From the copyright registration records in the Office of Copyright searchable database. The electronic database starts in 1978, so any product registered earlier is not included (possibly OD&D; Geomorphs Set 1). I stopped at 1981; in 1982 there's a big increase in licensed products, and I have declining interest in the dates at that point. : )
These come with the caveat that the publication dates are self-reported by TSR and may not be accurate. Many were registered years after the publication date. Please comment on any inconsistencies with any other evidence of known printing dates.
Edit: I just corrected one typo. The original printing of the Monster Manual should be 12/28/77 per the database, not 12/18/77. The 12/28/77 date is consistent with a Gygax column in Dragon where he wrote that the MM wasn't available until after Xmas that year.
Edit #2: I realized yesterday that the formatting for the table is not showing up correctly on a PC (I created it in Excel on a Mac and simply copied and pasted it here). I'll try to fix it. You can see the same info in an image (rather than text), here.
Edit: I just corrected one typo. The original printing of the Monster Manual should be 12/28/77 per the database, not 12/18/77. The 12/28/77 date is consistent with a Gygax column in Dragon where he wrote that the MM wasn't available until after Xmas that year.
Edit #2: I realized yesterday that the formatting for the table is not showing up correctly on a PC (I created it in Excel on a Mac and simply copied and pasted it here). I'll try to fix it. You can see the same info in an image (rather than text), here.
Title | Publication Date | Registration Date | ||
Greyhawk | 1/15/75 | 9/12/83 | ||
Blackmoor | 8/15/75 | 9/12/83 | ||
Eldritch Wizardry | 1/15/76 | 9/12/83 | ||
Swords & Spells | 8/15/76 | 9/12/83 | ||
Metamorphosis Alpha RPG | 12/1/76 | 8/14/78 | ||
Suspicion (mystery boardgame) | 1/15/77 | 8/14/78 | ||
Monster & Treasure Assortment, Sets 1 & 2 (2 sets) | 2/15/77 | 12/30/82 | ||
D&D Character Record Sheets | 4/25/77 | 3/7/83 | ||
Outdoor Geomorphs | 6/12/77 | 12/30/82 | ||
D&D Holmes Basic Set | 7/10/77 | 6/21/78 | ||
Modern Armor (wargame rules) | 7/15/77 | 6/21/78 | ||
Cordite & Steel wargame | 7/15/77 | 8/14/78 | ||
Star Empires game | 7/20/77 | 8/14/78 | ||
Warlocks & Warriors boardgame | 7/25/77 | 8/14/78 | ||
Legions of the Petal Throne | 8/20/77 | 8/14/78 | ||
Geomorphs, Sets 2 and 3 (2 sets) | 9/21/77 | 12/30/82 | ||
Cohorts (Roman Checkers) | 12/21/77 | 8/14/78 | ||
Monster Manual | 12/28/77 | 6/21/78 | ||
Gamma World RPG | 1/24/78 | 3/3/83 | ||
Monster & Treasure Assortment, Set 3 | 5/10/78 | 1/27/83 | ||
G1, G2, G3 monos (3 modules) | 5/12/78 | 1/12/83 | ||
S1 Tomb of Horrors | 6/29/78 | 1/27/83 | ||
Player's Handbook | 8/15/78 | 3/19/80 | ||
D1, D2, D3 monos (3 modules) | 9/26/78 | 1/27/83 | ||
AD&D Permanent Character Folder | 3/7/79 | 2/8/83 | ||
B1 In Search of the Unknown | 3/13/79 | 3/24/83 | ||
Official AD&D Coloring Album | 4/10/79 | 7/17/80 | ||
Boot Hill RPG | 4/15/79 | 3/19/80 | ||
Divine Right boardgame | 5/24/79 | 3/19/80 | ||
AD&D PC Record Sheets | 6/11/79 | 3/7/83 | ||
AD&D NPC Record Sheets | 6/12/79 | 3/7/83 | ||
AD&D DM Screen | 7/2/79 | 1/27/83 | ||
T1 Village of Hommlet | 7/14/79 | 3/7/83 | ||
Dungeon Masters' Guide | 8/1/79 | 3/19/80 | ||
Awful Green Things from Outer Space | 8/1/79 | 2/16/82 | ||
Monster Manual, 4th printing | 8/15/79 | 5/3/83 | ||
S2 White Plume Mountain | 8/21/79 | 3/4/83 | ||
Rogues Gallery | 1/23/80 | 2/8/83 | ||
S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks | 2/5/80 | 3/24/83 | ||
Top Secret RPG | 2/19/80 | 3/19/80 | ||
C1 Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan (mono) | 5/7/80 | 3/4/83 | ||
World of Greyhawk Folio | 5/7/80 | 2/8/83 | ||
Days of the Dragon Calendar 1981 | 5/15/80 | 8/29/83 | ||
Monster & Treasure Assortment Sets 1-3 | 5/21/80 | 7/19/83 | ||
Q1 Queen of the Demonweb Pits | 6/12/80 | 3/24/83 | ||
B2 Keep on the Borderlands | 7/2/80 | 1/27/83 | ||
Dragontales fiction collection | 8/1/80 | 4/6/83 | ||
Best of Dragon, Vol I | 8/15/80 | 4/6/83 | ||
A1 Slave Pits of the Undercity | 10/14/80 | 3/4/83 | ||
Deities & Demigods | 11/1/80 | 10/15/85 | ||
GW1 Legion of Gold | 11/19/80 | 7/19/83 | ||
TS001 Operation: Rapidstrike! | 12/15/80 | 2/8/83 | ||
AD&D DM Adventure Log | 12/30/80 | 2/8/83 | ||
Finieous Treasury | 1/1/81 | 4/6/83 | ||
Dungeon! Boardgame | 1/29/81 | 11/8/82 | ||
D&D Moldvay Basic rulebook | 2/16/81 | 3/25/81 | ||
D&D Moldvay Basic Set | 2/16/81 | 4/29/82 | ||
D&D Cook Expert rulebook | 2/16/81 | 3/25/81 | ||
D&D Cook Expert Set | 2/16/81 | 4/29/82 | ||
Hexagonal Mapping Booklet | 2/18/81 | 2/8/83 | ||
BH1 Mad Mesa | 2/20/81 | 1/12/83 | ||
C1 Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan (color) | 2/22/81 | 5/6/83 | ||
Awful Green Things from Outer Space (revised) | 2/26/81 | 2/12/82 | ||
G1-2-3 Against the Giants | 3/4/81 | 4/6/83 | ||
4 minigames (Antares, SAGA, Vampyre, Pleasantville) | 4/3/81 | 9/7/82 | ||
Dungeon Geomorphs: Set 1-3 | 4/15/81 | 4/25/83 | ||
X1 Isle of Dread | 4/22/81 | 4/13/83 | ||
A3 Assault on the Aerie of the Slave Lords | 5/4/81 | 2/8/83 | ||
Fantasy Forest boardgame | 5/24/81 | 8/19/82 | ||
A4 In the Dungeon of the Slave Lords | 5/27/81 | 1/12/83 | ||
B3 Palace of the Silver Princess | 6/10/81 | 2/8/83 | ||
AD&D DM Screen (revised) | 6/10/81 | 4/6/83 | ||
C2 Ghost Tower of Inverness | 6/17/80 | 4/25/83 | ||
L1 Secret of Bone Hill | 6/22/81 | 1/12/83 | ||
A2 Secret of the Slavers Stockade | 7/7/81 | 4/13/83 | ||
X2 Castle Amber | 10/6/81 | 2/8/83 | ||
U1 Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh | 10/14/81 | 8/25/83 | ||
Best of Dragon, Vol II | 11/1/81 | 4/6/83 | ||
I1 Dwellers of the Forbidden City | 11/18/81 | 4/13/83 | ||
Fiend Folio | 12/15/81 | 5/21/84 | ||
Boot Hill Referee's Screen | 12/3/81 | 3/24/83 | ||
Gamma World Referee Screen | 12/15/81 | 1/27/83 | ||
Top Secret Administrator's Screen | 12/15/81 | 1/27/83 |
Your caveat is astute. :)
ReplyDeleteA good line of research and while some of the "publication" dates are useful/accurate, others are out by a large margin. To start with, the "15th of the month" repeating pattern dates on the supplements belongs to a parallel universe; Blackmoor being barely "published" by Christmas 1975, if that, for a start.
I was hoping you would comment, since I know you've spent some time researching publication dates. :)
ReplyDeleteIn The Story of TSR, Ryan Dancey wrote that the TSR records from back in those days are "not as clear as they could be"...