what versions in what order ?

[talkamancer]

I'm an old git who played DnD when i was at school. I hear people talking on the Oots discussion thread about 2nd edition 3rd edition etc but because I've not really played DnD since the mid - late 80's I don't really know what that means.

Can someone please put a list here in order of what was played in what order.

I can start it because we played in order

Basic D&D
Expert D&D
Advanced D&D

But that was it for me. The fiend folio was the last rule book we bought although I did hear some of my friends mention there was a monster manual 2. Our full list of books for Ad&d were, players handbook, DM Guide, Monster manual, fiend folio, deities and demigods.

cheers in advance

[Mutazoia]

I'm an old git who played DnD when i was at school. I hear people talking on the Oots discussion thread about 2nd edition 3rd edition etc but because I've not really played DnD since the mid - late 80's I don't really know what that means.

Can someone please put a list here in order of what was played in what order.

I can start it because we played in order

Basic D&D
Expert D&D
Advanced D&D

But that was it for me. The fiend folio was the last rule book we bought although I did hear some of my friends mention there was a monster manual 2. Our full list of books for Ad&d were, players handbook, DM Guide, Monster manual, fiend folio, deities and demigods.

cheers in advance

AD&D 2nd ed
then TSR is bought out by WOTC and we get:
3rd ed
3.5 ed
4th ed
and 5th is in the works.

[talkamancer]

[QUOTE=Mutazoia;15388967]AD&D 2nd ed
QUOTE]

So is Ad&d that I played now called 2nd edition or is that 1st edition even though it came after basic D&d ?

[Rhynn]

Do you mean a list of what order the editions came out in?


Original D&D (Men & Magic, Monsters & Trasure, Underworld & Wilderness Adventure; Supplements I-IV), 1974-75
J. Eric Holmes' Basic Set, 1977
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, 1st Edition, 1978
Tom Moldvay's Basic/Expert Sets, 1981
Frank Mentzer's Basic-Expert-Companion (BECMI) revisions, 1983; followed by Master in 1985 and Immortals in 1986
AD&D 1E's Unearthed Arcana, 1985 (significant enough to be listed IMO)
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, 2nd Edition, 1989
Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia (reprint of BECMI without Immortals), 1991
The Classic D&D Game (reprint of B/X), 1994
Player's Option: Skills & Powers, Combat & Tactics, Spells & Magic, 1995-96 (optional rule that revised basically everything in AD&D 2E, and are sometimes called 2.5E)
Dungeons & Dragons, 3rd Edition (or 3.0), 2000
Dungeons & Dragons, v.3.5 (together with 3.0 known as 3.X), 2003
Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition, 2008
"Dungeons & Dragons Next" (5th Edition)


There's also some D&D board games (I owned the Dragon's Den Adventure Pack), which IIRC follow BECMI and/or B/X more or less.

"1st edition" and "2nd edition" by themselves are vague and incorrect, but usually refer to AD&D 1E and AD&D 2E, because those are the only D&D games known as "1st edition" and "2nd edition." D&D 3E is sort of AD&D 3E (it very obviously follows from AD&D 2E and the Player's Option supplements).

edit: Also, there were some revisions of both AD&D 1E and AD&D 2E core books, but those were mostly cosmetic. /edit

The order I played them in was...

BECM (all four boxed sets translated in Finnish; the golden age of RPGs in Finland, when the big ones were actually translated!)
AD&D 2E
D&D 3.0
D&D 3.5
D&D 4E

[Rhynn]

"Which version of AD&D did I play back then?" identification guide:

Identify the PHB cover you had from those below.

1E un-revised:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/09/PlayersHandbook8Cover.jpg/200px-PlayersHandbook8Cover.jpg

1E revised:
http://www.lyberty.com/encyc/articles/images/phb_v1_10th_s.jpg

2E unrevised:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_B06NDVULacc/TUjv4A5G4fI/AAAAAAAAALs/iGOrVWQv9_s/s320/add2phb.jpg

2E revised:
http://www.lyberty.com/encyc/articles/images/phb_addv2_s.jpg

[Jeraa]

So is Ad&d that I played now called 2nd edition or is that 1st edition even though it came after basic D&d ?

If you were playing it in the mid 80s, then it was 1st edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. 2nd edition AD&D didn't come out until 1989.

If you stopped playing in the mid to late 80s, and had the Fiend Folio, it had to be 1st edition. The 2nd edition Fiend Folio wasn't released until 1992.

[SiuiS]

"Which version of AD&D did I play back then?" identification guide:

Identify the PHB cover you had from those below.

1E un-revised:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/09/PlayersHandbook8Cover.jpg/200px-PlayersHandbook8Cover.jpg

1E revised:
http://www.lyberty.com/encyc/articles/images/phb_v1_10th_s.jpg

2E unrevised:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_B06NDVULacc/TUjv4A5G4fI/AAAAAAAAALs/iGOrVWQv9_s/s320/add2phb.jpg

2E revised:
http://www.lyberty.com/encyc/articles/images/phb_addv2_s.jpg

Oh man, revised? What did they revise? I used all four at once! :smalleek:

[Rhynn]

Oh man, revised? What did they revise? I used all four at once! :smalleek:

That is pretty much the True Path. "Well these all look close enough together, let's use 'em." :smallcool:

Checking up, I think the 1E revision was only the cover, and no content was changed. Both PHB and DMG were printed with new covers. The DMG went from this:
http://orkerhulen.dk/Dnd%20history/AD&D/1979%20AD%26D%201st%20Edition%20DM%20guide.jpg

... to this:
http://media.trollandtoad.com/products/pictures/121190.jpg

I think I like the original 2E PHB cover and the revised 1E DMG cover best, although the original 1E covers are both close seconds. The revised 2E covers are really dull and uninteresting to me.

The 2E revision (1995) was more total. Steve Winter's foreword reassures us that there's no big changes:

Yes, there are some small and subtle changes in the rules, but you would have to read the whole book very carefully, and have a tremendous memory, to find them. (The changes are the sorts of minor corrections and clarifications we make every time we reprint, and we've reprinted both the Player's Handbook and DUNGEON MASTER Guide more than 10 times since 1989!)

The big difference is the full color insides, which I hate when compared to the originals, even though I started on the revised books as a kid.

[SimperingToad]

Checking up, I think the 1E revision was only the cover, and no content was changed. Both PHB and DMG were printed with new covers.

Correct. No content change. The Monster Manual was also printed with a revised cover. In fact, all did to that point except the Fiend Folio. They were all re-covered to get a common 'theme' if you will: Jeff Easley art with an orange spine. The newer hardbacks once the look changed (MM2, Manual of the Planes and UA) were made to match.

The list Rhynn made upthread gets a big thumbs up. :smallcool:

As for me, I went from Holmes Basic (in the summer of '78), to AD&D (summer 79), AD&D2E when it was released, 3E when released, 3.5 when released. As of 2007, I am 3.X-free, but still have the core AD&D2E books and most of my priors. I have also picked up copies of B/X and BECM, plus original OD&D.

EDIT: Of minor note on Rhynn's list - AD&D core was released over three years: the MM in 1977, PHB in 1978, and DMG in 1979. The 1978 Rhynn listed is close enough in my book, though. :smallsmile:

[SiuiS]

I really wanna get my hands on the BECMI set again... *sigh* I was too young to appreciate what I had...

[talkamancer]

Do you mean a list of what order the editions came out in?


Original D&D (Men & Magic, Monsters & Trasure, Underworld & Wilderness Adventure; Supplements I-IV), 1974-75
J. Eric Holmes' Basic Set, 1977
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, 1st Edition, 1978
Tom Moldvay's Basic/Expert Sets, 1981
Frank Mentzer's Basic-Expert-Companion (BECMI) revisions, 1983; followed by Master in 1985 and Immortals in 1986
AD&D 1E's Unearthed Arcana, 1985 (significant enough to be listed IMO)
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, 2nd Edition, 1989
Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia (reprint of BECMI without Immortals), 1991
The Classic D&D Game (reprint of B/X), 1994
Player's Option: Skills & Powers, Combat & Tactics, Spells & Magic, 1995-96 (optional rule that revised basically everything in AD&D 2E, and are sometimes called 2.5E)
Dungeons & Dragons, 3rd Edition (or 3.0), 2000
Dungeons & Dragons, v.3.5 (together with 3.0 known as 3.X), 2003
Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition, 2008
"Dungeons & Dragons Next" (5th Edition)




Rynn, thanks this is perfect. Excellent, I now understand I played 1ed Ad&d and dabbled in Basic and Expert.

Then I got married, had kids etc. Wish I had a game going these days, but the only groups nearby are in fact not near :-(

[Rhynn]

Then I got married, had kids etc. Wish I had a game going these days, but the only groups nearby are in fact not near :-(

Well, that's what you had the kids for, right? :smallcool:

[Mutazoia]

Rynn, thanks this is perfect. Excellent, I now understand I played 1ed Ad&d and dabbled in Basic and Expert.

Then I got married, had kids etc. Wish I had a game going these days, but the only groups nearby are in fact not near :-(

Check out your local game store. I have yet to see a game store that doesn't have tables in the gack for gaming (with different games scheduled each day) and/or some way for groups to advertise for new players (or vise versa).

[talkamancer]

Check out your local game store. I have yet to see a game store that doesn't have tables in the gack for gaming (with different games scheduled each day) and/or some way for groups to advertise for new players (or vise versa).

cheers, but one of the downsides of living in a massive city like London is things like that are centrally located and the burbs although only 10 miles away can be over an hours travel due to traffic etc.

[Mutazoia]

cheers, but one of the downsides of living in a massive city like London is things like that are centrally located and the burbs although only 10 miles away can be over an hours travel due to traffic etc.

Well I don't know about the UK but the game stores here have all that info in their websites as well. At the very least one trip to the geek store should allow you to look for groups or post your own "LFG" info.

[Jay R]

I really wanna get my hands on the BECMI set again... *sigh* I was too young to appreciate what I had...

Start checking out used book stores. Find out which ones carry old RPG rulebooks, and check them every couple of weeks. (This will take some patience.)

In the last two years, I've picked up the Basic Players Manual ($5), the Basic DM Rulebook ($3), and the Expert Rulebook ($6).

I've also picked up most of the 2E books. I even found an old Greyhawk (the OD&D supplement from 1975) for $1.