This gave Basic a three year head start over 1e AD&D, and it was enough to clinch a permanent fanbase. Why? Because the three core books to 1e AD&D wouldn’t be completed and released until 1979. However, only Basic was immediately playable. The goal was to create a more complex, nuanced game than what was initially offered. In a somewhat ironic twist, both Basic and 1e AD&D were released in the same year, 1977, both evolutions of OD&D, the Chainmail based fantasy rule set. Regardless, TSR supported both simultaneously, and the two games diverged onto very different evolutionary trajectories.
Image used for review purposes.With the release of 1e AD&D, it can be truly said that the Editions War had truly begun, as the nascent gaming community polarized either towards the more complete and ready to play Basic D&D, or embraced the more complex and nuanced 1e AD&D (or simply “AD&D” as it was known at the time).
