Holmes Basic Testimonials

[Zenopus]

Today marks the birthday of J. Eric Holmes (1930-2010). As a tribute I was hoping everyone could tell us why they like the Holmes Basic Set. To facilitate this I've added a new section titled "Holmes Basic Testimonials" to the Zenopus Archives website, which will link to threads (in various forums) where you can post about the Bluebook.

Tell us how you started with Holmes Basic, or remember it fondly for other reasons, or came to appreciate it later, or are using it now, or just plain like reading through it.

Why do I like the Holmes Basic set? Well, it was my first D&D set, and left an indelible impression on my psyche. But I also like it because because it's a concise edit of the original D&D invention by an enthusiastic volunteer who was both a player of the game and long-time fan of fantasy literature. It's not necessarily perfect but has a strong vibe of "this game is awesome so I want to share it with as many folks as possible, so here's an introductory version".

I could go on and on, but I'd like to hear from everyone else.

[3d6]

Like many, many others, Holmes starting it for me. 1978.

Mine came with B1. My first ill-fated Fighting Man fell in the twisty SW corner of the Caverns of Quasqueton (Level 1, Location XX), the unfortunate victim of Giant Centipedes. I thought, “That never happened to John Carter,” but it was fun.

The writing style -- both The Blue Book and Mike Carr’s in B1 -- grabbed me.

I like the Holmes Wandering Monster Table. I now use a table built off it, where you role a d12 and a d6, if the d6 comes up 1-2 then it’s the Holmes table.

But, among many things I like about Holmes, I think the greatest is the famous Sample Cross Section of Levels and the Sample Dungeon.

It occurs to me that I -- and many of us -- must right now be just about the age Dr. Holmes was when he was working on “his D&D.” Happy B-Day, Dr. Holmes!

[gonster]

I started playing AH and SPI wargames. Would read about D&D and their 'ilk' in Strategy & Tactics Magazine. Couldn't understand what they meant by roleplaying (I thought we were roleplaying when we got into the wargames we played.)

Then I read Holmes -- it clicked for me. The Holmes edition of D&D is why I roleplay today.

[thorswulf]

I started with Holmes in 1979. It all started when I was taking multimedia/animation classes through a TAG (Talented & Gifted) program. There was this older kid who was building an armature and making a draggon, which was cool enough by itself to a 9 year old! But he had these funky books with cool pictures of monsters (AD&D MM). I asked him where I could find these cool books and he told me about a local game store in Coos Bay where I lived. Well one thin led to another and I ended up getting the Holmes box set for Christmas from my mom!

I think it was the illustrations of the dwarves, minotaur, wizard casting a web, the hoard of orcs and lizardman riding the giant lizard that sold me. I didn't have dice and cut out my chits eagerly! I remember the first dice I ever purchased and the first minis I got too. It's funny the way D&D weaves itself in and out of our lives.

Now I'm 41 and I have a 5 year old daughter who loves daddy's miniatures and has her own dice. She can count to 20 easy and is learning to read and write. I hope she want's to play D&D with her dad as much as I do! We went to free PRG day at our local comic book store and she got free dice while I got the free dice tower. I think she's well on her way!

[llenlleawg]

I remember the Holmes edition fondly. It was 1977, and my brother had learned to play with friends at school, got the game, and then introduced it to me and my other brother. The game had a powerful synergy for me that year with Star Wars and the animated version of The Hobbit (which, I recall, aired on Thanksgiving weekend; to this day I associate that version with pumpkin pie topped with Cool Whip!). I also recall how the art evoked the game for me, notably the cover of course, the illustration for the Web spell, the purple worm fighting the iconic characters, the skeletons emerging from their tombs, and the cross-section dungeon with the fabled domed city.

I was much too young to be in touch at all with what is often presented as the inspirational literature of D&D (e.g. Conan, Fafrd and the Grey Mouser, et al.), but the images of fighters as knights in armor, of magic users as Medieval wizards with pointed hats and robes adorned with astrological symbols, and clerics with crosses, added to my experience of The Hobbit (and thus of the classic races and the idea of going on an expedition for treasure and encountering monsters along the way: trolls, goblins, giant spiders, and a dragon) made the game very easy to step into. When I got a copy for myself, unlike my brother's (which has the Monster/Treasure assortment and the Dungeon Geomorphs) it had B1, whose artwork only solidified my association of DC Sutherland III with the "world of D&D". So, even while my brother delved into classic Swords & Sorcery fantasy, and I into Lloyd Alexander and C.S. Lewis, I never felt that I wasn't playing in the right kind of fantasy world.

I think what also made Holmes so helpful was that, however much Gary wanted it to direct us all to AD&D, it provided everything we needed to pick up the OD&D supplements and issues of the Dragon and use them, along the the Monster Manual. We just knew we had learned to play D&D, not an "edition" of the game, and when we met, heard, or read about other people's games, we knew it was just like ours. (Well, more or less, and what was different was an inspiration more than anything else.)

So, Holmes for me will always look like what D&D looks like, even if the specific rules, monsters, spells, etc. it contains were quickly supplemented by other sources.

[Cameron DuBeers]

I was already playing D&D when Holmes was published, but I bought a copy anyway. I liked the sample dungeon much more than the one in the OD&D boxed set and it, as well as a the implied town setting, became a part of my ongoing campaign.

[starcraft]

Oh man... ;D

I got the set in 1980 from my uncle (along with tons of minis!). He was going away to college and figured he wouldn't be back for them.

I grew up in small town with no movie theater, no arcade, no roller skating park - no nothing pretty much. We got exactly 2 channels on our TV. I read comic books and played football with my friends - that was pretty much it.

Holmes looked cool from the start - I loved the plate armored knight with the longbow and the dragon and his huge hoard! I read the whole book, got excited and immediately failed to interest any of my friends in it. I didn't give up though, so I went back to my grandmother's house and raided my uncle's old room. He had the D&D electronic board game (with all the pieces!), the DUNGEON! board game and a few oddball RPGs like Archworld and the Swords and Spells mini rules. I devoured all of this too, built mini armies and tried to get my friends into Archworld and S&S too - but they refused again.

I got them to play the board games finally and they got interested. As soon as I could, I dragged them into Holmes. It started a gaming group that lasted 9 years until I moved. It also got us all reading fantasy (actually reading period - when I was a kid, I read comic books and nothing else) Holmes turned me on to R E Howard and Moorcock, Lieber, Feist and a ton of other stuff.

I met people in high school who had AD&D (no book or hobby stores in the little town I grew up in - just comics at the grocery store) and learned that. I played 1e and 2e for years, dropped out at 3e and didn't play for 10 years after that.

Then, I was digging through the attic with my kids last year and found a VERY abused copy of Holmes and they started asking question about it. Lucky for me, my old dice bag was in the box and two hours later, 2 very happy little fighting men had slapped around a handful of goblins, rescued a baby unicorn and were headed back to town with a little bag of silver to buy some supplies...

[thorswulf]

Starcraft I grew up in Coos Bay, Oregon which isn't quite as isolated as you were. How fortunate you had such a cool uncle!

[Falconer]

The Holmes set has the sturdiest box of any D&D box (especially the earlier, Lizard logo versions, though I could be imagining that).

The Holmes rulebook has the best balance of succinctness and playability of any D&D rulebook.

The various accessories that came with it in the box are some of the best D&D accessories ever made — Monsters & Treasure Assortment, Dungeon Geomorphs, B1 In Search of the Unknown, B2 The Keep on the Borderlands, and, of course, the original polyhedral dice (let’s just forget about the chits)!

It’s the official introductory set for the greatest RPG of all time — Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, 1st Edition.

[austrodavicus]

Holmes was my introduction to roleplaying games. I can't recall if I'd heard of D&D beforehand, but I do remember the sense of excitement, wonder and magic it evoked within me when I found the Holmes rulebook in a game store. When my Mum asked me shortly afterwards what I wanted for my birthday I took her to the shop and she bought it for me.

My copy actually came in a plastic bag with the dice and a copy of the B2 module. Knowing what I know now I can only assume the box had been damaged and the shop threw it out, as I have never heard of anyone else purchasing a bagged copy.

Holmes was the start of a life-long passion for D&D and although I soon moved on to 1e, Holmes has always remained my sentimental favourite. I only have to crack the cover to have that sense of magic and wonder return. And these days I find that my favourite version of D&D is the original one, of which Holmes is an edited version. So 30-odd years later I find myself with a passion for the game that started me on this fantastic journey.

[Vile]

Well, let me just break the mould here. I got into D&D (and role playing) through B/X back in '82. Skipped the whole BECMI and AD&D thing, played a few games of 3.0 which made me look into D&D again 20 years later.

I got into Holmes last week, and so far I'm loving it.

[thorswulf]

Better late than never!

[ffilz]

Hmm, we're coming up on the 35th anniversary of my introduction to RPGs.

My best friend got a copy of the Holmes set for his birthday. He had an all weekend party at his house. Friday night, I watched him run a game for the others, with his older brother coaching a bit. I started reading the rules. I stayed up all night reading and re-reading the rules. In the morning, I declared I was ready to try my hand at running a game.

Everyone rolled up characters and we commenced playing. We kept playing in the back of his mom's station wagon as she drove us to Satuday's activity at Battleship Cove MA. We kept playing on the way home. I'm not sure how many sets of characters were run up to 4th level and retired. We explored the heck out of the dungeon geomorphs and encounter sets that came in the box.

I was hooked.

Frank

[TheLeadershipGeek (SMKSensei)]

Frank, et al,
Wonderful memories! (like the memories of being able to stretch out in the back of a big ol' station wagon.) I didn't get started until the newly released Moldvay red box in 81, but those hours of new excitement in that red box, wow.

Thanks for sharing!

[Zenopus]

Aug 30, 2012 3:01:44 GMT -6 Vile said:

Well, let me just break the mould here. I got into D&D (and role playing) through B/X back in '82. Skipped the whole BECMI and AD&D thing, played a few games of 3.0 which made me look into D&D again 20 years later.

I got into Holmes last week, and so far I'm loving it.

Welcome aboard, Vile!

[Vile]

Sept 1, 2012 23:40:05 GMT -6 Zenopus said:

Welcome aboard, Vile!

Thanks - glad to be here! ;D

Actually, I've been lurking here for a while, but in a pre-Holmesian capacity.

[Zenopus]

Yes - I meant: welcome aboard the Holmes ship! We have a small but strong crew.

[machfront]

Aug 31, 2012 5:32:45 GMT -6 TheLeadershipGeek (SMKSensei) said:

Frank, et al,
Wonderful memories! (like the memories of being able to stretch out in the back of a big ol' station wagon.) I didn't get started until the newly released Moldvay red box in 81, but those hours of new excitement in that red box, wow.

Thanks for sharing!

Agreed. Perhaps I'm too sentimental at times, but I dig hearing this kinda stuff too.
Man... '77-'78 and D&D and hangin' at Battleship Cove. What a great weekend for a kid. I can almost hear the 8-track thickly grinding its tape as the tinny car speakers wheeze out "Nobody's Fault But Mine" or something... ;D


I've an odd relationship with Holmes Basic.
Being born in '74, I guess I'm on the older side of the second wave of D&D fans.
I was first exposed to it through the Endless Quest books.
My first true experience was a friend in 7th grade (fall of '86) introduced myself and a group of friends.
He loaned me the rulebook.
It was his older brother's battered (and coverless) copy of Holmes. So, when he handed it to me, the first thing I saw was the 'lizardman on giant lizard' illustration.
I read over that absolutely bizarre and arcane....thing...that night. None of it made any sense to me (though I sorta got how the game may be played from the ads in the back of the Endless Quest books from about two years previous). But it still looked double-plus awesome!
We played everyday at school during lunch for the rest of that school year. I don't even have the din of the lunch room present in those memories, so rapt I was with this wonderful game/experience.
My fighter with a strength of 9 was nothing special, but he persevered, even being level drained down very soon after hitting level 2. (bummer!) lol

The first time I thoroughly read through and fully understood what I was reading was the first D&D item I actually owned (bought for a dollar a piece from another friend): battered copies of B/X. (which I still have and am still friends with the brother of the guy that sold them to me in 8th grade in 1987.
(First rpg I actually owned was MERP, bought the summer after 7th grade while on vacation in Brunswick and Savannah, GA.... my folks thought D&D was the devil's game, but they were okay with The Hobbit, ya know...)

It was a joy to come back to and finally have in my hands a copy of the Holmes set and actually see in real life the actual cover of the book when a friend grabbed a near mint set for me off eBay for my b-day back in '99 or so.
The monster section is a personal fave, being such a choice core of beasties.

Portown!

Also the illustrations.
B/X wasn't my first, but being the first I owned and spend significant time with it's still my "first love". Along with that is my love of the art.
But, there's a different tone to the art in Holmes. There are fewer pieces and they often speak louder. The harpy attack always is among the first to pop into my mind when I hear or read "D&D". I even have a love for the teeny-tiny skeletons-emerging-from-the-sarcophagi. The Tom Wham gnoll drawing was something I strongly disliked as a youngster, but now can appreciate things like that and their ebullient irreverence and simple whimsy.

[ragnorakk]

The Holmes Basic book was the thing I would hide inside my 5th grade textbooks (instead of comic books or dirty magazines), sit in the back of class and pore over, my teacher & most classmates unaware.

[Finarvyn]

Sept 2, 2012 0:05:17 GMT -6 Zenopus said:

Yes - I meant: welcome aboard the Holmes ship! We have a small but strong crew.

You know, if I ever had doubts about whether or not a Holmes section deserves to be on an OD&D board, this thread clearly shows why it should be. ;D Not only is this an enthusiastic group, but the issues discussed fit well with the chatter on the rest of the board!

Sadly, I don't really have much of a "Holmes Testimonial" to offer.

I started out with OD&D and dabbled with AD&D when it came out, totally skipping over the Holmes set at the time. A couple of friends owned the Holmes rules but (as I was mostly the DM for the group) they never ended up running a game so I never had need to look at the rules.

Years later, in an attempt to be "complete" in my OD&D study, I did finally buy a Holmes set on e-bay. It's a well-written interpretation of OD&D that seems to be a great introduction to folks not already versed in wargames and miniatures terminology. I didn't need the Holmes set, but I kind of wish I'd found it back "in the day" to use as a resource.

[jdn2006]

My brother was in the Air Force and came home with a game called Dungeons & Dragons he said he’d heard others playing – a blue book and dice. I don’t remember what else we had - not a whole lot I am sure. We made our characters and started exploring, fighting orcs, killing giant spiders, etc. It started around sunset and before anyone noticed the chickens were crowing.

He left and took that “D&D game “ and we went to a toy store in a mall and bought Moldvay Basic/Cook Expert, B2, X1, miniatures, dice and we played. Then is when I started wishing someone would take bits and pieces of each game because this-and-that was fun. When we found AD&D it was the same thing – a piece of this, piece of that, and what a game it’d make…

We were never gamer nerds or anything like that. It was all new to rather ordinary people.

We had fun pretending to do all sorts of things, exploring those dark dungeons and stuff, using common sense and not rules. We did many things wrong; some didn’t matter but some would have added to the game.

I keep up with games being put out and they all have that “Oh, here’s a new game!” excitement and when it comes down to play it winds up, “Oh, here’s a new way to play with dice and numbers and analyze making characters. Exploring and adventure? That isn’t all that important. Here’s our radically new die rolling game …” They keep telling me I am supposed to roll a “spot check” for things that only a blind idiot would not see... Why does the difference between a secret an something obvious confuse people writing their games?

I understand the need for selling a game in one go and appealing to people who’ve rode the hobby to death and need a quick fix every so often like a junky; but I miss being able to buy bits and pieces of a game aimed more at ordinary people and without a lot of investment. Back then $6 and $8 was a lot of money – but we bought a few books and boxed sets and that was it. Could have used some more decent adventures, but we did not need an endless parade of rule books.

Maybe it was because we were kids and could imagine most things ourself... 48 pages was about all we needed...

[thorswulf]

Sadly, in many ways D&D is a victim of it's own success. There is no doubt in my mind that D&D helped span the rpg videogame sensation, as well as other popular entertainments. But the unfortunate side effect is that people's own creativity has been/ is being supplanted by the creativity of others.

Lets face it: you only participate vicariously in a video game. You may interact with others thousands of miles away, but will you ever get to know them as people? I don't think so. Do you actually create anything for yourself? A setting? Maps? Illustrations? You might fill out a character sheet, by selecting archetypes, but that's about it.

Understand me, I don't blame most people for enjoying this concept of entertainment. It's about as close to being in a Hollywood epic as anybody will ever get. Great stuff for the ego, sure. Most people I talk to about my wargaming hobby have a variation on this comment: "Wow you are so creative. I wish I could do that." My answer,"Anybody can do it. It just takes desire and patience."

I live in the modern world like the rest of you. I simply find more entertainment in doing things for myself, and sharing that with others. I think that is what most folks here on this forum are like to some degree or another. We appreciate the creative genius of others, and shell out our hard earned ducats for things that tickle our brains.

I'll tell you what Holmes means to me. It means a 10 year old kid who saves his allowance to buy single polyhedral dice and miniatures one at a time. Realizing a two dollar graph paper pad is a world waiting to be created. That #2 pencils are your passport to that wonderful new world. A dinner table, some chips and soda, a few friends means a good time for all. Especially for those who have imagination... and use it.

We helped create this wonderful world of imagination the entire world enjoys in some capacity. Every person who rolled a twenty sided and got killed by a kobold or a poisoned chest helped by participating and saying I like this stuff too. The whole thing started on a shoestring, and now global corporatios are creating it. Exciting times we live in, but sometimes the simple things mean so much more.

Feel free to disagree or agree with any of this as you choose. But please remember this. I don't dislike the worl I live in. I just need to slow down a bit and enjoy the simple act of creation, and sharing that creation with others.

[Zenopus]

*bump for 2013*

Please share if you haven't before or want to say it again!

[Vile]

Happy birthday Dr. Holmes and thanks for taking over all my free time, is all I want to say!

[thedroid]

Got it for Christmas in 1979 or 80. I was 10 or 11. Never played an rpg or new anyone who played them. I was just intrigued by the weird back room of the hobby shop, and they must have told me this was where to start. I recall the clerk telling my dad I probably wasn't old enough.

I understood it pretty intuitively soon after opening the box. Had B2 in it and those stupid "chits." I made my parents and brother play with me, and they all died in the first orc cave. They never played again, but I was hooked. Played a ton until I got my drivers' license, and then it kind of fell out of fashion with my fellow players, but it's stuck in my head somehow.

[Zenopus]

Thanks, droid. Welcome to the ODD74 boards!

Those chits sure added to my confusion when I first got the game!

[gonster]

Just remembered a few things about Holmes from 'back in the day.'

1) We realized that the whole '2 attacks for dagger' and 'one attack every other round' was wrong upon reading it.

2) Was DEX as intiative spelled out in Holmes? I thought it was one of the ways to determine intiative. The first attack from a two-handed sword always got first attack and if you were within 3 points of DEX then a die roll settled it.

3) We never made up our own creatures but we added 'stuff' to creatures all the time. I remember a bunch of orcs that had a horn on it's head that they pulled off and threw at us like a missile attack, for example.

4) Third level was as high as a player climbed -- we knew there were AD&D books we could buy but it seemed like some kind of scam to get more money out of us kids.

[blackbarn]

I just have to say Holmes has the best little dungeon map ever. I recently added additional levels and ran a fairly successful campaign around it. The first level (from the rulebook) alone kept players busy a long time with the sundial face and so on, and inspired a lot of NPC interaction and ties to the world above due to the magic-user, bodyguard, and pirate cave. It's a perfect "sample" of all that a D&D dungeon should include.