Customer Reviews

Official Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Players Handbook

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I have been roleplaying for years, many many years. I have seen games come and go, I have seen the white box set of G. Gygax. I have seen games like RuneQuest, Warhammer FRP, MERP, Torg, so many games.

Yet this is the real start, the real truth of how great roleplaying can be. You might find 3rd edition more intricate, more things to do in it, but the original AD&D players manual and DM manual were the best in my humble opinion.

This book shows how to create characters quick and just start roaming the worlds that the DM makes. GET IT. and the Dungeon Master Manual by G. Gygax. You will love it better than almost anything else the roleplaying world has to offer.

I got this book for the first time about a year ago when my girlfreind bought me the entire first edition set. What a gift! I tell you, since then I've hosted so many campaigns and enticed many freinds and aquaintances to play.

This book, "Advanced D&D Players(Yes, I can spell. First edition had no appostrophe.)Handbook," was in my humble opinion, the master work of Mr. Gygax, its creator (Sorry Gary if you preferred another version or game, but this one was my far my favorite.). It includes everything a player would need to know for successful expeditions in the worlds of make-believe. Everything from armor class, to hit ratios, character stats, race abilities, and more are preserved between the gorgeous, hardback cover.

Yes, indeed, everything a player could need to know, save what is contained soley in the Dungeon Master Guide (In which case it isn't for a player anyhow.) can be found somewhere in the painstakingly categorized and eloquently worded text.

As a book conosour who enjoys nothing more than a classic, this my friends, is a classic that you can never really "finish" reading... this is the book that once you put down, never really stays down.

I started my D&D career with AD&D Second Edition, which I would later learn was a bastardized version of Gary Gygax's book designed mostly to take out words like "demons" and "devils" because TSR was facing one too many lawsuits from crazy religious parents back in the day. And it was good. The book was fairly hard to use, but once you learned your way around, it was a fun system with lots of good flavor.

Then came Third Edition, and immediately 3.5 because Wizards had too many misprints and imbalances in its predecessor (oh how things have changed since the days of Gygax). Third Edition improved usability a lot and tried to address balancing while opening up lots of new options for players. However, third edition had too much information spaced too widly- Dungeon Masters had to spend hours trying to fix monsters for appropriate challenge levels, looking across stacks of books trying to cobble together a campaign. Even with the update to 3.5, there were still reams of errata from Wizards' lack of quality control, making the situation worse. It's still a great game but it's just so much work for the DM.

4th Edition came along, and promised to revise and simplify these rules to make things playable. And simplify they did- 4th edition has less roleplay in it than Gygax's original supplement for the Chainmail game, a comparison which is particuarly apt as 4th edition even dropped all flavor of measurement in favor of grid-based "squares". It makes for fine fantasy miniature wargaming, but it's just not D&D. (There aren't even Tolkein-esque elves, for Christmas' sake!).

So I went way back to the roots of the game, and endeavored to write my own version of D&D. One that would have full roleplaying potential, without too much clutter, but using some of the very good ideas that did come out of later editions. I started by grabbing a copy of first edition, and found out thre wasn't as much work needed as I thought.

Okay, First Edition isn't perfect. There's no Index to quickly search keywords, and it's very hard to search for specific elements that you need anyway. The small amount of information on important systems like combat are sandwiched between the clerical and wizard spell lists, so that someone thumbing through might miss them entirely. You're stuck with the Table of Contents, really. Tables and abilities and racial requirements are also perplexingly arbitrary at times- why can humans gain higher levels of strength than half-orcs? Even Gygax himself would later admit this edition needed some spackle.

But there is a usable system in there, and anyone familiar with later editions will probably already have the tools to get this game running. There's so much flavor and advice packed into every nook and cranny of this edition-

Okay, I know the argument about Gygax gets old, but it bears repeating. This edition has a multitude of problems, but at every step of the way there's plenty of excellent flavor (or "fluff") and tons of advice from the author about why he made specific choices. The introduction portion of the book is worth digging up a copy all on its own- players frustrated with later editions will see their issues spelled out exactly in the concerns that the master sets forth himself. For every imperfection you find, there's plenty of information on changing the game to suit your play, the author himself makes plenty of notes that if you don't like a rule, throw it out!

So overall, this book is really a treasure. It's broken, it steals too much from Lord of the Rings, and frankly it's quite sexist and utterly politically incorrect in spots. But in context, it really gives the work character. The comments that are made are made because they're the truth of the genre- women heroes really didn't ever have the strength that the men did in the fiction this work steeped itself in. Nothing has been sterilized for mass audiences, and everything that's here is because the author thought they were good ideas (at least at the time). No marketing research, no paid playtest groups, just a guy who loved to play, and his thoughts on making the game happen. We'll miss you, Gary.

My collection is now complete! YAAY.

although I want the edition with grateful dead teddy bears on the cover (I had it and it was stolen *grumble)
This one is good too.

my advice.. 3rd ed was so horrible.. buy these, keep them secret, keep them safe.... play the games and love them.

Printings 1-8 of the AD&D Players Handbook had the orange demon idol cover by David Trampier. The ninth and later printings had the (in my opinion, vastly inferior) bearded wizard cover by Jeff Easley. I beseech sellers to specify which cover and which printing is on offer, particularly since this Amazon page specifically lists Trampier as the illustrator.

Simply the best D&D system there is. Focuses more on roleplaying and less on making invincible charecters. I have played 1.0 through 4.0 and I have to say this is the best system there is for people who just want to have fun. Perfect for begginers and vetrans.

There's not much to say that hasn't been written before, but I'll say this: For anyone who is interested in Role playing games of ANY kind, computer, online, tabletop, etc., THIS IS A NECESSARY BOOK. It is the definitive PLAYERS MANUAL. Whether you are going to create your own RPG, or want to return to the days of the First Edition AD&D, this is a great resource. The style of writing evokes a sense of adventure to the reader. You begin to unlock the potential inside your creative spirit. You immerse yourself into the endless possibilities that make AD&D such a rewarding experience.

When you read this book, you get a good guide to how create balance in your characters, how to flesh out the often overlooked details, the priorities that will face those characters. This is good for anyone who has to deal with a character - whether you aspire to be a great author, or you find yourself memorizing lines for a play or movie. You need to know how to create a character.

Even an old lawyer can find a few things new each time he or she opens this book. Gygax was able to take real-world knowledge and convert it into a game that had practical implications long after you finished playing. You learned to see the world through different lenses. You learned to "play a role." And in life, we all play lots of different roles.

I'm an attorney, and I find myself having to think of new ways to help jurors learn how to see through a new lense. I still find that the insights that Gygax provided in the Player's Handbook come in handy.

Its a great buy. No matter how old you are, or young, and no matter if you actually play Dungeons and Dragons or not. You can learn so much from this book. Its enjoyable to read, fascinating to skim, and informative in some surprising ways. You'll even find a GREAT short lesson on how GOOD and EVIL, LAW and CHAOS interact with one another. Some theologians and philosophers can't even explain that stuff as well as Gygax did in this tome.

Buy it. Keep it, and glean from it. Its a treasure.

I have seen many RPG throughout time, those of which have succeeded in being good PRG's, and those that have not. This is one of them that is not only a good RPG, but one that will last a lifetime. This book, in adition to ones like the Dungeon Master's guide, was really the start of it all, and other RPG's to come.

This book is extremely helpful in many areas that people may not have knowledge in. It is good for notes, or for people who want to design their own character from scratch. It tells you how to do this from the beginning, like scoring character abilities, to classes and spells, and much more.

This book is a MUST HAVE for players interested in serious AD&D, and is definitely a timeless classic.

From the unusual and intrigueing cover art, to the huge lists of spells and other tables, the Player's Handbook is a masterpiece - and requisite for smooth character creation and game play.

Of course, 1st edition (possibly used more that 2nd edition), is a dream to play, and this book aids the player (and referee!) during game play, but will later be read like a novel - you'll be lingering over grand prose and illustrations for hours.

I strongly recommend that if you are interested in Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, either as a gamer or a critic, you locate and purchase this book - it will add life to your library and intense enjoyment to your life.

If you have played the more recent versions of this game (3.0 / 3.5 / 4.0), and are overwhelmed by the complexity that is put in to the player's hands ... then first edition D&D / AD&D may be a better option. The player creation process is more simple, and puts the complexity management in to the DM's / GM's hands instead of relying on the player so heavily. One of the things I dislike about the more recent versions was that there are just too many choices to make as a player, and a player can easily work around the system to do things that really might not make sense in the DM's / GM's world. I started on this system (First edition) many years ago and had some good memories going through the pages of this old book. I also have found that playing in a PBEM / PBM (play by email or play by message) system is a good way to play in my busy adult life, and don't have to make any real time commitment to play the game.