Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Reprinted

Greg Tito

PR for Dungeons & Dragons
Sep 29, 2005
12,070
0
0
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Reprinted



Wizards of the Coast is finally getting Advanced Dungeons & Dragons back on shelves.

For many gamers in the Old School Renaissance, the rules for Dungeons & Dragons as codified by Dave Arneson and written by Gary Gygax in the original "White Box" is the only way to play. Gygax later refined those rules and published them under the imprint of Tactical Studies Rules (or TSR) as Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. TSR later moved on to 2nd edition in 1989 - and 3rd in 2000, 4th in 2008 and so on, Gygax Memorial Fund building a monument to the creator of D&D in his hometown of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/features/9292-The-Ghosts-of-D-D-Past], the current copyright holders Wizards of the Coast are reprinting the three core rulebooks of AD&D - the Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and the Monster Manual. The books will exclusively be sold in hobby game stores on April 17 for $34.95 each.

"In 1974, the world changed forever when Gary Gygax introduced the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. The legacy of his innovative ideas and the extensive reach of his powerful influence can be seen in virtually every facet of gaming today," Wizards announcement read.

"To help honor his work and his memory, we created limited-edition reprints of the original 1st Edition core rulebooks." The new books have all of the artwork and text intact from the original printing, but feature a new cover created exclusively for this limited run of books. The new cover will likely allow Wizards' logo to be displayed instead of TSR's, but it's unclear from the announcement if the title will include words "1st edition" or "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons." The terms are interchangeable, but I can see reasons for and against using either of them.

The announcement of this reprinting is meant to garner respect with the Old School Renaissance as well as give game stores something to sell to offset the burden of carrying 4th edition TSR-era designer Allen Varney put it in a Tweet addressed to Wizards of the Coast [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/9329-Speak-Your-Mind-in-the-Next-Version-of-Dungeons-Dragons]: "Your press release for the AD&D reprints credits Gygax as sole creator of D&D. Might want to mention Dave Arneson."

Look into getting all three books from your friendly local game store this April by using Wizards' handy Store Locator [http://ww2.wizards.com/StoreAndEventLocator/]. As I've been reduced to viewing these rules only in PDF form, I will certainly purchase all three core books as soon as I can to offset any lingering pirate's guilt.

Source: Wizards of the Coast [http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Product.aspx?x=dnd/products/dndacc/02410000]

Permalink
 

Akisa

New member
Jan 7, 2010
493
0
0
Hmmm trying to generate good faith with your lost fans I assume? On that note, where is my Feat Compendium, Class/Prestige class Compendium and maybe Spell Compendium 2 for 3.5?
 

IndianaJonny

Mysteron Display Team
Jan 6, 2011
813
0
0
Goddam ninja'd! [//www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.338839-WotC-reprinting-original-AD-D-books-limited-release#13710379]. It's good to know that some of the cash raised will go to the GMF.
 

RJ Dalton

New member
Aug 13, 2009
2,285
0
0
Zen Toombs said:
....Wizards, you're sucking up to us again. *sigh* What do you want this time?
Just what they've always wanted. Your money. But honestly, isn't providing a desired product for money what companies are supposed to do? Better than George Lucas continually asking us to pay more money to watch him shit all over his best movies.

I've actually never seen the original rules. I may check them out just to know for myself. I still probably won't buy them, though, since I really can't afford it at this time.
 

Valanthe

New member
Sep 24, 2009
655
0
0
I, really want this, 2nd edition was what got me into D&D, so it'd be like reliving my childhood. granted 3.5 is and will always be my favorite edition, but I'm not against handing Wizards my money for something like this.
 

Xorph

New member
Aug 24, 2010
295
0
0
Lol, I still have nearly every AD&D book ever made, other than a few dungeon booklets. I think I'm only missing like one core manual, but all of its information was included in another one that I do have. AD&D and 2nd edition are pretty much all I play, since Baldur's Gate introduced me to it and they use a slightly altered version of 2nd edition rules. Plus, I've always preferred the 2nd edition system to 3/3.5/4's, for some odd reason :p
 

Something Amyss

Aswyng and Amyss
Dec 3, 2008
24,759
0
0
Sweet.

Zen Toombs said:
....Wizards, you're sucking up to us again. *sigh* What do you want this time?
For you to eagerly and unquestioningly buy 5E when it launches.

Is that too much to ask?
 

HammerIntoAnvil

New member
Jan 19, 2012
11
0
0
There have been calls for an AD&D reprint for a good few years now. It's good that Wizards have finally decided it makes enough economic sense to actually do it. Shame it's a limited printing though - it makes me think that few copies will make it outside of the US.
 

Webb Myers

New member
May 17, 2010
76
0
0
I still have my originals, and while I could probably argue that other editions were better in play, the 1st ed DMG has BY FAR the best appendices of any source book that's been published since. The magic item lists, the treasure and encounter tables, the random dungeon generator...all classics. They feed into the first edition spirit of "lets roll up some characters (3d6 in order, then 5 minutes to pick class, race, and starting equipment), drop em in a dungeon, and see what happens."
 

sifffffff

New member
Oct 28, 2011
226
0
0
I'm pretty excited about this. My friends and I just recently got into D&D and we haven't really enjoyed some aspects of the 4E rules.
 

Estranged180

New member
Mar 30, 2011
164
0
0
Great, now I've got something else to complain about when it shows exactly how old I am. Coincidentally, I do already have the original AD&D hardcovers (all of them). It'll be interesting to see if they can reproduce them the way some of us 'older' gamers would like to see.

Funny thing here, this being a gaming site, the word 'gamers' is flagged as misspelled. =)
 

Bara_no_Hime

New member
Sep 15, 2010
3,646
0
0
I'd have preferred a reprint of 2nd Ed myself, but this is a nice gesture. Good for you Wizards of the Coast! ^^
 

Atmos Duality

New member
Mar 3, 2010
8,473
0
0
Zachary Amaranth said:
Zen Toombs said:
....Wizards, you're sucking up to us again. *sigh* What do you want this time?
For you to eagerly and unquestioningly buy 5E when it launches.

Is that too much to ask?
Heh.

Always question the motives of companies; especially if they're owned by Hasbro.
 

Quellist

Migratory coconut
Oct 7, 2010
1,443
0
0
WOTC can kiss my ass if they think i'm ever going to pay one penny to the people who turned D+D into a combat-centric MMO clone.

Besides I bought the books first time round anyway :)