/did better that a later DMG doesn't have or is harder to find. Great book - and the binding is still in perfect condition after all these years and after soooooo much use. Quality.
I've always been careful with mind. Always keeping it on a book shelf, etc. Still looks mostly brand new after 40 years :)
I think the cover looks awesome now that I've seen the back of it. I probably still prefer the cover I grew up with but now I am going to have to check to see what other of those early books have wraparound covers. I think the Monster Manual cover is about the most brilliant looking thing I've seen in my life. I thought that for sure when I first seen it back in grade 2 and I still sort of think it now.
I recently ordered the 1e core books and unearth arcana (hardcover)! so excited to get them! I might even try to run the game
The Captain knows his epic D&D lore !
Been playing since 1976.Lots of memories.Thanks.
You're very welcome!!
I think the cover when viewed with the back in landscape looks almost like it is a mural that is painted on the wall. Perhaps the plane of fire magically burned a depiction of the encounter onto the wall eternalizing the battle for all of time.
It kind of looks that way, agreed, but if you follow the line of the floor/ wall angle the efreet is in the right place, but the two PCs are not. There was an artists blog I read a while back that overlaid the angles so you could more easily see the issue, but I can't seem to locate it at the moment.
I always look forward to you vids. Keep 'em coming. They have always been some of the first recommendations I click on.
One thing I can say about the AD&D 1e DM's Guide, it's a far denser book than its modern counterpart, that's for sure. I love the make the artifact your own aspect, not to mention the herb and apothecary appendices. There are so many useful 'tables' in it, especially those Religious furnishings and articles, M-U furnishings, and an example of a mini-dungeon within. Appendix N drew me in, though; it invited me to try "new" books that I'd probably never have experienced, otherwise.
Yes, absolutely And they are system agnostic so really you can use this book for any edition of D&D or fantasy rpg for that matter. Its timeless.
My brother added his own tweak to the AD&D base game that was a big hit with us: a critical hit chart, and critical miss chart. If you rolled a natural 20, you got to roll again and see what 0-99 the results were to the opponent. And on the other end, a natural 0 was a critical miss and a roll to see what happened to you. I once did the impossible, rolled a 0, then a 00, and chopped my own head off. Otherwise, we played it by the book. Good times!
Lol... and THAT'S why I never played with critical hit charts! Fun though!
I still visit the dungeon generation appendix for every one of my adventures, it keeps my dungeons from being musty and dank.
The artifact section is pure gold. To have the agency of creation over artifacts makes them more mysterious, wondrous and dangerous. I've used the same artifact in multiple campaigns without my players ever noticing because I chose different abilities for it each time.
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning the craft of DMing.
Absolutely true!! and yes, i do the same for with my dungeons as well.
Still have my first edition books after all these years. :)
I have lent this book to more new dungeon masters than I can remember and I have only ever gotten it back once.
I think the full cover isn't meant to be interpreted literally. It's just a conglomerate series of scenes melded together into a single painting.
From back in the day mechanics were hidden from players instead of exploited by players. It will just never be the same to me.
It's possible to go a little far that way though. As a DM I'd rather have my players have a vague estimation of their fighting power by seeing their To-Hit charts. Also, I don't want to have to look up the damn stuff each attack. Just tell me what AC you hit, helps me out.
My favorite D&D alongside the BECMI.
@captcorajus
17:28 The Hobbit is listed...and Tolkien is listed there. *Edit *
Nevermind this was already pointed out.
Don't worry, I'm sure you won't be the last! lol
This edition is best of them all imo. I find it way more gamey and imaginative then the last 25 years or so. This edition is my go to!