Prestige Booklets

Over the years, there have been a number of different versions of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, all of which are still played. more...

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Edition and version history

Dungeons & Dragons has gone through several revisions. Parallel versions and inconsistent naming practices can make it difficult to distinguish between the different editions.

Original version

The original Dungeons & Dragons was published as a boxed set in 1974 and featured only a handful of the elements for which the game is known today: just three character classes (fighter, magic-user and cleric; four races (human, dwarf, elf, halfling); only a few monsters; only three alignments (lawful, neutral, and chaotic). The rules assumed that players owned and played the miniatures wargame Chainmail and used its measurement and combat systems. An optional combat system was included within the rules that later developed into the sole combat system of later versions of the game. In addition, the rules presumed ownership of Outdoor Survival, an Avalon Hill board game for outdoor exploration and adventure (an unusual requirement, since Tactical Studies Rules was never in any way affiliated with rival Avalon Hill until two and a half decades later, when Wizards of the Coast - the purchaser of TSR's assets and trademarks - merged with Hasbro, which then owned Avalon Hill). The rules were an editorial mess, with many ambiguities and contradictions. Ironically, this helped its success as individual groups had to develop their own rulings and ways of playing and thus gained a sense of ownership of the game.

Supplements such as Greyhawk, Blackmoor, Eldritch Wizardry and Gods, Demi-Gods and Heroes (the last a predecessor of Deities and Demigods), published over the next two years, greatly expanded the rules, character classes, monsters and spells. For example, the original Greyhawk supplement introduced the thief class, and weapon damage varying by weapon (as opposed to character class). In addition, many changes were "officially" adopted into the game and published in the magazines The Strategic Review and its successor Dragon Magazine.

During this era, there were also a number of unofficial supplements published, arguably in violation of TSR's copyright, which many players used alongside the TSR books. The most popular of these were the Arduin series. For the most part, TSR ignored these unofficial supplements, although one of the innovations from the Arduin series (fumbles and critical hits) eventually made its way into mainstream D&D play.

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons

An updated version of D&D was released as Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (officially E. Gary Gygax's Advanced Dungeons & Dragons™, but almost universally known as Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, and abbreviated to AD&D). This was published as a series of rulebooks between 1977 and 1989, collecting rules from the original version and the supplements into three volumes, and extensively revising the system into a new game. The term Advanced does not imply a higher level of skill required to play, nor exactly a higher level of or better gameplay; only the rules themselves are a new and advanced game.

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