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In this series of articles we'll  be exploring the differences and similarities between every edition of Dungeons and Dragons. In our last article we looked at 0E D&D. In this article we're looking at the Holmes Basic Set released in 1977. ‘Basic’ refers to the Dungeons and Dragons Basic rules set. The first D&D basic set was created in 1977 by Eric Holmes, a freelance game designer who created the rules set so that his children could learn to play the game. He then enquired with TSR if he could make it into an official rules set for the game, which...

In this first article we’ll be looking at 0E D&D the game that started it all. 0E Dungeons & Dragons  – 1974 ‘0E’ Dungeons & Dragons refers to the original edition of Dungeons & Dragons published in 1974. This was written by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. OD&D came in a white box set and is sometimes referred to as ‘White box D&D’. It splits into various different rules booklets. Men & Magic, Monsters & Treasure, and Underworld & Wilderness Adventures as well as a Reference Sheets. These cover a wide array of different rules and aspects of the game....

In this series of articles we'll  be exploring the differences and similarities between every edition of Dungeons and Dragons. In the last article we looked at BECMI D&D which you can read here. In this article we are looking at AD&D launched in 1977. Advanced Dungeons & Dragons was first published in 1977 and served as an ‘advanced’ and ‘definitive’ version of Dungeons and Dragons for players to play who had graduated with the ‘basic’ set.   The game split into the iconic 3 books, The Players Handbook, The Dungeon Master Guide and The Monster Manual. This pattern has stayed the same...