Thursday, January 19, 2012

AD&D survives it's System Shock Roll!

 In 1974, the world changed forever when Gary Gygax introduced the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. The legacy of his innovative ideas and the extensive reach of his powerful influence can be seen in virtually every facet of gaming today. To help honor his work and his memory, we created limited-edition reprints of the original 1st Edition core rulebooks: the Monster Manual, Player's Handbook, and Dungeon Master's Guide. These premium versions of the original AD&D rulebooks have been lovingly reprinted with the original art and content, but feature an attractive new cover design commemorating this re-release. Available in limited quantities as a hobby channel exclusive in North America. Your purchase of this monumental book helps support the Gygax Memorial Fund—established to immortalize the “Father of Roleplaying Games” with a memorial statue in Lake Geneva, WI.

Product Release List
Player's Handbook

14 comments:

Higgipedia said...

My old 1e books got dumped in a parents' move when I was in the Army. I may take Wizards up on this.

Anonymous said...

New cover?

Steee-rike Two!

faoladh said...

Well, I'll be buying these, if for no other reason to let WotC/Hasbro know that there really is a market for the older editions. What I really want is a re-release of the White Box, and if this is a step toward that, I'll do what I need to do.

Alex Schroeder said...

Wow, what an awesome move!

Lee Lawrence said...

I agree with faoladh (although I want a re-release of B/X). Shame it's North America only. Bah. Bit Pricy too.

http://osrandom.blogspot.com/

aka John said...

Is that the new cover or just a placeholder pic? I agree with Faoladh about buying the books to remind them how many fans of the older editions they are, but also agree with Lee that the price is a bit high. Oh well, I've already decided to let my Xbox live subscription lapse and not buy anymore games this year, so I should have room in my entertainment budget for them.

Jesse said...

According to Jeff Rients, if you adjust the price for inflation the books will cost about the same as they did when they were first issued.

faoladh said...

Yeah, I looked up the information myself a while back. According to the CPI Inflation Calculator, $10 (the cost of the PH and MM in 1979) is approximately equal to $30 today, and $12 (the cost of the DMG) is about $37.50 today. My post on the matter includes a picture of a TSR order sheet from 1979.

Matthew Schmeer said...

I wonder if the harlot table will make it into this new printing.

Peter Fitz said...

Just in North America, huh? Well, so much for that then.

5stonegames said...

This is very cool news. 2e is my edition really but I might be sore tempted by these.

On the cost issue, the price is about the same but two things

#1 They are soft cover not the nigh indestructible hardcover of the originals.

#2 While the price is the same, wages have not risen to keep pace on average in terms of "Hours per $ earned" they are more expensive. This is not WOTC's fault however

faoladh said...

5stonegames: The listing says "hardcover". I can't say about the quality, but they apparently won't be softcover books.

JeraldSr said...

Are the books you are talking about on this post the SAME ones that I just received an email about from Alliance Games Distributor? Are these something I should be thinking of getting more than one each of (do you think they will sell in the Edinboro/Erie PA area?) Your help will be appreciated! I like playing Rob's majestic Wilderlands a LOT - but I know almost nothing about other editions.

The following is what I just received from my Sales Rep at Alliance:

"Within minutes of yesterday’s press release on WOTC’s website about the reprinting of the 1st Ed. D&D Books, about a zillion of you called or emailed me about these… And we NOW have codes in the system for them!! So lemme know what you’ll need!!"

AD&D 1st Edition Premium Dungeon Master's Guide HC 04/17/12 $44.95

AD&D 1st Edition Premium Player's Handbook HC 04/17/12 $34.95

AD&D 1st Edition Premium Monster Manual HC 04/17/12 $34.95

I will order maybe 2 copies of each of these, but perhaps I should plan to order more? I can of course ship them to anywhere once I have them in stock.

Stainless said...

Could this be a way for WotC to test just how many old school punters are out there and willing to put cash where their mouths are? A great way to do some market research for 5e; good PR and you get money from it. Just seems like coincidental timing to me, considering what they've said about the 5e design goals.