Best way to start OD&D?

Well... eh... The original D&D were, to put it into video game jargon, the early beta of D&D running on two different game engines. Where much of the concepts of role-playing games like ability scores, hit points, hit dice, saving throws and so on came from Braunstein*, which was included in the LBB**, it incorporated the movement and combat mechanics form Chainmail*** that was not included in the set. Besides the fact that you'll need Chainmail to run the game without the Supplements (Greyhawk, Backmoor, etc.), the rules are a hodgepodge of mixed rules and with unexplained ideas. If you want to play "as is", you'll REALLY have to pick through the rules with a fine-tooth comb to pick-up all the minor rules that were dropped form latter rule-sets, for good or bad, as your experience with latter editions would create gaming bias. For example:

Characters combat capabilities were rated in man-power, so if your PC is
a 4th-level Fighting-man, he could take on four (normal) men at once! The game only used d6s for most rolls that are not to-hit or saves. And you were limited to Fighting-man, Magic-User, Cleric, Elf, Dwarf, and Hobbit Halfling. Playing an Elf means having to switch between being a Fighting-man or Magic-User, as the games was not set-up to be both. A combat round lasted (in-game) a whole minute. Magic armor was a mess
to account for, as they lowed opponent hit dice to hinder their to-hit. Players would get 100xp per hit dice of defeated monsters.

In most cases, early players house-ruled the hell out of it with their granny, firth-generation Xerox copes. For example, one old-time Referee (DM) recounted how he had used the petrification save to have the players roll to avoid falling stone blocks as the LBBs never stated what "Save vs Stone" means. It was a highly experimental era!

If you want to start with the LBBs — Volume 1: Men & Magic, Volume 2: Monsters & Treasure, and Volume 3: Underworld & Wilderness Adventures. Also check out the supplemental booklets: Greyhawk; Blackmoor; Eldritch Wizardry; and Gods, Demi-gods & Heroes. (There is Swords & Spells, but that is more of a war game with nothing much to add.) It is best to find them on .PDF so you can read them beforehand as the actual booklets are rare and expensive as hell! It is not at all difficult to track the files down. It is best to print them out in a 5½" x 8½" "booklet" format.

Holmes' Basic "Blue Box" D&D is mostly a reprint of the LBBs and Grayhawk supplement, edited and formatted to be more playable.

The "retro-clone" rules, like Swords & Wizardry and Delving Deeper, are complete and polished editions all their own right. They have all the rules you'll find with the "Basic" rule-sets, but they usually use d6s for all hit die and damage die rolls. One thing that separates S&W form other versions of D&D is the way it list "Saving Throw" as a single, all-encompassing save.


Yes, the early rules were strange, but at the same time, an interesting read with a lot of possibilities with rules people would not otherwise conclude. For example, in Dave Arneson's early rules (not covered in any of the OD&D books), the XP gained from earned GP had to be spent on non-adventuring frivolities like charities, magical research, religious sacrifices, and (most of all) drunken-ass orgies before they become XP (see Orgies Inc. in Dragon #10 for more details). Dave was also noted for having characters start with "1-100 hip points"! Early Gamma World likely used rules dropped for early OD&D, like the Weapon Class vs Armor Class Matrix (akin to Chainmail) and the 1d6 HP per point of Constitution rule. Such rules really add to how ones plays D&D, and that is awesome!

I hope that was at all helpful?


*a Napoleonic "free kriegsspiel" wargame by David Wesely and Dave Arneson
**Little Brown Books; the three initial rule booklets.
***a medieval wargame fantasy by by Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren