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Madara
2017-12-01, 07:41 PM
I've been playing for about 13 years now and after recently graduating college I can say that my education sparked a passion for viewing the Tabletop RPG hobby from different angles (Yay, Liberal Arts!)

What books should I consider a "must have/own/read?" of all the editions. I'm not looking for books for play but more for reading and tapping into the rich history of the hobby.

The things I'm looking for can include the D&D philosophy books of more recent years, books on the history of RPGs and D&D, as well as old modules and game books.


Thanks for any ideas!

2D8HP
2017-12-01, 09:18 PM
Fantasy Role Playing Games by Holmes (https://www.amazon.com/Fantasy-Role-Playing-Games-Holmes/dp/0882545140)

Heroic Worlds by Schick (https://www.amazon.com/Heroic-Worlds-Lawrence-Schick/dp/0879756535)

Role Playing Mastery by Gygax (https://www.amazon.com/Role-Playing-Mastery-Gary-Gygax/dp/0399512934)

Toofey
2017-12-01, 09:22 PM
AD&D unearthed arcana. it's the first real expansion of the game that comes about in response to play, which makes it interesting to pull apart. Also I believe the OSRIC includes the rules and sources for first ed/redbox D&D, which is going to make it a useful place to see the rules together as a whole (and to see what a mish mash they are)

RazorChain
2017-12-02, 12:40 AM
Fantasy Role Playing Games by Holmes (https://www.amazon.com/Fantasy-Role-Playing-Games-Holmes/dp/0882545140)

Heroic Worlds by Schick (https://www.amazon.com/Heroic-Worlds-Lawrence-Schick/dp/0879756535)

Role Playing Mastery by Gygax (https://www.amazon.com/Role-Playing-Mastery-Gary-Gygax/dp/0399512934)


Roleplaying Mastery by Gygax is very much a child of it's time. I read it recently and me and mr. Gygax are very much of different opinions when it comes to roleplaying games. I wouldn't have wanted to play at his table, Arneson on the other hand...... But it's a very interesting read for those who have interest in roleplaying games and their history.



I've been playing for about 13 years now and after recently graduating college I can say that my education sparked a passion for viewing the Tabletop RPG hobby from different angles (Yay, Liberal Arts!)

What books should I consider a "must have/own/read?" of all the editions. I'm not looking for books for play but more for reading and tapping into the rich history of the hobby.

The things I'm looking for can include the D&D philosophy books of more recent years, books on the history of RPGs and D&D, as well as old modules and game books.


Thanks for any ideas!

Funny...as I've gotten older my playstyle has changed drastically and the angles how I perceive and what I find important in roleplaying games is different.

Madara
2017-12-03, 12:18 PM
Funny...as I've gotten older my playstyle has changed drastically and the angles how I perceive and what I find important in roleplaying games is different.

Oh, don't get me wrong. I'm not necessarily looking to go Gygaxian in my style. I think I just want to be able to grasp at the history of the game and appreciate how it got to where it is now?

Jay R
2017-12-03, 12:31 PM
I'd start with this graphic novel, Rise of the Dungeon Master (https://smile.amazon.com/Rise-Dungeon-Master-Gygax-Creation/dp/1568585594/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1512322147&sr=8-1&keywords=Rise+of+the+Dungeon+Master).

Anonymouswizard
2017-12-03, 01:23 PM
AD&D unearthed arcana. it's the first real expansion of the game that comes about in response to play, which makes it interesting to pull apart. Also I believe the OSRIC includes the rules and sources for first ed/redbox D&D, which is going to make it a useful place to see the rules together as a whole (and to see what a mish mash they are)

I believe that OSRIC is 1e AD&D. There are retroclones of the earlier editions, some closer and some more distant, and the more accurate ones can serve as a stand in for the actual old edition rulebooks. I think the one to look for for OD&D is Swords & Wizardry.

BWR
2017-12-03, 04:15 PM
My own prejudices and nostalgia make me push the Rules Cyclopedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons_Rules_Cyclopedia).
If you want a great example of how stuff just about everything a game might need into a single volume, you can do far worse than the RC. From beginning level characters to gods, from dungeons to wilderness to cities to the outer planes, treasure, monsters, campaign design, skills, spells, extra combat rules (including mass combat) and setting information: it's all there.
It's size means it is necessarily brief, but it does an amazing job with what little space it can devote to everything.

LibraryOgre
2017-12-03, 05:35 PM
My own prejudices and nostalgia make me push the Rules Cyclopedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons_Rules_Cyclopedia).
If you want a great example of how stuff just about everything a game might need into a single volume, you can do far worse than the RC. From beginning level characters to gods, from dungeons to wilderness to cities to the outer planes, treasure, monsters, campaign design, skills, spells, extra combat rules (including mass combat) and setting information: it's all there.
It's size means it is necessarily brief, but it does an amazing job with what little space it can devote to everything.

The Rules Cyclopedia (http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17171/DD-Rules-Cyclopedia-Basic?it=1) is a great book to get.

I would also suggest the 1st edition DMG (http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17004/Dungeon-Masters-Guide-1e?it=1) as one of those foundational books that really shaped the hobby.

2D8HP
2017-12-03, 05:40 PM
I'd start with this graphic novel, Rise of the Dungeon Master (https://smile.amazon.com/Rise-Dungeon-Master-Gygax-Creation/dp/1568585594/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1512322147&sr=8-1&keywords=Rise+of+the+Dungeon+Master)..
I got that book last week!

+1 recommended!

For more history I recommend the

Playing at the World blog (http://playingattheworld.blogspot.com/?m=1) and book.

and the

Designers and Dragons (https://www.amazon.com/Designers-Dragons-EHP8000-The-70s/dp/1613170750)

series of books.

For primary sources issues of The Dragon, and Different World's magazines, and pretty much everything TSR, GDW, Grimoire Games, and Chaosium published in the 1970's.

The first RPG product I ever had was the 48 page 1977 Basic rules in which Dr. Holmes translated the Arneson and Gygax D&D rules into English.

This is the sample set up:

100 years ago the sorcerer Zenopus built a tower on the low hills overlooking Portown. The tower was close to the sea cliffs west of the town and, appropriately, next door to the graveyard.
Rumor has it that the magician made extensive cellars and tunnels underneath the tower. The town is located on the ruins of a much older city of doubtful history and Zenopus was said to excavate in his cellars in search of ancient treasures.

Fifty years ago, on a cold wintry night, the wizard's tower was suddenly engulfed in green flame. Several of his human servants escaped the holocaust, saying their rnaster had been destroyed by some powerful force he had unleashed in the depths of the tower.
Needless to say the tower stood vacant fora while afterthis, but then the neighbors and the night watchmen comploined that ghostly blue lights appeared in the windows at night, that ghastly screams could be heard emanating from the tower ot all hours, and goblin figures could be seen dancina on the tower roof in the moonlight. Finally the authorities had a catapult rolled through the streets of the town and the tower was battered to rubble. This stopped the hauntings but the townsfolk continue to shun the ruins. The entrance to the old dungeons can be easily located as a flight of broad stone steps leading down into darkness, but the few adventurous souls who hove descended into crypts below the ruin have either reported only empty stone corridors or have failed to return at all.
Other magic-users have moved into the town but the site of the old tower remains abandoned.
Whispered tales are told of fabulous treasure and unspeakable monsters in the underground passages below the hilltop, and the story tellers are always careful to point out that the reputed dungeons lie in close proximity to the foundations of the older, pre-human city, to the graveyard, and to the sea.
Portown is a small but busy city 'linking the caravan routes from the south to the merchscant ships that dare the pirate-infested waters of the Northern Sea. Humans and non-humans from all over the globe meet here.
At he Green Dragon Inn, the players of the game gather their characters for an assault on the fabulous passages beneath the ruined Wizard's tower.