While browsing the Things From Another World website, I noticed that this week sees the re-release of the classic Dungeons and Dragons 1st Edition Dungeon Masters Guide, Players Handbook, and Monster Manual.



I guess these are in celebration of the 30th Anniversary of their original release? (I thought those books came out in 1980 or '81, not '82). Anyway, these are nice treats! I've looked through these original handbooks several times from back in the days when I was playing 2nd Edition (in the mid 90's). Back in the '90's, several comic shops and roleplaying game stores still had copies on the used book shelves of those 1st Edition books. I also had friends who owned copies of the 1st Edition rule books, but while I have looked through them, I never did play 1st edition. I always LOVED the cheesy artwork in those original books though. You could tell it was just a bunch of people at a small company putting together something out of love (the artwork was sooo amatuerish).

I always heard that the original rules were more focused on numbers than on roleplaying (it was a bit harder to learn the rules) but is this the direction that the Dungeons and Dragons line is heading in nowadays? Or is the release of these books more for nostalgia purposes only?