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D&D Basic Set
1st Edition (Fourth+ Printings)
Item code: TSR1001
Type: Fantasy Adventure Game
Release: 1978
Authors: Gary Gygax
Dave Arneson
Edited: Eric Holmes
Cover Art: David C. Sutherland
Illustrations: Dave Trampier
David C. Sutherland
Tom Wham
Format: Boxed Set
Rarity: Common
Value @NrMint: $25
ISBN: NA
Cover Price: na
Print Runs: 1st (1977)
2nd (January 1978)
3rd (May 1978)
→ 4th (November 1978)
Weight: 375 grams
Dimensions: width: 23.1 cm
height: 28.2 cm
depth: 3.2 cm
Collector's Arcana: Later printings of the Basic Set feature a major change: Instead of including The Dungeon Geomorphs and Monster & Treasure Assortment, they now began to include a basic level module. The first module included was the monochrome colored cover of In Search of the Unknown. This module was later replaced by the classic Keep on the Borderlands.

Most of these modules contained five multi-colored dice, but there is a version with chits instead of dice. Frank Mentzer explained, that that this version included a sheet of chits (cut-out counters) instead of dice, and TSR received a letter from a prison inmate who praised the chit edition because dice were to be confiscated. Mentzer stated this at a GenCon auction, and that the term prison version was coined for use within TSR. The print run of this version was considerably smaller. (Thanks to Shawn Hibbs who attended the GenCon auction.)

Featuring one of the truly few cover appearances of TSR's Dave Sutherland.

"YOU ARE HOLDING A FANTASTIC WORLD OF SWORDS & SORCERY IN YOUR HANDS! IN DUNGEONS & DRAGONS YOU BECOME A MIGHTY WIZARD, A FEARLESS HERO, A STOUT DWARF, A CLEVER HALFLING OR ANY ONE OF A DOZEN OTHER ADVENTURERS READY TO EXPLORE THE MAZES AND LABYRINTHS OF A VAST AND DEEP DUNGEON — OR PERHAPS TREK THROUGH UNCHARTED WILDERNESS — IN SEARCH OF THE FABOLOUS TREASURES AND MAGIC WHICH ARE HIDDEN THERE. BUT THIS WEALTH IS NOT EASILY GAINED, FOR TERRIBLE GUARDIANS LURK NEARBY; AND SUCH MONSTERS AS ORCS, OGRES, TROLLS, GIANTS, DRAGONS, AND EVEN WORSE MUST BE DEFEATED IN ORDER TO GAIN THEIR HOARDED TREASURES. "





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Acknowledgements

Thanks to Ralf Toth for the front cover picture and assistance with the item detail.

Impressum (Imprint)