#holmes d&d

[oldschoolfrp]

Two against a purple worm -- By Fangorn, aka Chris Baker, originally drawn for the UK publication of Holmes’ Basic D&D (Games Workshop, 1977) then reprinted in White Dwarf 6, April/May 1978. Like all of Fangorn's interior illustrations for Holmes, it was a reinterpretation of one of David Sutherland's images in the original US printings.

[dungeonsandcartoons]

The different kinds of D&D up to 1st edition

[chasedbybuildings]

Some of my old dice. Unbagged ones are from various sources - I'm not sure where the others come from, but were possibly 'inherited' when our rpg group's dice were mixed up after each session back in the 80s. Bag on the left is from blue box 'Expert' D&D. Bag on the right is from Star Frontiers. All of them are sitting on my well-used 2E Call of Cthulhu rulebook.

[oldschoolfrp]

The calendar tell me it's July 27, Gary Gygax's birthday, so I rolled up a character -- 3D6 rolled six times in order referencing Holmes' 1977 basic D&D rules (his tidy edit of Gygax and Arneson's original 1974 little books):

Srength 8

Intelligence 13

Wisdom 10

Constitution 8

Dexterity 10

Charisma 8

In old school D&D this is a perfectly viable character with no penalties, before 50 years of stat inflation was built into the rules. He could be almost anything, but will be most capable as a magic-user, receiving a +5% bonus to earned experience for having a 13 in the prime requisite ability.

Magic-users and thieves get only a D4 for hit points in early editions, and as often happens I rolled a 1. Survival past the first few levels will be extremely unlikely, but it always was for those classes. He'll need to hide in the middle of the party and hope for the best.

3D6 x 10 for starting gold pieces results in only 60, but he doesn't need much gear. He'll carry some basic tools and a bundle of empty sacks to help carry treasure after his one and only spell is spent.

With Int 13 he has a 65% chance of having a specific level 1 spell in his book, and will have a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 8. He can roll in any order, and can reroll from the list if they fail to meet the minimum. On the first pass through the list he fails to know Detect Magic, Magic Missile, or Hold Portal, but his book holds Charm Person, Dancing Lights, Protection from Evil, Read Languages, Read Magic, Shield, Sleep, and Tenser's Floating Disc. From that list of 8 he can choose one spell each day to use, only one time per day. In combat Sleep and Charm Person will be useful for reducing the number of opponents.

[oldschoolfrp]

"Were-shark" by Eric Holmes and his son Chris, in Alarums & Excursions 13, July 15, 1976. Eric and Chris wrote up a number of stories from their D&D adventures for A&E, often illustrated by Chris. The following year saw the publication of the first Basic D&D set edited by Holmes, with his sample dungeon below Zenopus' tower and Portown also containing a sea cave with a beach, 2 boats, and a monster in the water.

[oldschoolfrp]

Holmes 77, one of many D&D retroclones compiled at:

D&D Retroclones

Here is an overview over all the retroclones and OSR systems based on the various editions of D&D as well as other RPGs that are based in D&

Some PDFs are hosted at that site, and others are linked, with some older links now broken.

Another list of retroclones, OSR games, and OSR-like rules is hosted at the ynasmidgard blog, with a link to a googledoc in the first sentence of this post:

I present to you a comprehensive list of OSR/D&D-esque games. Only those games qualified that are either (1) retroclones (presenting an ol

[oldschoolfrp]

Fighter, magic-user, and cleric battle a purple worm in the depths of the dungeon. (David Sutherland, a little scene found in the first and second editions of Holmes' Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set rules, TSR, 1977-78) An equivalent party of 3 faces the orc horde on the title page. The purple worm fight is similar but reversed compared to Sutherland's illustration in the 1977 AD&D Monster Manual.

[oldschoolfrp]

TSR Hobbies "Gateway to Adventure" catalog -- This version was included in TSR's boxed games ca 1980. Inside are many well-loved classics, some rarities, and probably the final appearance of many of their historical miniature wargame rules. The original D&D box set of 3 little books was still offered for sale, now in a white box marked "Original Collector's Edition," because it continued to sell and make TSR money even alongside Holmes' Basic set and the hardcover AD&D books. The last page teased an update to Metamorphosis Alpha to make it compatible with Gamma World (oddly listed in the "Miniature Rules" section), but that version never was published.