Eric Holmes

This was the first role-playing game I was ever exposed to, aged probably 7 or 8 when my older brother was given a copy in 1979 or 1980. I re-read this in April 2026. I had just started playing 'Dolmenwood', an Old School Revival game heavily derivative of Basic D&D, and I wanted to revisit the source material. This Eric Holmes edition predates the Tom Moldvay Basic Dungeons & Dragons -- it is simply called 'Dungeons & Dragons'. It's clear that the Moldvay D&D is the direct ancestor of show more Dolmenwood (and its parent Old School Essentials), but Holmes' D&D is the ancestor of Moldvay's.

The structure of the book is a bit looser than that of more modern RPGs. Headings are fewer and long paragraphs can conceal rules. For example, this interesting snippet is found under the description of Magic Spells (p.13):
"This rule [that spell casters forget their spells when they cast them] places great limitations on the magic-user's power, but there are ways to partially overcome them. One is to have the spell written out on a magical scroll. Scrolls are written in magic runes that fade from the page as they are read, so a scroll also can only be used once. Magic-users may make a scroll of a spell they already "know" (ie. have in their magic book) at a cost of 100 gold pieces and 1 week's work for each spell of the first leve, 200 gold pieces and 2 weeks for a second level spell (if the magic-user is third level), etc."

The same 'Magic Spells' heading contains notes about the requirements for casting a spell (ie, must not be bound and gagged), the above-mentioned memory effect, how to research new spells and how many spells a magic-user starts with -- a 'chance to know' each spell in the entire list, with a minimum and maximum based on the magic-user's Intelligence.

Third level magic user spells were listed but not described "to give some idea of the range of magical possibilities" (p.16). This is a bit of a tease, but fair because the game only allows characters to reach 3rd level - you'd need to be a fifth level magic-user to cast 3rd level spells.

Other interesting rules that aren't the same as other old school Dungeons & Dragons:
- all weapons do 1d6 damage
- Dexterity determines fighting order, with ties broken by 1d6
- Descending Armour Class - the lower the AC the better the protection
- There are five alignments: Lawful Good, Lawful Evil, Neutral, Chaotic Good, Chaotic Evil
- High ability scores do very little except give you bonuses for experience

Experience points are awarded based on gold recovered and creatures killed or outwitted. There's a proviso for defeating weaker monsters which I don't recall seeing in other D&D versions:
"If the defeated monster is lower in level than the character who overcomes him, less experience is gained. The experience points for the kill are multiplied by a fraction: monster level/character's level. For example if a third level fighting man killed a first level orc he generates ⅓ the experience points." (p.11)

In the section 'Dungeon Mastering as a Fine Art' there is a some useful advice for new DMs about pacing, dramatics, preparation, and giving your players opportunities to turn around and go back to the surface. "Many gamesters start with a trip across country to get to the entrance of the dungeon -- a trip apt to be punctuated by attacks by brigands or wandering monsters, or marked by strange and unusual encounters. The party then enters the underworld, tries to capture the maximum treasure with the minimal risk and escape alive … Do not hesitate to have lawful or helpful characters chance by at times, your adventurers may need a little help!" Oh yes, and I don't know how many dungeons have been inspired by the awesome 'Stone Mountain' diagram in the 'Sample Cross Section of Levels' in this part of the book (p.39)!

"The imaginary universe of Dungeons & Dragons obviously [except to Gary Gygax and TSR, who never admitted it] lies not too far from the Middle Earth of J.R.R. Tolkien's great 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy. The D & D universe also impinges on the fantasy worlds of Fritz Leiber, Robert E. Howard, Gardner F. Fox, classical mythology and any other source of inspiration the Dungeon Master wants to use." (p.41)

Finally the 'Tower of Zenopus' sample adventure is a nice flavourful starting example which seems to have been an influence on the later 'Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh' module, in that it has an abandoned ruin, supposedly haunted near a port town (literally Portown in this book) with an evil wizard and smugglers in sea caves below. show less

I liked the story quite a bit, but for me the art was too dark/same-y. It was super difficult for me to tell the characters apart in some panels, and my understanding of the story was slowed waaaaay down because I kept having to flip back and forth trying to figure out which Transformer was talking at any given time.

This is a beautiful comic, Marcelo Matere's art is amazing. The story is great too, I am glad it got rescued from Dreamwave.

Cybertronian peacetime was not exactly idyllic. There were no Autobots, no Decepticons, so there was no absolute good or absolute evil. Megatron rising through a fight for a just cause was a surprising angle to take, as was the evolution of the Decepticon symbol - not to mention its similarity to the Senate symbol. Definitely a good trade to add to my collection.