In 1974, the world changed forever when Gary Gygax introduced the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. The legacy of his innovative ideas and the extensive reach of his powerful influence can be seen in virtually every facet of gaming today.
To help honor his work and his memory, Wizards of the Coast created limited-edition reprints of the original 1st Edition core rulebooks: the Monster Manual, Player's Handbook, and Dungeon Master's Guide. These premium versions of the original AD&D rulebooks have been lovingly reprinted with the original art and content, but feature an attractive new cover design commemorating this re-release. Available in limited quantities as a hobby channel exclusive in North America.
Your purchase of this monumental book helps support the Gygax Memorial Fund established to immortalize the "Father of Roleplaying Games" with a memorial statue in Lake Geneva, WI.
I definitely want and apparently my friends do from their comments on my "share".
We (who I played with long ago) used to morph a number of the rules when we played. So, I might be able to put together a ruleset and campaign that we (my current gaming circle) would like to play.
Regardless of how large a percentage of the proceeds are going to the Gygax Memorial, it's a classy move by WotC, something we haven't seen from them in a long time. Is it a PR move, yes. Are they doing the right thing for the wrong reasons, probably. But even though this will probably never see any use by me, I for one am buying it. (If nothing else, it will let me replace my badly, badly, as in held together with Duct-tape, worn copies.)
So for the first time in a long time, Kudos to Wizards of the Coast.
Regardless of how large a percentage of the proceeds are going to the Gygax Memorial, it's a classy move by WotC, something we haven't seen from them in a long time. Is it a PR move, yes. Are they doing the right thing for the wrong reasons, probably. But even though this will probably never see any use by me, I for one am buying it. (If nothing else, it will let me replace my badly, badly, as in held together with Duct-tape, worn copies.)
So for the first time in a long time, Kudos to Wizards of the Coast.
Ditto.
However, for those like me both leery of "a portion" and who already have too many copies of these books, I suggest donating directly to the Gary Gygax Memorial Fund.
Regardless of how large a percentage of the proceeds are going to the Gygax Memorial, it's a classy move by WotC, something we haven't seen from them in a long time. Is it a PR move, yes. Are they doing the right thing for the wrong reasons, probably. But even though this will probably never see any use by me, I for one am buying it. (If nothing else, it will let me replace my badly, badly, as in held together with Duct-tape, worn copies.)
So for the first time in a long time, Kudos to Wizards of the Coast.
"Classy" isn't a term I'd use to describe this if it turns out to be little more than a ploy to cash in on older gamers, trading on the name of Gygax. I don't know that this is the case, I don't have much information to work with.
However, it should be nice to have more copies of these books around. There are probably plenty of folks like you who want a replacement.
Mine are still in pretty good shape, so I just donated to the fund directly.
Edit- If not for these books, I might not have learned about the fund / memorial at all. So there's that.
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Majuba wrote:
Leo_Negri wrote:
Regardless of how large a percentage of the proceeds are going to the Gygax Memorial, it's a classy move by WotC, something we haven't seen from them in a long time. Is it a PR move, yes. Are they doing the right thing for the wrong reasons, probably. But even though this will probably never see any use by me, I for one am buying it. (If nothing else, it will let me replace my badly, badly, as in held together with Duct-tape, worn copies.)
So for the first time in a long time, Kudos to Wizards of the Coast.
Ditto.
However, for those like me both leery of "a portion" and who already have too many copies of these books, I suggest donating directly to the Gary Gygax Memorial Fund.
Back in the 1980s, it was popular to "Contact Paper" certain books we wanted to last a long time. Thus, My 1st edition collection still has shiney new covers and bindings! lol As for the fund, its a great cause - and folks can donate directly without the largest portion going into the pockets of the company that used to distance themselves from Gary at GEN CON. Further, if you'd like to make your donations directly to Gail Gygax, Gary's widow, you can hand them directly to her or Ernie Gygax, his son, in Lake Geneva, WI.
Here are the dates and the address:
The dates for Gary Con IV are Thursday, March 22, 2012, through Sunday, March 25, 2012, and it will be held at The Lodge at Geneva Ridge, W4240 State Road 50, Lake Geneva, Wisconsin 53147.
Done and done and ordered! I heard about these a month ago and been feeling a bit nostalgic. I've been playing for a long time and sold a number of my old collectable games on e-bay to make ends meet back around the dot com bust when I was unemployed. I've mostly been playing 3.5 and Pathfinder as my go to game of late but look forward to re-reading these reprints.
I'm hoping that this is a sign that WotC will reprint/make available more of their back catalog as there is a lot of good material there. I did manage to not completely sell off my whole collection but would like to get some of those hard to get/expensive items back again (Planescape Planes of Conflict I'm looking at you).
I will be getting this, and the re-issues of the DMG and MM. But I will try and find them at a FLGS first, since the shipping costs here eat up that 10% discount Paizo is listing for the books.
I have never played the origonal edition and from my understanding of the rules, would rarther not as I'm afraid my brain will explode.
WotC want their old player's back SO badly that they're re-printing these books and saying the cash goes to fund the statue of Gary Gygax, whom I may not have known personally, but love what he did to gaming all together by bringing this into the world.
As Majuba posted up above me, if you want to donatebest go to the site to do it, especially as I'm iffy on exactly how much goes to the fund. We've been burnt by you a few times Wizards, we aren't going to fall into any pitfalls nor fail our will saves.
I love the old rule system of AD&D and when they changed it, it was a shock to the system. Take note new school D&Ders, this is the original game here, this is the original AD&D the way it was originally intended.
Technically, this isn't what is generally referred to as the original edition - that would be D&D (three soft-cover rulebooks in a boxed set).
This is a reprint of the first three AD&D 1st edition hardbacks (Monster Manual, Player's Handbook, and Dungeon Master's Guide) from a year or two later. Mine show copyright dates of 1977/1978, 1978 and 1979 respectively, compared to a 1976 copyright date in the soft-cover D&D books.
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I wonder which printing the text will be from?
Will they be authentic 1sts from 1977-79?
Or somewhere before the final prints in 1990?
Though I don't think their texts changed too much after the 3rd printing.
The bigger question is will they finally have the Errata from Dragon incorporated into the text?
I checked directly with WotC after they were announced and they said they are reprints of the original versions of the book from the 70's, minus the old ads from the back of the book, which is why page counts are a little different.
Enevhar - Did they mention if errata would be incorporated. While I don't want changes made to update things, I wouldn't mind if known errata were corrected.
Well, it's less rules-light than some. For example, Swords & Wizardry: Complete Rulebook (or Core Rules, or White Box) is a bit more rules-light than 1E is.
Unfortunately, Swords & Wizardry isn't out in print. I've never liked PDFs, and now I'm at Job Corps, where I use computers owned by the center, not my own. This makes PDFs a complete non-option.
I feel for you. I was in the same boat for a while. I broke down and got my Nook Color just for that, but before then, I was really weary about all PDF pushing that Paizo and WW had going. Still, I much, much prefere actual books. The PDF's are more a backup or a backup.
Unfortunately, Swords & Wizardry isn't out in print. I've never liked PDFs, and now I'm at Job Corps, where I use computers owned by the center, not my own. This makes PDFs a complete non-option.
Actually, the Swords & Wizardry: Complete rulebook is available in either hardcover or softcover from Frog God Games. Here is the URL:
People will buy this for nostalgia's sake and then never play it (or at most play the odd one-shot session).
I don't quite understand why they're doing this. Is it just to grab some quick profit by tugging on people's heartstrings?
It doesn't take much of a glance around the internet to see there are a ton of RPG gamers that are playing retro clones or even just playing 1st edition, 0 edition, AD&D, etc.
But what's wrong with people buying something out of nostalgia?
People will buy this for nostalgia's sake and then never play it (or at most play the odd one-shot session).
I don't quite understand why they're doing this. Is it just to grab some quick profit by tugging on people's heartstrings?
It doesn't take much of a glance around the internet to see there are a ton of RPG gamers that are playing retro clones or even just playing 1st edition, 0 edition, AD&D, etc.
But what's wrong with people buying something out of nostalgia?
I think the retro gamers play basic or 2nd edition more than 1st, but I'll admit that I have seen a few on the tinterweb.
Nostalgia is ok for a while, but you'll soon notice the rose tint that it smears over your glasses. I'm just a cynical bastard though.
People will buy this for nostalgia's sake and then never play it (or at most play the odd one-shot session).
It's truth plenty of folks purchase role-playing materials just to "read" them. I've purchased a great deal of material over the years simply to read (and hopefully enjoy) the content, with no immediate plans to put what I've purchased into immediate use in a "gaming session" (this comment goes out to you, too TOZ.)
What's cool about good Role-playing content (rules or background material) is that high-quality content can be an enjoyable read and "useful" too.
Macona wrote:
I don't quite understand why they're doing this. Is it just to grab some quick profit by tugging on people's heartstrings?
Meh. I think the company's trying to honor one of the creators of the genre, and make a buck-or-three, in the meantime.
I've no illusions about Gary Gygax, from what I've read I really like the man ... but I'm not sure I'd want to play at his table. I never had the pleasure of meeting him (or joining him at his table), so the possibility of that (those) pleasure (pleasures) is (are) past.
I'd buy a slip-case edition of this set, simply because I'm a compleatest and there was never a 1ED Slipcase set.
I give Wizards of the Coast props for offering this, and hope it does well by them.
There are actually quite a few of us older gamers going back to our older version games. For me, the anxiety over whether or not to buy into Pathfinder RPG and start the whole process of adaptation all over again was the final straw that led me to enlightenment: it will never end, never be over. There's always going to be a new edition, whether it's something like 5E or (eventually) Pathfinder 2.0.
So I've jumped ship. I just can't afford to do it all over again. The nice thing about AD&D and it's predecessors is how few books you really need to play. AD&D isn't as "rules-lite" as OE or BECMI, but it is lite enough for me and whatever I don't like I can just toss out.
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