1981 D&D Expert Set now available in POD

Ten years ago, I wrote about the newly released PDF of the 1981 D&D Expert Rules at DriveThruRPG. Now, they've finally added a Print-On-Demand (POD) option for both the Expert Rules and the 1981 verison of the Isle of Dread, the two main components of the 1981 Expert Set (other than dice & crayon). Find them here at DriveThruRPG:

Click here for the 1981 D&D Expert Rules in Print-on-Demand

Click here for the 1981 Isle of Dread module in Print-on-Demand

It's not widely known, but production on these rules started out as an expansion to the Holmes Basic rules. In March 1980, in Dragon #35, Gygax revealed that:

"Design is now hard at work on the second boxed D&D game, the Expert Set. It will take players through at least 12th level of experience, tie in the best of the “Original” material, and actually add some new classes, spells, magic, monsters and so on."

In context, this appeared to be an Expert Set that would complement the Holmes Basic Set. A late 1980 Gateway to Adventure catalog shows the Holmes Basic set side-by-side with an unpictured but soon-to-be-released Expert Set.

However, when the Expert Set finally arrived in 1981, it was instead accompanied by an entirely new Basic Set, which replaced the Holmes Basic set (although TSR continued to sell old stock of the rulebook through the Mail Order Hobby Shop until at least 1986). To aid owners of the original Basic rules who did not wish to buy the new Basic rulebook or set, the Cook/Marsh rulebook contained a section on page X4 titled "Using D&D Expert with an early edition of D&D Basic" which began "If your copy of the D&D Basic rules has a blue cover with a picture of a dragon on it, then this section is for you". This section then provides a summary of the "new material found in the 2nd edition of D&D Basic".

Over on the Holmes Ref page, I have a reference sheet with character info bridging Holmes with Cook/Marsh up to sixth level, titled "Holmes Basic / Cook Expert Reference Sheet v1.0".

Holmes Basic - Cook Expert Reference Sheet

Inspired by the recent release of the pdf of the 1981 Expert Set, edited by David Cook with Steve Marsh (aka "Cook Expert"), I've put together a single page reference sheet for using Holmes Basic with the Cook Expert Set. It's a "bridge" table covering levels 1-6, and includes To Hit, Saving Throws, Character Advancement, Spell Numbers, Turn Undead and Thieves' Abilities. In all cases, the rules for Holmes Basic take precedent, using the Cook Expert set to fill in higher level material not covered by Holmes. I've used the style of the Holmes Basic Tables, including a similar font (Futura Book BT). 

I've written before that in some ways the Cook Expert Set is an official expansion for Holmes Basic. But as Wayne R on the Semper Initiativus Unum blog recently wrote on Holmes Day: "In the Cook/Marsh Expert rulebook there is advice on integrating Holmes but unfortunately it's all backward. The Expert book should be used for adding the levels above 3 to Holmes, and additional spells, monsters, and magic items, and the wilderness rules that Holmes left out".

Download link (Google Docs):

Holmes Basic - Cook Expert Reference Sheet - v1.0

If you find any typos please post a comment and I'll revise the sheet.

You may note the bottom of the sheet says "Zenopus Archives - Holmes Ref". I've created a new subpage on the ZA website called "Holmes Ref" that will gather together tables for running Holmes Basic. "Ref" refers to both "reference" and "referee", and is a tribute to the Judges Guild Ready Ref Sheets. The only other table currently included is the single sheet Monster List by HD, but others will be added eventually with the idea of referees being able to create custom DM screens depending on what combination of Holmes and other rules they are using. Next up will be a version of the Reference Sheet using OD&D instead of Cook Expert for the higher levels.

Expert Set rulebook pdf notes

I ended up buying the new pdf of the Expert Set rulebook, which you can find here on DriveThruRPG

A few notes:

(1) The scan quality is great, the text is completely OCR'd and searchable, and the pdf is fully indexed with bookmarks. Front and back covers, including insides are all included, important since there's a table of contents inside the front and an index inside the back. Pages are mostly scanned straight, though a few are slightly off, which you can see in the screenshot of the Gnome Lair:

GNOME LAIR - location from the Sample Wilderness in the Expert Set rulebook

(2) It's a 1st printing of the rulebook according to the Acaeum. The distinguishing feature on the front cover is the lack of a white circle around the "2" on the upper left front cover. I hadn't seen the interior of a 1st printing before, but a quick comparison to a later printing didn't reveal any major text differences in the rules. I do note that the title page of the 1st printing has Gygax & Arneson's name on it, but for some reason their name is missing from the hard copy later printing that I have.

The corresponding Moldvay pdf from dndclassics is not a 1st printing, as it has a white circle around the "1" on the front cover. Apparently the Wizards are not paying attention to the printings at this level of granularity. It will be interesting to see what printing of the Holmes rulebook we end up with - most likely the 2nd or 3rd printing.

(3) Here's the neatest part of the pdf: It's 88 pages rather than the 68 pages as you'd expect (64 page rulebook plus covers). That's because it has several bonus items from the Expert Set at the end: a 16 page TSR product catalog, a 2-page RPGA membership form, and a 2-page TSR survey. The catalog is a real treasure if you haven't seen it before: a 1981 Gateway to Adventure TSR product catalog (see the cover here). There are several versions of this catalog, and this one happens to be the one that shows the Holmes Basic rulebook cover next to a listing for the new Expert Set rulebook. So now I have a better scan of the picture of this, which I've replaced in my previous post. However, I also noted that the catalog shows the Moldvay Box Set on another page along with the Expert Set. So perhaps the B/X box cover design was finished at the time of this catalog but not the rulebook cover design.

Update: Ten years later, they've added a Print-on-Demand (POD) option for this. Find it here:

1981 D&D Expert Rules PDF and Print-on-Demand (POD) at DriveThruRPG