Considering that I've been playing Dungeons & Dragons since I was 8 (back in 1978), it's kind of crazy that I'm just reading this now. I guess part of it is that I didn't own a white boxed set until a couple weeks ago. But then I'm back to, how did I not own a white boxed set until just recently?

It was fun and nostalgic to read this, but also quite painful. It really has the feel of someones random notes about a game that he wants to create. Things like spells that give no description of what they actually do, an "alternate" combat system, but no "initial" combat system because they assume you already play Chainmail and will be using that system. Before you even know how to roll up a character there's a section on creating magic items.

Probably the biggest problem I have with this is that there's no "example of play". He never really talks about how the game is played, so someone who had never played an RPG (and I believe this was the first one), would be totally lost. Anyway, I've always said that you should always learn how to play RPGs from people who already know how to play. So maybe Mr. Gygax was writing from that perspective.

Anyway, it's super short and was a "blast from the past". It's really cool to see that many of the ideas still exist in the newest edition of D&D more than 40 years later. ( )