 The original Dungeons & Dragons set | |
| Authors | Gary Gygax Dave Arneson |
|---|---|
| Genre | Role-playing game |
| Publisher | TSR, Inc. |
Publication date | 1974 |
| Media type | Boxed set |
The original Dungeons & Dragons (commonly abbreviated D&D) boxed set by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson was published by TSR, Inc. in 1974. It included the original edition of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. Its product designation was TSR 2002.
The original Dungeons & Dragons boxed set was the first published role-playing game, a fantasy game system modeled on medieval Europe. [1] This set introduced elements which would become standard in later editions, including abilities (such as strength, intelligence, and dexterity); character classes (fighting-man, magic-user, cleric) and character levels; races (human, dwarf, elf, halfling); armor class; monsters and treasure; underground dungeons consisting of halls, rooms, and doors protected by tricks and traps; and magic items, such as intelligent swords. [1] The set also presents rules for travelling through the wilderness by land and sea, hiring specialists as well as men-at-arms, constructing fortifications and establishing baronies. [1] The set defines movement rates and areas are using inches, like that of the miniatures rules from which the system descended. [1]
The set also included brief guidelines on using monsters as player characters.
This set features only a handful of the elements for which the game is known today: just three character classes (fighting-man, magic-user, and cleric); four races (human, dwarf, elf, hobbit); and only three alignments (lawful, neutral, and chaotic). The rules assume that players have owned and have played the miniatures wargame Chainmail and that they have used its measurement and combat systems. An optional combat system is included within the rules that later developed into the sole combat system of later versions of the game. In addition, the rules presumed ownership of Outdoor Survival , an Avalon Hill board game for outdoor exploration and adventure.
The Men & Magic booklet only recommends using miniatures "if the players have them available and so desire", because they were not a necessary component of the game and cardboard counters were instead suggested as an alternative. [2]
The Monsters & Treasure booklet contains some of the first depictions of the game's most iconic monsters, many of which were adapted from mythology and various literary works.
The initial printing of the set referred to some of the creatures in the game as "hobbits" and "ents" after J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth creatures, although after legal difficulties these names were changed to "halflings" and "treants", respectively. [1]
The original Dungeons & Dragons set, subtitled Rules for Fantastic Medieval Wargames Campaigns Playable with Paper and Pencil and Miniature Figures, was written by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and was published by TSR in 1974 as a digest-sized boxed set in a brown wood-grain box. [1] The set included three digest-sized books: the 36-page "Volume 1: Men & Magic", the 40-page "Volume 2: Monsters & Treasure", and the 36-page "Volume 3: The Underworld & Wilderness Adventures". [2] The set also included six reference sheets of tables and charts. [1] Advertisements for the game first started appearing in Spring 1974. [3]
With a production budget of only $2000 to produce a thousand copies, the result was amateurish. [4] : 26 Only $100 was budgeted for artwork, and Gygax pressed into service just about anyone who could hold a pencil, including local artist Cookie Corey; Greg Bell, a member of Jeff Perren's gaming group; D&D co-creator Dave Arneson; Gygax's wife's half-sister Keenan Powell; and fellow TSR co-founder Don Kaye. [4] : 20–26 Each artist was paid $2 for a small piece or $3 for a larger piece, with an identical amount paid as a royalty every time another thousand copies were printed. [4] : 20–26
Several of Greg Bell's illustrations were based on comic book art, often from Strange Tales . The illustration of a sorcerer before a blazing cauldron in the second book is based on a panel from a Dr. Strange story in Strange Tales No. 167. [4] : 24 The cover art showing a sword-wielding Viking warrior on a rearing horse was also copied from Strange Tales #167. [4] : 24
This first set went through many printings [5] and was supplemented with several official additions, including Greyhawk and Blackmoor in 1975, and Eldritch Wizardry , Gods, Demi-Gods & Heroes , and Swords & Spells in 1976. Later printings, beginning in 1976, came in an all-white box, [1] and added the label "Original Collector's Edition". [6] The initial printing of the "Men & Magic" booklet had an illustration of a mounted warrior on the cover, while the 1976 printing featured a fighter with a sword. [1]
The original Dungeons & Dragons was re-released in 2013, as part of a deluxe, premium collectors set which includes reprints of the original boxed set booklets and the first four supplement booklets in a wooden box. Each booklet comes with new cover art but is otherwise a faithful reproduction of the original, including original interior art. [7]
Tim Waddell reviewed the original Dungeons & Dragons in The Space Gamer #2. [8] Waddell commented that "The most stimulating part of the game is the fact that anything can happen. Nothing is impossible." [8] Andy Pudewa also reviewed the original Dungeons & Dragons in The Space Gamer #2. [9] Pudewa said that "As a game, D&D is a fantastical outlet for the imagination. It has the quality of being infinitely flexible, and with it comes the reality of impossibility. [...] There are drawbacks to the game however; as there are in any game. D&D cannot even begin to get interesting in less than 20 hours playing time. Hundreds of hours of work must be done ahead of time by the referee, and it takes a fairly long time to prepare on the part of the players." [9]
Gary Gygax won the Strategists Club's "Outstanding Designer & Writer" for the creation of Dungeons & Dragons. [10] The set is also an H.G. Wells award-winner. [1]
On December 9, 2016, a first printing of the boxed set was sold on an eBay auction for over $20,000. [4] : 424
Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally created and designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (TSR). It has been published by Wizards of the Coast, now a subsidiary of Hasbro, since 1997. The game was derived from miniature wargames, with a variation of the 1971 game Chainmail serving as the initial rule system. D&D's publication is commonly recognized as the beginning of modern role-playing games and the role-playing game industry, and also deeply influenced video games, especially the role-playing video game genre.
Ernest Gary Gygax was an American game designer and author best known for co-creating the pioneering tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) with Dave Arneson.
TSR, Inc. was an American game publishing company, best known as the original publisher of Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). Its earliest incarnation, Tactical Studies Rules, was founded in October 1973 by Gary Gygax and Don Kaye. Gygax had been unable to find a publisher for D&D, a new type of game he and Dave Arneson were co-developing, so he founded the new company with Kaye to self-publish their products. Needing financing to bring their new game to market, Gygax and Kaye brought in Brian Blume in December as an equal partner. Dungeons & Dragons is generally considered the first tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG), and established the genre. When Kaye died suddenly in 1975, the Tactical Studies Rules partnership restructured into TSR Hobbies, Inc. and accepted investment from Blume's father Melvin. With the popular D&D as its main product, TSR Hobbies became a major force in the games industry by the late 1970s. Melvin Blume eventually transferred his shares to his other son Kevin, making the two Blume brothers the largest shareholders in TSR Hobbies.
David Lance Arneson was an American game designer best known for co-developing the first published role-playing game (RPG), Dungeons & Dragons, with Gary Gygax, in the early 1970s. Arneson's early work was fundamental to the role-playing game (RPG) genre, pioneering devices now considered to be archetypical, such as cooperative play to develop a storyline instead of individual competitive play to "win" and adventuring in dungeon, town, and wilderness settings as presented by a neutral judge who doubles as the voice and consciousness of all characters aside from the player characters.
Blackmoor is a fantasy role-playing game campaign setting generally associated with the game Dungeons & Dragons. It originated in the early 1970s as the personal setting of Dave Arneson, the co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons, as an early testing ground for what would become D&D.
The Keep on the Borderlands is a Dungeons & Dragons adventure module by Gary Gygax, first printed in December 1979. In it, player characters are based at a keep and investigate a nearby series of caves that are filled with a variety of monsters. It was designed to be used with the Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set, and was included in the 1979–1982 editions of the Basic Set. It was designed for people new to Dungeons & Dragons.
An owlbear is a fictional creature originally created for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. An owlbear is depicted as a cross between a bear and an owl, which "hugs" like a bear and attacks with its beak. Inspired by a plastic toy made in Hong Kong, Gary Gygax created the owlbear and introduced the creature to the game in the 1975 Greyhawk supplement; the creature has since appeared in every subsequent edition of the game. Owlbears, or similar beasts, also appear in several other fantasy role-playing games, video games and other media.
Chainmail is a medieval miniature wargame created by Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren. Gygax developed the core medieval system of the game by expanding on rules authored by his fellow Lake Geneva Tactical Studies Association (LGTSA) member Jeff Perren, a hobby-shop owner with whom he had become friendly. Guidon Games released the first edition of Chainmail in 1971.
Several different editions of the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fantasy role-playing game have been produced since 1974. The current publisher of D&D, Wizards of the Coast, produces new materials only for the most current edition of the game. However, many D&D fans continue to play older versions of the game and some third-party companies continue to publish materials compatible with these older editions.
Eldritch Wizardry is a supplementary rulebook by Gary Gygax and Brian Blume, written for the original edition of the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fantasy role-playing game, which included a number of significant additions to the core game. Its product designation is TSR 2005.
Greyhawk is a supplementary rulebook written by Gary Gygax and Robert J. Kuntz for the original edition of the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fantasy role-playing game. It has been called "the first and most important supplement" to the original D&D rules. Although the name of the book was taken from the home campaign supervised by Gygax and Kuntz based on Gygax's imagined Castle Greyhawk and the lands surrounding it, Greyhawk did not give any details of the castle or the campaign world; instead, it explained the rules that Gygax and Kuntz used in their home campaign, and introduced a number of character classes, spells, concepts and monsters used in all subsequent editions of D&D.
Blackmoor is a supplementary rulebook of the original edition of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game written by Dave Arneson.
Swords & Spells is a supplementary rulebook by Gary Gygax for the original edition of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. Its product designation is TSR 2007.
The Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set is a set of rulebooks for the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fantasy role-playing game. First published in 1977, it saw a handful of revisions and reprintings. The first edition was written by J. Eric Holmes based on Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson's original work. Later editions were edited by Tom Moldvay, Frank Mentzer, Troy Denning, and Doug Stewart.
Brian John Blume was an American game designer and writer, principally known as a former business partner of Gary Gygax at TSR, Inc., original publishers of the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons.
The Dungeons & Dragons Companion Set is an expansion boxed set for the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fantasy role-playing game. It was first published in 1984 as an expansion to the Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set.
Dungeons & Dragons Immortals Rules, written by Frank Mentzer, is a boxed set for the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fantasy role-playing game first published by TSR in 1986 as an expansion to the Basic Set.
The Expert Set is an expansion boxed set for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. It was first published in 1981 as an expansion to the Basic Set.
The First Fantasy Campaign is a supplement for fantasy role-playing games written by Dave Arneson and published by Judges Guild in 1977.
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, gnomes are one of the core races available for play as player characters. Some speculate that they are closely related to dwarves; however, gnomes are smaller and more tolerant of other races, nature, and magic. Depending on the setting and subrace, they are often skilled with illusion magic or engineering. Gnomes are small humanoids, standing 3–3.5 feet (91–107 cm) tall.