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Dungeons & Dragons (1974)
The 1974 woodgrain boxed set, first printing
This is where the hobby begins: three small booklets, Men & Magic, Monsters & Treasure and Underworld & Wilderness Adventures, in a woodgrain-patterned box. The first run of about 1,000 hand-assembled sets had sold out by the end of 1974, which is why a first printing sits at the very top of most want lists.
Only the first three printings have the woodgrain graphics; later copies came in a white box. Early booklets still mention hobbits, ents and balrogs, references that were removed later, which helps date a loose set. Most collectors settle happily for a later white box, which reads the same at the table.
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Greyhawk (supplement)
Supplement I: Greyhawk, Gary Gygax and Rob Kuntz's 1975 booklet for the original game
The first supplement to the white box, and the one that turned a slim set of rules into something much closer to the D&D people know. Its 68 pages add the thief and paladin classes, the half-elf, exceptional strength, variable hit dice, higher-level spells and the beholder, while saying almost nothing about the Greyhawk world itself.
The first printing has the Gygax/Kaye logo with the word "Additional" in wide letters; the second keeps the logo but narrows the lettering, and later printings switch to TSR's lizardman and then wizard logos. It pairs naturally with the 1974 set for anyone building an original-edition shelf.
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Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set
The Holmes Basic Set, edited by Eric Holmes, first printed in 1977
The first Basic boxed set, with a 48-page rulebook and a dragon on the lid in one of the few cover paintings by TSR's Dave Sutherland. Contents shifted between printings, which is the fun of collecting it: early boxes came with Dungeon Geomorphs and a Monster & Treasure Assortment, while later ones swapped those for a starter module, first In Search of the Unknown and then The Keep on the Borderlands.
Look out for the chit version, where cardboard counters stand in for dice. It had a considerably smaller print run than the dice sets, so check the inventory carefully before paying a rarity premium.
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Monster Manual
The 1977 Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual, first printing
The book that led off the Advanced line, prepared before AD&D even had its rules: a 112-page hardcover bestiary with a cover by David C. Sutherland III, TSR's first staff artist. Because it came before the Player's Handbook, a first edition AD&D shelf starts here.
The first printing is easy to confirm once you know where to look: the words "TM Reg Applied For" sit on the cover below the AD&D logo. Later reissues traded the original painting for new Jeff Easley art, so the Sutherland cover alone already marks an early copy.
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Player's Handbook
The 1978 Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook, first printing
Dave Trampier's cover, adventurers looting a towering idol, is often called the most homaged cover in roleplaying, and it is the main reason this book is so prized. Inside are the first edition AD&D classes, spells and rules that a generation of players learned from.
A true first printing, from August 1978, carries the TSR wizard logo and has a white flyleaf. Check both before treating a copy as a first, because the Trampier painting stayed on the cover through several later printings.
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Tomb of Horrors
S1 Tomb of Horrors, the 1978 TSR module
Gary Gygax's notorious killer dungeon began as the official D&D tournament at Origins I and was published by TSR in 1978. It is the adventure people mean when they talk about traps that punish carelessness, and it still divides tables between those who love it and those who never forgave it.
The 1978 release pairs the module with a 20-page illustration booklet of pictures to show the players. Make sure that booklet is present, because a copy without it is incomplete and loses much of what makes this module special.
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Against the Giants
G1 Steading of the Hill Giant Chief, the 1978 first printing
The first module released under the AD&D banner, and the opening of Gygax's Against the Giants series that leads on to the frost giants and the fire giant king. It is a slim 8-page booklet in a fold-out cover, so its importance far outweighs its size.
Printings are told apart by the logo: the first has the TSR lizard logo on the front cover, the second the wizard logo with a black star-shaped icon, and the third drops the star. Players who simply want the adventure can turn to the later combined Against the Giants edition instead.
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Dungeon Master's Guide
The 1979 Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Masters Guide, first printing
The last of the three core AD&D 1e rulebooks and the densest, packed with Gygax's tables, magic items and advice, under Sutherland's City of Brass cover. Together with the Monster Manual and Player's Handbook it completes the trio most first edition collections are built around.
The first printing has unusually clear tells: the letter D in the angled yellow AD&D banner is cut off, the book runs to only 232 pages, the flyleaf is yellow and there is no printing information inside. A copy that ticks all four is the one to look for.
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The Keep on the Borderlands
B2 The Keep on the Borderlands, Gary Gygax's starter module
Here is the honest exception: this is probably the most common module of all, with a total print run well over a million and a half copies, because it shipped inside both the Holmes and the Moldvay Basic sets. It earns its place because so many players had their very first D&D adventure here.
That huge run makes it the friendliest place to start a collection. A complete copy, with its map inserts and intact cover, costs a fraction of the rarities here and is still a pleasure to run.
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Deities & Demigods
The 1980 Deities & Demigods with the Cthulhu and Melnibonéan mythoi
The famous version of this AD&D hardcover is the 144-page original, which includes gods from H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos and Michael Moorcock's Melnibonéan stories. Those sections were dropped from the third and later printings for legal reasons, which cut the book to 128 pages, and that is why the early copies became a collector's legend.
Both of the first two printings contain the mythoi. They differ in one detail: the second adds a credit to Chaosium, which the first lacks. Counting the pages is the quickest test, and the Erol Otus cover is a pleasure either way.
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World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting
The 1980 World of Greyhawk folio, the setting's first edition
Before the better-known boxed set, Gygax's own campaign world arrived as a folio: a folder holding a dense 32-page gazetteer booklet and Darlene Pekul's giant colour map of the Flanaess. That map is the real treasure.
The folio went through several printings, and the details shift between them; the third, for example, is the first to credit Erol Otus and David S. LaForce properly for their art. A folio without its map is a shadow of itself, so make sure the map is there.
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Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set
The Moldvay Basic Set, edited by Tom Moldvay, first printed in January 1981, with its Expert companion
The B/X era begins here. Moldvay's revision of Basic covers character levels 1 to 3, with Zeb Cook's blue Expert set carrying play on to level 14, and the pair makes a compact, complete game that is still a joy to run.
Both boxes carry Erol Otus cover art, and the Basic set includes The Keep on the Borderlands, so a complete set gives you rules and a ready adventure together. Pick up the Expert set alongside it if you can, since the two were designed to be used together.
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Palace of the Silver Princess
B3 Palace of the Silver Princess, the 1981 orange cover by Jean Wells
A recall that became legend. Concerns over the quality of the product and the taste of some artwork led TSR to recall and pulp this first version, then have Tom Moldvay rework the module, which returned with a green cover. Surviving orange copies are a true rarity.
Learn the difference before you buy: the common green module is the revised version, and only the orange cover is the original that collectors chase. With a piece this scarce, buy from a seller who can show the copy in detail and stands behind it.
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Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set
The 1983 Red Box, Frank Mentzer's revised Basic Set
Larry Elmore's painting of one fighter facing one dragon is among the best-loved images the game ever had, and for many people this was the first D&D they owned. Mentzer's revision opened a line that grew through Expert, Companion, Master and Immortals sets, each in its own colour.
Inside are a 64-page Player's book with programmed one-player adventures, a 48-page Dungeon Master's Rulebook, and six kinds of dice with a marker crayon. The first printing says BASIC RULES SET 1 on the front of the box; later ones switched to SET 1: BASIC RULES.
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Ravenloft (module)
I6 Ravenloft, Tracy and Laura Hickman's 1983 module
Gothic horror arrives in D&D: Count Strahd von Zarovich stares down from his castle at the village below, and the vampire count became one of the game's great villains. This slim module is where his story starts, which is reason enough to want the original.
It is a 32-page booklet for characters of levels 5 to 7, in a fold-out outer cover with a separate fold-out inner cover. Check that both covers are present, because a copy missing either is incomplete.
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Dragons of Despair
DL1 Dragons of Despair, Tracy Hickman's 1984 module
The first of TSR's Dragonlance adventures, for characters of levels 4 to 6, and the introduction to the world of Krynn. Players were meant to take one of eight pre-generated heroes rather than their own characters, because the story mattered as much as the dungeon.
It came out a few months before the first novel, Dragons of Autumn Twilight, which let readers revisit the scenarios they had been playing. That makes it the natural first purchase for anyone who came to Dragonlance through the books, and the start of a long run of DL modules to collect.
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Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting
The 1987 Forgotten Realms Campaign Set, known as the grey box
Ed Greenwood's world, developed for AD&D with Jeff Grubb and Karen S. Martin, arrived as two 96-page books, the Cyclopedia of the Realms and the DM's Sourcebook of the Realms, with four regional poster maps. For anyone who knows the Realms from later books and games, this box is where it all starts.
It sold for six years, and the date code on the box tells you which printing you have: the earliest seen is 7/87, sets from 1989 to 1991 pair the old TSR logo with new maps, and the last carry a gold badge logo. Collectors after the first state should look for a 1987 date code and the original maps.
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Player's Handbook
The AD&D 2nd Edition Player's Handbook, first published in 1989
The book that defined TSR's last edition, designed by a team led by David Cook to consolidate a decade of AD&D rules. It made THAC0 and non-weapon proficiencies part of the core game and, in a family-friendly response to the criticism of the 1980s, dropped the assassin class, the half-orc and every mention of demons and devils.
Those changes make it a revealing companion to the 1978 handbook on any shelf. Set the two side by side and you can see how much the game changed in a decade.
More about Player's Handbook19
Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia
The 1991 Rules Cyclopedia, the last word on classic D&D
TSR's final rulebook for the Basic line gathered the Basic, Expert, Companion and Master sets into one hardcover of more than 300 pages. For anyone who wants to play the classic game rather than just shelve it, nothing else puts so much of it in one place.
It is a single book with no box or loose parts to lose, so condition comes down to the binding and the corners. A tight, clean copy is the one to hold out for, because this was a book people actually used.
More about Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia20
Dark Sun Boxed Set
The 1991 Dark Sun boxed set, with Brom's cover art
The most alien world TSR published for AD&D: Athas is a desolate, dying desert, drained by a lack of water and by wizards who defile life, and the setting leans heavily on the psionic powers most campaigns left alone. Designed mainly by Timothy B. Brown and Troy Denning, it debuted in the autumn of 1991.
Brom's paintings gave Dark Sun its look, and his cover alone makes the box worth displaying. The first edition box sometimes came with a poster of that art, but not every set had one, so a set without it is not necessarily incomplete, and one with it is a bonus.
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Planescape Campaign Setting
The 1994 Planescape Campaign Setting boxed set
TSR's boldest late setting sends adventurers across the planes from Sigil, the city at the centre of everything, with portals to everywhere. David "Zeb" Cook led the design, and Tony DiTerlizzi's art defined the Planescape look so strongly that it is hard to imagine the setting without it.
The box holds a Player's Guide to the Planes, a DM Guide to the Planes, Sigil and Beyond and a Monstrous Supplement, plus four poster maps and a DM screen. These sets now fetch collector prices, so check the inventory against that list before buying, as the maps and screen are easily separated from the books.
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