Chris Tichenor compiled an excellent list of all the products released by TSR for Dungeons & Dragons and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons between 1974 and 1988, which I've reproduced below. What I like most about this list is the way it reveals trends in both the kinds of products TSR was publishing and the way that D&D was conceived of by the company. Tomorrow sometime, I'll post my own year-by-year thoughts about this list, but do feel free to make your own comments about it beforehand. I'm curious to see how much intersection there is between my own opinions on this matter and that of my readers.
1974:
Boxed Sets:
Dungeons & Dragons (original 3-volume set)
1975:
Accessories:
Supplement I: Greyhawk
Supplement II: Blackmoor
1976:
Accessories:
Supplement III: Eldritch Wizardry
Supplement IV: Gods, Demi-Gods & Heroes
Swords & Spells
Dungeon Geomorphs Set One
1977:
Hardbacks:
Monster Manual
Boxed Sets:
Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set (Holmes ed. Sutherland cover art)
Accessories:
Character Record Sheets (Tom Wham cover art)
Dungeon Geomorphs Set Two
Dungeon Geomorphs Set Three
Outdoor Geomorphs Set One: Walled City
Monster & Treasure Assortment Set One
Monster & Treasure Assortment Set Two
1978:
Hardbacks:
Players Handbook
Accessories:
Monster & Treasure Assortment Set Three
Adventures:
B1 In Search of the Unknown
D1 Descent into the Depths of the Earth
D2 The Shrine of the Kuo-Toa
D3 Vault of the Drow
G1 Steading of the Hill Giant Chief
G2 The Glacial Rift of the Front Giant Jarl
G3 Hall of the Fire Giant King
S1 Tomb of Horrors
1979:
Hardbacks:
Dungeon Masters Guide
Accessories:
Character Record Sheets (golden-rod w/ pink/purple Erol Otus art, later blue Jeff Dee art)
DM Screen (Yellow/Gold Erol Otus cover)
NPC Records Folder
Permanent Character Folders
Official AD&D Coloring Book
Adventures:
B2 Keep on the Borderlands
S2 White Plume Mountain
T1 Village of Hommlet
1980:
Hardbacks:
Deities & Demigods (Reprinted in 1983 as Legends & Lore)
Acessories:
DM's Adventure Log
The Rogue's Gallery
World of Greyhawk campaign folio
Dungeon Geomorphs Set One-Three (re-print)
Monster & Treasure Assortment Set One-Three (re-print)
Adventures:
A1 Slave Pits of the Undercity
C1 The Hidden Shrine of Tomoachan
C2 Ghost Tower of Inverness
Q1 Queen of the Demonweb Pits
S3 Expedition to Barrier Peak
1981:
Hardbacks:
Fiend Folio
Boxed Sets:
Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set (Moldvay ed. Otus cover art)
Dungeons & Dragons Expert Set (Cook w/ Marsh ed. Otus cover art)
Accessories:
Player Character Record Sheets (Roslof cover art)
Adventures:
A2 Secret of the Slavers Stockade
A3 Assault on the Aerie of the Slave Lords
A4 In the Dungeon of the Slave Lords
B3 Palace of the Silver Princess
D1-2 Descent into the Depths of the Earth (re-print)
G1-2-3 Against the Giants (re-print)
I1 Dwellers of the Forbidden City
L1 The Secret of Bone Hill
U1 The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh
X1 The Isle of Dread
1982:
Accessories:
Monster Cards, Sets 1-4
Adventures:
B4 The Lost City
I2 Tomb of the Lizard King
I3 Pharoah
N1 Against the Cult of the Reptile God
S4 Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth
U2 Danger at Dunwater
WG4 The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun
X2 Castle Amber (Chateau d’ Amberville)
X3 Curse of Xanathon
1983:
Hardbacks:
Monster Manual II
Boxed Sets:
Dungeons & Dragons Set 1: Basic Rules (Mentzer ed. Elmore cover art)
Dungeons & Dragons Set 2: Expert Rules (Mentzer ed. Elmore cover art)
World of Greyhawk
Accessories:
AC1 The Shady Dragon Inn
Adventures:
B5 Horror on the Hill
EX1 Dungeonland
EX2 The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror
I4 Oasis of the White Palm
I5 Lost Tomb of Martek
I6 Ravenloft
L2 The Assassin’s Knot
M1 Blizzard Pass
M2 Maze of the Riddling Minotaur
O1 The Gem and the Staff
U3 The Final Enemy
UK1 Beyond the Crystal Cave
UK2 The Sentinel
X4 Master of the Desert Nomads
X5 Temple of Death
1984:
Boxed Sets:
Dungeons & Dragons Set 3: Companion Rules
Accessories:
AC2 Combat Shield & Mini-adventure
AC3 3-D Dragon Tiles featuring The Kidnapping of Princess Arlena
AC4 The Book of Marvelous Magic
AC5 Player Character Record Sheets (same format, different cover art as 1981 sheets)
Adventures:
B6 The Veiled Society
B7 Rahasia
B8 Journey to the Rock
BSOLO Ghost of Lion Castle
C3 The Lost Island of Castanamir
C4 To Find a King
CB1 Conan Unchained!
CB2 Conan Against Darkness!
CM1 Test of the Warlords
CM2 Death’s Ride
CM3 Sabre River
DL1 Dragons of Despair
DL2 Dragons of Flame
DL3 Dragons of Hope
DL4 Dragons of Desolation
DL5 Dragons of Mystery
MV1 Midnight on Dagger Alley
N2 The Forest Oracle
O2 Blade of Vengeance
UK3 The Gauntlet
UK4 When a Star Falls
UK5 Eye of the Serpent
UK6 All that Glitters…
WG5 Mordenkainen’s Fantastic Adventure
X6 Quagmire!
X7 The War Rafts of Kron
X8 Drums on Fire Mountain
XL1 Quest for the Heartstone
XSOLO Lathan’s Gold
1985:
Hardbacks:
Oriental Adventures
Unearthed Arcana
Boxed Sets:
Battlesystem
Dungeons & Dragons Set 4: Master Rules
Accessories:
Lankhmar: City of Adventure
AC6 Player Character Record Sheets
AC7 Master Player Screen featuring The Spindle
AC8 3-D Dragon Tiles featuring The Revenge of Rusak (a/k/a AC3, a/k/a AC5)
REF1 DM Screen
Adventures:
B9 Castle Caldwell and Beyond
C5 The Bane of Llywelyn
CA1 Swords of the Undercity
CM4 Earthshaker!
CM5 Mystery of the Snow Pearls
CM6 Where Chaos Reigns
DL6 Dragons of Ice
DL7 Dragons of Light
DL8 Dragons of War
DL9 Dragons of Deceit
DL10 Dragons of Dreams
DL11 Dragons of Glory
H1 Bloodstone Pass
I7 Baltron’s Beacon
M1 Into the Maelstrom
T1-4 The Temple of Elemental Evil
UK7 Dark Clouds Gather
WG6 Isle of the Ape
X9 The Savage Coast
X10 Red Arrow, Black Shield
XS2 Thunderdelve Mountain,
1986:
Hardbacks:
Dungeoneer’s Survival Guide
Wilderness Survival Guide
Boxed Sets:
Dungeons & Dragons Set 5: Immortal Rules
Accessories:
AC9 Creature Catalogue
REF2 Character Record Sheets
REF3 Book of Lairs
Adventures:
A1-4 Scourge of the Slavelords (re-print)
B10 Night’s Dark Terror
CA2 Swords of Deceit
CM7 The Tree of Life
DA1 Adventures in Blackmoor
DA2 Temple of the Frog
DL12 Dragons of Faith
DL13 Dragons of Truth
DL14 Dragons of Triumph
GDQ1-7 Queen of the Spiders (re-print)
H2 The Mines of Bloodstone
I8 Ravager of Time
I9 Day of Al’Akbar
I10 Ravenloft II: The House on Griffon Hill
IM1 Immortal Storm
M2 Vengeance of Alphaks
M3 Twilight Calling
N3 Destiny of Kings
N4 Treasure Hunt
OA1 Swords of Daimyo
OA2 Night of the Seven Swords
RS1 Red Sonya Unconquered
X11 Saga of the Shadow Lord
1987:
Hardbacks:
Dragonlance Adventures
Manual of the Planes
Boxed Sets:
Forgotten Realms Campaign
Kara Tur, the Eastern Lands
Acessories:
AC10 Bestiary of Dragons and Giants
AC11 The Book of Wondrous Inventions
FR1 Waterdeep and the North
FR2 Moonshae
GAZ1 The Grand Duchy of Karameikos
GAZ2 The Emirates of Ylaruam
GAZ3 The Principalities of Glantri
GAZ4 The Kingdom of Ierendi
REF4 Book of Lairs II
Adventures:
B1-9 In Search of Adventure (re-print)
C6 Official RPGA Tourney Handbook
CM8 The Endless Stair
CM9 Legacy of Blood
DA3 City of the Gods
DA4 Duchy of Ten
DQ1 The Shattered Statue
H3 The Bloodstone Wars
I3-5 Desert of Desolation
I11 Needle
I12 Egg of the Phoenix
I13 Adventure Pack I
IM2 The Wrath of Olympus
IM3 The Best of Intentions
M4 Five Coins for a Kingdom
M5 Talons of Night
N5 Under Illefarn
OA3 Ochimo: The Spirit Warrior
OA4 Blood of the Yakuza
S1-4 Realms of Horror (re-print)
X12 Skarda’s Mirror
X13 Crown of Ancient Glory
1988:
Hardbacks:
Greyhawk Adventures
Boxed Sets:
City System (orange box Waterdeep set)
Accessories:
DM's Design Kit
FR3 Empires of the Sands
FR4 The Magister
FR5 The Savage Frontier
FR6 Dreams of the Red Wizards
GAZ5 The Elves of Alfhiem
GAZ6 The Dwarves of Rockhome
GAZ7 The Northern Reaches
GAZ8 The Five Shires
GAZ9 The Minrothad Guilds
GAZ10 The Orcs of Thar
REF5 Lords of Darkness
Adventures:
DL15 Mists of Krynn
DL16 World of Krynn
FRC1 Ruins of Adventure
H4 Throne of Bloodstone
I14 Swords of the Iron Legion
OA5 Mad Monkey vs. the Dragon Claw
OP1 Tales of the Outer Planes
WG7 Castle Greyhawk
Unless I don't see it, he missed the D&D Set 4: Master Rules.
ReplyDeleteIt's there; it was just hiding due to a formatting error that I just fixed.
ReplyDeleteWow. I know you told me about this on the phone yesterday, but seeing it. Wow.
ReplyDeleteI think it's amazing to see how much product they were releasing in the mid 80s. This doesn't even count TSR's other properties like Marvel Super Heroes, Gamma World, etc.
ReplyDeleteIts interesting to note how the production emphasis switched from stuff like Geomorphs, Monster & Treasure assortments, and site-based adventures over to stuff like story-based module series and campaign-setting splats 10 years later.
ReplyDeleteGuess which ones I still use today, and which ones sit, dusty and neglected, in a boxes at the back of my games closet? :)
Interesting to see the change of emphasis in the module production, from Greyhawk to Dragonlance around in 1984.
ReplyDeleteIf that list was continued through to the 1990's, one would probably see a change in module production emphasis from Dragonlance/Greyhawk to Forgotten Realms starting around 1990.
People organize their thoughts all sorts of ways - visually, alphabetically, etc. I remember the scene from High Fidelity, when the main character decides he's going to re-organize his record collection biographically. Me? I think chronologically for some reason.
ReplyDeleteNot just D&D products, but books, records... when I'm doing research in my law practice, I always read the sources chronologically. I get annoyed when anthologies (literary, musical, or otherwise) are organized in some order other than chronologically - one of the reasons I love the newer Elric and Conan compilations.
So that's why I did it that way. That said, it really helps to see the trends in the type of products TSR was putting out for D&D over the years.
And Flighty Games, the '84-'87 peak of production during the 1e years was NOTHING compared to what TSR was pumping out for 2e around '93-'95. A mere drop in the bucket.
Also, I probably should have listed the Monster Cards from 1982 individually. Otherwise, it makes it look like there were fewer products produced in 1982 than there really was.
ReplyDeleteAnother also, like I said in the linked thread, I don't list limited-run products like RPGA modules. Most of those were reproduced in standard run products anyway. (RPGA1 & RPGA2 were combined into B7, etc.)
Word verification: slysmat - the bad guys in Dr. Who... or was it Land of the Lost?
FYI One time I attempted to chronologically list every non-periodical item published for RPGs in the 70's. It's a text file in the Encounter Critical yahoo group files section.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I've always wondered is why the Monster Manual came out before the Player's Handbook, but at roughly the same time as the Holmes edition. Seemed odd to me, since the MM wasn't all that compatible with Holmes (as I recall).
ReplyDeleteFascinating list.
Wait...wasn't the DM screen listed in 1979 with David Trampier art and the Erol Otis one later?
ReplyDeleteI don't think today's players would have the patience to wait a year between the three core books. :)
ReplyDeleteThat's a lot of product!
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to see how the products, say 1984 and prior, were more sandbox and setting. In 1984/1985, you have the story-based adventures (DL, CB et al) and "pre-defined worlds" (GAZ) being introduced. Plus, you start seeing the hardbacks (of questionable value) being printed, like OE, DSG and WSG.
Wasn't EGG ousted in 1985/6?
Someone around here knows why the MM was published first, there was a reason why that was done, was it because it was the easiest to do?
Balrog - the DMG screen from 1979 had both Otus and Trampier art. The Otus art was what you saw in the packaging, while the Trampier art was what you saw when you unfolded it and used it.
ReplyDeletePaladin - yes, the MM came out first because it was easiest to compile and was compatible with what was already out. Actually, if you look at some humanoid ACs, alignments, and some of the psionics mentioned, the MM is actually more compatible with OD&D than AD&D.
I started playing n 1978...imagine buying G1-3 and D1-3 off the shelf and reading them cold....wow! That was a great summer! We ran B1 because it was all we had...then immediately went through S1 (of course) since we didnt' have anything else to run (no one in our group had written any of our own adventures. Bit of a culture shock. Seems quite logical then that most of my hombrews that year ended up looking like an ungodly amalgamation of B1, S1 and G1 (Using the Dungeon geomorphs for the dungeon, of course).
ReplyDeleteAt the time I recall finding WSG and DSG very useful and good additions to the game. I haven't read them in 20+ years, however, so my tastes may well have changed since then.
ReplyDeleteI really find the periods where they were releasing one hardcover a year, along with a boxed set or two, interesting.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure a company could survive on that type of production schedule.
But as someone who thinks about the business of games, its fascinating.
Very Interesting. A few observations:
ReplyDelete1. As already pointed out, the early years are very utilitarian, sandbox-focused products - stuff that can get dropped in any campaign (Geomorphs, Monster & Treasure Assortments)
2. The amazing set of adventures in 1978. B1, D1, D2, D3, G1, G2, G3, S1 - wow!
3. After 1980, the strong showing of the other D&D line - B, X, CM and M adventures and GAZ's - every year.
4. I never realized that UK3-6 came out the same year that Dragonlance began.
5. 1983 looks like a pivotal year - the release of the Mentzer boxed sets, such diverse adventures as Dungeonland and The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror vs Ravenloft, the beginning of the UK series and the continuation of the Desert of Desolation series.
Was there any rational reason to split the line into B/X D&D and AD&D? It makes little sense from a marketing point of view. TSR just cannibalized it's own market and caused confusion with it's customers base.
ReplyDeleteI've always suspected it was an ill thought out compromise reached to appease the competing personalities at TSR.
Re: MM first. This makes sense because the monster presentation in OD&D was about the most crippling thing to deal with (basic stats in 3LB, variable damage in Greyhawk... the split-apart presentation continued in Blackmoor, etc.). When I turn to OD&D, the one thing I sort of cry out for is a unified monster listing including attacks & damage in one place.
ReplyDeleteRe: 1978. Definitely the annus mirabilis of D&D adventures publishing, but I suspect that was a backlog of well-worn tournament adventures that it finally dawned on someone could be printed & sold. Compare to any band's first album (years in the making) vs. later albums.
"At the time I recall finding WSG and DSG very useful and good additions to the game. I haven't read them in 20+ years, however, so my tastes may well have changed since then."
ReplyDeleteYes, i'm pretty sure I found them valuable at the time as well. Now, not so much.
Word verification - cromyter: medieval occupation, he finishes the leftovers, once the feast ends.
John: The Basic D&D box was originally intended as a starter set to introduce folks to AD&D.
ReplyDeleteBut it sold so well, they continued the line.
So rather than a source of confusion, it was a source of a lot of sales for TSR.
It's very interesting comparing this timeline to my own remembered timeline, and discovering some discrepancies. Like I can remember playing with a home made book of UA material photocopied out of Dragon magazines as late as 87 or 88, but apparently UA came out 3 years earlier. I suspect I was just broke. And I never even knew there was a MMII for 1e.
ReplyDeleteRafial- a lot of the material in Unearthed Arcana appeared in Dragon magazine first.
ReplyDeleteSo you might have very well been using the Dragon articles, even after the book came out.
@Al, to be fair, monster/treasure assortments typically require less effort to implement versus a setting or campaign material, yes?
ReplyDelete@RPGObject_chuck yes exactly, I photocopied the articles out of Dragon as they came out, and compiled them into a book, and never actually bought UA. But if you had asked me to guess when UA came out before I saw this list, I would have guessed much later than it actually did.
ReplyDeleteActually, looking over the list now I realize how little stuff I actually bought. I got all my supplemental material, including plenty of modules to run. The last D&D hardback I bought was Fiend Folio, and I think I may have owned all of three separately published modules (B1, which came in my Holmes, S3 because I loved SF, and it was a great taste I totally wanted to get all over my D&D, and X1 because hey, dinosaurs!)
That Dragon subscription was my lifeline back in the day.
"I got all my supplemental material, including plenty of modules to run"
ReplyDeleteshould have read
"I got all my supplemental material, including plenty of modules to run, from the pages of Dragon."
RPG Objects Chuck said: "I really find the periods where they were releasing one hardcover a year, along with a boxed set or two, interesting.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure a company could survive on that type of production schedule.
But as someone who thinks about the business of games, its fascinating."
You have to remember, this isn't the TSR of the 90's. They were putting out much, much more than D&D during this time period... war games (Tractics, Dawn Patrol, etc.), board games (Divine Right, Dungeon!, etc.), RPGs (Empire of the Petal Throne, Metamorphosis Alpha, Star Frontiers, etc.).
D&D probably didn't become a majority of the product they were producing until the mid-80's, and the other games remained a major portion of their product until the early 90's.
Now I can pinpoint the moment I stopped buying product - 1980 - after Barrier Peaks. By then I had moved on toward Traveller and Dragonquest had just been published...
ReplyDeleteOutdoor Geomorphs?! First I've ever heard of them!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteChris: "You have to remember, this isn't the TSR of the 90's. They were putting out much, much more than D&D during this time period... war games (Tractics, Dawn Patrol, etc.), board games (Divine Right, Dungeon!, etc.), RPGs (Empire of the Petal Throne, Metamorphosis Alpha, Star Frontiers, etc.)."
ReplyDeleteNo I was aware of that, not the least of which because I was a huge fan of many of those games.
My assumption was that D&D always paid the bills.
My basic economic common sense tells me if any of those other game lines had contributed significantly to the bottom line, they would have never been discontinued.
"John: The Basic D&D box was originally intended as a starter set to introduce folks to AD&D.
ReplyDeleteBut it sold so well, they continued the line."
Let me rephrase my question. Why, instead of continuing to use the basic set as a vehicle to sell people AD&D (as the Holmes set explicitly stated) did TSR create the parallel D&D line of product?
I know it cost sales and caused confusion because I was retailer in the 80s. D&D modules generally did not sell well whereas new D&D releases did.
should be "new AD&D releases".
ReplyDeleteI'm having a lot of trouble with my posts today...
John: Because those boxed sets sold like gangbusters. Theoretical confusion is going to lose to actual cash in hand every time.
ReplyDeleteThose boxed sets could be sold in places like Toys R Us and other toy stores, where it was often placed with the boardgames.
It was such a huge cash cow they were compelled to continue the line.
On the topic of "drawing a line", I have to say I really don't have one.
ReplyDeleteI was buying less AD&D by 1988, mostly because I had zero interest in Forgotten Realms, but I bought every one of those Known World Gazetteers and consider them brilliant to this day.
The closest I ever came to "drawing a line" with 1e was in 1988 though. Castle Greyhawk seriously pissed me off and almost made me swear off TSR altogether.
@John Fletcher: "Let me rephrase my question. Why, instead of continuing to use the basic set as a vehicle to sell people AD&D (as the Holmes set explicitly stated) did TSR create the parallel D&D line of product?"
ReplyDeleteMy understanding is that it was a tactic to avoid paying Dave Arneson royalties. They could assert that the two lines were separate products and therefore only award Arneson with money from the "lesser", non-AD&D line.
See here for more, with references (2nd paragraph): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Arneson#After_TSR
According to the copyright dates and Lawrence Schick's Heroic Worlds: A History and Guide to Role Playing Games, the Moldvay Basic and Cook/Marsh Expert Sets came out in 1980 rather than 1981. Does the author of the list have other information to say it actually came out in 1981?
ReplyDeleteAs for why the D&D and AD&D lines were split, I had read in several sources over the years that the split came about as a result of the Gygax/Arneson dispute over D&D royalties. When Gygax wrote AD&D, Arneson's name was not credited for authorship for the book meaning he wasn't entitled to any money from the publishing of the line. Arneson sued TSR and the continuance of the D&D line was the result whether as part of the settlement or just a way to placate Arneson. Of course, there's a certain amount of speculation to this as the actual settlement between Arneson and TSR was sealed and the parties ordered/agreed not to disclose it. If anyone has any more or less information about this I'd love to hear about it. Sounds like a good investigation, James, to set the record straight.
According to the copyright dates and Lawrence Schick's Heroic Worlds: A History and Guide to Role Playing Games, the Moldvay Basic and Cook/Marsh Expert Sets came out in 1980 rather than 1981. Does the author of the list have other information to say it actually came out in 1981?
ReplyDeleteThis is one of those cases where the stated copyright date is in contradiction to other statements in the very same book. My copy of Moldvay Basic includes the note "First Printing -- January 1981," even though there is other evidence that TSR copyrighted it in 1980.
As for the Arneson suits, the settlement terms of those still remain sealed to this day. Whether it'd be possible to open them now that many of the principals are deceased, I don't know. That'd require more legwork than I'm capable of doing at the moment, alas.
Actually, based on a document Joe The Lawyer posted a while back, Arneson did get royalty rights to things like Monster Manual II--he apparently was supposed to get a 2.5% royalty on any D&D product, and the courts ruled AD&D counted as well as D&D, including books that were not written by Arneson. (The court case ruled in favor of Dave Arneson).
ReplyDeleteCheck this link out--you need to have an EnWorld account to read the attachment though:
http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/257927-goodman-rebuttal-3.html#post4835192
(I can't say I totally agree with the judgment either--I can see why Gary and Dave had disagreements about the royalties. I think Dave wanted what was fair, but I think Gary felt it wasn't fair for Arneson to get rights to every single derivative product, especially ones Arneson didn't have any input into).
So I don't believe "Basic D&D" kept being produced solely to appease royalties. It is interesting to see the 3 successive releases over such a short time period. I guess they really wanted to get the "right version" created. The Metzer version was the most "Stable", lasting until that big boxed set in 1992 or so...
Thanks for the replies. I have long suspected B/X D&D existed for internal political reasons. Continuing to suggest "good" sales as a reason for the line doesn't wash in my experience. Except for the Basic Set which was a gateway to AD&D, the other regular D&D products were not great sellers. Customers would notice there were not AD&D and put them back on the shelf. If they'd had been branded AD&D they would have sold.
ReplyDeleteLast time I checked, the local distributor still had D&D (and Conan) modules from the 80s & 90s!
"Last time I checked, the local distributor still had D&D (and Conan) modules from the 80s & 90s!"
ReplyDeleteOoh, too bad he probably doesn't sell online. I'd buy some of those D&D modules.
Delta: "When I turn to OD&D, the one thing I sort of cry out for is a unified monster listing including attacks & damage in one place."
ReplyDeleteJudges Guild's Ready Ref Sheets offer such a listing. It'd be interesting to do a comparison with the AD&D MM to see what changed.
An interesting trends also worth looking at is the length of the modules as they change over time, reflecting, I think, a shift in emphasis from site-based adventures (even when tied together in a loose series) toward story-based scenarios with detailed backgrounds:
ReplyDeleteI list modules by page count then within a single count, alphabetically (and ignore the tourney versions):
1978
- G1: 8 pages
- G2: 8 pages
- S1: 12 pages (20 more in illustration booklet; 1981 green version same page counts)
- D1: 16 pages
- G3: 16 pages
- D2: 20 pages
- D3: 32 pages
1979
- S2: 12 pages
- T1: 24 pages (16 pages of module, 8 pages of maps; 1981 light green = same)
- B1: 32 pages
1980
- C2 red: 20 pages
- A1: 24 pages
- B2: 28 pages
- X1 blue: 30 pages
- C1: 32 pages with 8 page illos booklet
- Q1: 32 pages
- S3: 32 pages with 36 page illos booklet
1981
- S1 green: 12 pages (20 more for illustration booklet)
- S2 orange: 16 pages
- T1 light green: 24 pages
- A3: 28 pages
- A4: 28 pages
- D1-2 blue: 28 pages
- D3 blue: 28 pages
- I1: 28 pages
- L1: 28 pages
- X2: 28 pages
- B1 brown: 32 pages
- B3 orange and green: 32 pages
- G1-3 green: 32 pages
- U1: 32 pages
- A2: 40 pages
1982
- B4: 28 pages
- N1: 28 pages
- C1 brown: 32 pages, 8 page illos booklet
- I2: 32 pages
- I3: 32 pages
- U2: 32 pages
- S4: 32 pages (2 booklets, each 32 pages; adventure is only in booklet 1 though)
- WG4: 32 pages
- X3: 32 pages
1983
- O1: 16 pages (2 booklets, each 16 pages)
- B5: 32 pages
- EX1: 32 pages
- EX2: 32 pages
- I4: 32 pages
- I5: 32 pages
- I6: 32 pages
- L2: 32 pages
- M1: 32 pages
- M2: 32 pages
- UK1: 32 pages
- UK2: 32 pages
- X1 red: 32 pages
- X4: 32 pages
- X5: 32 pages
- U3: 48 pages
These then average out to:
1978: 16 pages
1979: 16.8 pages
1980: 26.86 pages
1981: 27.73 pages
1982: 31.11 pages
1983: 32 pages
Allan.
B1 is from 1978.
DeleteThe link at top is incorrect. Maybe K&K upgraded the forum software. The current working link has "phpbb3" in place of "phpbb."
ReplyDeletehttps://knights-n-knaves.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?p=73363#73363