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I had forgotten how elegant the Moldvay BX system was. Even after all these years, this is probably the best start to D&D available. Everything is easy to find, the rules are simple and concise. Some of the retroclones approach this level of elegance, but Moldvay 'git thar fustest with the mostest!" This may be the best version of D&D ever.
The PDF is beautiful. Art by Jeff Dee and Erol Otus looks great in this scan and the text is completely searchable. Outstanding!
I am looking forward to running B2 with these rules!
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Outstanding scan on the pages, very crisp. It feels like owning an original proof that didn't make it to the printer!
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Outstanding!
D3 is probably the definitive 1e module. Pitted against everyone's favorite villains, the drow, your party will be tested like never before. Having chased the drow thru the underdark, you finally arrive at their sanctuary, a giant cavern under Oerth, filled with dark elves and their kith. You must traverse the cavern to reach Erelhei-Cinlu, an ancient drow city filled with the stuff of nightmares. This is the module we all wanted to play. This is why you made it to 10th level, this is why you smacked down the slavers, annihilated the giants, and descended into the netherdeeps of the earth.
The PDF is perfect. Text looks great, maps look great, and the OCR is flawless. This is how digital conversions should look; obviously a labor of love.
Do yourself a favor and buy this module. It is one of the best ever made and one of the most fun to play. Your players will thank you for it.
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B1 was free for a time at the opening of WOTC's PDF store, and I downloaded mostly to see what their PDF offerings for older editions would be like technically. They don't disappoint for the most part. While the text and artwork looks a tiny bit fuzzy, it's perfectly viewable and readable. The PDF has tiered bookmarks everywhere you would want them allowing you to quickly navigate the text. As far as the content is concerned, well, it's B1 In Search of the Unknown. It's unaltered and you get what you're paying for – really, really vintage D&D.
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A great adventure but a flawed PDF.
L1 is a fantastic module, great fun for a low level party and very easy to use for the DM. The detail used to describe Restenford makes it an ideal base of operations for the party. The rulers, notable NPCs, and even guards and shopkeepers are given short stat blocks. The eponymous ruins on Bone Hill are also well written and well thought out. A little tough for a low level party, but exciting and interesting.
However, the PDF conversion was poorly done. First thing you notice is that all the pages are crooked. Next, the OCR is incomplete. It was only partially successful, so many words are lumped into groups when selected. And lastly, there are pencil marks in the module; dashes and what appear to be decreasing hit point counts (it looks like the original owner's party attacked some of the townsfolk :). I really expected more from Wizards of the Coast. If you are out there reading this WotC, please fix it. This module was a gem in the crown of TSR, please do it justice.
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This adventure has been played by so many players and is a classic that every DM should have up his/her sleeve when new players want to start and familiarize themselves with the game and ruleset.
This is D&D nursery!
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This PDF download looks to be a PDF version of the original 2008 hardcopy, not the revised 2009 PDF download free on the Wizards site. However, the 2009 free download did not include the maps, available in this download. The maps are well-suited for your own adventures, and are well worth the download. Thanks to Wizards for making this adventure available!
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HS1 is a first-level adventure, originally released in 2010. Its non-linear sandbox style was a nice change from the usual linear module, but required work by the DM to fill in the details. As this adventure has been extensively reviewed on the internet, I will review the PDF format itself.
The PDF consists of the 32-page adventure and a large two-page map. Like other book-to-PDF products, the adventure is in color, with color art. 1/4 page diagrams of areas for combat are included.
The PDF version of the two-sided map prints out as two sides of nine pages each (print in poster mode). Half of one side is a ruined level of a keep, with the other half a garrisoned bridge. The other side is the gate of city. While this gamer would prefer a poster map over a printout, you can conveniently make a second printout of the map for your own use. If you're up for it, you can cut and mount parts of the map onto cardstock and make your own tiles. The map does not cover all the areas used in the module. You will need a battle map or dungeon tiles.
Most of the monsters are of the common variety, albeit with specializations to spring on the players. Thus, the Monster Vault tokens should work with this adventure, and you should be pretty well covered if you already own the D&D Adventure Games, or are collecting the Dungeon Command games.
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B1 In Search of the Unknown is really good, if not perfect instruction module for those new to building, running and populating their own dungeons and included on it's pages is a sample dungeon, which makes it even easier to get started. I'd like to see more modules, which use B1's method of keying/placing monsters and treasure.
It would help a lot of novice dungeon masters, if all editions had a tutorial similar to this and others for building wilderness sandboxes and stories/plots.
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The new Monster Manual II joins the original Monster Manual and Fiend Folio in the AD&D series of books. In his preface, Gary Gygax expresses a wish to eventually have several volumes of monster, a wish that seems to be shared by the rest of the hobby, judging by the number of new monsters that appear in the pages of nearly every hobby magazine, professional or amateur.
In the by now familar format of the Monster Manual and Fiend Folio, the new book maintains the standard of clear presentation. Each monster is introduced by its statistics, which are fleshed out by a paragraph or more of description and most of them have been illustrated. However, some unsightly gaps have been left, looking as if illustrations had been planned for and then not included. This is particularly noticeable in the dinosaur collection. Overall, the artwork is, if anything, better than the previous books, with some particularly fine examples by Harry Quin.
The range of monsters presented is wide - birds, insects, humanoids, undead and more. Some are developments of previously published creatures; for example there are two new types of elf, a large number of dinosaurs, four more dragons and enough devils to make Asmodeus himself nervous, ranging from the Dukes of Hell to the meanest Least Devil (as the hordes of devilish minions are called). As well as the Devils, who of course live in Hell, the inhabitants of various other planes are described, both the great lords and their minions - such as the Devas from the Outer Planes of Good, and the Modrons of Nirvana - along with the Elemental Grues, a collection of terrifying beasties from the Elemental Planes. There is also a selection of Demons, including some of the Demon Princes and, interestingly, the semi-demons produced by the mating of human beings with demons and succubi... which might give some chaotic evil DMs a few ideas! For botanical DMs there's a fine army of fungal monsters, while MUs had better check their spell books carefully for the Bookworm. And if you've ever wondered what a Will o'the Wisp looks like when at home try looking up the Boggart.
At the back of the Manual is a complete alphabetical list of all the 'official' monsters to be found in the MM, FF and MMII. Each is provided with a volume and page reference. There are also detailed breakdowns of this complete monster list by level and by native terrain; in each case sub-divided by their frequency of occurrence.
Also supplied are a large selection of random encounter tables covering dungeons by level, the out of doors by terrain type, water by type (salt, fresh, tropical etc) and by depth, and the Astral and Ethereal Planes. An extremely useful feature for the DM who prefers some control in what 'randomly' appears in his world is a brief guide to the mechanics of creating random encounter tables, in the same format as the published ones.
There are too many high level monsters for my taste and too many are overly deadly. On the other hand there are many interesting ideas and several well-developed tribes and huerarchies.
Overall Monster Manual II is a good, well presented addition to the AD&D series, with some very useful creatures, and is probably worth buying, particularly if you like a wide range of monsters in your game.
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First: Please note that the die-cut counters ARE included in this newly-scanned PDF, despite the old disclaimer to the contrary.
The new scan is excellent, and the adventure is still one of the best.
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After all these years there is still no better or easier introduction to D&D than this version of the rules.
Clean, precise and succinct.
Although the later 1983 Mentzer version contained more hand-holding this tended to mean there were many more pages to read before you could get started.
This version gets you started quickly and gives all the rules needed for a good old school dungeon-crawl.
Paired with a good intro module like B2 "Keep on the Borderlands" and it is all the D&D beginner needs.
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This was the 1981 followup to the D&D Basic set. Designed for the Moldvay Basic there was even a little bit about what to do if you had the Holmes Basic.
This expanded the game to level 14 and for most of us it was all we needed for a very long time.
I loved the introduction of all the new undead like Vampires and Spectres (was a big horror fan even then) and that little map of the Known World. I starred at that map for hours, learning lands and names of places far off and never were.
Plus all the new spells! The options of spells for my cleric and magic-users were beyond my 11-year old brain's reckoning at the time.
At 5 bucks this is a criminal steal. I wore my old copy of my expert book out, now I have a PDF to go back too anytime I like. Combine it with the Basic book and some adventures and you are set. Everything you need to play D&D just like the good old days. No skills, no feats, no attacks of opportunity, but plenty of flexibility and action.
I love newer games, but this is the one. The one that keeps me coming back. Back to the Keep, back to Glantri and back to D&D.
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The Moldvay Basic rules for D&D takes the game to a new height of simplicity. I had no recollection of this period, coming to D&D with the iconic red box. Weapon damage all rolled on the same dice - why not. Elves, Dwarves and Halfling all separate options - great. All the essentials of the game, for both players and referee, crammed into a single volume, with all manner of guidance and support presented in a clear and concise way. Within hours of reading this, I had a character sheet drafted out in Excel and my old D&D dice crayoned up for action.
A welcome return with good scans of the original.
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The Lost City, as an adventure in the Basic line, takes the GM from the hand-holding of a well scripted dungeon crawl through a sand-shrouded pyramid, to the cavern depths beneath. As the GMs confidence grows, so the trainer wheels vanish - with the lower areas of the complex provided in the vaguest of details and maps. Rounded out with the loose structure for a campaign - taking the PCs from arrival, through freeing the masses, defeating the enemy, restoring order, then returning home - you have a whole pile of potential crammed into a few dozen pages.
A great scan of the original, with those iconic blue maps. Brilliant illustrations by Jim Holloway.
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