Dungeons & Dragons, 1983 Basic and Expert boxed sets as compiled by Frank Mentzer. This is the third iteration of what we'd call a Basic Set, following Dr. J. Eric Holmes' 1977 Basic Set and the Tom Moldvay 1981 set. This set was designed from the ground up to be accessible to new players, and to stand out on store shelves. It contained a Player's and Dungeon Master's book, dice, and a crayon to fill in the numbers on the dice. I still have a few of these, the d20s are almost round after nearly 40 years of rolling. When I think of my hobby overall, of gaming as a "thing", I think of this boxed set. This, for me, is where it all started in the summer of 1986. Even three and half decades later, I still use it as a gateway product for new players.
Character Creation System:
This is among the simplest of the games I'll likely cover, as far as character creation goes. As with many old-school games, the basic attributes are generated randomly before choosing the character's class or profession. In the Old Days, the randomness of the dice was seen as a way to limit overpowered characters and make the truly outstanding a rare occurrence. This was done through required scores in given traits, for example, in this version of D&D, one must roll certain scores to qualify to play an Elf or Dwarf. If those scores were not present in your die rolls, you weren't playing those types of characters. In the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game contemporary to this Basic Rules Set, characters like Paladins and Monks were very rare indeed, as they required sets of unusually high scores generated by the dice. In contrast, modern D&D allows for the choice of class before Ability Scores are determined- if you want that Paladin, you can play that Paladin, regardless of the vagaries of the dice.
Breaking out my trusty Gary Con dice, I roll 3d6 for each Ability Score, placing them in order: Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Dexterity, Constitution, Charisma.
- STR: 18 (6,6,6) - OK, holy crap. I've never actually rolled an 18 when doing 3d6. Ever. Since starting the hobby. This is an auspicious beginning to this project.
- INT: 12 (5,4,3)
- WIS: 12 (6,4,2)
- DEX: 10 (5,4,1)
- CON: 9 (5,3,1)
- CHA: 7 (4,2,1)
So, the dice were good to me. I only have one Ability Score that is below average, Charisma, four that are average, and one, Strength, that is the maximum possible. At this point, I must choose a class. There are seven classes in this version of D&D: Cleric, Fighter, Magic-User, Thief, and the Demi-Human classes Dwarf, Elf, and Halfling. Yes, Demi-Humans are classes in this version, as archetypes of their species. Dwarves are hardy fighters, Elves fighter-wizards, and Halfings sort of fighter-thieves. My stellar Strength means if I choose Fighter, I earn 10% bonuses to all my experience point awards. My con of 9 means I can be a Dwarf- just barely. I have the intelligence to be an Elf, but I'm a point shy of getting an experience bonus. Same story for Halfling, I qualify, but no bonuses. The nice thing is, I can choose any of the seven classes with this set of scores. Since this is the first entry in this series, I'll go with the basic Fighter.
At this point, I could use a set of rules to trade some ability scores to boost my Prime Requisite, the main score(s) of my class. As a Fighter, that's Strength, and I can't boost it over 18, so I'll skip this step. The basic gist of it is that you can trade points on a 2-for-1 basis to raise Prime Requisites, but only Strength, Intelligence, and Wisdom can actually be lowered to raise Prime Requisites, and even then they cannot be lowered below 9.
The next step is to roll for Hit Points. Fighters roll a d8, and my Gary Con dice are kind and give me a 5. My Constitution of 9 is no help here, but neither is it a hindrance. 5HP it is. One good sword blow away from death. Huzzah.
We now roll 3d6x10 for starting money. I roll a 6, 6, and... 2. So, fairly average at 140gp. I immediately blow 70gp on plate mail and shield. Gotta be protected. I then score myself a "normal sword" for 10gp. A backpack, tinderbox, two waterskins, six torches, and a week of standard rations cost me another 16 gold. I'm now down to 44 gold. I grab some rope, spikes and a hammer for 4 gold, and pocket the other 40 for future expenses.
According to the table, I now figure out my AC, Saving Throws, and Hit Chart. Armor Class is how hard I am to hit. Saving Throws are my chance on a d20 to avid bad things happening to me. The Hit Chart tells me what I have to roll to hit enemies of a given Armor Class. The Hit Chart for every character at first level is the same- I need a 19 to hit Armor Class 20. My Strength bonus gives me a real leg-up here when swinging my sword, +3 to hit, and to damage. My Armor Class is based on my Plate Mail (AC3) and Shield (+1 AC bonus) for a total of AC2. Remember, lower is better in 1983 Basic D&D. As a Fighter, my saving throws are mediocre at first level, with my Spells save being 16 or better on 1d20. Magic is my bane.
I now note Ability Score "adjustments"- the additions or subtractions to rolls based on what I rolled. My Strength of 18 is a +3 bonus to hit in melee combat, and to damage done in melee combat. My Charisma of 7 means I have a -1 penalty on rolls to see how others react to me. I'm gruff, or rude, or unattractive, etc. The rest of my scores are solidly up the middle, and yield no bonus or penalty. My Intelligence of 12 means I can read and write my native language, but I speak no extra languages beyond my native "common" and my alignment language (see below.)
Next, I have to have a name, and an alignment. Alignment in D&D is a character's moral outlook, and in the 1983 version there are three- Lawful, Neutral and Chaotic. I'm going to go with Lawful, since I like heroic types, and give the... (rolls a die, odd, male) Fighter the moniker Corwyn of Threshold, placing his hometown in one of the default starting cities from the Basic Set. As a first level Fighter, Corwyn can use the title "Veteran" as each class had titles per level. Looking at Corwyn's ability scores, I see the numbers begin to form a story. As strong as can be, but almost weak in bodily health, and low Charisma. I think about that abysmal Spell saving throw and a story begins to form in my mind...
The Character:
Corwyn of Threshold was born and raised in the border town whose name he bears, and showed great strength and endurance even in his teen years. He became a renowned swordsman and joined the town militia. As a member of the militia, he and some other idealistic young warriors engaged a group of bandits led by a dark sorcerer, and through dark magic Corwyn was the sole survivor, left scarred and shattered by the foul sorcery. Released from his militia commitment during his convalescence, the now-veteran vowed to find the sorcerer responsible for the death of his friends and the loss of his health and bring him to justice.
My Thoughts:
What can I say? You never forget your first. I rolled up my first D&D character summer of 1986 with my friend Daniel. I remember paging through the red and blue books from the Basic and Expert sets and being drawn in by the artwork and the promise of adventure. I'd paged through AD&D books the year before, my friend Eric's older brother played, but we were too young to "get it" and all we could do is flip through the hardcovers and try to figure out what they had to do with the cartoon, or that fleeting scene in D&D where Michael and his friends are playing.
This does pretty much hit all the old school bases - random stats, those stats control what your character can be and do, so you play what the dice give you. For the formative first years of my gaming hobby, this was just how it was. D&D, Traveller, Gamma World, Marvel Superheroes, Robotech, Star Trek etc. It wasn't until I picked up FASA's MechWarrior RPG that I saw a point-buy system for the first time. That is, a system where you had the same pool of points every other player did, and spent them the same way, so that in theory all starting characters were balanced with each other. In D&D you could easily roll a really crappy character, stat-wise.
While I have come a long way in my gaming sensibilities, and see the wisdom in letting that player who REALLY wants to be a Paladin be a Paladin, there was a real sense of joy when the dice gave you the stats you needed to be something special. I felt elated - and a bit disappointed - roll that 18 Strength. Elated because HOT DAMN, AN 18!!! and sad because Corwyn will probably not see a tabletop. I can't imagine another DM just trusting that I got an 18 Strength rolling 3d6 in order.
Seriously, though, I would love to play Corwyn of Threshold, a bog-standard human fighter with sword-and-board. This is a man with a mission, he's young and just getting started, but hey, he's a Veteran, not some wet-behind-the-ears kid. You see, a 1st Level adventurer isn't your average peasant. They have some training the regular folk don't have. They have risen from the masses of 0-level humans to take on an adventuring class. Corwyn might just have a future... or he might meet his end thanks to the carrion crawler under the rotten door in the sample dungeon.
