History of AD&D 1st Edition Hardbacks 

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.

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...

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.

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).

Good stuff sir. I happen to own all of those old books. Extra mythos and all. Was nice seeing your breakdown.

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.

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!

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!!!

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.

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. :-)

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.

Thanks! That was very interesting and made my bus trip fly in.

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.

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.

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.

Excellent demonstration of the old TSR hardback progression!

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.

Things make more sense now. Thanks for this.

Based history teacher!

Nice collection! I managed to find Monster Manual 2 and Dragonlance Adventures at a local used book shop. I was ecstatic

I played through all of these as they were released. I still have my PHB and DMG

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Brilliant. Thanks for a fantastic video.

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.

Great Video!

Really excellent video. Loving the history vids. :-) Your research an information is really thorough. Thanks a ton for these.

Good review, good work.

Watching this puts tears in my eyes!

This is so very good. Another great video my friend!

I'd like to see a video on Dragonlance, especially its long-term effects on D&D as a whole.

Your Deities & Demigods book is in such great condition for taking to middle school! As are the others. Great job!

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.

very interesting thanks a lot

In the UK they produced the MM and PH in a Soft-Cover edition........I still have both!

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

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.

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

@11:50 about the time backpack started getting heavy...lol and not even close to full!!

Thanks

Good stuff. I'm really interested in some of the more detailed differences between all the versions' rules and lore.

I've got them all. My treasures! I took the manual of the planes to the abyss in 1990, it still bears the scars.

We enjoyed your video very much. Great work detailing the history of these treasures. Succinct but with lots of lore sprinkled throughout.

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.

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 RU-vid that goes over the whole rights issues for the Mythos in question.

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?

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.

oh man, I had manual of the planes...my favorite one to look at. Lost it in a flood like 4 years ago though.

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!

I need to get the Trampier cover of the PHB to complete my set of the three core books. But, wow are they pricey.

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

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 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”.

According to Jim Ward, TSR did not want to pay to keep the Cthulhu and Melnibonean mythoses in the second printing.

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.

Daemon is actually pronounced exactly the same as demon. It's just an alternate spelling closer to the original Greek.

Great stuff. Just the channel name makes me laugh.

Still have and use the original MM, PHB, and DMG. They have yet to be surpassed as far as I'm concerned.

I've got all the AD&D hardcovers, although I don't have the orange-spined reprints of the core book (or Legends & Lore).

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?

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.

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.

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.

i had all those

Chaosium is the company that published Call of C'thul'hu. There is a video on youtube where he explains the whole debacle. They did offer TSR a right to publish the material for D&D, as long as they included (I believe) the Chaosium logo somewhere in the book, but TSR didn't want to put another company's name on their product so they just eliminated those pantheons (and I believe the Lankhmar stuff as well.) I started playing back around '80 or '81 and, probably about the same time as you, picked up all the rulesbooks, including Deities and Demigods. On a side note, as much as I loved playing the game, I hated that cartoon. It was terrible. Had they made the characters young adults or adults and not had the stupid baby unicorn, it would have been so much better.

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.

#orangespinefellowship 🎉

You probably should get a copy of the manual of the planes

Daemon is just an archaic spelling of demon, and pronounced the same.

The publishing of the MM2 was the heralding for the age of dross.

Still looking for a Manual of the Planes? I have one I am willing to donate.

Now this is just AD&D pornography...

1

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.

No. No legal trouble. Gygax was just being a jerk. He threw a fit over the "thank you" to chaosium, which was not even required (someone was just being polite.) Hilariously the first edition that content was removed from, they accidentally left the thank you in. I specifically own that printing on purpose.

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 😂

I hate how pricey some of these are poor millennial problems