Note on Clerical Scrolls - Added to What Printing?

[Zenopus]

Later printings of Vol 2, Monsters & Treasures, end page 24 with a note below the Scrolls table that "There is a 25% chance that any scroll of spells found will contain those usable by clerics". This appears to contradict the section on Scrolls on page 32 that "All Scrolls are spells for Magic-Users, and regardless of the level of the spell they can be used by any Magic-User capable of reading them", unless you come up with the somewhat tortuous interpretation that the scrolls with cleric spells are only usable by Magic-Users (because they are the only ones with Read Magic).

But what I never noticed before is that the 1st printing of Vol 2, Monsters & Treasures is missing this note. Page 24 simply ends with the Scroll Table and the page number, and page 25 starts with the asterisked note on Cursed Scrolls (as in the first printing). This explains the discrepancy - originally, all scrolls (except for Protection scrolls) were indicated as being for M-Us, but later the note allowing for Cleric spells was added without adjusting the original text.

The list of printing differences here on Tome of Treasures doesn't note this, which is one reason I've missed the change previously. It may be because that list is mostly focused on the differences between printings 5-7. So I imagine this note was added prior to the 5th printing.

I'm wondering in what printing this note was added. Can everyone with 2nd-6th printings check and see if the note is there?

[delta]

No answer here, but as always, great catch!

[talysman]

I think the intention of the added footnote was for clerics to have scrolls as well (as seen later in AD&D.) But my interpretation (house rule) is that cleric spell scrolls are made by magic-user, usable by magic-users. It's the only way a magic-user can cast a cleric spell. Clerics might be able to use cleric scrolls as well, but that's just a side effect.

The Acaeum mentions that the 2nd and 3rd printings included a correction sheet, which adds the note on scrolls. So, perhaps, the fourth printing may have been the one to actually include the correction.

[Zenopus]

Aha, thanks talysman! I had a feeling I was forgetting something. I've actually seen a version of the Reference Sheets purportedly from the 4th printing (Nov 1975) that includes the Correction Sheet as part of the Reference Sheets. So the corrections may not have been incorporated until the 5th printing (Dec 1975 - Apr 1976).

The Correction Sheet has been found with some First Printings, so it's a little ambiguous when it was first introduced because it may have been retroactively stuck in every set still in stock. So it could have been produced as early as Mid-74 for the remaining First Printings, or later for the Second (Jan 75) or Third Printings (Apr 75). Either way, the note on cleric spells on scrolls is a very early addition to the rules as originally published.

This note was only on the correction sheet for a number of years, which may explain why Holmes didn't include it Basic. He retained the text from Vol 2 that scrolls were only for M-Us, except for Protection Scrolls, with no mention of Cleric Scrolls. Possibly he overlooked the correction sheet when he was preparing Basic, or he had lost it, or his set didn't include it, etc.

[waysoftheearth]

Feb 1, 2018 22:45:16 GMT -6 Zenopus said:

The Correction Sheet has been found with some First Printings, so it's a little ambiguous when it was first introduced because it may have been retroactively stuck in every set still in stock. So it could have been produced as early as Mid-74 for the remaining First Printings, or later for the Second (Jan 75) or Third Printings (Apr 75). Either way, the note on cleric spells on scrolls is a very early addition to the rules as originally published.

I think this is probably right.

I can confirm that the 4th print of M&T does NOT mention 25% clerical scrolls, whereas the 5th print M&T does.

I can also say that my 1st print (gamma) and 4th print boxed sets both include a correction sheet with the note about clerical scrolls.

[Zenopus]

Feb 2, 2018 4:37:09 GMT -6 waysoftheearth said:

Feb 1, 2018 22:45:16 GMT -6 Zenopus said:

The Correction Sheet has been found with some First Printings, so it's a little ambiguous when it was first introduced because it may have been retroactively stuck in every set still in stock. So it could have been produced as early as Mid-74 for the remaining First Printings, or later for the Second (Jan 75) or Third Printings (Apr 75). Either way, the note on cleric spells on scrolls is a very early addition to the rules as originally published.

I think this is probably right.

I can confirm that the 4th print of M&T does NOT mention 25% clerical scrolls, whereas the 5th print M&T does.

I can also say that my 1st print (gamma) and 4th print boxed sets both include a correction sheet with the note about clerical scrolls.

Thanks for the confirmation!