I recently finished reading Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Monster Manual, Players Handbook, and the Dungeon Masters Guide (Gygax, 1977, 1978, 1979) for first edition, the purpose of which is answered here.
While I'm glad I read through all three books (the PHB and DMG cover-to-cover) they really are reference works and I don't believe are meant to be read as I read them. Having said that, reading them cover-to-cover helped generate ideas for adventures I never would have had on my own.
It also had the side effect of inculcating in me the desire to run a game using the system. I was a player in the 80s, and haven't played since, so returning to the system after so long just feels right.
I will always love Basic D&D (Moldvay, 1981), especially because I know it the best (as said previously), but also because it, too, is a relatively robust system, though simple to use. AD&D is not as simple, but it is very robust, and I think eminently playable, just as it must have been back in the 1970s and 1980s.
So what's next?
I already have adventures to run. Do I select a campaign setting next? Greyhawk is sort of baked in to the background of all these books, and it is a natural choice to make, but there's also Forgotten Realms, but both of these would involve purchasing background materials I do not currently own (or no longer own). So the cheaper option is to home brew my own setting.
And I've had ideas for a long time along these lines, in fact. But I intend to only share the details behind the login for that, in the fora.
Adventure awaits.
- Gygax, Gary. Dungeon Masters Guide. TSR, 1979.
- Gygax, Gary. Monster Manual. TSR, 1977.
- Gygax, Gary. Players Handbook. TSR, 1978.
- Moldvay, Tom. Dungeons & Dragons Basic Rulebook. TSR, 1981.
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