Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 1st Edition
Never really touched on this game until the re-release a few years back. The re-releases are beautiful hardcovers with gold leaf pages and stitched-in bookmarks. The covers are thematic, and each core book has a classic old-school image on the front. Let's quickly break them down.
a) Player's handbook - The looting of a statue after defeating foes. A very famous image of a demonic statue having gems cut from its eyes by some naughty adventurers.
b) Dungeon Master's Guide - An Efreet fighting in the City of Brass.
C) Monster Manual - A big red dragon. What more could you want?
Now, what are the fundamental differences between this and Basic D&D, you may ask? Allow me to explain. Not much. Actually, that's probably a little unfair. The advanced version of the game was originally intended to offer much more complexity to the game's mechanics and player options than could be found in the Basic rules. It was the go-to rules system for twelve years before it got an update. Once you get down to it and really dig in, the changes can be boiled down to the following:
Three core books, something carried forward in future editions of the game. Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide and Monster Manual. In total, you're approaching 500 pages of rules and advice. Later releases include the classics Unearthed Arcana and Fiend Folio, which were full of material released in Dragon Magazine. 1st edition is incredibly well supported, with approximately 12 years of classic adventures and additional supplements to bring to your table.
Lots of new character classes, including the Assassin, monk, druid, paladin, ranger, thief, bard and illusionist. That's plenty of meat to sink your roleplay teeth into, for sure. And that's a great positive for the edition. However, one slight niggle is that you have to meet certain stat requirements to choose some of these classes. For example, the illusionist required a minimum intelligence of 15. Players these days have a broad range of options for rolling their stats, but back in the day, you roll, and that's your lot. So, sometimes you don't get to be an assassin! Dwarf, Elf and Halfling are no longer class player options; rather, they are a choice to be made alongside human for your character class choice.
Alignments were added to the three available in the basic rules, bringing the player choices to nine, something most fans of D&D will be familiar with. From my personal point of view, I've always considered nine to be too many. Good, Neutral and Evil is fine. I think the additions are an example of the original writers putting out their own house-rules, maybe because they felt three options wasn't enough of a drill-down. Nine options does allow for a broader depth of role-playing IF you choose to have alignments be an important aspect of your games. Back in the day you had little choice as alignment becomes tethered to many mechanics such as spells.
The core mechanics are codified and robust. Tonnes of spells and monsters to break down those dungeons and to thrill your players with. Great explanations and advice in the DMG help to clarify rules and help the DM prevent their group from running away with so much gold that they are technically immortal.
Some mechanics feel a little harsh to a modern player. For example, Wyvern's can instantly kill you with their sting if you fail a save, and dependant upon the class, you stand a good chance of writing up a new character. There are spells and poisons and items that have similar catastrophic effects upon the person.
So, how does the book stand up against modern versions of the game? Very dated once you get to reading the product. You can feel the flavour of the game is still very much tied to Gygax and the way he wanted to run his games. Not necessarily a bad thing, but there are plenty of quirks here that have been dropped as the years have gone on (looking at you Wyvern). I think you'll love 1st edition if old-school gaming is your thing. Most all old-school publications are based upon the three core books in this set. 1st edition offers a tonne of options, feels solid and is overall a great product. If 5th edition is to your taste though, perhaps the lethality of 1st edition, the lack of race options, lack of feats and creation freedoms may irk. Overall, I can recommend.













