The Dungeons and Dragons editions of our generation
Posted by Jonestown_Juice@reddit | Xennials | View on Reddit | 54 comments
Unless you had an older sibling or friend with access to the older books, the ones I have listed here are likely what you started with. Did you own any of these?
Personally, I started with the "Easy to Master" black box Dungeons and Dragons boxed set. I got it for Christmas of 1991, I think. I would have been 11 years old. I later moved on to the AD&D 2nd Edition books.
sleeperninja@reddit
First book I got was 1st edition AD&D, but by the time I found friends who played, they were playing 2nd Edition. I played a little 3rd, almost no 4th, and a good bit of 5th. I’m very interested in DCC RPG, though.
deathmetalcassette@reddit
Born too early to learn on 4E or 5E, born to late to learn on OSR, born just in time for the worst editions of D&D.
Kenway@reddit
While I love BECMI, I won't take this 3.5 slander. Without it, I wouldn't have Pathfinder.
Jonestown_Juice@reddit (OP)
BECMI is the best edition of D&D. That's what the Rules Cyclopedia and these boxed sets are.
unnccaassoo@reddit
My two kids are playing with the original red box I was playing with, because my master back then happened to have two kids same age as mines and oldest became a DM.All this happened a few months ago I actually had a proud father moment when I saw it and I just bought a monster's guide for them.
Careless-Cap-449@reddit
AD&D 2nd Edition or GTFO
SteelGemini@reddit
An older kid in the neighborhood introduced my friend and I to some version of Basic D&D. I only remember it was a boxed set. I died in our very first encounter with a goblin, as one did in the early days of role-playing games.
That soured me for a minute, but when I got back into it 2nd edition was what was readily available and what most people I knew played. I did eventually score some hand me down 1st edition books, but I was missing so much context at the time that I just stuck with 2nd. By the time 3rd came around, I wasn't actively playing. I bought a ton of 5th edition stuff later out of nostalgia, but didn't get the opportunity to play.
Jonestown_Juice@reddit (OP)
We all had that moment where we were ignobly slaughtered by a lowly goblin. It was a rite of passage.
SteelGemini@reddit
My reaction at the time has become one of those memories I've been embarrassed about most of my life. I did not take it well. In fairness, I was maybe 8 at the time, and all the media and games I'd experienced to that point had conditioned me to think that of course you're supposed to fight the monster. And of course if it's the first monster you encounter it should be pretty easy, right? I was disabused of that quickly.
BritOnTheRocks@reddit
I started with 5e in my 40s. But... it did hold a certain nosalgia to my youth when I owned Advanced HeroQuest and Blood Bowl.
Ok_Egg_2665@reddit
I started on the red box set!
A_Gray_Old_Man@reddit
I love this for you, OP.
I started playing in '83 and still play today. At one table I'm at we use 5e, at another we use 5.5.
I still have my 1st edition books. To include the Dieties and Demigods book with both the Melnibonien (sp) and Cthulhu Mythos in it.
I also run games at my LGS and the library for n00bs.
Love the hobby!
Smoky1279@reddit
I think I would have enjoyed D&D if I had played in my youth.
OutlawJuicyWhales@reddit
I hate having to qualify that I'm not a woman-hating neckbearded grognard when I wax poetic about how much I loved BECMI. I'd happily run a Rules Cyclopedia game (with minor modifications) if I could find a group of decent people that would embrace it.
And yeah, that black box with levels 1-5 was my intro to TTRPGs. Veterans of Zanzer's Dungeon unite!
Jonestown_Juice@reddit (OP)
Anyone that flips through the Rules Cyclopedia will see player characters of different races and genders depicted in the art. You don't need to qualify anything to anyone.
Moxie_Stardust@reddit
The OSR community definitely has a contingent of... a certain type of player, so it's understandable for them to qualify.
JemorilletheExile@reddit
I loved the art for the magic user
Jonestown_Juice@reddit (OP)
I was in love with the thief character. I think her name was Talia. The magic-user was Ren Wardo.
Jonestown_Juice@reddit (OP)
knight_in_gale@reddit
My group still meets every Tuesday. We play 5e now though.
Moxie_Stardust@reddit
After being forever DM for a long time, my BFF started running Pathfinder in 2014, in 2019 we started a Pathfinder 2E game, and despite the pandemic and me moving halfway across the country, last year I completed the achievement of playing the same character all the way from level 1 to level 20 🤩I even used the same character sheet the whole time, I plan to frame it eventually.
ColdMastadon@reddit
Abidarthegreat@reddit
We play every Sunday. Also mostly 5e but we often do one shots of other TTRPGs
this_knee@reddit
I’m jealous.
Oubastet@reddit
NERD!
Okay, that's super cool and amazing. Wish I had friends like that. Mine just want to have me help them replace brake pads. :(
so_now_you_know@reddit
Damn. Are you looking for another player?
djhyland@reddit
I was introduced to D&D when the new kid in 7th grade brought in the AD&D 2e Monstrous Compendium binder to school and read it during free reading time in language arts. I was intrigued, and he quickly became my new best friend when I asked him about it.
My first D&D book was the Rules Cyclopedia, but my sister and I bought the NEW Easy to Master black box because we thought we needed both. Of course, we both moved to 2e so we could play with my new best friend.
I've probably played more 3e than anything else, but I've moved back to 2e and Rules Cyclopedia for the games I run. It felt like coming home again, and they're still my preferred editions!
Jonestown_Juice@reddit (OP)
The Black Box and RC were a great way to start. That introductory adventure with the file cards was pretty great. Escape From Zanzer's Dungeon. And it taught you how to populate a blank dungeon after that- Stonefast. That's how I learned to DM.
I'd love to get a group together and start fresh from Zanzer's Dungeon.
ScroatusMalotus@reddit
I started with the black box as well. The second pictured product was the only one that I never had. What is so wild to me getting back into the game as an adult is that we were so sure that AD&D was the better game back then. Looking at these two games now - "Basic" D&D has its bugs, no doubt, but my God is it a cleaner and more coherent system than AD&D. All they had to do was throw the word "Advanced" in there, and everybody (myself included) was like "oh, its clearly better." #gullible.
Jonestown_Juice@reddit (OP)
You're absolutely right. And it's far from "basic". It has all sorts of optional rules that seem pretty advanced to me. Mass combat, domains, naval rules, a skill system, weapon mastery, magic item creation, etc.
All of that crammed into 300 pages of the Rules Cyclopedia.
djhyland@reddit
Everything needed to run a game from levels 1 to 36, all in one book. It's truly the one D&D book I'd keep if I had to get rid of everything else.
spaceporter@reddit
I started with 3.5 in my early 20s. I think AD&D was a little too old to remain popular when I was a kid, so there was a bit of a lull in the player evangelism. The whole Satanic panic probably didn't help things.
Jonestown_Juice@reddit (OP)
I think you had to be in a certain clique or subculture to be interested, because AD&D was going pretty strong. In fact, it was in its heyday.
When we were kids was the golden age of AD&D. All of the best settings came out then- Forgotten Realms and Dark Sun and whatnot. Allll of the novels! So many novels. Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms novels out the wazoo.
Waldenbooks and B. Dalton always had new AD&D stuff.
TSR advertisements were all over comics.
Hot_Future2914@reddit
Same, we didn't play til college!
Calm-Tree-1369@reddit
And it's still perfectly valid to use these older rules
Shout out to r/osr
Jerkrollatex@reddit
I own all of these, currently.
Jonestown_Juice@reddit (OP)
I'm thinking of re-purchasing the old basic stuff myself. I've got the Rules Cyclopedia so far but considering buying a black box if I can find one complete and in good condition for a reasonable price.
Jerkrollatex@reddit
I've had luck in small used bookstores and thrift stores.
PetSoundsSucks@reddit
THAC0 her? Hardly knew her!
UnitedLink4545@reddit
Started with 2nd though I have played first.
Khorre@reddit
I loved that Rules Cyclopedia.
philo351@reddit
The diverse artwork in these manuals is wonderful. 😍
ParsleyMostly@reddit
Yes
ellipsisdbg@reddit
I had the first, third and fourth of those :-)
GM_Jedi7@reddit
Same here!
Jonestown_Juice@reddit (OP)
Me three. Though I wish I had spent more time with the Rules Cyclopedia before moving over to 2nd Edition. The RC is such a great book. 2e had all of the cool settings, though.
CaptinEmergency@reddit
I didn’t start playing until 5 years ago but my brother had the books growing up. Highly nostalgic but more for the art not the game itself.
Aquatichive@reddit
All of these were in my house
Cross_22@reddit
I never played D&D, my RPG growing up was The Dark Eye. Played it from 1st edition in 1989 through 4th. Lots of fond memories.
brakeb@reddit
what's wrong with the dragon's face? where's the snout?
OutlawJuicyWhales@reddit
Jeff Easley had, uh, a unique style to his paintings that didn't always jive with popular conceptions of the things he rendered.
Interesting-Sock-420@reddit
I had so many 2nd edition books, I wish I would have kept them.
Moxie_Stardust@reddit
Or maybe an older uncle, in my case... I got started on AD&D 1st Edition and then moved to 2nd Edition. I still have my PHB, I got it signed by the band The Doubleclicks at Gen Con some 11 years ago. Why yes, I am a huge fucking nerd, thanks for noticing my tattoo in Elvish 🤓
StillhasaWiiU@reddit
2nd edition is what we played in grade school and 3rd edition released during the college years.