I was looking back through the feed and I can’t understate my surprise when I found I had never posted about the 1981 Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set (or its sibling, which you’ll see tomorrow). What a bonkers oversight!

Anyway, this is Tom Moldvay’s revision of the Holmes Basic Set (1977), tidied up to coincide with  the release of the brand new Expert Set. It is a significant revision, essentially rewriting and expanding the original Dungeons & Dragons rules. The end result is something far more polished (and well-organized) than the preceding iterations. It draws a clearer distinction from AD&D as well. Probably most importantly, the rules lean into Holmes’ idea of teaching people how to play by reading the rulebook, something OD&D and AD&D do not do at all. Moldvay’s sample dungeon, a haunted keep, it a bit better suited to this than Holmes’s nebulous cavern complex. This is reinforced with the inclusion of B2: The Keep on the Borderlands (though I still think B1: In Search of the Unknown is a better teaching module).  

When all is said and done: the same, but different. The most different is the art. First off, Erol Otus killing it on the cover, with that fluorescent green dragon playing nicely off the neon pink of the box sides. Interiors by a murderer’s row of TSR artists – Otus, Jeff Dee, Roslof, Bill Willingham and Diesel LaForce. And speaking of Diesel, his dungeon map key debuts here. For my money, it is one of the most important and enduring contributions to RPGs.