Player's Handbook - Advanced Dungeons & Dragons

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons

The first true Players Handbook was released in June, 1978 as a 128-page hardcover. It was written by Gary Gygax and edited by Mike Carr, who also wrote the foreword. The original cover art was by D.A. Trampier, who also provided interior illustrations along with David C. Sutherland III. In this edition, the game rules were divided between the Players Handbook and the Dungeon Masters Guide, which was printed later. Later editions of the game moved the bulk of the game rules to the Player's Handbook, leaving information needed chiefly by the DM in the Dungeon Master's Guide. The new rules were so open-ended that game campaigns required a referee or Dungeon Master.

The Players Handbook contained the information needed to play the standard character classes: clerics (including druids), fighters (including rangers and paladins), magic-users (including illusionists), thieves (including assassins), and monks. The book also included information on non-human races, such as dwarves, elves, and halflings, character abilities, armor and weapons, spell descriptions, and optional rules for psionics.

The original Players Handbook was reviewed by Don Turnbull in issue No. 10 of White Dwarf, who gave the book a rating of 10 out of 10. Turnbull noted, "I don't think I have ever seen a product sell so quickly as did the Handbook when it first appeared on the Games Workshop stand at Dragonmeet", a British role-playing game convention; after the convention, he studied the book and concluded that "whereas the original rules are ambiguous and muddled, the Handbook is a detailed and coherent game-system, and very sophisticated." Turnbull felt a bit of apprehension at the amount of time it would require to digest all the new material, but concluded by saying "I said of the Monster Manual that it was TSR's most impressive publication to date; that is no longer true—this accolade must belong to the Handbook which is nothing short of a triumph."

In 1983, TSR changed the cover art of the Players Handbook, although the interior contents remained the same. This printing featured cover art by Jeff Easley. Printings with this cover also bear an orange spine that fits in with other Advanced Dungeons & Dragons books.

Numerous foreign editions of the Players Handbook were published, including versions for the UK, Australia, France, and Germany. Games Workshop (U.K.) published a softcover version also in 1978.

Dealers continued to place orders for the 1st edition Players Handbook even after 2nd edition was released, causing the final printing to be in July 1990, a year after the release of 2nd edition.

Wizards of the Coast has announced a new printing of the original book, billed as the "1st Edition Premium Player's Handbook". This will be released in April 2012, as part of a set of limited-edition reprints of the original 1st Edition core rulebooks: the Monster Manual, Player's Handbook, and Dungeon Master's Guide. These premium versions of the original AD&D rulebooks will be reprinted with the original art and content, but will feature a new cover design. Purchase of the reprinted Player's Handbook will help support the Gygax Memorial Fund—established to immortalize Gary Gygax with a memorial statue in Lake Geneva, WI.