Topic: The Little Brown Books Club (Read 1,504 times)
ghostofmarx Guest
The Little Brown Books Club « Thread Started on Oct 23, 2011, 8:00am »
This is the thread that a few of us have been discussing as a start for some LBB study.
I recommend we start with an introduction. Hi my name's Tony. I've been playing D&D since my early teens in the early 90's. I started with 2ed. Got tired of it all near the end of 3rd, pissed at 4th and went as far back as I knew to BECMI. I then found B/X, Holmes and eventually the Little Brown Books. So I'm not an expert. I wasn't even born until 1979 pretty darn close to what some consider the end of the "Golden Age" of D&D. BUT, I am an amateur in the true sense of the word; one who loves.
This is my intent: This will be a "cover to cover" read of the 3 original books. The pace will be 15-20 pages a week. We'll make an "assignment" one week later we start posting about the assigned text. This gives people time to read and think about what they've read.
Sources: Primary sources will be Men & Magic, Monsters & Treasure, and The Underworld & Wilderness Adventures. Secondary sources will be The Strategic Review and The Dragon since I'm not an expert I'm not yet sure where the cut off is when TSR stopped supporting the LBBs in Dragon and switch over to AD&D, but I'll know when this is done! Also Chainmail and Avalon Hill's Outdoor Survival.
Goals Provide a live ongoing entry point for group OD&D study. There have been others but there's not a current group. This would be that group Participants will develop a better understand of original Dungeon & Dragons Those new to OD&D will be prepared to play or DM a game of their own Participants will have an appreciation for how the rules have been interpreted and be prepared to make their own informed judgements for their games. Participants will hopefully make connections in the community here at ODD74. Those who are new will be better prepared to participate with the community discussions and become contributing members not just lurkers. (this finger is pointing back to me)
That having been said I would appreciate a volunteer to serve as a back up for me if for instance I catch the flu. This person would mainly be reading a little ahead and be prepared to comment on the reading in the event I can't.
I'm really looking forward to this! The first reading will be Men & Magic through page 15. I'll post next Sunday about those pages and will be looking forward to your comments.
IF my plan sounds asinine let me know and we'll see if we can work it out.
Re: The Little Brown Books Club « Reply #1 on Oct 23, 2011, 11:23am »
I'm not sure about the exact cut-off, but, generally, things were mostly AD&D from somewhere around issue #21 on. That was, as best I can recall, the issue with the compressed DMG info, to allow someone to run a game with the PHB. So, somewhere around the fall of 1978.
I must protest bitterly that my aircraft still has not been painted red.
Joined: Mar 2009 Gender: Male Posts: 1,596 Location: Schenectady Karma: 73
Re: The Little Brown Books Club « Reply #2 on Oct 23, 2011, 11:59am »
Hmm, Tony, sounds interesting.
I think you should plan to continue with the study already started at the bottom of the forum - listing a section of the 3LBB's in a thread and soliciting comments from the readers.
Also, in many cases, rather than repeating most of the posts on the forum readers should just provide links to relevant comments where approprate.
We thought we were crazy, but we had a great time. - Dave Arneson
ghostofmarx Guest
Re: The Little Brown Books Club « Reply #3 on Oct 23, 2011, 3:36pm »
aldarron, if by continue you mean use the existing thread I can do that. But if you mean pick up where they left off no. I don't have any interest in picking up where the other group left off. That was their conversation I'm looking for a different one.
This is the thread that a few of us have been discussing as a start for some LBB study.
I recommend we start with an introduction. Hi my name's Tony. I've been playing D&D since my early teens in the early 90's. I started with 2ed. Got tired of it all near the end of 3rd, pissed at 4th and went as far back as I knew to BECMI. I then found B/X, Holmes and eventually the Little Brown Books. So I'm not an expert. I wasn't even born until 1979 pretty darn close to what some consider the end of the "Golden Age" of D&D. BUT, I am an amateur in the true sense of the word; one who loves.
This is my intent: This will be a "cover to cover" read of the 3 original books. The pace will be 15-20 pages a week. We'll make an "assignment" one week later we start posting about the assigned text. This gives people time to read and think about what they've read.
Sources: Primary sources will be Men & Magic, Monsters & Treasure, and The Underworld & Wilderness Adventures. Secondary sources will be The Strategic Review and The Dragon since I'm not an expert I'm not yet sure where the cut off is when TSR stopped supporting the LBBs in Dragon and switch over to AD&D, but I'll know when this is done! Also Chainmail and Avalon Hill's Outdoor Survival.
Goals Provide a live ongoing entry point for group OD&D study. There have been others but there's not a current group. This would be that group Participants will develop a better understand of original Dungeon & Dragons Those new to OD&D will be prepared to play or DM a game of their own Participants will have an appreciation for how the rules have been interpreted and be prepared to make their own informed judgements for their games. Participants will hopefully make connections in the community here at ODD74. Those who are new will be better prepared to participate with the community discussions and become contributing members not just lurkers. (this finger is pointing back to me)
That having been said I would appreciate a volunteer to serve as a back up for me if for instance I catch the flu. This person would mainly be reading a little ahead and be prepared to comment on the reading in the event I can't.
I'm really looking forward to this! The first reading will be Men & Magic through page 15. I'll post next Sunday about those pages and will be looking forward to your comments.
IF my plan sounds asinine let me know and we'll see if we can work it out.
-Tony
I like most of this, but 15-20 pp. per thread might be a little much. Instead, why not discuss the books topically, or section-by-section. This might allow discussions to remain tightly focused and prevent gross digression. I imagine it might also facilitate ease of reference for those who want to peruse this discussion group in the future.
Re: The Little Brown Books Club « Reply #5 on Oct 23, 2011, 5:51pm »
kris, dividing the text into smaller segments makes this a longer commitment than I'm willing to make right now. Going at my suggested rate puts us finishing in around 2 months. In addition to that I don't have enough familiarity with them to define topics adequately nor do I feel the sections are clear and contained. While I agree a different organization scheme would be better just bluntly put I need to go through the books like this before I could get to a point to do it differently. If there's someone else who could do it I'll gladly step down but I think the reason I'm here is no one else wants to.
kris, dividing the text into smaller segments makes this a longer commitment than I'm willing to make right now. Going at my suggested rate puts us finishing in around 2 months. In addition to that I don't have enough familiarity with them to define topics adequately nor do I feel the sections are clear and contained. While I agree a different organization scheme would be better just bluntly put I need to go through the books like this before I could get to a point to do it differently. If there's someone else who could do it I'll gladly step down but I think the reason I'm here is no one else wants to.
Well, I can't speak as to timeframes, but as far as reading and commenting section-by-section, I think this would only increase our collective understanding, since, although much has been made of the disorganization of the texts, setting page limits might end up creating arbitrary breaks, or larger grouping of multiple, smaller topics for discussion. In just the first 15 pages of Vol. 1, there is much to discuss, that, if not reduced to smaller parcel, might make for a chaotic discussion of various points about disparate items.
Also, let me just say, Tony, that I admire and appreciate your initiative in getting this going. I'm glad someone stepped up. I'll volunteer to be your back-up, if you need me.
« Last Edit: Oct 23, 2011, 6:33pm by Kris Kobold »
Joined: Jul 2010 Gender: Male Posts: 51 Location: Detroit, MI Karma: 2
Re: The Little Brown Books Club « Reply #7 on Oct 23, 2011, 7:05pm »
My name's Paul. I started playing around 1984 with my dad's copy of Holmes, and quickly moved to AD&D. The LBB's and Moldvay were around the house too, but the art put me off OD&D, and being a very young kid I avoided Basic because it was "only for little kids."
I picked-up 4th edition a couple of years ago. My dissatisfaction with it lead me to the OSR, where I've been spending most of my time with the systems I *didn't* play back in the day---OD&D and Moldvay/Cook.
I favor a beginning to end reading for this project, but we should recognize that the density of information varies greatly. 5-10 pages per week might be more realistic for the first two dozen pages of volume I, for example, while we can probably get through 10-20 pages per week of spell or monster descriptions.
It's been a few months since I closely scrutinized the LBB's. I have long planned to produce my own personal annotated edition. Seeing this forum section revived inspired me to get started, and I've been a moving at a rate of about half a page at day. Of course, that includes both typesetting and adding commentary.
I have long planned to produce my own personal annotated edition. Seeing this forum section revived inspired me to get started, and I've been a moving at a rate of about half a page at day. Of course, that includes both typesetting and adding commentary.
You're not alone in this, I suspect. I have begun my own annotation project, hoping to create a sort of glossa ordinaria for OD&D. I think many people on these boards, in addition to the enjoyment to be had from play, find some enjoyment in discovering the history of the hobby and in working acts of scholarship and historical inquiry upon it.
Finarvyn Administrator Dungeon Master member is offline
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Re: The Little Brown Books Club « Reply #9 on Oct 24, 2011, 4:07pm »
I'm Marv and I started in 1975 with OD&D. My group played old Avalon Hill and SPI wargames as well as dabbled in Chainmail miniatures battles (mostly with Roman legions) and my friend got a copy of OD&D for Christmas. We thought it was so neat that we started "playing" before we had even finished reading the rules. Tolkien was a major influence in our early games.
I'm not sure what size of text chunk for this discussion is "best" since each LBB rulebook is only about 36 pages or so long. It's possible that it would be "best" to divide it up by topic -- character generation one week, spells another week, combat another week, and so on.
Marv / Finarvyn DCC playtester (2011) C&C playtester (2003) I'm partly responsible for the S&W WhiteBox Builder of the TrollBridge Master of Mutants; MA since 1976 OD&D Player since 1975
"Don't ask me what you need to hit. Just roll the die and I will let you know!" - Dave Arneson
ghostofmarx Guest
Re: The Little Brown Books Club « Reply #10 on Oct 24, 2011, 6:31pm »
What about the first 6 pages: Forward, Introduction, Scope, Age and Recommended Equipment leaving Preparation for next time?
If I were to give this a subject it would be Thinking About Starting.
Would this be more suitable?
Oh by the way hi Paul and Marv. Welcome!
« Last Edit: Oct 24, 2011, 6:46pm by ghostofmarx »
aldarron, if by continue you mean use the existing thread I can do that. But if you mean pick up where they left off no. I don't have any interest in picking up where the other group left off. That was their conversation I'm looking for a different one.
Yeah I meant use the existing threads, and then start new threads in the same format when you move past those first couple openers.
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