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Post by jeffb on Jul 22, 2021 16:09:51 GMT -6
Chainmail is back in print (on demand). Of course it will never be as cool as a brittle plastic spiral bound version but...  CHAINMAIL on DT (not an affiliate link, I don' t even know how to get one of those) |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 22, 2021 17:39:35 GMT -6
If you just buy the PDF and use PrintMe1 you can still get a brittle spiral-bound version if you really want to.  |
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Post by tdenmark on Jul 22, 2021 18:01:27 GMT -6
Chainmail is back in print (on demand). Of course it will never be as cool as a brittle plastic spiral bound version but... CHAINMAIL on DT (not an affiliate link, I don' t even know how to get one of those) If you buy the PDF you can have it printed and spiral bound at your local Copy Shop. |
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Post by tdenmark on Jul 22, 2021 18:02:57 GMT -6
I know spiral bound doesn't look as cool on the shelf, but at the gaming table it is way more functional than perfect bound.
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Post by jeffb on Jul 22, 2021 18:38:00 GMT -6
Absolutely I love spiral bound for utility and reading. I love being able to fold it back upon itself or just lay flat on the table.
And many moons ago, I use to work in a marketing department and I spent many hundreds of hours making up spiral bound training materials and such. If I only had the equipment here at home, I'd spiral bind a whole lot of things!
But I was really just taking a pot shot at the rather poor quality of those old TSR bindings. My original that I picked up around '79 cracked within a year or so. When I got into collecting years later I picked up a few copies and they all were either cracked when I got them, or did so despite babying them.
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Post by tdenmark on Jul 22, 2021 19:06:01 GMT -6
But I was really just taking a pot shot at the rather poor quality of those old TSR bindings. My original that I picked up around '79 cracked within a year or so. When I got into collecting years later I picked up a few copies and they all were either cracked when I got them, or did so despite babying them. Oh, heh, I didn't even catch that you were being sarcastic. Sarcasm is so hard to discern online. |
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Post by jeffb on Jul 22, 2021 20:08:04 GMT -6
But I was really just taking a pot shot at the rather poor quality of those old TSR bindings. My original that I picked up around '79 cracked within a year or so. When I got into collecting years later I picked up a few copies and they all were either cracked when I got them, or did so despite babying them. Oh, heh, I didn't even catch that you were being sarcastic. Sarcasm is so hard to discern online. I posted the little smiley with my tongue sticking out figuring someone would get it, but I guess it's hard to see |
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Post by Zenopus on Jul 22, 2021 22:16:37 GMT -6
Thanks for the heads up! From the preview, it's a 3rd Edition (1975), 7th printing (April 1979), and scanned from an original rather than re-typeset like the OD&D booklets.
The print plus digital version costs the same as the print version alone, $6.99. I just ordered a copy, will report on quality when it arrives. The total with tax and media mail shipping was $11.91.
I haven't owned a print copy of Chainmail in quite a while. I used to have this same edition (including the coiled rings mentioned above), which I ordered from the TSR Mail Order Hobby Shop in the late '80s, but I sold it on Ebay at some point in the late '90s.
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Post by tdenmark on Jul 23, 2021 3:10:10 GMT -6
Oh, heh, I didn't even catch that you were being sarcastic. Sarcasm is so hard to discern online. I posted the little smiley with my tongue sticking out figuring someone would get it, but I guess it's hard to see I was being sarcastic. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 23, 2021 6:31:42 GMT -6
I know spiral bound doesn't look as cool on the shelf, but at the gaming table it is way more functional than perfect bound. Awww yeah. ( Pictured here, not Chainmail)  |
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Post by jeffb on Jul 23, 2021 7:01:28 GMT -6
I posted the little smiley with my tongue sticking out figuring someone would get it, but I guess it's hard to see I was being sarcastic. :doh: |
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Post by jeffb on Jul 23, 2021 7:15:59 GMT -6
Thanks for the heads up! From the preview, it's a 3rd Edition (1975), 7th printing (April 1979), and scanned from an original rather than re-typeset like the OD&D booklets. The print plus digital version costs the same as the print version alone, $6.99. I just ordered a copy, will report on quality when it arrives. The total with tax and media mail shipping was $11.91. I haven't owned a print copy of Chainmail in quite a while. I used to have this same edition (including the coiled rings mentioned above), which I ordered from the TSR Mail Order Hobby Shop in the late '80s, but I sold it on Ebay at some point in the late '90s. I'm curious to see if it will be all that readable. I seem to remember most of the originals not having all that clear/crisp text to begin with. By the time I ever saw one which was probably 1980, Chainmail (I'm guessing) was in it's death throes (like the OCE). The Acaeum does list an Eighth print however, and hints at more. Most of the copies I owned when I was collecting were these later prints but I don't recall my original being shrinkwrapped. I also do not recall exactly which, but I also owned a 3rd to 6th print- It did have a Lizard logo, but it had the spiral binding not staples. It was also the most ragged of all I ever owned, and I did not make much on it. Heck I may have bought your copy way back when on EBAY Zenopus The Acaeum Chainmail page |
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Post by tdenmark on Jul 23, 2021 8:39:06 GMT -6
I know spiral bound doesn't look as cool on the shelf, but at the gaming table it is way more functional than perfect bound. Awww yeah. ( Pictured here, not Chainmail) What is that? It seems familiar. |
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Post by jeffb on Jul 23, 2021 8:44:30 GMT -6
What is that? It seems familiar. Is this sarcasm again?  If not, it looks like Ready Ref Sheets to me. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 23, 2021 10:21:22 GMT -6
What is that? It seems familiar. A dark and forbidden relic. |
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Post by tdenmark on Jul 23, 2021 12:34:07 GMT -6
What is that? It seems familiar. Is this sarcasm again? If not, it looks like Ready Ref Sheets to me. Heh, no. I have a copy but it is saddle stitched and isn't nearly that legible. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 23, 2021 13:53:59 GMT -6
Is this sarcasm again? If not, it looks like Ready Ref Sheets to me. Heh, no. I have a copy but it is saddle stitched and isn't nearly that legible. The pdf they used to have up on DriveThru before the JG-pocolypse is a really good scan. |
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Post by rsdean on Jul 24, 2021 3:56:51 GMT -6
The plastic comb bindings do work well on the miniatures table. Some years back, I had a couple of sets of perfect bound rules I was using trimmed and comb-bound by the local copy shop (when there were such things) since they were shedding pages anyway. Looks from the Acaeum like my original Chainmail is a 3rd edition, 1st print, since it’s stapled. I can’t say that the staples through that semi-metallic paper cover are any sturdier. Library tape is reinforcing mine these days. |
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Post by captainjapan on Jul 24, 2021 8:01:37 GMT -6
I always enjoy reading Shannon Appelcline's background summaries on the DriveThru product pages where they appear, no matter how well I think I already know the history. I guess I haven't purchased much old TSR since WOTC started putting the sensitivity disclaimer on things. It looks odd to me.
Yeah, I would just buy the PDF for $3.74 and have it printed and spiral bound, locally, at full size (letter/A4). Comb binding is another way to go, but the plastic combs, as mentioned, will become brittle over time. On the other hand, if you have a needle and thread, you could print Chainmail as a booklet, fold over the pages, and punch a few holes where the staples would have been. You could fold that open and lay it flat. A stitched copy would last infinitely longer than the softcover option on DriveThru, I'll bet.
@ampleframework ,
Interesting that you snapped two of the only-seven-or-so Ready Ref inserts from the original Judges Guild mailer. The construction costs sheet is much nicer than the one in U&WA. Glad I snagged the PDF scan. It really was very clean, considering the beat-up condition of every print copy I've ever handled. JG stuff (excepting the maps) was cheaply produced.
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Post by Zenopus on Jul 24, 2021 9:06:18 GMT -6
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Post by jeffb on Jul 26, 2021 19:09:15 GMT -6
Nice writeup- Dr. Holmes sure went all in when he decided to try out D&D.  Maybe better for another topic, but has Chris indicated whether his Dad adopted any/much of the Warlock rules to his games as they were starting out? |
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Post by dicebro on Oct 19, 2021 20:53:08 GMT -6
Great game!
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Post by Zenopus on Oct 20, 2021 6:52:12 GMT -6
Nice writeup- Dr. Holmes sure went all in when he decided to try out D&D. Maybe better for another topic, but has Chris indicated whether his Dad adopted any/much of the Warlock rules to his games as they were starting out? Delayed reply, but I believe they used much of the Warlock rules when they started. Holmes mentions using the combat system in his book, and Chris has referenced the damage system (multiple d6s for variable damage). There are also references to specific spells from Warlock in Holmes' writing, and in some artifacts that have been preserved, like Murray the Magic-User's character sheet. Eric Frasier, who played Murray, still has his original Warlock rules (the Spartan magazine version) and Manual of Aurania; you can see a picture here. |
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Post by jeffb on Oct 20, 2021 7:35:22 GMT -6
Nice writeup- Dr. Holmes sure went all in when he decided to try out D&D. Maybe better for another topic, but has Chris indicated whether his Dad adopted any/much of the Warlock rules to his games as they were starting out? Delayed reply, but I believe they used much of the Warlock rules when they started. Holmes mentions using the combat system in his book, and Chris has referenced the damage system (multiple d6s for variable damage). There are also references to specific spells from Warlock in Holmes' writing, and in some artifacts that have been preserved, like Murray the Magic-User's character sheet. Eric Frasier, who played Murray, still has his original Warlock rules (the Spartan magazine version) and Manual of Aurania; you can see a picture here. Better late than never Zach! Thank you for the FYI on that. I have to wonder if anyone ever played bone stock woodgrain D&D in 74/75  |
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Post by DungeonDevil on Mar 22, 2022 14:10:19 GMT -6
Thanks to tons of distractions -- including COVID -- I didn't notice this thread.  I ordered a few copies, hoping they look better than my own PDF-printing-n-binding escapades in the past. Will post some pics when I get them in a week or two. It's impossible to overstate the importance of CHAINMAIL: it was nothing short of the Singularity just before the Big Bang, where tiny, embryonic concepts -- some barely perceptible and sometimes implied -- exploded, multiplied, diversified into whole sections of the OD&D 0e corpus (and later the AD&D 1e corpus). It took me a while to really grasp what I had in my hands, struggling with some of the rules (I'm lookin' at you, Appendix A: Combat Tables!), but when I did I now have far more respect for them. It's a shame CM has receded into a dark pit of obscurity. |
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Post by DungeonDevil on Mar 28, 2022 16:30:46 GMT -6
Well, just got my Rules Cyclopedia HC and copies of CM. The CM reprints look pretty darned good. The cover is either a dark blue or dark grey (my durned colour-blindness!), and the clarity of the text is sharp, but the typeface size is a bit small for my eyes -- even with glasses. 9.5/10
The RC is a big hardcover, but the pages aren't bound to the spine and look like they're held together with insufficient glue, so I'll have to handle it carefully. Unfortunately, the scans for this weren't as crystal-clear and there is some digital artefacting of the fonts giving a slight blurriness to the layout. However, it's not so bad it hampers legibility. 7/10
In all, I'm fairly pleased with the quality.
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