In 1980, I bought the Monster Manual for $7, the Player's Handbook for $8, and the Dungeon Master's Guide for $9. I was earning $1/hour, babysitting kids as often as I could, to make money -- I was 15 years old at that time. It took me months to buy all three books . I still use my 1e books, even though I play 2e AD&D, only. They are still useful, still classic, still never equaled by any subsequent editions. Cheers!
Those are some great prices, but I bet as a kid it felt like a fortune! I bought a few of my D&D books/adventures from washing cars and mowing lawns, so I can relate! Thanks for watching and commenting!
I recently bought a bunch of these at an estate sale. Truth be told I probably paid too much for them but they've been a good nostalgia read. Now if only I could find myself a +2 Backscratcher...
Pathfinder Ultimate Equipment includes an item called the Staff of One Hundred Hands, which lets you cast the various Bigby spells (along with mage hand for free), but unfortunately there's no note that it can become a +2 backscratcher with the appropriate command word.
Man, these videos make me feel old. Those covers of the original AD&D books bring back the memories. I'd love to somehow know the hours I spent as a kid reading and rereading them. I think I had the stats on every monster in the MM memorized at one point, friends used to test me by randomly picking one and asking questions.
Seems we were somewhat similar that way. I memorized the ability score minimums and maximums for the different classes and races in the 1E Player's Handbook, and then at school, any time during the day a number came up between 3 and 18 (a teacher said it, a student said it, someone was wearing a jersey with a number...) I'd write it down. Once I had six of those (in order: STR, INT, WIS, DEX, CON, CHA) I'd figure out what character class they could qualify for, then make a list and assign a number to each, and the next time that number came up, that was the character! I made a LOT of NPCs that way! Thanks for sharing your memories! I always enjoy hearing about how others experienced the game back in the day!
Nice vid. I recently decided to reacquire most of these books. IN two months I have gotten everything except the MM2. Not bad for New Zealand where D&D was such a tiny hobby that back in the day I think we all knew each other (most of us were already known through wargaming).
Thank you so much for watching and commenting! Wow! That is quite a feat! As you can see from the video, I'm just missing a Manual of the Planes and ideally one day I'd like to get an original Sutherland cover of the DMG. I never really intended to get the revised Easley covers but by the time I got the DMG as a gift, that was the only version my mom could find.
@@danielrowan4716 Yeah I wanted physical books. I actually have pdfs and printed them out and just spiral bound them, but still not the same:) Cheers Daniel.
Thanks for the video! I love the survival guides as DMG extensions. I don't feel the need to have them at the table but as long as a DM has read through them, the DM is equipped to adjudicate most anything that might come up in the game, IMO.
Thank you so much for watching and commenting! I'm glad you enjoyed it, and that's also you have all your old books. As you could see, I'm missing a few, but I really never intended to collect the Easley revised covers. I just need Manual of the Planes and ideally I'd like to someday get a Sutherland cover of the DMG.
I just recently pulled all my old D&D stuff out of my parents attic, so I’ve been reconnecting with all these old hardbacks. Cool to see I didn’t miss any.
Oh wow - you had all of these! That is an impressive feat! As you saw in the video, I'm still missing one (Manual of the Planes), plus ideally I'd like an original Sutherland cover of the Dungeon Master's Guide.
I started playing Original D&D back in very late 1976 or very early 1977. The Monster Manual first came out in December of 1977 as you state. But the price was not $12.00, but rather 9.99. I remember this because it was the same price as the Original D&D White Box set. Otherwise a very good video. Thanks.
Oh man this video is nailing my nostalgia buttons. My friends and I had a lot of fun with all of these books. I really loved that Deities and Demigods book and Fiend Folio, putting my players up against those Cthulhu creatures was always fun (for me anyway 🙂). I remember getting those Survival Guides (along with the bundled adventures) from Wargames West out of Albuquerque. They used to let me pay C.O.D. That isn't even a thing any more. LOL!!!
Thank you so much for watching and commenting! I'm really glad you enjoyed the video. I'm a little bit jealous that you had a Cthulhu version of Deities & Demigods back in the day. I totally would've used a lot of those creatures had I had access to it, but I only had the later printing and didn't get a Cthulhu version until the Pandemic lockdowns, when I was saving money from going out to eat, going to the pub, and buying comics (since there weren't new comics being printed for a bit)!
Brought some serious nostalgia for me. My first books were the Jeff Easily AD&D books. We ended up blending 1st and 2nd together to do our own thing but I had so much fun and this was a nice trip down memory lane. Thanks, Martin!
I love hearing this! Thanks so much for watching and commenting. I remember when 2E came out, my new group had switched to playing Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, but I was working on a campaign setting (a "proto-version" of the campaign setting I'm still using for my 3.X game that started in May 2001) and I, too, blended 1st and 2nd together when creating my NPCs and such (I still had Cavaliers, Barbarians and Assassins but I created new kits for them in the style of the 2E kits, for example).
@@daddyrolleda1 I love that. Those kinds of modifications are what makes your games YOUR games. I think many struggle with understanding how that’s done. I feel like that was really common back then
Nice trip down memory lane. And, wow! I can't believe how nice your copy of the first Deities and Demigods is. Just having one is rare, and mine looks like crap. :-)
Thanks for watching and commenting! I appreciate it! And I have to give credit where it's due, in that that Cthulhu D&DG is not my original - I acquired that off Ebay in the first months of the pandemic lockdowns after realizing I was saving money from not buying new comic books and not going out to movies, dinner, or the pub. The person I purchased it from kept it in great condition, as you saw. My original Deities & Demigods is the one I show with my name on the inside front cover. I've had that one for about 40 years.
@@daddyrolleda1 Yeah, my Oriental Adventures is in in really good shape because I barely used it. Although that spine problem on OE -- even my almost mint copy of OE has the spine problem.
Thanks for this video. A great trip down memory lane! I must have been among the first people in the UK to have the MM2. I believe it was released at (US) Gen Con in 1983, so July or August. I wasn’t at the con but did come back from a holiday to the US in, I think, August ‘83. I recall that the comic/bookstore that I got it from in the US had only just received it themselves. When I showed it to my gaming friends in the UK, they were amazed! Back then, it took many months for books released in the US to be sold in the UK. I remember eagerly awaiting the release of the UA and loving it when I finally got my hands on it. It had a lot of errors, so much so that a pullout errata had to be published for it in Dragon Magazine. I pasted mine in my UA. I got L&L when it came out with the Easley cover. I didn’t acquire D&DG until the ‘90s when I bought a couple of secondhand copies with the Cthulhu and Melniboné mythoi. Neither was in perfect shape but my mother, a qualified craft bookbinder, was able to make them look almost new.
I had all the books you mention up to and including the Fiend Folio as a teenager. Have managed to collect the rest over the last few years. I so need to go through and read them all.
That's fantastic! Glad you were able to collect all of them. I should shortly be completing my collection with the last book I need. Thank you so much for watching and commenting. I hope you enjoyed the episode.
Very cool! I have all 14 of the unique AD&D books (from the late 70s and 80s) and acquired two of the Easley reprints from a short-box crammed full of D&D stuff that I paid $100 for back in the early 90s -- Yes $100 dollars total for a box crammed with 1st Ed and 2nd Ed adventures, supplements, and rule books!! So, I have all of them -- I only count the unique books -- so I count 14 as complete -- don't care about the Easley cover versions, and no intention of getting the two Easley cover versions I don't have, the Easley cover Monster Manual and the Easley Cover Legends & Lore.
I can honestly say this was awesome. I also STILL bust open my 1st edition stuff. I have been playing since 1979 and still play 3.0-3.5 edition today. 45 years of DnD.....
Thank you so much! I'm so glad you enjoyed the video. This was one of my favorite ones to make - I always enjoy the ones where I can show the old books/supplements "in person" rather than just PDFs, but I do have to do that from time-to-time. I really appreciate you watching and commenting, and also your support. of the channel. Cheers!
These things were everywhere back in the day, and turned up in the strangest places. I bought my PHB off a spinner rack in a Hallmark Card store tucked away in a local strip mall.
As a kid in the 80's when this came out, I was super excited! New classes (this was the main thing for me, as I was always a sucker for new classes, even though I already had Dragon #69 and #72, so I had 2/3 of the new classes), expanded demi-human level limits (I'd also already seen this in Dragon), new weapon, new spells... It all seemed fantastic to me. I wasn't smart enough at the time to understand that the Barbarian and Cavalier weren't "balanced." so the power creep never occurred to me.
@Daddy Rolled a 1 There was a guy in my group with a Drow Elf Cavalier, but he insisted he suffered no penalties in sunlight because "reasons". Thus, I welcomed the transition to 2nd edition.
I never quite understood why people think it "broke the game" It did no such thing. This isn't a video game, you aren't locked into anything. If something "seemed" unbalanced, as a DM you have full control over the world you create. I highly doubt Gary would have just dumped some haphazard garbage into his lifes work. It all worked just fine. Not trying to sound harsh here with my comments, but over the years when I have come across these kinds of statements, it all just seems grossly exaggerated.
@@gmee123 I agree -- I just looked at UA as some new rules and classes. IMO some people let rules break the game -- because the DM doesn't step in and do some arbitration.
@@daddyrolleda1 Yes, enjoyed the progression. And I actually can't think of anyone who has done the full progression of AD&D 1st Ed books before on TH-cam, tons of videos on the progression of the 8 OD&D booklets (9 if you count Chain Mail -- which I don't) -- but this one I think may have been a first!! Great job!!
I'm really glad to hear that! I had a lot of fun putting that video together, and it was made easier for me in that I had all of the actual books, except one (which I've now rectified). Thank you so much for watching and commenting! Glad it made your bus trip fun!
Very informative. I recall coming into D&D around 1989 or '90 and I could not wrap my head around Grayhawk and Forgotten Realms. I didn't see what made them what they were or why they even existed; nothing stood out. Dragonlance made sense because it was a different world with different classes and a whole different approach to clerics and magic. Later, Dark Sun was obviously starkly different, and Al-Quadim as well. Add to that SpelllJammer, Ravenloft and Planescape. Still, I did not understand the significance of FR or GH. If only someone would have come along and said "They are the worlds you play normal D&D in." I would have bought them up like I did the others I mentioned. Back then you really couldn't look up the history of the game too easily, and I think that missing history was what kept me from jumping on board with come of the other settings.
Thank you so much for watching and commenting. This is a really interesting perspective - I'd never really thought of it! Would you find some videos about the history of the different campaign worlds something of interest? I could work on those if you think it's be interesting to watch.
@@daddyrolleda1 I definitely would just for nostalgia. I have the 1e Forgotten Realms campaign set and the World of Greyhawk game setting boxed set. I hardly played the Greyhawk setting wasn’t as appealing as FR to me.
Yes, you're totally right. Things have changed. Mainly Wikipedia, which is amazing in terms of TTRPG historical info -- all of the 14 AD&D 1st Ed unique books -- have detailed Wikipedia entries. So much historical information on D&D so easily available. And that doesn't even count some excellent TTRPG history books like Peterson's seminal "Playing at the World" and Shannon Applecline's amazing "Designers & Dragons" series. And then you get awesome summarizations with personal stories in Daddy Rolled a 1's videos. Really like Daddy Rolled a 1's content because it makes the history -- very consumable for a lot of people. Still haven't run into someone who's read "Playing at the World" cover to cover like I have, although I'm sure some people have -- but yikes that book is intimidating -- and chapters 2 through 4 IMO were a real slog! 😂
Thanks for the video. Just a minor correction: by the time the first AD&D book was printed the name of the company was no longer Tactical Studies Rules. Their name was changed to TSR Hobbies Inc in 1975.
Thanks for watching and commenting. And that's a good point. I know the name changed, but even as a kid back when I started in the hobby, I just used them interchangeably. I'll be more precise in my next video.
You're a person over my own heart. Yeah, a tiny -- inconsistency -- but nice to be super accurate with this stuff. I always just used the initials when I referred to them.
I'm so glad you liked it! Thank you so much for watching and commenting. I hope you stay tuned for future videos about the history of D&D and other TTRPGs. Cheers!
These were the books of my childhood. This was very nice to listen to as I work of my game. Also, I have a collection of old D&D books I am looking to find a new home for, including the manual of the planes.
I am so glad you enjoyed the video. I've been hearing from a lot of folks recently who like to listen to the videos while doing other activities, so you're not alone! Shortly after I made this video, a very nice person on Reddit contacted me and sent me, gratis, his extra copy of Manual of the Planes, which is in really great shape aside from someone's name being written in the inside front cover, so I finally completed my collection! Not sure if you were offering yours up for, but let me know! I am still looking to acquire an original cover of the Dungeon Masters Guide (the Sutherland cover with the Efreet - I only have the Easley cover). Thank you so much, as always, for watching and commenting.
I have the 1979 revised edition of the DMG, but it still has the Efreeti on the cover. I was saving my books for my kids, but I can not have any thanks to cancer. I do not want my wife to go through the hassle of disposing of my books, so I am looking to find them a home where they will be taken care of.
Oh wow, I am so sorry to hear that. My dad is fighting cancer right now. You're in my thoughts. And I can definitely understand about your situation with not wanting to burden your wife with having to go through your belongings one day. My grandma passed away decades ago, in the early 90's, and my uncle exactly a year later. He still lived with her and so they had a house full of two lifetimes, which he never cleaned out after she passed away. So my mom, dad, and sister had to clean out their place a bit, but we all had to take time off work to do so, and eventually ended up just moving all their stuff into my parents' garage. About 20 years later, my mom passed away and my dad had to sell the house, and we had to basically go through decades worth of stuff for 3 people in less than a month. It was exhausting both emotionally and physically. That's when I realized I don't want to burden my daughter with such things. If you ever want to sell your 1E Efreet Cover DMG, let me know!
I beat cancer; its been almost ten years now. But the chemo and surgery made it impossible for me to have kids. Sorry for the confusion. I am just older than my wife so I know she will out live me. I do not want to sell you the book, I want to GIVE it to you. That and any other book from my collection as long as you cover the shipping. I never use them and it just makes me sad to look at them. Sorry to hear about your father, cancer sucks.
Oh my goodness - that is so generous of you. Thank you so much! If you want, you can Direct Message me on Twitter or Facebook or if you prefer you can send me an email at samothdm AT gmail and we can discuss further. I'm really happy to hear you beat cancer, although I'm very sorry for the toll it took on you. And I appreciate your kind words about my dad. He's been struggling a bit recently with the chemotherapy, but he's also 84 years old so it's really taking a toll on his body as well. Thanks again.
@@daddyrolleda1 , thankyou. i paid an actual arm and a leg for that unholiday, spent half a year in a wheelchair! ive got a gnomish orthopedic support, now, gratefully.
Ha! Thank you very much! I do try to take really good care of my books; the ones you see that aren't in great shape are usually ones I acquired on the secondary market (the Monster Manual is a good example - I never had the original a a kid as our group shared: 1 person had the MM, 1 had the FF, and I had the MM2). Of all my original books, I think the ones in the worst condition are Unearthed Arcana and Oriental Adventures, and it's due to the binding being so awful. The glued pages are coming apart!
@@daddyrolleda1 I never got OA, even though I tried, but it is notorious for having bad niding. Thankfully my Unearthed Arcana is still in good condition. I recently sold my 1st printing DMs guide to pay for medical bills, thankfully I also had a 6th printing that I prefered to use anyway. :-)
@@VhaidraSaga Oh, darn, I'm so sorry you had to sell your 1st printing for medical bills! That sucks. I hope that you're doing okay, medically-speaking, and glad you still have another copy of the DMG. I'll be doing a video on the AD&D DMG soon!
@@daddyrolleda1 Awesome! Getting better day by day and finally cleared to return to work after a year off! Need to get that salary to pay the rest of my acquired debts.
I am so glad to hear that! I'm really happy that it helped. I had a ton of fun putting this one together, partly because I owned all the books but one (which I have sense remedied) so I could show them all "in person." I've noticed you've been watching my back catalog of videos, and I wanted to thank you for that and for commenting on them. I really appreciate it. Cheers and Happy Gaming!
@@daddyrolleda1 Yes, I have been down the rabbit hole with your videos. 🙂. I went on a tangent the other day with the TSR Gamma World and am looking forward to watching some of the vids of folks playing it. The game reminded me of a Homebrew one of my GM"s ran last year where the current world got hit with a wave that brought magic back into the world...some people/animals changed...became other races and creatures. Then you took your character's job/occupation/skills and ran a class that was close to it. Was a ton of fun.
I too had the original Deities and Demigods with Chtulu and Elric. My "friend" borrowed it and he lost it. I believe he got some good money for it. How the rules have changed so much from the first edition on classes and race limits. Nicely coved with a full history, well done.
Thank you very much for watching and commenting! I appreciate it. Yes, the rules have changed over time for sure, but I still borrow ideas and concepts from most editions in the B/X game I run for my 13yo daughter & her friends!
Sorry to hear that! 🥲 -- fortunately I never loaned mine out, what a crap friend. Yeah, agreed -- loaning stuff -- almost always means missing stuff. My interesting story is my best friend offered me $100 for all my 1st Ed stuff back in the late 80s -- and I have a ton of OD&D and AD&D 1st Ed stuff -- I'm glad I told him where to go and have managed to keep everything. And now I look at my OD&D stuff -- and so glad I didn't sell - never realized those 8 little IMO crappy OD&D booklets would be worth so much. Glad I just stashed them away. 😂
@@quantus58756 I still have a full set of my 1st Editions. I received a few more copies from a work friend , her son didn't want anymore. Updated Deities and Demigods book. No Elric or Cthulhu mythos.
Thank you so much! I really appreciate you watching and commenting, and I'm really glad you enjoyed the video. There will be more history videos to come, along with more reviews and I'm thinking of also recording some videos about the 1981 Moldvay Basic D&D game I run for my 13 year-old daughter and her friends (more about my prep and the decisions I made - not an "actual play" or anything like that). Let me know if you've find any of that interesting.
AD&D 1st edition DID include Specialist Wizards (evoker, enchanter, necromancer, etc.). Granted, they didn't appear until 1988 as part of FR6: Dreams of the Red Wizards.
Ah, that's right! I never played or read some of those later 1E modules, as I'd moved and lost my AD&D group, and my new group was playing Warhammer Fantasy Battle by that point. Thanks for watching and commenting!
@@daddyrolleda1 Was IMO a really cool way to make the Red Wizards different if not somewhat unique. Making that a standard part of 2nd edition took that away... And gave nothing in return.
@@thefiendishdm9976that’s how D&D works. Anything flavorful and unique will be watered down by later iterations, usually in the name of ‘balance’ or ‘giving players options’.
Yikes! That's so frustrating! I'm sorry that happened. I've met quite a few people on social media over the past few years who have related stories of having lost their D&D collection in a flood. I can't even imagine! Thank you so much for watching and commenting. I appreciate it!
AD&D's MM2 is one of the best ones to date. I use it for basically every game I run. The Wilderness Survival Guide is, in my opinion, the best splatbook that was ever made.
Thanks for watching and commenting! I really liked the Wilderness Survival Guide when it came out and used a lot of the ideas and suggestions to help plan my campaign world back then. I've learned, over time, that many old-timers don't really like it for whatever reason!
@@daddyrolleda1 yeah, it's my claim to fame? But once I switched from fighter to thief I got through the thief levels quickly because we were getting xp for like 7th level monsters but that would get me through a few thief levels. Getting through the druid/bard levels was harder
Nice overview! The hardcover books really made an impression on me and remain among my favorite and treasured game products. The durable hardcover format helped reshape my perception of game books from flimsy and cheap gamey stuff to a perception of substantial and serious games. Too bad the AD&D rules are a mix of everything in the D&D game to date, some experimental ideas and some weird copyright calisthenics. The result is a game few people actually played as written. It's still a great read and can inspire some wonderful adventure gaming, and the quality hardcover editions survive the decades of use.
So funny... wait until you see tomorrow's (July 31st) video! Those were also the three that I never picked up back in the day. I only acquired them in the last 2-3 years, including my Manual of the Planes (which I didn't have when I made this video, but which a viewer noticed and then offered me an extra copy he had).
Thank you for watching and commenting, and for that feedback. I can work on some videos that talk about the differences between editions. To keep them at a manageable length, I'll probably just two one at a time, in order (e.g., the differences between OD&D and Holmes, then the differences between Holmes and AD&D, etc.). It would get a bit difficult during the time that there were two different editions being published concurrently, but I can try!
first book you showed (AD&D Monster Manual) is literally the first D&D book I ever owned, bought from a garage sale in the early 80s for a couple of bucks. I still have it, but it's really beat up and I colored in most of the monsters.
Thank you so much! I am really glad you are enjoying these. It's nice when your friends enjoy and appreciate your work! Thanks again! I know you had quite a few of these - Unearthed Arcana and Manual of the Planes are some of your favorites, if I recall?
@@daddyrolleda1 I had all of the 1e books except Wilderness Survival Guide and Manual of the Planes. Unearthed was definitely a favorite of mine. I do love the Manual of the Planes for 3e but never had the 1e version of it.
@@redwyrmofficial Ah, that's right! The 3E Version! I have that, as well as the 3.5 "Planar Handbook." Really fun stuff in there - I pulled monsters & concepts from those 2 books to use in my campaign, but never used any of the player-facing stuff for my group. Just out of curiosity, was there a reason you passed on the WSG and MotP at the time?
@@daddyrolleda1 Limited funds combined with the fact that I never even saw them in Waldenbooks until I was already into 2nd edition and buying Complete Handbooks.
Yes, interesting, you're right there are 18 AD&D 1st Ed hard covers (if you count the 4 Easley reprints and 14 unique books if you only count unique books) never thought of it that way. Yes, now that I did an inventory, I own all of the 14 unique books and two of the Easley cover version books, the Easley PHB and the Easley DMG. So, 16 of them. The only two I don't own are two of the Easley hard cover books, the Easley cover Monster Manual and the Easley cover Legends & Lore. I sometimes forget that there is an Easley cover version of Legends and Lore.
I forget, too! If I recall, I had to put a screen text box to mention Legends & Lore because I always forget that book! And well done! I opted *not* to collect Easley covers of the books I already had because I wanted to focus on getting books I didn't already have in my collection. But I *only* have an Easley cover DMG. So I'm missing Sutherland DMG, Easley PHG, MM, and Legends & Lore. I have everything else (after I made this video, a very kind fan gifted me a copy of his extra Manual of the Planes, which is in great shape. Super generous!). I always wondered what an Easley Fiend Folio cover would've looked like, had he made one!
@@daddyrolleda1 Yep agree with you on the Easley covers (I look at them as reprints), and back in the day -- it was never about "collecting" the books, you just bought them because they were cool -- and yes, the way I looked at it is I already have the PHB -- do I need another copy. Yes, and that's right the FF is the only 1st Ed book that didn't receive orange spine treatment. Yes, would have been interesting to see an Easley cover of FF.
You're welcome! Thank you for watching and commenting. I'm glad you enjoyed the video, and hope you like some of my other "D&D History" videos on here. Cheers!
The 'Manual of the Planes' by Jeff Grubb, 1987 He added it as a photo between the Wilderness Survival Guide & Dragonlance Adventures Either that, or it might have been the Legends & Lore (Deities & Demigods reprint without the Cthulhu or Melnibone mythos) one?
Yeah, as PressureDrop mentioned, I forgot to mention two books in my audio commentary but I included them in editing in the video. Given that, here are the 18 books: 1) Monster Manual 1977 (original cover) 2) Player's Handbook 1978 (original cover) 3) Dungeon Master's Guide 1979 (original cover) 4) Deities & Demigods 1980 (first and second printing with Cthulhu and Melnibonéan mythos) 5) Deities & Demigods 1980 (third printing and on without Cthulhu and Melnibonéan mythos) 6) Fiend Folio (1981) 7) Monster Manual 1983 (revised Easley cover/ orange spine) 8) Player's Handbook 1983 (revised Easley cover/ orange spine) 9) Dungeon Master's Guide 1983 (revised Easley cover/ orange spine) 10) Legends & Lore 1983 (renamed Deities & Demigods with new Easley cover/ orange spine) 11) Monster Manual II 1983 12) Unearthed Arcana 1985 13) Oriental Adventures 1985 14) Dungeoneer's Survival Guide 1986 15) Wilderness Survival Guide 1986 16) Manual of the Planes 1987 17) Dragonlance Adventures 1987 18) Greyhawk Adventures 1988 Hope that helps! I suspect the one you were missing might have been the 3rd and later printings of the Deities & Demigods. I count that as a separate book as it actually removed 16 pages of content and two whole mythos from the book. Cheers! And thank you for watching and commenting!
I had all those except for Dragonlance and Greyhawk. Just a version. I think MMII was my first purchase since the guys I played with had dm guide players handbook and mm. Eventually got them myself along with the basic stuff.
I hadn't intended that but I can certainly add it to the list of upcoming topics. I covered the 1E World of Greyhawk boxed set in another video. The module series is also a fun idea. Thanks! And thanks for watching and commenting!
Since this post Daddy rolled a 1 did do that -- just didn't delve into 2nd Ed on the boxed sets -- as TSR went crazy with bock sets in the 90s. That one is easy to cover with PDFs and photos of the box sets -- but very few people are going to have physical copies of all of the 2nd Ed box sets -- so yeah that one is going to be photos.
I run a heavily home brewed version of The New and Easy to Master set but i use the Monster manual and fiend folio. Both of my play groups seem to vastly prefer the older style art and deadlier creatures from these older monster books
They're so good! I love that art, too, but I "grew up" with it. I have a video on the 18 Editions of D&D in which I talk about the "New and Easy to Master" set briefly, and also a whole video on the Fiend Folio, if you're interested. Thank you so much for watching and commenting!
You have clarified a confusion about which I wasn't even aware. I finally zeroed in on the memories of "editions" back then, late seventies to early eighties. By the mid-eighties some players were referring to any cover change as "editions." The DMG and PH cover changes were called "Second Edition" at the time. Since we were the final arbiters of our campaign, it never really mattered enough to clarify. For instance, the specific recommendation that Basic and Advanced D&D be kept separate was almost nonsensical to those of us out here who had no clue about any company feuds. We had Basic and Expert, and Advanced. It was all D&D. Certain things won out, like the expanded alignments, which of course are more accurate. Collecting the books had not really become a thing for any of us yet. I was always meticulous and stingy with my manuals, while my co-DM and primary partner in campaign creation was not. My manuals are in pretty good shape all this time later. Worth mentioning, the primary campaign we played was a joint venture, but the seed idea was in a module my friend created and which sought to summarize the idea of modules for all time. He created this epic fortress of ungodly proportions which took us months to play out. The essence which he formulated and the two of us later carried forward in the campaign still brings a feeling of wanderlust like a warm breeze on a grassy plain with storm clouds on the horizon. No epic book series ever stirred any more feeling of adventure than that world setting which the two of us cultivated through those late teen years into early adulthood. It's a travesty that I haven't pulled all those old notes out and written it all up, because it is worth sharing. I would guess that the primary reason I am aging very slowly is that I never let go of my creativity. RPGs were a big part of that. I can't say D&D specifically, because the same fella I mentioned above thought up another percentile based game which I helped him develop and we played it as much as D&D. Matter of fact we had most of our PCs and NPCs converted for both. Most of our friends and buddies preferred his homemade game really, but everybody knows that when it comes to any RPGing that D&D is the parent.
That's interesting -- I never heard cover reprints referred to as editions. Yeah, it's kind of a cool video to show all 18 hard covers - I have 16 of these books and I own two of the four Easley cover reprints only because I bought a short box full of stuff in the early 90s for $100 and in that box was an Easley cover reprint of the PHB and an Easley Cover reprint of the DMG. Everything else, the other 14 books I had originally bought off the shelf in the late 70s and in the 80s. From my memory edition wasn't used until after 2nd Ed came out, and then later at some point "unofficially" the addition of Unearthed Arcana and Oriental Adventures to AD&D is referred to as Edition 1.5 -- and some still argue which additional books make (or comprise) AD&D 1.5 -- but I argue that it's really Unearthed Arcana that makes it 1.5. It's an unofficial designation anyway -- so doesn't really matter.
There was actually another printing of Deities and Demigods that included a credit to rights holders not long after the 1st printing, but before the 2nd printing. There's a video on TH-cam that goes over the whole rights issues for the Mythos in question.
Yeah, I've read many articles and blog posts about the issues, including listening to multiple interviews with Jim Ward, the guy who wrote Deities and Demigods and also secured the rights. It's complicated and a bit more detail than I wanted to get into for this particular video. My first printing has no "thank you" but the 2nd printing includes a "thank you" to Chaosium. The 3rd printing removes the two mythos but accidentally still included the "thank you" to Chaosium and stated on the back of the book that it includes 17 mythos instead of 15. The 4th printings and beyond fix all the issues to excise all mention of the deleted mythos, the thank-you mentions, and correcting the number of mythos on the back cover.
I'm pretty confident nobody actually chose the Cthulhu mythos for their campaign although that section was a fascinating read. IIRC all of the gods were chaotic evil.
@@gunkulator1 I just double-checked. All are Chaotic Evil except: * Azathoth: Chaotic Neutral * Great Race: Lawful Neutral (monster) * Primordial One: Lawful Evil (monster)
Yes -- and all covered in detail on a D&D collecting web site called the Acaeum. This site goes over all the printing differences in excruciating detail.
They certainly can be! Every once in a while you can find one that's not horribly expensive, but you're probably looking at least at $80+ depending on condition. You never know when you're going to stumble across a treasure, though. I found a copy of Giant Size X-Men #1 (the issue in which Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler, and Thunderbird first debuted) at a local flea market. It was in not very great condition, but the cover was still attached, which is key. The buy selling it was mainly selling furniture and I had found the comic in a dresser drawer along with around 20 other comics. I asked how much and the guy said, "That's in terrible shape and it's old. Fifty cents?" I agreed, came home and graded it (by my amateur status) as "Good (roughly 3/10). Even at that poor grading, it's worth around $2,300!
@@DMTalesTTRPG You can sometimes find one for around $40 or $50 but usually pretty beat up -- Daddy rolled a 1 is right $80 plus for one in decent condition. Yep, this stuff is pricey. Although some stuff isn't too bad -- when new hardcover 5e books are in the $50 price range.
I'm kind of in the same boat, except as you saw I only have an orange spine DMG. I'd really like to get an original Sutherland cover one day. But, this is the one my mom gave me way back when so I don't want to get rid of it, either.
@@daddyrolleda1 Did that guy ever come through for you and get you a Sutherland cover version of the DMG? If not at some point someone will probably give you a copy if they have a spare. I have a spare Sutherland cover Monster Manual (beat up) that would be glad to give you -- but that's my only duplicate, other than I believe I might have two copies of the Easley cover version of the PHB in addition to my Trampier version of the PHB.
The added classes by and large felt bolted on - clumsily, especially Bard. I really liked the Barbarian Class from UA. Gygax loved Conan and it was very much inspired by the works regarding the character. I’d love a treatment of the DMG as a separate video. It’s effective an amalgam of all the loose rules compiled into a single work. It is the most gloriously disorganized work of all of DnD and I love it. No matter what version you’re playing you can find some excellent guidance in it.
The 1E Dungeon Master's Guide is definitely my favorite book from that edition. Given its disorganization, I find something new and different every time I read it! The Appendices are especially helpful for any DM regardless of edition. I will add that to the list. Thanks for the suggestion, and for watching and commenting!
@@gunkulator1 I swore I commented on this earlier but it looks like my comment didn't get posted. I had only one Barbarian (and it was actually one from the Oriental Adventures book) and if I recall correctly his HP was rolled as a 7 plus his CON bonus. Not horrible but nothing super exciting!
@@gunkulator1 that’s a resounding “no”. I run a 1/2e campaign and i alleviate the disappointment of the dreaded “1” by allowing players to re-roll but must take roll # 2, or do a d10+2, so the minimum is 3 plus constitution bonus, but they must take the result.
Considering how influential the Conan and fafhrd/grey mouser stories were on gygax it’s kind of mind blowing that the thief is not an original D&D class.
It almost was -- after Gygax got the idea from someone it showed up in Game Player's Newsletter #9 (June 1974), so only around 5 months after D&D was published in Jan 1974 -- which is amazing!!. And then of course the Thief was officially released in the Greyhawk supplement in 1975. My other comment is if Gygax hadn't gotten that idea from someone -- still would have made it in soon after -- you are correct -- Gygax and that entire crew were very well versed with Fafhrd/Grey Mouser and Conan -- so in any event -- would have happened soon after it did. The innovation in TTRPGs back in those days was amazing -- especially given no Internet. Gygax and Arneson were true Giants - so thankful they created D&D.
The binding in those old books were so bad. LOL I have my copy and it is falling apart just from a few moves. I have all the D&D 1st edition books except for Legends & Lore because it was a reprint of Deities and Demigods. I can't believe the prices people are asking for these old books online. It's crazy!
Thank you for watching and commenting! I really appreciate it! Yeah, the binding on my Oriental Adventures and Unearthed Arcana is so bad. The others seem to be holding on okay. I take really good care of my books, but those two just aren't making it! And the prices are crazy, especially over the past ~5 years or so!
I have “Legends & Lore” . Don’t have “Fiend Folio” . All others I still have from the 81” editions. All of them Dungeoneers Wilderness Unearthed and Manual of the Planes”.
I wish I'd bought all these back in the day. I saw them all in the shop, and I have a couple, but I never had much money and they were very expensive. Also, I never realized until now that White Dwarf was only a UK thing.
Thank you so much for watching and commenting! I was very lucky back in the day to have a mom who encouraged and indulged my hobbies. She bought me quite a few books over the years and I know a few of them were acquired at sales or in combo packs which brought the prices down. But even at that, I never had the original Monster Manual, the Fiend Folio, Dragonlance Adventures, or Greyhawk Adventures until decades later when I finally acquired them on the second-hand market. The Manual of the Planes (which in this video I mentioned I didn't have) was a lucky one for me - someone saw this video and had a second copy they didn't need, and ended up sending it to me just for the price of shipping!
@@daddyrolleda1 That's cool. I used to go to Virgin Records (which had D&D books for some reason) and stand there reading the books until they got sick of people doing that and sealed them in plastic. There's no way my parents would buy them for me because, you know, Satan. (Actually, now that I think about it, that's probably why Virgin Records sold them.)
@@garrick3727 Ah, yes, the 80's and Satanic Panic. While I was very aware of it, I fortunately was never affected by it, but had a friend who hid my birthday gift to him (Monster Manual II) in his drawer because he knew his mom wouldn't approve. In my 30's, I became very good friends with a guy who told me in the 80's his mom refused to let him play D&D because it was "evil" and "Satanic" but she was totally cool with him playing MERP, Rolemaster, Champions, etc.
I had a different dieties and demigods, thought was called gods and demons, had thor or odin on the cover, was some big hoopla about it and was considered super rare and was banned and redone as Deities and Demigods (or legends and lore), having a hard time recalling. but i cant find a picture of it anywhere. If anyone knows about it, please refresh my memory and a picture would be fantastic, i remember it was worth thousands back in the 80s, probably so much more today if any exists
Yhe monk vs the asian kung fu monk were so different. I love this idea, and I wonder where the old monk went. I feel it just sort of merged with the paladin and cleric classes.
Totally agree!! And I prefer the Trampier PHB cover over the Easley cover and the Sutherland DMG cover over the Easley cove!! Only cover I never liked of the original three covers was the Sutherland MM cover, although sadly -- and maybe nostalgia reasons -- still prefer it to the Easley MM cover.
Fortunately, I think those two aren't *that* expensive on the secondary market (compared to some of the others). Maybe you can add them to your collection some day! Thanks for watching and commenting!
I REALLY like the cover art of 1st Edition D&D books. Even though the original Monster Manual cover art may seem a bit amateurish, I feel that its captures the spirit of the game much more than today's cover art. For example, I've never really care for the cover art of the 5E Players Handbook. For one thing, why does it seem like the Fire Giant is more prominent on the cover rather the the heroes? Compare that cover art to the 1E's Player's Handbook... in the OG, while not as polished, we do see a bunch of diverse group of adventurers in the middle of a quest. Much better in my opinion.
You forgot the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting book from 1988, which was clothed in 2e binding, but has the 1e compatible yellow star bubble on the cover that the Grayhawk book has on it. The game data in that book is 1e game data, so some consider it a 1e book, even though it had the 2e spine & cover.
Forgotten Realms Adventures was published in 1990, a year after 2e debuted, and has 2e Trade Dress. I've never seen a copy with a star bubble claiming compatability with 1e. The first Forgotten Realms campaign setting was a boxed set for 1e from 1987, but wasn't a hardback book.
I think you're probably referring to the FR boxed set. The hard cover FR book like Daddy rolled a 1 said was published in 1990 and is considered a AD&D 2nd Ed. book. The two hard cover AD&D 1st Ed books are Dragon Lance and Greyhawk.
Ha! Back when I was starting my blog, it was just a few years after my daughter was born. I was looking for a name for my blog, and a friend suggested, "You should call it 'Daddy Rolled A 1' and your logo could be a cocktail glass with a D20 as the olive or cherry." I thought it was a great idea, and it stuck! Had I known at the time that I was eventually going to make a TH-cam Channel about D&D History and other topics, I may have re-thought the name, as I think many people make assumptions about what content is on my channel based on my name. But I also had a relatively strong group of followers on Twitter before I started my channel and I thought it made sense to keep the name recognition. In any event, I'm glad you're enjoying the content, and I thank you for your support!
That's awesome! Any you liked more or less than the others? I know a lot of folks don't really care for Unearthed Arcana, but as the time I thought it was awesome. I loved all the new options in Oriental Adventures. We never used anything from DSG and WSG other than the nonweapon proficiencies. I loved a few of the creatures and especially the art in the Fiend Folio, but I found a lot of the rest of the book a little goofy for my tastes. The 1E DMG is probably the one book I still find myself going back to over and over.
I appreciate that! Someone else pointed out the same thing, so hopefully I will remember when it comes up again. Thank you for watching and commenting!
13:10 This book makes me cringe every time I think about it. RAW, the barbarian and cavalier were utterly miserable to DM for--the barbarian was a bullying savage that spawned thousands of proto-murderhoboes, while the cavalier was an insufferable, self-absorbed, glory-hogging snob.
Thanks for watching and commenting! UA is definitely a very polarizing book among the 1E community. I quite liked the new classes at the time, especially the Cavalier, but I was only around 14 and I really liked the idea of a "knight" type class that wasn't held to the strict moral compass of the paladin. And I always felt barbarians had a place in the game. You *could* just play a fighter as a barbarian type, but given that a barbarian typically wouldn't wear heavy plate armor, it didn't make as much sense, as one of the fighter's only "powers" was its ability to wear heavy armor and use any weapon. Mechanically, there were issues with both classes that I see now as an adult with more experience gaming, but back then I didn't really notice it as much!
That is so very kind of you to offer! Interestingly, after I made this video, someone on Reddit reached out to me with the same offer (he had a extra copy) and he sent it to me for free just because he liked my channel. I sincerely appreciate that offer, however. I'm sure there are other folks who are fans of the channel who would love a copy, but I also know you could sell it on Ebay if you need some extra cash. I love this community that's building up around the channel, and kind folks like you are a huge part of that. Thank you again. Cheers!
You're a good person. 👍 Another kind person already gave him a copy. Only dupe I have is a beat-up copy of the Trampier Monster Manual that I'd be glad to donate to a TH-camr that covers 1st Ed content. Glad someone got him a copy.
He did. Someone saw this video and had a duplicate copy of Manual of the Planes and gave it to him. Nice gift -- at least $75+ right now on eBay for a decent copy.
Thanks! I always wondered about that and I should've done my due diligence and looked it up before recording the video. I was on my sixth or seventh recording trying to get it just right and I just didn't have the stamina to start over yet again, so I stumbled past that point. I try to make the videos more conversational, so I'm not reading off a script, for better or worse. Thanks again.
Some books are fluff, and some are great material. The DMG has never been equalled in anyone's game design. The PHB is required for obvious reasons. You can get by without the monster manual based on the nature of the person running the game. Everything after that is strictly "how much work does the DM want to put into the game?" In recent time I have acquired both Lairnomicon and The Monster Overhaul, two books that are so magnificent. But often, most books past the absolute core design are just pandering to gamers that want everything spelled out for them. I think imagination is an endangered skill.
Wait, unless I blinked you missed some books. 21st Century Games released tiny, probably unusable, 1e copies in hardcover. Very expensive Just to be a pedant 😂
Oh, they're in the video. They're just so small you can't see them. Ha! I do know of those books, although I don't have them and yes, to be honest, I'd completely forgotten about them. Thanks for the reminder!
I was just at my local game store, and while they don't have a large stock of out-of-print products, every once in a while, they get a few. Today they had three issues of Dragon Magazine, numbered in the late 20s and early 30s, and they were charging $80/each for them! That's insane! They also had a non-Cthulhu (4th printing) Deities & Demigods for $90, whereas I found one on Ebay (just to price-check) for $56!!!
One piece of good news is all of the 1st Edition material is available as PDFs at DriveThru. Only a few exceptions like licensed material like any Conan stuff, etc. Very grateful that WoTC does this. It's a win-win -- they make money -- and most of the 1st Ed. material is still accessible.
@@daddyrolleda1 I have electronic copies of all of the Dragon from that DVD they published -- but yeah I actually gave away physical Dragon magazines (had about 50 of them) about 20 years ago -- only thing I ever gave away -- yeah some of the old copies are worth some nice change -- although in the end I did make out -- my comic book collection -- was a much, much better investment than collecting Dragon magazines -- there is an advantage of "condition" to the value that comics enjoy (assuming you kept your comics in excellent condition) that Dragon Magazines doesn't have -- the advantage to having Dragon magazines though is condition doesn't matter that much -- collectors of Dragon for the most part just want a decent copy -- and I can imagine anyone with mint copies of Dragon Magazines are very rare -- usually they are in "average" condition or worse -- because no one bagged and boarded Dragon Magazines (ok - maybe there is someone that did) - like they did for comics. I think you said once you have most if not all of the physical copies of Dragon -- $80 is way overpriced IMO for stuff in the 20 and 30 issue number range -- but I still see people paying $30-$50 for that range per issue as long as they are in decent condition. Yeah -- amazing isn't it.
In 1980, I bought the Monster Manual for $7, the Player's Handbook for $8, and the Dungeon Master's Guide for $9. I was earning $1/hour, babysitting kids as often as I could, to make money -- I was 15 years old at that time. It took me months to buy all three books . I still use my 1e books, even though I play 2e AD&D, only. They are still useful, still classic, still never equaled by any subsequent editions. Cheers!
Those are some great prices, but I bet as a kid it felt like a fortune! I bought a few of my D&D books/adventures from washing cars and mowing lawns, so I can relate!
Thanks for watching and commenting!
You got off cheap! My PHB was 9.95 and my DMG was 12.95!
I recently bought a bunch of these at an estate sale. Truth be told I probably paid too much for them but they've been a good nostalgia read.
Now if only I could find myself a +2 Backscratcher...
I would pay quite a few gold pieces for a +2 backscratcher!
Thank you for watching and commenting!
Pathfinder Ultimate Equipment includes an item called the Staff of One Hundred Hands, which lets you cast the various Bigby spells (along with mage hand for free), but unfortunately there's no note that it can become a +2 backscratcher with the appropriate command word.
Man, these videos make me feel old. Those covers of the original AD&D books bring back the memories. I'd love to somehow know the hours I spent as a kid reading and rereading them. I think I had the stats on every monster in the MM memorized at one point, friends used to test me by randomly picking one and asking questions.
Seems we were somewhat similar that way. I memorized the ability score minimums and maximums for the different classes and races in the 1E Player's Handbook, and then at school, any time during the day a number came up between 3 and 18 (a teacher said it, a student said it, someone was wearing a jersey with a number...) I'd write it down. Once I had six of those (in order: STR, INT, WIS, DEX, CON, CHA) I'd figure out what character class they could qualify for, then make a list and assign a number to each, and the next time that number came up, that was the character! I made a LOT of NPCs that way!
Thanks for sharing your memories! I always enjoy hearing about how others experienced the game back in the day!
Nice vid. I recently decided to reacquire most of these books. IN two months I have gotten everything except the MM2. Not bad for New Zealand where D&D was such a tiny hobby that back in the day I think we all knew each other (most of us were already known through wargaming).
Thank you so much for watching and commenting!
Wow! That is quite a feat! As you can see from the video, I'm just missing a Manual of the Planes and ideally one day I'd like to get an original Sutherland cover of the DMG. I never really intended to get the revised Easley covers but by the time I got the DMG as a gift, that was the only version my mom could find.
I wonder if many of the original players have passed on and left their books and resources to children who didn't know their rarity
@@aaronhelmsman I keep wondering if I might buy back my old long lost books.
Brian - all of the 1e books can be found as pdfs too if you must supplement your collection.
@@danielrowan4716 Yeah I wanted physical books. I actually have pdfs and printed them out and just spiral bound them, but still not the same:) Cheers Daniel.
Thanks for the video! I love the survival guides as DMG extensions. I don't feel the need to have them at the table but as long as a DM has read through them, the DM is equipped to adjudicate most anything that might come up in the game, IMO.
That's a really good way to approach it! And thanks for going back to look at some of my older videos. I really appreciate it. Cheers!
Good stuff sir. I happen to own all of those old books. Extra mythos and all. Was nice seeing your breakdown.
Thank you so much for watching and commenting! I'm glad you enjoyed it, and that's also you have all your old books. As you could see, I'm missing a few, but I really never intended to collect the Easley revised covers. I just need Manual of the Planes and ideally I'd like to someday get a Sutherland cover of the DMG.
That DnDG book now costs a small fortune! I wish I had it
My dad used to have all of them, but his room mate stole rhem and sold them on ebay. He couldn't get all them back, but now I have 6 of these books
This was phenomenal. Thank you!
I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for letting me know, and for watching and commenting. Cheers!
I just recently pulled all my old D&D stuff out of my parents attic, so I’ve been reconnecting with all these old hardbacks. Cool to see I didn’t miss any.
Oh wow - you had all of these! That is an impressive feat! As you saw in the video, I'm still missing one (Manual of the Planes), plus ideally I'd like an original Sutherland cover of the Dungeon Master's Guide.
I started playing Original D&D back in very late 1976 or very early 1977. The Monster Manual first came out in December of 1977 as you state. But the price was not $12.00, but rather 9.99. I remember this because it was the same price as the Original D&D White Box set. Otherwise a very good video. Thanks.
Oh man this video is nailing my nostalgia buttons. My friends and I had a lot of fun with all of these books. I really loved that Deities and Demigods book and Fiend Folio, putting my players up against those Cthulhu creatures was always fun (for me anyway 🙂).
I remember getting those Survival Guides (along with the bundled adventures) from Wargames West out of Albuquerque. They used to let me pay C.O.D. That isn't even a thing any more. LOL!!!
Thank you so much for watching and commenting! I'm really glad you enjoyed the video.
I'm a little bit jealous that you had a Cthulhu version of Deities & Demigods back in the day. I totally would've used a lot of those creatures had I had access to it, but I only had the later printing and didn't get a Cthulhu version until the Pandemic lockdowns, when I was saving money from going out to eat, going to the pub, and buying comics (since there weren't new comics being printed for a bit)!
Brought some serious nostalgia for me. My first books were the Jeff Easily AD&D books. We ended up blending 1st and 2nd together to do our own thing but I had so much fun and this was a nice trip down memory lane. Thanks, Martin!
I love hearing this! Thanks so much for watching and commenting. I remember when 2E came out, my new group had switched to playing Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, but I was working on a campaign setting (a "proto-version" of the campaign setting I'm still using for my 3.X game that started in May 2001) and I, too, blended 1st and 2nd together when creating my NPCs and such (I still had Cavaliers, Barbarians and Assassins but I created new kits for them in the style of the 2E kits, for example).
@@daddyrolleda1 I love that. Those kinds of modifications are what makes your games YOUR games. I think many struggle with understanding how that’s done. I feel like that was really common back then
That's how I play combo 1st and 2nd.
Nice trip down memory lane. And, wow! I can't believe how nice your copy of the first Deities and Demigods is. Just having one is rare, and mine looks like crap. :-)
Thanks for watching and commenting! I appreciate it! And I have to give credit where it's due, in that that Cthulhu D&DG is not my original - I acquired that off Ebay in the first months of the pandemic lockdowns after realizing I was saving money from not buying new comic books and not going out to movies, dinner, or the pub. The person I purchased it from kept it in great condition, as you saw. My original Deities & Demigods is the one I show with my name on the inside front cover. I've had that one for about 40 years.
Same here there is even a burn mark on the back cover.
@@daddyrolleda1 Yeah, my Oriental Adventures is in in really good shape because I barely used it. Although that spine problem on OE -- even my almost mint copy of OE has the spine problem.
Thanks for this video. A great trip down memory lane!
I must have been among the first people in the UK to have the MM2. I believe it was released at (US) Gen Con in 1983, so July or August. I wasn’t at the con but did come back from a holiday to the US in, I think, August ‘83. I recall that the comic/bookstore that I got it from in the US had only just received it themselves. When I showed it to my gaming friends in the UK, they were amazed! Back then, it took many months for books released in the US to be sold in the UK.
I remember eagerly awaiting the release of the UA and loving it when I finally got my hands on it. It had a lot of errors, so much so that a pullout errata had to be published for it in Dragon Magazine. I pasted mine in my UA.
I got L&L when it came out with the Easley cover. I didn’t acquire D&DG until the ‘90s when I bought a couple of secondhand copies with the Cthulhu and Melniboné mythoi. Neither was in perfect shape but my mother, a qualified craft bookbinder, was able to make them look almost new.
Available as a Print on Demand now too!
I had all the books you mention up to and including the Fiend Folio as a teenager. Have managed to collect the rest over the last few years. I so need to go through and read them all.
That's fantastic! Glad you were able to collect all of them. I should shortly be completing my collection with the last book I need. Thank you so much for watching and commenting. I hope you enjoyed the episode.
Very cool! I have all 14 of the unique AD&D books (from the late 70s and 80s) and acquired two of the Easley reprints from a short-box crammed full of D&D stuff that I paid $100 for back in the early 90s -- Yes $100 dollars total for a box crammed with 1st Ed and 2nd Ed adventures, supplements, and rule books!! So, I have all of them -- I only count the unique books -- so I count 14 as complete -- don't care about the Easley cover versions, and no intention of getting the two Easley cover versions I don't have, the Easley cover Monster Manual and the Easley Cover Legends & Lore.
I can honestly say this was awesome. I also STILL bust open my 1st edition stuff. I have been playing since 1979 and still play 3.0-3.5 edition today. 45 years of DnD.....
Thank you so much! I'm so glad you enjoyed the video. This was one of my favorite ones to make - I always enjoy the ones where I can show the old books/supplements "in person" rather than just PDFs, but I do have to do that from time-to-time.
I really appreciate you watching and commenting, and also your support. of the channel. Cheers!
These things were everywhere back in the day, and turned up in the strangest places. I bought my PHB off a spinner rack in a Hallmark Card store tucked away in a local strip mall.
Ahh, Unearthed Arcana. The original power creep in D&D.
I loved that book at the time. I realize now how much it broke the game.
As a kid in the 80's when this came out, I was super excited! New classes (this was the main thing for me, as I was always a sucker for new classes, even though I already had Dragon #69 and #72, so I had 2/3 of the new classes), expanded demi-human level limits (I'd also already seen this in Dragon), new weapon, new spells... It all seemed fantastic to me.
I wasn't smart enough at the time to understand that the Barbarian and Cavalier weren't "balanced." so the power creep never occurred to me.
@Daddy Rolled a 1 There was a guy in my group with a Drow Elf Cavalier, but he insisted he suffered no penalties in sunlight because "reasons".
Thus, I welcomed the transition to 2nd edition.
I never quite understood why people think it "broke the game" It did no such thing. This isn't a video game, you aren't locked into anything. If something "seemed" unbalanced, as a DM you have full control over the world you create. I highly doubt Gary would have just dumped some haphazard garbage into his lifes work. It all worked just fine. Not trying to sound harsh here with my comments, but over the years when I have come across these kinds of statements, it all just seems grossly exaggerated.
@@gmee123 I agree -- I just looked at UA as some new rules and classes. IMO some people let rules break the game -- because the DM doesn't step in and do some arbitration.
@@quantus58756 Exactly. Plus, It seems like people don't realize these games are tested and played hundreds if not thousands of hours.
I played through all of these as they were released. I still have my PHB and DMG
Watching this puts tears in my eyes!
I hope tears of joy? 😀
@@daddyrolleda1 definitely tears of joy!!
Excellent demonstration of the old TSR hardback progression!
Thank you so much for watching and commenting! I'm very glad you enjoyed it! Cheers!
@@daddyrolleda1 Yes, enjoyed the progression. And I actually can't think of anyone who has done the full progression of AD&D 1st Ed books before on TH-cam, tons of videos on the progression of the 8 OD&D booklets (9 if you count Chain Mail -- which I don't) -- but this one I think may have been a first!! Great job!!
@@quantus58756 Thank you! I had a ton of fun making that one.
In the UK they produced the MM and PH in a Soft-Cover edition........I still have both!
That's so cool! I do remember that now that you mention it! Thanks for the reminder! And thanks for watching and commenting.
Thanks! That was very interesting and made my bus trip fly in.
I'm really glad to hear that! I had a lot of fun putting that video together, and it was made easier for me in that I had all of the actual books, except one (which I've now rectified).
Thank you so much for watching and commenting! Glad it made your bus trip fun!
This was a really cool look at a part of ttrpg history, and motivates me more to finish my collection of all the DnD 5e books.
Thank you for watching and commenting! I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Collecting the 5e books is actually probably harder -- just because there are a lot more hard covers.
Very informative. I recall coming into D&D around 1989 or '90 and I could not wrap my head around Grayhawk and Forgotten Realms. I didn't see what made them what they were or why they even existed; nothing stood out. Dragonlance made sense because it was a different world with different classes and a whole different approach to clerics and magic. Later, Dark Sun was obviously starkly different, and Al-Quadim as well. Add to that SpelllJammer, Ravenloft and Planescape. Still, I did not understand the significance of FR or GH. If only someone would have come along and said "They are the worlds you play normal D&D in." I would have bought them up like I did the others I mentioned. Back then you really couldn't look up the history of the game too easily, and I think that missing history was what kept me from jumping on board with come of the other settings.
Thank you so much for watching and commenting. This is a really interesting perspective - I'd never really thought of it! Would you find some videos about the history of the different campaign worlds something of interest? I could work on those if you think it's be interesting to watch.
@@daddyrolleda1 I definitely would just for nostalgia. I have the 1e Forgotten Realms campaign set and the World of Greyhawk game setting boxed set. I hardly played the Greyhawk setting wasn’t as appealing as FR to me.
Yes, you're totally right. Things have changed. Mainly Wikipedia, which is amazing in terms of TTRPG historical info -- all of the 14 AD&D 1st Ed unique books -- have detailed Wikipedia entries. So much historical information on D&D so easily available. And that doesn't even count some excellent TTRPG history books like Peterson's seminal "Playing at the World" and Shannon Applecline's amazing "Designers & Dragons" series. And then you get awesome summarizations with personal stories in Daddy Rolled a 1's videos. Really like Daddy Rolled a 1's content because it makes the history -- very consumable for a lot of people. Still haven't run into someone who's read "Playing at the World" cover to cover like I have, although I'm sure some people have -- but yikes that book is intimidating -- and chapters 2 through 4 IMO were a real slog! 😂
Thanks for the video. Just a minor correction: by the time the first AD&D book was printed the name of the company was no longer Tactical Studies Rules. Their name was changed to TSR Hobbies Inc in 1975.
Thanks for watching and commenting. And that's a good point. I know the name changed, but even as a kid back when I started in the hobby, I just used them interchangeably. I'll be more precise in my next video.
You're a person over my own heart. Yeah, a tiny -- inconsistency -- but nice to be super accurate with this stuff. I always just used the initials when I referred to them.
Based history teacher!
Thank you so much! I appreciate that compliment, and also you watching and commenting. Cheers!
Brilliant. Thanks for a fantastic video.
I'm so glad you liked it! Thank you so much for watching and commenting. I hope you stay tuned for future videos about the history of D&D and other TTRPGs. Cheers!
Nice collection! I managed to find Monster Manual 2 and Dragonlance Adventures at a local used book shop. I was ecstatic
These were the books of my childhood. This was very nice to listen to as I work of my game.
Also, I have a collection of old D&D books I am looking to find a new home for, including the manual of the planes.
I am so glad you enjoyed the video. I've been hearing from a lot of folks recently who like to listen to the videos while doing other activities, so you're not alone!
Shortly after I made this video, a very nice person on Reddit contacted me and sent me, gratis, his extra copy of Manual of the Planes, which is in really great shape aside from someone's name being written in the inside front cover, so I finally completed my collection!
Not sure if you were offering yours up for, but let me know! I am still looking to acquire an original cover of the Dungeon Masters Guide (the Sutherland cover with the Efreet - I only have the Easley cover).
Thank you so much, as always, for watching and commenting.
I have the 1979 revised edition of the DMG, but it still has the Efreeti on the cover. I was saving my books for my kids, but I can not have any thanks to cancer.
I do not want my wife to go through the hassle of disposing of my books, so I am looking to find them a home where they will be taken care of.
Oh wow, I am so sorry to hear that. My dad is fighting cancer right now. You're in my thoughts.
And I can definitely understand about your situation with not wanting to burden your wife with having to go through your belongings one day. My grandma passed away decades ago, in the early 90's, and my uncle exactly a year later. He still lived with her and so they had a house full of two lifetimes, which he never cleaned out after she passed away. So my mom, dad, and sister had to clean out their place a bit, but we all had to take time off work to do so, and eventually ended up just moving all their stuff into my parents' garage. About 20 years later, my mom passed away and my dad had to sell the house, and we had to basically go through decades worth of stuff for 3 people in less than a month. It was exhausting both emotionally and physically. That's when I realized I don't want to burden my daughter with such things.
If you ever want to sell your 1E Efreet Cover DMG, let me know!
I beat cancer; its been almost ten years now. But the chemo and surgery made it impossible for me to have kids. Sorry for the confusion. I am just older than my wife so I know she will out live me.
I do not want to sell you the book, I want to GIVE it to you. That and any other book from my collection as long as you cover the shipping. I never use them and it just makes me sad to look at them.
Sorry to hear about your father, cancer sucks.
Oh my goodness - that is so generous of you. Thank you so much! If you want, you can Direct Message me on Twitter or Facebook or if you prefer you can send me an email at samothdm AT gmail and we can discuss further.
I'm really happy to hear you beat cancer, although I'm very sorry for the toll it took on you. And I appreciate your kind words about my dad. He's been struggling a bit recently with the chemotherapy, but he's also 84 years old so it's really taking a toll on his body as well.
Thanks again.
I've got them all. My treasures! I took the manual of the planes to the abyss in 1990, it still bears the scars.
Glad you made it back in an okay state to type!
Thanks for watching and commenting - I sincerely appreciate it!
@@daddyrolleda1 , thankyou. i paid an actual arm and a leg for that unholiday, spent half a year in a wheelchair! ive got a gnomish orthopedic support, now, gratefully.
Your Deities & Demigods book is in such great condition for taking to middle school! As are the others. Great job!
Ha! Thank you very much! I do try to take really good care of my books; the ones you see that aren't in great shape are usually ones I acquired on the secondary market (the Monster Manual is a good example - I never had the original a a kid as our group shared: 1 person had the MM, 1 had the FF, and I had the MM2).
Of all my original books, I think the ones in the worst condition are Unearthed Arcana and Oriental Adventures, and it's due to the binding being so awful. The glued pages are coming apart!
@@daddyrolleda1 I never got OA, even though I tried, but it is notorious for having bad niding. Thankfully my Unearthed Arcana is still in good condition. I recently sold my 1st printing DMs guide to pay for medical bills, thankfully I also had a 6th printing that I prefered to use anyway. :-)
@@VhaidraSaga Oh, darn, I'm so sorry you had to sell your 1st printing for medical bills! That sucks. I hope that you're doing okay, medically-speaking, and glad you still have another copy of the DMG. I'll be doing a video on the AD&D DMG soon!
@@daddyrolleda1 Awesome! Getting better day by day and finally cleared to return to work after a year off! Need to get that salary to pay the rest of my acquired debts.
@@VhaidraSaga Glad to hear you're doing better! Good luck on your return back to work!
Things make more sense now. Thanks for this.
I am so glad to hear that! I'm really happy that it helped. I had a ton of fun putting this one together, partly because I owned all the books but one (which I have sense remedied) so I could show them all "in person."
I've noticed you've been watching my back catalog of videos, and I wanted to thank you for that and for commenting on them. I really appreciate it.
Cheers and Happy Gaming!
@@daddyrolleda1 Yes, I have been down the rabbit hole with your videos. 🙂.
I went on a tangent the other day with the TSR Gamma World and am looking forward to watching some of the vids of folks playing it. The game reminded me of a Homebrew one of my GM"s ran last year where the current world got hit with a wave that brought magic back into the world...some people/animals changed...became other races and creatures. Then you took your character's job/occupation/skills and ran a class that was close to it. Was a ton of fun.
I too had the original Deities and Demigods with Chtulu and Elric. My "friend" borrowed it and he lost it. I believe he got some good money for it. How the rules have changed so much from the first edition on classes and race limits. Nicely coved with a full history, well done.
Thank you very much for watching and commenting! I appreciate it. Yes, the rules have changed over time for sure, but I still borrow ideas and concepts from most editions in the B/X game I run for my 13yo daughter & her friends!
Sorry to hear that! 🥲 -- fortunately I never loaned mine out, what a crap friend. Yeah, agreed -- loaning stuff -- almost always means missing stuff. My interesting story is my best friend offered me $100 for all my 1st Ed stuff back in the late 80s -- and I have a ton of OD&D and AD&D 1st Ed stuff -- I'm glad I told him where to go and have managed to keep everything. And now I look at my OD&D stuff -- and so glad I didn't sell - never realized those 8 little IMO crappy OD&D booklets would be worth so much. Glad I just stashed them away. 😂
@@quantus58756 I still have a full set of my 1st Editions. I received a few more copies from a work friend , her son didn't want anymore. Updated Deities and Demigods book. No Elric or Cthulhu mythos.
Really excellent video. Loving the history vids. :-) Your research an information is really thorough. Thanks a ton for these.
Thank you so much! I really appreciate you watching and commenting, and I'm really glad you enjoyed the video. There will be more history videos to come, along with more reviews and I'm thinking of also recording some videos about the 1981 Moldvay Basic D&D game I run for my 13 year-old daughter and her friends (more about my prep and the decisions I made - not an "actual play" or anything like that). Let me know if you've find any of that interesting.
@@daddyrolleda1 I'm down for anything regarding vintage D&D stuff. For me, it is almost always a fun watch. A bit of a nostalgia trip for me. :-)
@11:50 about the time backpack started getting heavy...lol and not even close to full!!
Yes! By the end of the run, you needed a small wagon!
Good review, good work.
Thank you very much! I appreciate you watching and commenting.
AD&D 1st edition DID include Specialist Wizards (evoker, enchanter, necromancer, etc.). Granted, they didn't appear until 1988 as part of FR6: Dreams of the Red Wizards.
Ah, that's right! I never played or read some of those later 1E modules, as I'd moved and lost my AD&D group, and my new group was playing Warhammer Fantasy Battle by that point. Thanks for watching and commenting!
@@daddyrolleda1 Was IMO a really cool way to make the Red Wizards different if not somewhat unique. Making that a standard part of 2nd edition took that away... And gave nothing in return.
@@thefiendishdm9976that’s how D&D works. Anything flavorful and unique will be watered down by later iterations, usually in the name of ‘balance’ or ‘giving players options’.
oh man, I had manual of the planes...my favorite one to look at. Lost it in a flood like 4 years ago though.
Yikes! That's so frustrating! I'm sorry that happened. I've met quite a few people on social media over the past few years who have related stories of having lost their D&D collection in a flood. I can't even imagine!
Thank you so much for watching and commenting. I appreciate it!
@@daddyrolleda1 I used to read about Pandemonium over and over in manual of the planes.
AD&D's MM2 is one of the best ones to date. I use it for basically every game I run. The Wilderness Survival Guide is, in my opinion, the best splatbook that was ever made.
Thanks for watching and commenting! I really liked the Wilderness Survival Guide when it came out and used a lot of the ideas and suggestions to help plan my campaign world back then. I've learned, over time, that many old-timers don't really like it for whatever reason!
cool! I've got the original covers of the core books, and DDG, FF MM2 and UA. In AD&D i actually got a bard up to 23rd level
Oh wow - you got an AD&D Bard up to 23rd level? That's impressive!
@@daddyrolleda1 yeah, it's my claim to fame? But once I switched from fighter to thief I got through the thief levels quickly because we were getting xp for like 7th level monsters but that would get me through a few thief levels. Getting through the druid/bard levels was harder
Nice overview! The hardcover books really made an impression on me and remain among my favorite and treasured game products.
The durable hardcover format helped reshape my perception of game books from flimsy and cheap gamey stuff to a perception of substantial and serious games. Too bad the AD&D rules are a mix of everything in the D&D game to date, some experimental ideas and some weird copyright calisthenics. The result is a game few people actually played as written. It's still a great read and can inspire some wonderful adventure gaming, and the quality hardcover editions survive the decades of use.
Great Video!
Thank you very much! I'm glad you liked the video, and appreciate you watching and commenting!
Manual of the Planes, Dragonlance, and Greyhawk are the 3 I don't have, but that's because they had nothing I needed.
So funny... wait until you see tomorrow's (July 31st) video! Those were also the three that I never picked up back in the day. I only acquired them in the last 2-3 years, including my Manual of the Planes (which I didn't have when I made this video, but which a viewer noticed and then offered me an extra copy he had).
Good stuff. I'm really interested in some of the more detailed differences between all the versions' rules and lore.
Thank you for watching and commenting, and for that feedback. I can work on some videos that talk about the differences between editions. To keep them at a manageable length, I'll probably just two one at a time, in order (e.g., the differences between OD&D and Holmes, then the differences between Holmes and AD&D, etc.). It would get a bit difficult during the time that there were two different editions being published concurrently, but I can try!
first book you showed (AD&D Monster Manual) is literally the first D&D book I ever owned, bought from a garage sale in the early 80s for a couple of bucks. I still have it, but it's really beat up and I colored in most of the monsters.
I had two friends who colored in a lot of the books and modules back then. I think it was really common to do so.
Thanks for watching and commenting!
This is so very good. Another great video my friend!
Thank you so much! I am really glad you are enjoying these. It's nice when your friends enjoy and appreciate your work! Thanks again!
I know you had quite a few of these - Unearthed Arcana and Manual of the Planes are some of your favorites, if I recall?
@@daddyrolleda1 I had all of the 1e books except Wilderness Survival Guide and Manual of the Planes. Unearthed was definitely a favorite of mine. I do love the Manual of the Planes for 3e but never had the 1e version of it.
@@redwyrmofficial Ah, that's right! The 3E Version! I have that, as well as the 3.5 "Planar Handbook." Really fun stuff in there - I pulled monsters & concepts from those 2 books to use in my campaign, but never used any of the player-facing stuff for my group.
Just out of curiosity, was there a reason you passed on the WSG and MotP at the time?
@@daddyrolleda1 Limited funds combined with the fact that I never even saw them in Waldenbooks until I was already into 2nd edition and buying Complete Handbooks.
Yes, interesting, you're right there are 18 AD&D 1st Ed hard covers (if you count the 4 Easley reprints and 14 unique books if you only count unique books) never thought of it that way. Yes, now that I did an inventory, I own all of the 14 unique books and two of the Easley cover version books, the Easley PHB and the Easley DMG. So, 16 of them. The only two I don't own are two of the Easley hard cover books, the Easley cover Monster Manual and the Easley cover Legends & Lore. I sometimes forget that there is an Easley cover version of Legends and Lore.
I forget, too! If I recall, I had to put a screen text box to mention Legends & Lore because I always forget that book!
And well done! I opted *not* to collect Easley covers of the books I already had because I wanted to focus on getting books I didn't already have in my collection. But I *only* have an Easley cover DMG. So I'm missing Sutherland DMG, Easley PHG, MM, and Legends & Lore. I have everything else (after I made this video, a very kind fan gifted me a copy of his extra Manual of the Planes, which is in great shape. Super generous!).
I always wondered what an Easley Fiend Folio cover would've looked like, had he made one!
@@daddyrolleda1 Yep agree with you on the Easley covers (I look at them as reprints), and back in the day -- it was never about "collecting" the books, you just bought them because they were cool -- and yes, the way I looked at it is I already have the PHB -- do I need another copy.
Yes, and that's right the FF is the only 1st Ed book that didn't receive orange spine treatment. Yes, would have been interesting to see an Easley cover of FF.
very interesting thanks a lot
You're welcome! Thank you for watching and commenting. I'm glad you enjoyed the video, and hope you like some of my other "D&D History" videos on here. Cheers!
I'd like to see a video on Dragonlance, especially its long-term effects on D&D as a whole.
That is definitely on the list! Thanks for the suggestion, and thank you for watching and commenting!
Great video, but I seem to be missing one book. You mentioned 18 but I only counted 17. Can you repost the full list just as a reference?
The 'Manual of the Planes' by Jeff Grubb, 1987
He added it as a photo between the Wilderness Survival Guide & Dragonlance Adventures
Either that, or it might have been the Legends & Lore (Deities & Demigods reprint without the Cthulhu or Melnibone mythos) one?
Yeah, as PressureDrop mentioned, I forgot to mention two books in my audio commentary but I included them in editing in the video. Given that, here are the 18 books:
1) Monster Manual 1977 (original cover)
2) Player's Handbook 1978 (original cover)
3) Dungeon Master's Guide 1979 (original cover)
4) Deities & Demigods 1980 (first and second printing with Cthulhu and Melnibonéan mythos)
5) Deities & Demigods 1980 (third printing and on without Cthulhu and Melnibonéan mythos)
6) Fiend Folio (1981)
7) Monster Manual 1983 (revised Easley cover/ orange spine)
8) Player's Handbook 1983 (revised Easley cover/ orange spine)
9) Dungeon Master's Guide 1983 (revised Easley cover/ orange spine)
10) Legends & Lore 1983 (renamed Deities & Demigods with new Easley cover/ orange spine)
11) Monster Manual II 1983
12) Unearthed Arcana 1985
13) Oriental Adventures 1985
14) Dungeoneer's Survival Guide 1986
15) Wilderness Survival Guide 1986
16) Manual of the Planes 1987
17) Dragonlance Adventures 1987
18) Greyhawk Adventures 1988
Hope that helps! I suspect the one you were missing might have been the 3rd and later printings of the Deities & Demigods. I count that as a separate book as it actually removed 16 pages of content and two whole mythos from the book.
Cheers! And thank you for watching and commenting!
We enjoyed your video very much. Great work detailing the history of these treasures. Succinct but with lots of lore sprinkled throughout.
I really appreciate that! Thank you so much for watching and commenting (and again for your quote-tweet on Twitter!).
I had all those except for Dragonlance and Greyhawk. Just a version. I think MMII was my first purchase since the guys I played with had dm guide players handbook and mm. Eventually got them myself along with the basic stuff.
Thanks
I hope you enjoyed it!
So is there going to be a follow up of this video showing the Boxed Sets of AD&D? Maybe the module series with recommendations on playthrough order?
I hadn't intended that but I can certainly add it to the list of upcoming topics. I covered the 1E World of Greyhawk boxed set in another video. The module series is also a fun idea. Thanks!
And thanks for watching and commenting!
Since this post Daddy rolled a 1 did do that -- just didn't delve into 2nd Ed on the boxed sets -- as TSR went crazy with bock sets in the 90s. That one is easy to cover with PDFs and photos of the box sets -- but very few people are going to have physical copies of all of the 2nd Ed box sets -- so yeah that one is going to be photos.
I run a heavily home brewed version of The New and Easy to Master set but i use the Monster manual and fiend folio. Both of my play groups seem to vastly prefer the older style art and deadlier creatures from these older monster books
They're so good! I love that art, too, but I "grew up" with it. I have a video on the 18 Editions of D&D in which I talk about the "New and Easy to Master" set briefly, and also a whole video on the Fiend Folio, if you're interested. Thank you so much for watching and commenting!
You have clarified a confusion about which I wasn't even aware. I finally zeroed in on the memories of "editions" back then, late seventies to early eighties. By the mid-eighties some players were referring to any cover change as "editions." The DMG and PH cover changes were called "Second Edition" at the time. Since we were the final arbiters of our campaign, it never really mattered enough to clarify. For instance, the specific recommendation that Basic and Advanced D&D be kept separate was almost nonsensical to those of us out here who had no clue about any company feuds. We had Basic and Expert, and Advanced. It was all D&D. Certain things won out, like the expanded alignments, which of course are more accurate. Collecting the books had not really become a thing for any of us yet. I was always meticulous and stingy with my manuals, while my co-DM and primary partner in campaign creation was not. My manuals are in pretty good shape all this time later.
Worth mentioning, the primary campaign we played was a joint venture, but the seed idea was in a module my friend created and which sought to summarize the idea of modules for all time. He created this epic fortress of ungodly proportions which took us months to play out. The essence which he formulated and the two of us later carried forward in the campaign still brings a feeling of wanderlust like a warm breeze on a grassy plain with storm clouds on the horizon. No epic book series ever stirred any more feeling of adventure than that world setting which the two of us cultivated through those late teen years into early adulthood. It's a travesty that I haven't pulled all those old notes out and written it all up, because it is worth sharing.
I would guess that the primary reason I am aging very slowly is that I never let go of my creativity. RPGs were a big part of that. I can't say D&D specifically, because the same fella I mentioned above thought up another percentile based game which I helped him develop and we played it as much as D&D. Matter of fact we had most of our PCs and NPCs converted for both. Most of our friends and buddies preferred his homemade game really, but everybody knows that when it comes to any RPGing that D&D is the parent.
That's interesting -- I never heard cover reprints referred to as editions. Yeah, it's kind of a cool video to show all 18 hard covers - I have 16 of these books and I own two of the four Easley cover reprints only because I bought a short box full of stuff in the early 90s for $100 and in that box was an Easley cover reprint of the PHB and an Easley Cover reprint of the DMG. Everything else, the other 14 books I had originally bought off the shelf in the late 70s and in the 80s.
From my memory edition wasn't used until after 2nd Ed came out, and then later at some point "unofficially" the addition of Unearthed Arcana and Oriental Adventures to AD&D is referred to as Edition 1.5 -- and some still argue which additional books make (or comprise) AD&D 1.5 -- but I argue that it's really Unearthed Arcana that makes it 1.5. It's an unofficial designation anyway -- so doesn't really matter.
There was actually another printing of Deities and Demigods that included a credit to rights holders not long after the 1st printing, but before the 2nd printing. There's a video on TH-cam that goes over the whole rights issues for the Mythos in question.
Yeah, I've read many articles and blog posts about the issues, including listening to multiple interviews with Jim Ward, the guy who wrote Deities and Demigods and also secured the rights. It's complicated and a bit more detail than I wanted to get into for this particular video. My first printing has no "thank you" but the 2nd printing includes a "thank you" to Chaosium. The 3rd printing removes the two mythos but accidentally still included the "thank you" to Chaosium and stated on the back of the book that it includes 17 mythos instead of 15. The 4th printings and beyond fix all the issues to excise all mention of the deleted mythos, the thank-you mentions, and correcting the number of mythos on the back cover.
I'm pretty confident nobody actually chose the Cthulhu mythos for their campaign although that section was a fascinating read. IIRC all of the gods were chaotic evil.
@@gunkulator1 I agree in that they were very fun to read! Thank you so much for watching and commenting!
@@gunkulator1 I just double-checked. All are Chaotic Evil except:
* Azathoth: Chaotic Neutral
* Great Race: Lawful Neutral (monster)
* Primordial One: Lawful Evil (monster)
Yes -- and all covered in detail on a D&D collecting web site called the Acaeum. This site goes over all the printing differences in excruciating detail.
Monster Manual II is now available as a POD!
That's so great to hear! I'm really happy their keeping these older books available for folks.
I need to get the Trampier cover of the PHB to complete my set of the three core books. But, wow are they pricey.
They certainly can be! Every once in a while you can find one that's not horribly expensive, but you're probably looking at least at $80+ depending on condition. You never know when you're going to stumble across a treasure, though. I found a copy of Giant Size X-Men #1 (the issue in which Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler, and Thunderbird first debuted) at a local flea market. It was in not very great condition, but the cover was still attached, which is key. The buy selling it was mainly selling furniture and I had found the comic in a dresser drawer along with around 20 other comics. I asked how much and the guy said, "That's in terrible shape and it's old. Fifty cents?" I agreed, came home and graded it (by my amateur status) as "Good (roughly 3/10). Even at that poor grading, it's worth around $2,300!
@@daddyrolleda1 Ι wish I had your luck!!!
@@DMTalesTTRPG It's only happened that one time and that was around seven years ago! But you never know if it'll happen again!
@@DMTalesTTRPG You can sometimes find one for around $40 or $50 but usually pretty beat up -- Daddy rolled a 1 is right $80 plus for one in decent condition. Yep, this stuff is pricey. Although some stuff isn't too bad -- when new hardcover 5e books are in the $50 price range.
@@quantus58756 on I got one for $50 in great condition!
I've got all the AD&D hardcovers, although I don't have the orange-spined reprints of the core book (or Legends & Lore).
I'm kind of in the same boat, except as you saw I only have an orange spine DMG. I'd really like to get an original Sutherland cover one day. But, this is the one my mom gave me way back when so I don't want to get rid of it, either.
@@daddyrolleda1 Did that guy ever come through for you and get you a Sutherland cover version of the DMG? If not at some point someone will probably give you a copy if they have a spare. I have a spare Sutherland cover Monster Manual (beat up) that would be glad to give you -- but that's my only duplicate, other than I believe I might have two copies of the Easley cover version of the PHB in addition to my Trampier version of the PHB.
@@quantus58756 We are chatting and I know I'll get one someday. But thank you!
The added classes by and large felt bolted on - clumsily, especially Bard.
I really liked the Barbarian Class from UA. Gygax loved Conan and it was very much inspired by the works regarding the character.
I’d love a treatment of the DMG as a separate video. It’s effective an amalgam of all the loose rules compiled into a single work. It is the most gloriously disorganized work of all of DnD and I love it. No matter what version you’re playing you can find some excellent guidance in it.
The 1E Dungeon Master's Guide is definitely my favorite book from that edition. Given its disorganization, I find something new and different every time I read it! The Appendices are especially helpful for any DM regardless of edition. I will add that to the list.
Thanks for the suggestion, and for watching and commenting!
Was there anyone who ever played a Barbarian character who DIDN'T reroll that d12 for hit points when you got a 1? "Daddy" wanna chime in?
@@gunkulator1 I had exactly one PC who was a Barbarian. I've been looking for his character sheet but I think I rolled a 7 for HP.
@@gunkulator1 I swore I commented on this earlier but it looks like my comment didn't get posted.
I had only one Barbarian (and it was actually one from the Oriental Adventures book) and if I recall correctly his HP was rolled as a 7 plus his CON bonus. Not horrible but nothing super exciting!
@@gunkulator1 that’s a resounding “no”. I run a 1/2e campaign and i alleviate the disappointment of the dreaded “1” by allowing players to re-roll but must take roll # 2, or do a d10+2, so the minimum is 3 plus constitution bonus, but they must take the result.
Considering how influential the Conan and fafhrd/grey mouser stories were on gygax it’s kind of mind blowing that the thief is not an original D&D class.
It almost was -- after Gygax got the idea from someone it showed up in Game Player's Newsletter #9 (June 1974), so only around 5 months after D&D was published in Jan 1974 -- which is amazing!!. And then of course the Thief was officially released in the Greyhawk supplement in 1975.
My other comment is if Gygax hadn't gotten that idea from someone -- still would have made it in soon after -- you are correct -- Gygax and that entire crew were very well versed with Fafhrd/Grey Mouser and Conan -- so in any event -- would have happened soon after it did.
The innovation in TTRPGs back in those days was amazing -- especially given no Internet. Gygax and Arneson were true Giants - so thankful they created D&D.
Any insight into why the colour orange was chosen on the '83 onwards spines? More eye catching if they were stacked on the store shelf?
They sure stand out on a book shelf from a mile away that's for sure.
The binding in those old books were so bad. LOL I have my copy and it is falling apart just from a few moves. I have all the D&D 1st edition books except for Legends & Lore because it was a reprint of Deities and Demigods. I can't believe the prices people are asking for these old books online. It's crazy!
Thank you for watching and commenting! I really appreciate it!
Yeah, the binding on my Oriental Adventures and Unearthed Arcana is so bad. The others seem to be holding on okay. I take really good care of my books, but those two just aren't making it!
And the prices are crazy, especially over the past ~5 years or so!
I have “Legends & Lore” . Don’t have “Fiend Folio” . All others I still have from the 81” editions. All of them Dungeoneers Wilderness Unearthed and Manual of the Planes”.
Cool!
I wish I'd bought all these back in the day. I saw them all in the shop, and I have a couple, but I never had much money and they were very expensive. Also, I never realized until now that White Dwarf was only a UK thing.
Thank you so much for watching and commenting!
I was very lucky back in the day to have a mom who encouraged and indulged my hobbies. She bought me quite a few books over the years and I know a few of them were acquired at sales or in combo packs which brought the prices down. But even at that, I never had the original Monster Manual, the Fiend Folio, Dragonlance Adventures, or Greyhawk Adventures until decades later when I finally acquired them on the second-hand market.
The Manual of the Planes (which in this video I mentioned I didn't have) was a lucky one for me - someone saw this video and had a second copy they didn't need, and ended up sending it to me just for the price of shipping!
@@daddyrolleda1 That's cool. I used to go to Virgin Records (which had D&D books for some reason) and stand there reading the books until they got sick of people doing that and sealed them in plastic. There's no way my parents would buy them for me because, you know, Satan. (Actually, now that I think about it, that's probably why Virgin Records sold them.)
@@garrick3727 Ah, yes, the 80's and Satanic Panic. While I was very aware of it, I fortunately was never affected by it, but had a friend who hid my birthday gift to him (Monster Manual II) in his drawer because he knew his mom wouldn't approve. In my 30's, I became very good friends with a guy who told me in the 80's his mom refused to let him play D&D because it was "evil" and "Satanic" but she was totally cool with him playing MERP, Rolemaster, Champions, etc.
I had a different dieties and demigods, thought was called gods and demons, had thor or odin on the cover, was some big hoopla about it and was considered super rare and was banned and redone as Deities and Demigods (or legends and lore), having a hard time recalling. but i cant find a picture of it anywhere.
If anyone knows about it, please refresh my memory and a picture would be fantastic, i remember it was worth thousands back in the 80s, probably so much more today if any exists
That doesn't sound familiar to me, but I've sent your note out to my followers on Twitter to see if anybody can help out. Stay tuned!
According to Jim Ward, TSR did not want to pay to keep the Cthulhu and Melnibonean mythoses in the second printing.
Yhe monk vs the asian kung fu monk were so different. I love this idea, and I wonder where the old monk went. I feel it just sort of merged with the paladin and cleric classes.
Still have and use the original MM, PHB, and DMG. They have yet to be surpassed as far as I'm concerned.
Totally agree!! And I prefer the Trampier PHB cover over the Easley cover and the Sutherland DMG cover over the Easley cove!! Only cover I never liked of the original three covers was the Sutherland MM cover, although sadly -- and maybe nostalgia reasons -- still prefer it to the Easley MM cover.
Oh no
I'm missing two...the survival guides
Fortunately, I think those two aren't *that* expensive on the secondary market (compared to some of the others). Maybe you can add them to your collection some day!
Thanks for watching and commenting!
I REALLY like the cover art of 1st Edition D&D books. Even though the original Monster Manual cover art may seem a bit amateurish, I feel that its captures the spirit of the game much more than today's cover art.
For example, I've never really care for the cover art of the 5E Players Handbook. For one thing, why does it seem like the Fire Giant is more prominent on the cover rather the the heroes? Compare that cover art to the 1E's Player's Handbook... in the OG, while not as polished, we do see a bunch of diverse group of adventurers in the middle of a quest. Much better in my opinion.
Agreed -- my favorite cover of all time for a D&D book is Trampier's Player's Handbook Cover.
You forgot the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting book from 1988, which was clothed in 2e binding, but has the 1e compatible yellow star bubble on the cover that the Grayhawk book has on it. The game data in that book is 1e game data, so some consider it a 1e book, even though it had the 2e spine & cover.
Forgotten Realms Adventures was published in 1990, a year after 2e debuted, and has 2e Trade Dress. I've never seen a copy with a star bubble claiming compatability with 1e. The first Forgotten Realms campaign setting was a boxed set for 1e from 1987, but wasn't a hardback book.
I think you're probably referring to the FR boxed set. The hard cover FR book like Daddy rolled a 1 said was published in 1990 and is considered a AD&D 2nd Ed. book. The two hard cover AD&D 1st Ed books are Dragon Lance and Greyhawk.
@@quantus58756 It's really fun to see you going through my old videos and commenting!!!!
Great stuff. Just the channel name makes me laugh.
Ha! Back when I was starting my blog, it was just a few years after my daughter was born. I was looking for a name for my blog, and a friend suggested, "You should call it 'Daddy Rolled A 1' and your logo could be a cocktail glass with a D20 as the olive or cherry." I thought it was a great idea, and it stuck! Had I known at the time that I was eventually going to make a TH-cam Channel about D&D History and other topics, I may have re-thought the name, as I think many people make assumptions about what content is on my channel based on my name. But I also had a relatively strong group of followers on Twitter before I started my channel and I thought it made sense to keep the name recognition.
In any event, I'm glad you're enjoying the content, and I thank you for your support!
Now this is just AD&D pornography...
Ha! That's a funny way of putting it, but it works! Thanks for watching and commenting!
i had all those
That's awesome! Any you liked more or less than the others? I know a lot of folks don't really care for Unearthed Arcana, but as the time I thought it was awesome. I loved all the new options in Oriental Adventures. We never used anything from DSG and WSG other than the nonweapon proficiencies. I loved a few of the creatures and especially the art in the Fiend Folio, but I found a lot of the rest of the book a little goofy for my tastes. The 1E DMG is probably the one book I still find myself going back to over and over.
@@daddyrolleda1 unearthed arcana had the hand of Vecna and sword of Kas which I was obsessed with (their story).
Daemon is actually pronounced exactly the same as demon. It's just an alternate spelling closer to the original Greek.
I appreciate that! Someone else pointed out the same thing, so hopefully I will remember when it comes up again.
Thank you for watching and commenting!
13:10 This book makes me cringe every time I think about it. RAW, the barbarian and cavalier were utterly miserable to DM for--the barbarian was a bullying savage that spawned thousands of proto-murderhoboes, while the cavalier was an insufferable, self-absorbed, glory-hogging snob.
Thanks for watching and commenting! UA is definitely a very polarizing book among the 1E community. I quite liked the new classes at the time, especially the Cavalier, but I was only around 14 and I really liked the idea of a "knight" type class that wasn't held to the strict moral compass of the paladin. And I always felt barbarians had a place in the game. You *could* just play a fighter as a barbarian type, but given that a barbarian typically wouldn't wear heavy plate armor, it didn't make as much sense, as one of the fighter's only "powers" was its ability to wear heavy armor and use any weapon. Mechanically, there were issues with both classes that I see now as an adult with more experience gaming, but back then I didn't really notice it as much!
Ah, Unearthed Arcana...so much game-ruining power creep and so many unplaytested ideas...yet so loved anyway
I really loved it back in the day but I've softened on it over the years. But when it came out... I was so excited!
Still looking for a Manual of the Planes? I have one I am willing to donate.
That is so very kind of you to offer! Interestingly, after I made this video, someone on Reddit reached out to me with the same offer (he had a extra copy) and he sent it to me for free just because he liked my channel.
I sincerely appreciate that offer, however. I'm sure there are other folks who are fans of the channel who would love a copy, but I also know you could sell it on Ebay if you need some extra cash.
I love this community that's building up around the channel, and kind folks like you are a huge part of that. Thank you again. Cheers!
You're a good person. 👍 Another kind person already gave him a copy. Only dupe I have is a beat-up copy of the Trampier Monster Manual that I'd be glad to donate to a TH-camr that covers 1st Ed content. Glad someone got him a copy.
You probably should get a copy of the manual of the planes
He did. Someone saw this video and had a duplicate copy of Manual of the Planes and gave it to him. Nice gift -- at least $75+ right now on eBay for a decent copy.
Daemon is just an archaic spelling of demon, and pronounced the same.
Thanks! I always wondered about that and I should've done my due diligence and looked it up before recording the video. I was on my sixth or seventh recording trying to get it just right and I just didn't have the stamina to start over yet again, so I stumbled past that point. I try to make the videos more conversational, so I'm not reading off a script, for better or worse. Thanks again.
Some books are fluff, and some are great material. The DMG has never been equalled in anyone's game design. The PHB is required for obvious reasons. You can get by without the monster manual based on the nature of the person running the game. Everything after that is strictly "how much work does the DM want to put into the game?" In recent time I have acquired both Lairnomicon and The Monster Overhaul, two books that are so magnificent. But often, most books past the absolute core design are just pandering to gamers that want everything spelled out for them. I think imagination is an endangered skill.
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Glad you enjoyed it!
#orangespinefellowship 🎉
The publishing of the MM2 was the heralding for the age of dross.
Wait, unless I blinked you missed some books. 21st Century Games released tiny, probably unusable, 1e copies in hardcover. Very expensive
Just to be a pedant 😂
Oh, they're in the video. They're just so small you can't see them.
Ha! I do know of those books, although I don't have them and yes, to be honest, I'd completely forgotten about them. Thanks for the reminder!
I'm not familiar with those either. Are you talking about the reprints that WoTC did of some of the 1st Ed book in the early 2010s ?
1
I hate how pricey some of these are poor millennial problems
I was just at my local game store, and while they don't have a large stock of out-of-print products, every once in a while, they get a few.
Today they had three issues of Dragon Magazine, numbered in the late 20s and early 30s, and they were charging $80/each for them! That's insane! They also had a non-Cthulhu (4th printing) Deities & Demigods for $90, whereas I found one on Ebay (just to price-check) for $56!!!
One piece of good news is all of the 1st Edition material is available as PDFs at DriveThru. Only a few exceptions like licensed material like any Conan stuff, etc. Very grateful that WoTC does this. It's a win-win -- they make money -- and most of the 1st Ed. material is still accessible.
@@daddyrolleda1 I have electronic copies of all of the Dragon from that DVD they published -- but yeah I actually gave away physical Dragon magazines (had about 50 of them) about 20 years ago -- only thing I ever gave away -- yeah some of the old copies are worth some nice change -- although in the end I did make out -- my comic book collection -- was a much, much better investment than collecting Dragon magazines -- there is an advantage of "condition" to the value that comics enjoy (assuming you kept your comics in excellent condition) that Dragon Magazines doesn't have -- the advantage to having Dragon magazines though is condition doesn't matter that much -- collectors of Dragon for the most part just want a decent copy -- and I can imagine anyone with mint copies of Dragon Magazines are very rare -- usually they are in "average" condition or worse -- because no one bagged and boarded Dragon Magazines (ok - maybe there is someone that did) - like they did for comics. I think you said once you have most if not all of the physical copies of Dragon -- $80 is way overpriced IMO for stuff in the 20 and 30 issue number range -- but I still see people paying $30-$50 for that range per issue as long as they are in decent condition. Yeah -- amazing isn't it.