GM's Day Sale at DMs Guild

DMs Guild and DrivethruRPG are running a GM's Day sale, with products up to 40% off.

This means that The Ruined Tower of Zenopus is on sale for $1.19 through March 10th.

Get it here:

The Ruined Tower of Zenopus at DMs Guild

Most of the classic TSR titles are included in the sale. For example, the Rules Cyclopedia print print and pdf is $26 instead of $35. Find it here:

Basic/OD&D in PDF

Basic/OD&D in Print

AD&D 1E in PDF

AD&D 1E in Print

Gamma World 1E in Print

OSR Products

Now at DMsGuild: Chainmail POD & July Sale

CHAINMAIL by Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren is now back "in print"...! 

Thanks to JeffB over at ODD74 for letting us know that DMs Guild and DrivethruRPG are now offering a Print-on-Demand option for Chainmail.

Get it here:

Chainmail in POD and/or PDF at DMs Guild

Or here:

Chainmail in POD and/or PDF at DrivethruRPG

As I wrote over on ODD74, from the preview, the version of Chainmail they are offering is a 3rd Edition (copyright 1975), 7th printing (April 1979), and scanned from an original rather than re-typeset like most of the OD&D booklets they are currently offering. This version is from after the Tolkien references (Hobbits/Ents/Balrogs) were altered or removed.

The print plus digital version costs the same as the print version alone, $6.99. I've ordered a copy, and will report on quality when it arrives. The total with tax and media mail shipping was $11.91.

According to Chris Holmes, his father purchased Chainmail along with the LBBs, Greyhawk, Warlock and the Dungeon boardgame from Aero Hobbies shortly after they learned about the game (Tales of Peril, page 328). And Holmes had his copy handy while preparing the Basic rulebook, as is evident from the entry for Giants, which states, "There are several ways to calculate catapult (giant) fire. This one is adapted from CHAIN MAIL", and by his inclusion of the Parry rule from Chainmail that didn't appear elsewhere in OD&D (See Part 17 of my Holmes Manuscript series).

The published rulebook also directly references Chainmail in Gary Gygax's Foreword, which is carried over from Vol 1 of the original rulebooks: "From the CHAINMAIL fantasy rules he drew ideas for a far more complex and exciting game, and thus began a campaign that still thrives as of this writing!" Chainmail also appears in the TSR product listings appearing in the back of the Holmes Basic rulebook. 

This means that I personally have known about Chainmail since the days of my original Holmes Basic set. This led me to purchase a copy, the same edition being offered now, directly from the TSR Mail Order Hobby Shop in the late '80s. I later sold this on Ebay in the late '90s when trying to downsize my collection (ha!), and later regretted that, but soon I will have a copy again.

See also:

Chainmail Announcement from Domesday Book #9

* * * * * * * * * *

Also at DMs Guild and DrivethruRPG is their annual Xmas in July sale, with many products 25% off, which means that the The Ruined Tower of Zenopus is just $1.49 until the end of the month.

Get it here:

The Ruined Tower of Zenopus at DMs Guild

Most of the classic TSR titles are included in the sale, at least in PDF format, including the PDF of Chainmail (but not the new POD). Most of the in-print stuff is not, although I note that the Rules Cyclopedia in print is $21 instead of $25.

Basic/OD&D in PDF

Basic/OD&D in Print

AD&D 1E in PDF

AD&D 1E in Print

Gamma World 1E in Print

OSR Products

(All links include my DMsGuild/DrivethruRPG affiliate number)

Rules Cyclopedia now available in print

The Rules Cyclopedia is now available in print-on-demand!

RPGnow link: Rules Cyclopedia 
DriveThruRPG link: Rules Cyclopedia 

The links include this blog's affiliate #, which gives a store credit of 5% of the price.

Published in 1991 by TSR, the Rules Cyclopedia was the culmination of the Basic/Classic line developed from J. Eric Holmes' work in 1977. Holmes is thanked in the Acknowledgements, along with the many other editors and authors who worked on the line, as the "Cyclopedia has also been drawn from the works and benefitted from the input of the following people". 

The Cyclopedia incorporates the entire 36 character levels developed in the BECMI (Basic-Expert-Companion-Masters-Immortals) line by Frank Mentzer as well as some rules from the Gazetteer series into a single hardcover rulebook of approximately 300 pages. The price of original copies has steadily risen to near $100 in recent years, so the print-on-demand option is welcome for those that wish affordable copies for actual use in play.

The rules remain highly compatible with the Original D&D line, so this book could easily be used as an expansion to Holmes Basic if you wish to have 36 character levels. The major difference is the ability scores, which use the bell-curve of bonuses developed by Tom Moldvay in the 1981 Basic rulebook revision. The "Full-Size Preview" link (shown above) on the page shows off a few of the early pages, including the Table of Contents if you want to see the scope of the material in the book.

While this is great news from a legacy point-of-view, I'll use this moment to point out that they still don't have a Holmes Basic pdf or print-on-demand available. It's a gaping maw in their catalog!

AD&D Core Back in Print!

Screenshot of the new POD options for the Monster Manual

As of last week, the "Big 3" of the AD&D rules are now back in print via DrivethruRPG:
Monster Manual (1977) (pretty much usuable with OD&D or Holmes Basic as-is)
Players Handbook (1978)
Dungeon Masters Guide (1979)

The prices: $25 for the hardcopy, $9 for the pdf, or $28 for both together.

These are the "deluxe reprints" from a few years ago, so unfortunately they have the revised covers, and some introduced OCR typos, but it's still great for accessibility, placing the entire ruleset "back in print". It also gives hope that the OD&D reprint volumes will be made available shortly.

Also, this week they've added two more AD&D modules in print-on-demand:
A1 Slave Pits of the Undercity - $9 POD
A2 Secret of the Slavers Stockade - $10 POD

A3 Assault on the Aerie of the Slave Lords ($10 POD) was previously available, so we almost have the entire A series available in print again.

Other classic D&D/AD&D modules already released in print-on-demand:
C2 Ghost Tower of Inverness 
D2 Shrine of the Kuo-Toa (original monochrome version)
S1 Tomb of Horrors 
S2 White Plume Mountain  (original monochrome version)
WG5 Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure 
X2 Castle Amber

Previous related posts:
Return of the Chainmail PDF (not available in print yet)
Monochrome D2 Print on Demand
TSR Print on Demand

(Links include my DTRPG affiliate # which gives me 5% credit if you make a purchase)

Return of the CHAINMAIL PDF

As of today, CHAINMAIL (1971) is once again available for purchase at DrivethruRPG:

CHAINMAIL pdf

If you purchased the pdf in the past, you should be able to download the new version for free. Per Stormcrow on ODD74, the new pdf is an improved version, clean-up and with bookmarks. From the preview, the pdf is a 3rd edition (1975), 7th printing of the rules.

There's no print-on-demand option yet, but that may be coming as WOTC has been slowly adding new titles (for example, a print option for dungeon module A2 was added this week).

Holmes used Chainmail as one of his sources when assembling the manuscript of Basic. He included some rules from Chainmail that didn't appear elsewhere in OD&D, such as the Parry rule (See Part 17 of my Holmes Manuscript series).

(Links include my DTRPG affiliate # which gives me 5% if you make a purchase)

Monochrome D2 Print-On-Demand

Tuesday's new batch of print-on-demand D&D from WOTC finally includes a '70s classic: the 1978 original monochrome version of D2 Shrine of the Kuo-Toa, part of Gary Gygax's timeless D1-D2-D3 'drow' trilogy.

According to the printing info at the Acaeum, the pdf (which i had previously bought) is of the 5th printing of the module, although I'm not aware of any content differences in the printings of D2. However, there are significant differences in art and content as compared to the later D1-2 compilation, as detailed here.

The front and back cover art in the original are both by David Sutherland. The back cover is rarely seen as it was not included in the D1-2 compilation, and is a great composition depicting an encounter with a rust monster, still looking very much like the Chinese toy that inspired it:

Interior art is by Dave Trampier (DAT) and Sutherland (DCS)
DAT:  Umber Hulk encounter (pg 3), Kuo-Toa barge encounter (pg 6), Kuo-Toa 'fingerling' pool (pg 10-11), adventurers resting (pg 13)
DCS: Roper battle (pg 4), Svirfneblin encounter (pg 7), Kuo-Toa throne (pg 9)
Kuo-Toa for monster entry (pg 13), Svirfneblin/Kuo-Toa battle (pg 15), Svirfneblin for monster entry (pg 16).

See also my previous post about the D&D print-on-demand.

(Note: links include affilitate number that gives me 5% credit if you make a purchase)

TSR Print-On-Demand

Screenshot of the new options

Old school D&D is coming back "in print"!

Yesterday WOTC added a print-on-demand option to several of the TSR classics available on DMsGuild (aka DriveThruRPG aka RPGNow). Currently, only a handful of random products are included, but more should be added each week. You can find the products with the print options by going to DMsGuild.com, and then to "Narrow Results" at the top of the left sidebar and selecting "D&D Classics" under "Content" and "Print" under "Format". 

Link to the old school D&D items available for P.O.D.

[Disclosure: Link includes my Drivethru Affiliate # that gives me credit if you purchase]

Note there's an option to get the pdf along with the hardcopy for $2 extra.

Be warned that the print quality may vary greatly depending on the quality of the pdf. I looked at the previews for two pdfs. X2 Castle Amber has a poorly scanned pdf, and I saw a comment on G+ that the map(s) are incomplete (I couldn't confirm this from the limited preview). The pdf of L1 The Secret of Bone Hill looked better, so it may make for a decent printed copy. Also, from what I've heard the cover will be attached, not loose as in the original TSR modules, and all maps will appear in the books in the same order as they as they do in the pdf. Basically just a straight print of whatever you see in the pdf. I'll update this as further buyer reports come in.

More discussion on my favorite forums:
http://odd74.proboards.com/thread/12094/old-books-available-print-demand?page=1
http://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=75675
http://knights-n-knaves.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=14359 
http://www.thepiazza.org.uk/bb/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=16833
https://www.acaeum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=16127&c=1  

And here's an announcement by the product manager on RPGnet:
https://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?745901-D-amp-D-Classics-Thread-of-DOOM!&p=20593831#post20593831

Hopefully the recent OD&D reprints will be included soon!

I can't make this post without mentioning that Holmes Basic still remains unavailable in pdf format, let alone print-on-demand. New pdf offerings are still being added on a weekly basis, so hopefully it's still in the queue.

New "basic level" AD&D adventure from WOTC

Illustration by David S. LaForce (DSL) from one of the the original A-series modules

Next summer, Wizards is releasing a hardback compilation of the A-series of modules and as a bonus it will include a new introductory module, A0 Danger at Darkshelf Quarry.

"Added to the collection is an all-new fifth adventure -- A0: Danger at Darkshelf Quarry -- that you can use to kick off an AD&D campaign that pits a group of adventurers against the evil Slave Lords! Module A0, designed for levels 1-3, sets the stage for events that unfold throughout the remainder of the "A" series.""

According to the product page, the compilation will include the original modules (rather than the later A1-4 supermodule), and is "complete with original black-and-white interior art" (like the picture shown above). If we are lucky, perhaps A0 will feature some new work by the original artists such as DSL, Dee or Otus.

A1 is for levels 4-7, and the sequels are for increasing levels up to 11 (see this chart at the Acaeum), so this is a smart marketing move on the part of WOTC, as it allows them to sell a single AD&D product for levels 1-10+. And probably with the hope that everyone that bought the reprints from this year will buy the new compilation.

As far as I know, this is the first "new" 1E AD&D module to be released by TSR/WOTC since L3 Deep Dwarven Delve in 1999 as part of the Silver Anniversary Set. Hopefully it is the first of more! It feels as if AD&D is back in print and being supported. 

Thanks to Echohawk at the Acaeum for bringing this to my attention. He also mentioned that the Unearthed Arcana reprint will include the errata from Dragon Magazine, giving a second reason to buy it (the original having notoriously poor binding).

WOTC to reprint 1E AD&D MM, PHB and DMG

They even used the original text font (Futura) in the bullet points!

Now where's the Blue Book to go with these? ; )