Demon Idol

A gamist Advanced Dungeons & Dragons interpretation.

Site Tools


rulebooks_guide

Differences

This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.

Link to this comparison view

Next revision
Previous revision
rulebooks_guide [2023-09-10 05:42] – created poemsrulebooks_guide [2024-12-22 15:53] (current) – external edit 127.0.0.1
Line 1: Line 1:
 ====== Rulebooks Guide ====== ====== Rulebooks Guide ======
  
-AD&D consists of the following rulebooks:+AD&D consists of several of rulebooks published during the 70s and 80s. Demon Idol attempts to closely follow the PHB, DMG, DDG, and monster books. It also uses the spells, magic items, and some additional rules from UA. Whether your table uses the classes and races in UA is a matter of individual campaigns (see [[Campaign Guide]] and [[Character Token]]). The books published after Gary Gygax's departure in 1985 (DSG, WSG, MotP) are used for inspiration, and sometimes we adopt rules from these books, but they are not used directly and can safely be ignored in most cases.
  
   * Rules   * Rules
Line 12: Line 12:
   * Supplements   * Supplements
     * Deities & Demigods (DDG), later published as "Legends & Lore" ((Names in fantasy -- and gaming in general -- have typically worsened over time.))     * Deities & Demigods (DDG), later published as "Legends & Lore" ((Names in fantasy -- and gaming in general -- have typically worsened over time.))
-    * Unearthed Arcana (UA)+    * [[Unearthed Arcana]] (UA)
     * Dungeoneer's Survival Guide (DSG)     * Dungeoneer's Survival Guide (DSG)
     * Wilderness Survival Guide (WSG)     * Wilderness Survival Guide (WSG)
Line 21: Line 21:
 ===== What you need ===== ===== What you need =====
  
-DMs at least need the PHB, DMG, and MM. The rest of the players can get by with just a PHB if they want to, but players desiring to master the system faster will no doubt quickly want for the DMG, since it contains the bulk of the rules.((Remember, [[rules changes|players can read the DMG!]])) It contains rules modern gamers would expect to be in the PHB, like the combat rules and saving throw tables. ((Remember, in the 70s, this sort of thing hadn't been done on such a scale before. The forerunners were still figuring out how this whole adventure gaming thing was going to work.)) Demon Idol suggests using UA's [[magic item tables]] and spells, along with a couple other rules, but these are not required and you can always add them on later if you want. Your game will not suffer for their absence.+DMs at least need the PHB, DMG, and MM. The rest of the players can get by with just a PHB if they want to, but players desiring to master the system faster will no doubt quickly want for the DMG, since it contains the bulk of the rules.((Remember, [[rules changes|players can read the DMG!]])) It contains rules modern gamers would expect to be in the PHB instead, like the combat rules and saving throw tables. ((Remember, in the 70s, this sort of thing hadn't been done on such a scale before. The forerunners were still figuring out how this whole adventure gaming thing was going to work.)) Demon Idol suggests using UA's [[magic item tables]] and spells, along with a couple other rules, but these are not required and you can always add them on later if you want. Your game will not suffer for their absence.
  
 Additionally, while the bulk of DDG's content is a listing of example deities, its main value to your game is an expansion of the ability score tables in the beginning of the book. These detail the bonuses and effects of ability scores above 18, which are regularly invaluable. However, DDG is also one of the most expensive books to purchase -- especially if you get a 1st or 2nd edition, since they contain the Cthulhu and Melnibonéan mythoi which were purged in later editions for "intellectual property" reasons. Additionally, while the bulk of DDG's content is a listing of example deities, its main value to your game is an expansion of the ability score tables in the beginning of the book. These detail the bonuses and effects of ability scores above 18, which are regularly invaluable. However, DDG is also one of the most expensive books to purchase -- especially if you get a 1st or 2nd edition, since they contain the Cthulhu and Melnibonéan mythoi which were purged in later editions for "intellectual property" reasons.
Line 35: Line 35:
  
 Earlier versions of WotC's reprints had some errors in them. Most of them appear to have been fixed by Summer 2022, though there are still some OCR errors. If you use the WotC reprints, you might want to check out the list of errors [[https://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=69162|here]] and [[https://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=58455|here]], especially if your copies were from a while ago. Earlier versions of WotC's reprints had some errors in them. Most of them appear to have been fixed by Summer 2022, though there are still some OCR errors. If you use the WotC reprints, you might want to check out the list of errors [[https://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=69162|here]] and [[https://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=58455|here]], especially if your copies were from a while ago.
 +
 +===== Unearthed Arcana =====
 +
 +For a list of rules we use from UA, see [[Unearthed Arcana]].
rulebooks_guide.1694324534.txt.gz · Last modified: 2024-12-22 15:53 (external edit)