Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set - 1977 Printing

1977 Printing

The first Basic Set was published in 1977, and was available as a 48-page stand-alone rulebook and as part of a boxed set. The rulebook featured artwork by David C. Sutherland III. The boxed set included a set of polyhedral dice and supplemental materials. In that same year, Games Workshop (U.K.) published their own version of the rulebook, with a cover by John Blanche, and illustrations by Fangorn. (For a period in 1979, TSR experienced a dice shortage. Basic sets published during this time frame came with two sheets of numbered cutout cardstock chits that functioned in lieu of dice, along with a coupon for ordering dice from TSR.)

Supplemental materials appearing in the boxed set included geomorphs, monster and treasure lists, and a set of polyhedral dice. The rulebook also included a brief sample dungeon with a full-page map. However, starting with the fourth printing in 1978, the two booklets of maps, encounter tables, and treasure lists were replaced with the module B1 In Search of the Unknown; printings six through eleven (1979–1982) featured the module B2 The Keep on the Borderlands instead.

The rulebook covers characters from level one through three, rules for adventuring in dungeons, and introduces the concepts of the game. This version of the Basic Set incorporates concepts from the original 1974 rules plus the Greyhawk supplement. The book suggests that players who want to go beyond third level should move to the AD&D game system.

The rulebook opens with the following description of play:

TSR hired outside writer J. Eric Holmes to produce the Basic Set as an introductory version of the D&D game. The Basic Set collected, organized, and cleaned up the presentation of the essential rules from the original 1974 D&D boxed set and the Greyhawk supplement into a single booklet. The booklet explained the game's concepts and method of play in terms that made it accessible to new players ages twelve and above who might not be familiar with tabletop miniatures wargaming. Unusual features of the game included an alignment system of five alignments (lawful good, chaotic good, neutral, lawful evil and evil) as opposed to the three or nine alignments of the other versions.

The Basic Set was packaged in a larger, more visually attractive box to allow the game to be stocked on common retail shelves, and targeted to toy stores and the general public. It was notable in that it focused on only the first three levels of play, and was intended as a bridge between the original D&D and the AD&D rules, rather than as an introductory version of the game. Although the Basic Set was not compatible with AD&D, players were expected to continue play beyond third level by moving to the AD&D version, which at the time was still forthcoming from Gary Gygax and TSR. Players who exhausted the possibilities of the basic game were directed in that set to switch to the advanced game, although the basic game included many rules and concepts which contradicted comparable ones in the advanced game. Holmes, the editor of the basic game, preferred a lighter tone with more room for personal improvisation, while Gygax, who wrote the advanced game, wanted an expansive game with rulings on any conceivable situation which might come up during play, a document which could be used to arbitrate disputes at tournaments. This Basic Set was very popular and allowed many to discover and experience the D&D game for the first time.